Kumar Puttakokkula
HITACHI DIGITAL SERVICES
Dallas-Fort Worth,Texas
5
Certification
12
Years of experience
4
years of post-secondary education
Results-driven Cloud Architect and DevOps professional with 11 years of experience in architecting and managing enterprise-scale cloud infrastructure across AWS, Azure, and GCP. Expertise in Kubernetes, Terraform, CI/CD, and Infrastructure as Code. Skilled in designing secure, scalable platforms and leading cross-functional teams in architecture, security, and networking.
Work History
Platform Engineer
5 Months- Implementing AWS account onboarding using Account Factory for Terraform (AFT).
- Developed reusable Terraform modules to align with Alcon security best practices, governance standards, and compliance requirements.
- Architected & Implemented the Terraform module lifecycle platform that automatically publishes feature-branch builds (vX.Y.Z.), supports multi-module parallel deployments, enforces governance-driven production releases vX.Y.Z, and manages artifact retention in JFrog Artifactory through Azure DevOps CI/CD pipelines.
- Implemented OPA policy gates in Azure DevOps pipelines to enforce infrastructure security and governance controls.
- Architected & implemented the workload deployment pipeline with Terragrunt, which follows the Plan, OPA Gate and Apply with SNOW CR validation for PROD environments.
- Developed the SNOW CMDB service using AWS API Gateway and Lambda to fetch CMDB data required by the ADO pipeline and these passed as tags to the AWS Resources.
- Collaborated with Account Onboarding, Networking, CISO, security, Identity Management, and Application teams to establish compliant enterprise deployment strategies.
- Technology Stack: AWS, Control Tower, AFT, Terraform, Terragrunt, Azure DevOps, JFrog Artifactory, OPA, Git, CI/CD, Veracode, Trivy, Thycotic
- Alcon Labs | Jun 2026 – Present
Cloud DevOps Engineer
4 Years 2 Months- Designed and implemented Terraform drift detection across thousands of Terraform Enterprise workspaces, enabling proactive incident notification through integration with Netcool and ServiceNow.
- Designed an automated EC2 AMI Repave solution across SVC, DEV, UAT, and PROD using Auto Scaling Instance Refresh.
- Designed the Azure Landing Zone hierarchy for Citi workloads using Microsoft Cloud Adoption Framework (CAF), establishing a scalable, secure, and governed cloud foundation.
- Certified and productionized GCP Apigee Hybrid Runtime and Control Plane v1.14; developed reusable Terraform modules for Apigee Control Plane and Runtime deployment.
- Designed and documented Apigee Hybrid deployment architecture across SVC, INT, and PROD environments.
- Implemented centralized Apigee Hybrid Runtime Helm deployments across multiple AWS regions using Argo CD App-of-Apps.
- Implemented Prometheus and Grafana observability for Apigee Hybrid, including metrics, dashboards, alerting, and proactive monitoring.
- Implemented AWS Private Link architecture for Citi DDA and PISMO applications, enhancing secure service access via NLB endpoint services and interface VPC endpoints.
- Designed and implemented an enterprise AWS AMI Bakery using EC2 Image Builder, OWASP/NIST practices, security scanning, and automated Golden AMI distribution.
- Led certification of AWS EBS CSI v1.55.0 and EFS CSI v2.3.0 for Kubernetes persistent storage and documented the certification lifecycle.
- Implemented AWS EBS Node-Local Volumes for high-performance, stateful Kubernetes workloads.
- Identified and implemented the fix for 504 Gateway timeout error by setting the tcpEstablishedTimeout from 24 hours to 1 hour, integrated the configuration into an EKS Terraform module using terraform_data.
- Partnered with CISO, security, networking, platform, and application teams to ensure compliant enterprise deployment strategies.
Senior Cloud Engineer
3 Years 2 Months- Migrated 150+ Azure ARM template configurations to reusable Terraform modules, enhancing alignment with customer requirements and enterprise standards.
- Migrated 150+ Azure ARM template configurations to reusable Terraform modules aligned with customer requirements and enterprise standards.
- Automated Azure resource deployment using Terraform and Azure DevOps.
- Developed reusable YAML CI/CD frameworks, streamlining deployment processes with defined triggers, stages, jobs, approvals, security gates, and workflows.
- Developed reusable YAML CI/CD frameworks covering triggers, stages, jobs, approvals, security gates, and deployment workflows.
- Designed and implemented AWS/Azure network CIDR allocation strategies for VPCs and VNets.
- Collaborated with infrastructure, security, networking, and application teams to establish standardized cloud deployment and automation practices, ensuring consistency and compliance.
- Novartis
Senior Cloud Engineer
4 Years 8 Months- Architected, automated, and migrated enterprise infrastructure and applications across AWS and Azure using cloud best practices.
- Designed VPC/VNet CIDR allocation and highly available, scalable AWS architectures.
- Designed AWS infrastructure provisioning process using API Gateway and Lambda to streamline approval workflows.
- Designed and implemented an automated Transit VPC solution using Palo Alto Firewall, Panorama, CloudFormation, Step Functions, and Python Lambda.
- Designed EC2 image hardening and Golden AMI solutions using EC2 Image Builder and Packer, including automated cross-account distribution.
- Designed serverless architectures using Lambda, Step Functions, SQS, SNS, and CloudWatch Events/EventBridge.
- Implemented Blue/Green deployments using Auto Scaling Groups and Elastic Load Balancers.
- Automated Azure infrastructure deployment using Terraform and Azure DevOps YAML pipelines.
- Developed Python automation scripts for AWS cost optimization and monitoring to enhance inventory management.
- Implemented security and monitoring solutions using Security Hub, Prisma Cloud, Datadog, Trusted Advisor, and New Relic.
- Led requirement gathering, solution design, implementation, troubleshooting, and service improvement while supervising and mentoring team members.
Education
Bachelor of Science - Computer Science & Engineering
Skills
Cloud: AWS | Azure | GCP
Containers & Platform: Kubernetes | EKS | AKS | GKE | Docker | Helm | Argo CD | Apigee Hybrid | API Gateway
IaC & Automation: Terraform | Terraform Enterprise | Terragrunt | CloudFormation | Ansible | Packer | EC2 Image Builder
CI/CD: Jenkins | Harness | Azure DevOps | GitHub Actions | Git | GitHub
Databases and caching: SQL (MySQL
Postgress) | NoSQL (DynamoDB
MongoDB) | In-Memory Caching (Memcached
Redis)
Observability & Security: OPA | Prometheus | Grafana | Veracode | Trivy | ELK | Security Hub | Prisma Cloud | Vault | Palo Alto | Panorama
Programming/Scripting Languages: BASH | awk | sed | PowerShell | Python | Go | Groovy
Operating Systems: Linux | Unix | Windows
Cloud Architecture | DevOps Engineering| Infra as Code | Kubernetes automation | Modernization of Apps | Disaster Recovery | Cost optimization | Automated testing | Load balancing | Incident Management
Certification
- Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA)
- Certified Kubernetes Application Developer (CKAD)
- AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate
- AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate
- AWS Certified Developer – Associate
- Google Cloud Certified Associate Cloud Engineer
- HashiCorp Certified: Terraform Associate
- Aviatrix Multi-Cloud Networking Architect
Timeline
Platform Engineer
HITACHI DIGITAL SERVICES
06.2026 - CurrentRead More
Cloud DevOps Engineer
HITACHI DIGITAL SERVICES
03.2022 - 05.2026Read More
Senior Cloud Engineer
HITACHI DIGITAL SERVICES
01.2019 - 03.2022Read More
Senior Cloud Engineer
CLOUD MIGRATIONS & MANAGED SERVICES
04.2015 - 12.2019Read More
Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies (RGUKT)
Bachelor of Science from Computer Science & Engineering
09.2010 - 07.2014Read More
Personal Information
I am a Cloud Architect, DevOps and Platform Engineer with over 11 years of experience in cloud infrastructure, DevOps, automation, and site reliability engineering across AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud Platform. I have expertise in Terraform, Kubernetes, CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure as code, cloud networking, and platform engineering. Throughout my career at Hitachi Digital Services, I have supported enterprise clients across financial services, healthcare, and other industries, helping build secure, scalable, and reliable cloud platforms. I enjoy solving complex technical challenges, automating operational processes, and continuously learning new technologies. I am looking for opportunities to contribute my technical expertise, collaborate with cross-functional teams, and help organizations improve cloud reliability, security, and operational efficiency.