Summary
Overview
Work History
Education
Skills
Accomplishments
Timeline
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Rakesh Kataram

MONROE,NJ

Summary

Strategic technology leader with 15+ years of experience architecting, automating, and securing enterprise‑scale middleware and cloud infrastructures. Proven record of delivering multi‑million‑dollar cost savings, achieving 100% disaster recovery success, and accelerating delivery pipelines. Recognized for blending deep technical expertise with visionary leadership to optimize operations, mentor talent, and introduce innovative solutions that scale.

Overview

17
17
years of professional experience

Work History

Senior DevOps Engineer

Sun Life Financial
06.2011 - Current
  • Leading engineering team of 6 to design, build, and maintain a large‑scale DevOps automation framework, including 500+ Ansible roles, 370+ Ansible Tower job templates, and 120+ BitBucket repositories.
  • Manage 700+ servers across AWS Cloud and on‑premises environments, ensuring high availability and disaster recovery readiness.
  • Directed AWS migration of middleware infrastructure, ensuring zero critical incidents and seamless cutover.
  • Automated OpenShift namespace provisioning via self‑service portal with quotas, labels, node selectors, and SCCs.
  • Maintained and enhanced CI/CD pipelines for microservices deployment on OpenShift clusters.
  • Led initiative to replace NGINX Ingress with Istio Service Mesh using Kubernetes Gateway API CRDs.
  • Installed, configured, and upgraded Ingress Controllers; managed TLS/SSL renewals and secure connectivity.
  • Independently mastered Ansible, saving $1.3M in contractor costs by automating middleware builds, configurations, and patching.
  • Reduced manual tasks by 90%, saving ~252 man‑days annually through automation.
  • Pioneered DR 2.0 automation via CDD and Ansible, achieving 100% recovery during exercises.
  • Installed, configured, and administered WebSphere, WebLogic, Apache, IBM HTTP Server, and Siteminder.
  • Led quarterly patching cycles for multiple middleware products.
  • Mentored team members in automation best practices, middleware builds, and patching strategies.

Computer Analyst

HCL Global Systems Inc.
07.2010 - 06.2011
  • Automated provisioning, installation, patching, and administration of middleware software (WebLogic, WebSphere, Apache).
  • Developed technical guidelines and best practices for operations and integration teams.
  • Participated in performance and scalability audits for applications and servers.
  • Provided 24/7 on‑call production support for web hosting infrastructure.

Computer Software Engineer

Prodigy Software Group
03.2008 - 07.2010
  • Supported critical CARE suite applications, managing WebLogic, Apache, and CA SSO environments.
  • Assisted development, DBA, and system admin teams during integrated releases and major changes.
  • Provided 24/7 production support on a rotational basis.

Education

Bachelor of Science - Computer Science & Engineering

Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University
Hyderabad, Telangana, India
12.2003

Skills

Cloud & Containers – AWS EC2, OpenShift, Kubernetes, Istio, Docker, Podman

  • Automation & DevOps – Ansible, CI/CD Pipelines, BitBucket, Artifactory, CDD
  • Observability – Prometheus, Grafana, Kiali, Jaeger, Splunk
    Middleware & Web – WebLogic, WebSphere, Apache, IBM HTTP Server, Tomcat
  • Security & SSO – SSL/TLS, SiteMinder, Okta MFA, LDAP (Oracle, IBM, AD)
  • Leadership – Strategic Planning, Cross‑Functional Collaboration, Mentoring, Risk Management
  • Scripting languages - Shell, Python
  • Databases – MySQL, MongoDB
  • Web programming – HTML, JavaScript, XML, Java

Accomplishments

  • $1.3M cost savings through in‑house automation development.
  • 100% disaster recovery success in DR 2.0 automation exercise.
  • Led AWS migration of middleware infrastructure with zero critical incidents.
  • Reduced manual tasks by 90%, saving ~252 man‑days annually.

Timeline

Senior DevOps Engineer

Sun Life Financial
06.2011 - Current

Computer Analyst

HCL Global Systems Inc.
07.2010 - 06.2011

Computer Software Engineer

Prodigy Software Group
03.2008 - 07.2010

Bachelor of Science - Computer Science & Engineering

Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University

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