Samer Rashdan
San Jose,CA
Summary
Seasoned in leading observability engineering at Pearson Education, I spearheaded strategic initiatives, reducing MTTD by 42% and slashing costs by $3.5M annually. Expert in application & infrastructure observability and adept at fostering vendor collaboration, my roadmap development and business KPI formulation have markedly enhanced decision-making and operational efficiency.
Overview
17
17
years of professional experience
Work History
Head of Observability Engineering
Pearson Education
San Jose, CA
11.2022 - 01.2024
- Devised a strategic roadmap for observability systems, aligning 8700 microservices with business objectives
- Integrated third-party observability tools to expand situational awareness and monitor 437 products effectively
- Achieved a 42% reduction in MTTD and 26% in MTTR, improving SLA compliance by 68%
- Consolidated tools like New Relic, Splunk, and Grafana, reducing observability costs by $3.5M annually
- Collaborated with stakeholders to develop and maintain business-level KPIs for improved decision-making
Director of Site Reliability Engineering
Pearson Education
San Jose, CA
06.2016 - 11.2022
- Delivered centralized observability solutions for 6,420 multi-tier microservices, enhancing monitoring efficiency
- Enabled turn-key, automated observability for applications using Grafana, Splunk, and CloudWatch
- Improved IT governance and risk mitigation by embedding observability requirements into major programs
- Directed 7 SRE Managers and 105 engineers to optimize cloud operations and service delivery
- Reduced toil and enhanced service by consolidating support teams, saving $2.5M annually
Senior Manager, IT Services
Kohls Department Stores
Milpitas, CA
08.2014 - 06.2016
- Established observability strategies to support Agile (SAFe) E-commerce and mobile releases
- Managed the integration of middleware monitoring solutions to optimize operational performance
- Enhanced cross-team collaboration to identify and prioritize monitoring needs across 139 applications
- Spearheaded the migration of retail platforms to Oracle Fusion, ensuring alignment with compliance standards
- Improved release quality while increasing frequency, achieving a 75% reduction in release churn
Manager of IT
State Compensation Insurance Fund
Pleasanton, CA
03.2013 - 08.2014
- Led DevOps teams in delivering applications on the FlexPod Cloud Environment with a focus on proactive monitoring
- Improved technical processes through automation and enforced configuration management discipline
- Implemented deployment and release processes that enhanced product delivery timelines and quality
Senior Program Manager, Engineering Services
Cisco Systems
San Jose, CA
03.2007 - 03.2013
- Managed overall release planning and execution of complex manufacturing ERP integration projects
- Automated operational processes to accelerate infrastructure service delivery and ensure seamless deployment
- Designed DevOps best practices and integrated on-premise apps with mainframe systems
Education
Master of Program Management - Program Management
The George Washington University
Master of Science - Information Systems
Pennsylvania State University-Great Valley
Master of Software Engineering - Software Engineering
Pennsylvania State University-Great Valley
Master of Business Administration -
Widener University
Bachelor of Arts - Information Technology
Temple University
Skills
- Observability and Monitoring Strategy
- Application & Infrastructure Observability
- Business KPI Development
- Metrics, Logging, and Tracing Solutions
- Strategic Roadmap Development
- Vendor Management and Collaboration
- Emerging Technology Integration
- Risk Mitigation & IT Governance
- Proof of Concepts and Prototypes
- Automation and Tool Consolidation
Timeline
Head of Observability Engineering
Pearson Education
11.2022 - 01.2024
Director of Site Reliability Engineering
Pearson Education
06.2016 - 11.2022
Senior Manager, IT Services
Kohls Department Stores
08.2014 - 06.2016
Manager of IT
State Compensation Insurance Fund
03.2013 - 08.2014
Senior Program Manager, Engineering Services
Cisco Systems
03.2007 - 03.2013
Master of Program Management - Program Management
The George Washington University
Master of Science - Information Systems
Pennsylvania State University-Great Valley
Master of Software Engineering - Software Engineering
Pennsylvania State University-Great Valley
Master of Business Administration -
Widener University
Bachelor of Arts - Information Technology
Temple University
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