Laura Aguera

The Software Engineering Institute is a federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) established by Congress in 1984 and operated by Carnegie Mellon University.

• Collected, monitored, and analyzed web data across multiple web properties that garnered hundreds of thousands of sessions per month and millions of users per year.
• Developed comprehensive dashboards, reports, and other artifacts with key performance indicators (KPIs), benchmarks, trends, search engine results page (SERP) rankings, and other relevant data to provide actionable insights for marketing and communication efforts such as social media calendars, search engine optimization (SEO), content reuse, and communication design.
• Presented these reports along with relevant research and in-depth analysis to management, project teams, and colleagues, enabling them to gauge the effectiveness of the institute’s public web and social media assets and make data-driven decisions.
• Negotiated and coordinated with management and colleagues to prioritize tasks that support measurement of web data along with other work and integrate these tasks into web projects.
• Monitored trends, tools, and best practices for data collection and analysis, web content, marketing communication, and brand management.
• Identified opportunities to increase awareness and engagement within target audiences, resulting in measurable improvements in user engagement.
• Spearheaded the adoption of software as a service (SaaS) solutions, optimizing service management and improving operational efficiency by streamlining workflows and improving timely access to data.
• Championed use of these platforms among colleagues by developing documentation and work processes, offering training and demonstrations, and providing expert technical support on demand.
• Partnered with institute researchers, administrators, and internal functional groups (including Information Technology, Contracts, Legal, and Financial and Business Services) to review technical and user requirements, ensure compliance with policies and regulations, and maintain vendor relationships for SaaS solutions.
• Administered and managed SaaS solutions on behalf of the institute. Defined, maintained, and promoted work processes and practices necessary for operational efficiency and effective use of these services in support of the institute’s brand.

Represent online communication needs of internal clients to management, stakeholder groups, and creative/technical staff. Create and collaborate on project needs statements, strategy briefs, and measurement plans. Define objectives, identify stakeholders and target audiences, and establish schedules of deliverables that meet business objectives while working within resource constraints. Create measurement plans for online communication projects. Analyze web data from Google Analytics, Webtrends, and MOZ. Recommend changes to web content.

Led a cross-functional creative/technical team including two web designers, a web developer, a data analyst, a content specialist, plus temps and interns. Responsible for effort estimating, project planning, risk management, and performance management. Introduced a system of tracking effort against individual projects to improve effort estimates and planning functions. Implemented timeboxing on a quarterly schedule. Presented plans and progress monthly to a committee of representative stakeholders and our management chain. Prepared a program of project work. Developed individualized professional development for team members.

Advocated for users and maintainers of the institute’s external website. Balanced communication needs of internal customers with organizational guidelines and best practices for websites and online communication. Provided direction and support to colleagues and temporary employees on the Corporate Communication Team. Supported efforts to improve and maintain the SEI website. Reacted quickly to unexpected customer needs. Defined work processes and team standards.

Researched target audiences and developed advertising for conferences and events. Wrote advertising copy for brochures, direct mail postcards, flyers, webpages, and e-mail. Worked with internal and external clients and designers to produce print pieces and webpages. Collaboratively designed information hierarchies for internal and external websites. Edited conference materials such as programs, signage, and registration forms. Provided technical support for over 100 Dreamweaver users. Planned, wrote, edited, maintained, and collaborated on documents, websites, and marketing communication materials. Assessed the information requirements of projects and advised the most effective ways of delivering information for audiences. Analyzed technical and market information, performed audience and task analysis, designed documents, managed projects, and developed testing and revision plans.

Hell’s Kitchen Systems (HKS) was a small start-up company producing UNIX-based credit card processing software during the “dot-com boom.” Red Hat, Inc. purchased the company in spring 1999. Managed customer and collaborator relationships. Coordinated advertising, conference attendance, and human resources efforts. Wrote marketing literature and created web pages and FAQs for front-line support. Researched credit card processing companies and protocols as input for software developers. Collected requirements and selected company health care plan, phone system, and service providers. Created employee handbook, business protocols, and operating procedures/practices. Instituted record keeping systems for company information. Responsible for day-to-day operations and purchasing.

Managed Information Technology (IT) help desk for a 400-user organization across 4 states. Defined procedures, schedules, and workflow. Tracked effort and call data; planned and produced documentation and training for internal customers. Supervised user services coordinator. Performed second-level support.

Performed first level support for internal IT help desk, resolving 60% of incoming user problems and triaging the remainder for the entire user services department. Executed UNIX and Macintosh system operations (load balancing, backups, resource management). Documented help desk tasks and trained primary help desk coordinators.

Supported the Capability Maturity Model Based Appraisals (CBA) Team, a small team of process improvement researchers. Coordinated public CBA training courses, acting as course contact and administrator. Assisted in course development. Provided customer support. Developed a multiple-user database to track customer contact, mailings, and document distribution. Supervised student assistants. Processed applicant paperwork and maintained course records.

Coordinated events at the Software Engineering Institute including conferences, workshops, symposia, exhibitions, and courses. Provided customer support for event attendees and conference exhibitors. Managed catering and room setup requests. Processed registrations, purchase orders, payments, refunds, and invoices. Helped maintain multiple databases in 4D and other platforms.