JUDE NAGURNEY

Reston, VA | (703)-403-4741 | jude.nagurney@gmail.com | linkedin.com/in/judenagurney

Staff Engineer | Senior Software Engineer | DevOps and System Integration Specialist

Seasoned Senior Software Engineer and Staff Engineer with a record of driving impactful engineering solutions in backend development, CI/CD pipelines, and complex system integrations.

Renowned for tackling undocumented technical challenges with tenacity and delivering innovative, scalable solutions that optimize workflows, enhance team efficiency, and strengthen production reliability.

Expertise in implementing automation-first DevOps practices, championing infrastructure-as-code, and fostering high-performance engineering teams.

Trusted as a proactive problem-solver and mentor, consistently delivering results that exceed expectations in fast-paced, agile environments.

Key Achievements

Reduced Merge Request Review Times: Designed and implemented the Margebot chatbot, which automated reminders for open merge requests, reducing review timelines from over a week to just two days. This initiative significantly improved team efficiency and streamlined the software release process.

Revolutionized SELinux Workflows: Introduced and implemented a team-wide SELinux strict policy workflow, previously handled by a single engineer. This innovation eliminated bottlenecks, increased team resiliency, and enabled seamless policy creation across the development team.

Pioneered Infrastructure-as-Code Practices: Transformed the software delivery pipeline by integrating industry-standard tools like Puppet, Jenkins, and rpm packaging. This ensured consistent testing environments, minimized production errors, and fostered trust between development and production teams.

Optimized CI/CD and Monitoring Processes: Spearheaded the integration of automated monitoring checks directly into software deliveries, enhancing incident response times and operational stability.

Introduced Staff Engineer Role Framework: Advocated for and established the Staff Engineer career path within the organization, retaining top engineering talent by providing growth opportunities outside of management. This initiative strengthened the company’s engineering leadership and improved employee retention.

Area of Expertise

Infrastructure and Automation: Infrastructure-as-Code | CI/CD Pipelines | Automation Tools | System Integration | Monitoring Frameworks (Nagios, Zabbix)

DevOps and Cloud: AWS | Virtualization (VMWare, QEMU) | Containerization | Deployment Automation | Configuration Management

Database Management: PostgreSQL | MySQL | Oracle | SQLite | Database Schema Design

Systems and OS: Linux (Ubuntu, Debian, RedHat, CentOS, Raspbian) | Windows | SELinux Policy Implementation

Collaboration and Leadership: Technical Mentorship | Cross-Functional Collaboration | Knowledge Sharing | Team Development

Problem-Solving and Innovation: Troubleshooting | Root Cause Analysis | Process Optimization | Workflow Automation

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Staff Engineer – L2T, LLC, Herndon, VA February 2023 - December 2024

Enhanced onboarding efficiency by creating a series of structured, project-based orientation presentations, equipping new employees with the tools and knowledge needed to integrate seamlessly into the team.
Rescued and revitalized a dormant, mission-critical accounting project, becoming the primary point of contact and ensuring uninterrupted service, which restored stakeholder confidence and minimized operational risks.
Spearheaded the deployment pipeline by tagging new software releases and implementing streamlined production processes, accelerating release cycles while maintaining high-quality standards.

Senior Software Engineer – L2T, LLC, Herndon, VA October 2016 - February 2023

Introduced and advocated for the Staff Engineer role, securing leadership buy-in and formalizing a career path for senior engineers, fostering talent retention and enhancing organizational structure.
Drove code quality and knowledge sharing through meticulous software change reviews, enforcing robust standards, and creating a collaborative engineering culture focused on continuous improvement.
Engineered advanced SMS-based solutions using Teltonika 4G routers (RUT360, RUT240, RUT241) and Netgear Nighthawk routers to integrate reliable, scalable messaging capabilities, enabling remote system communication.
Automated complex deployments by developing and maintaining Salt states for Nextcloud, improving system scalability, reducing manual effort, and enhancing operational efficiency.
Streamlined CI/CD pipelines by developing Jenkins jobs and automating deployment processes with Salt states and Puppet manifests, improving release efficiency and system reliability.
Enhanced engineering workflows by creating an Errbot plugin to track open merge requests, reducing review timelines from weeks to days and ensuring smoother project deliveries.
Optimized system compatibility by porting key projects to Raspbian for Raspberry Pi 3 Model B, including rebuilding packages for arm7 architecture to support diverse hardware requirements.
Modernized monitoring and troubleshooting frameworks with Nagios, ensuring real-time issue detection and maintaining high operational performance across the development network.
Mentored and developed junior engineers, fostering a collaborative team environment and equipping them with the skills to tackle complex technical challenges effectively.
Automated Android workflows with the Automate app, enabling efficient device control and monitoring, and delivered robust production support through root cause analysis and issue resolution.

Software Engineer (Development Group) – Applied Security Inc., Reston, VA April 2016 – October 2016

Designed scalable cloud solutions by extending an VMWare-based project to dynamically allocate hosts based on system usage,improving resource utilization and reducing operational costs.
Developed SMS communication capabilities by writing Python-based scripts for sending and receiving messages through Plivo and Twilio, enabling seamless messaging integration into applications.
Automated infrastructure deployment by developing and maintaining Puppet manifests, enhancing system consistency and streamlining development and deployment processes.

Software Engineer (Security Group) – Applied Security Inc., Reston, VA March 2014 – April 2016

Transformed security operations by introducing a groundbreaking SELinux strict policy workflow, enabling developers to independently manage policy creation, eliminating bottlenecks, and enhancing team-wide efficiency and resilience.
Integrated security into DevOps pipelines by extending automated processes to include rigorous security reviews, proactively mitigating vulnerabilities and ensuring compliance with industry standards.
Fortified infrastructure reliability by maintaining and advancing Puppet configurations across development and operations environments, with a strategic focus on implementing and automating critical security updates.

Software Engineer (Engineering Group) – Applied Security Inc., Reston, VA March 2012 – March 2014

Pioneered infrastructure-as-code practices by introducing Puppet and Cobbler provisioning, drastically reducing data center setup times and ensuring consistency across all operational environments.
Standardized infrastructure management by capturing the existing Engineering environment in Puppet manifests, streamlining deployment processes and enabling robust configuration control.
Modernized engineering workflows by implementing Git for version control and rpm packaging, enhancing collaboration and accelerating development cycles across internal projects.
Bridged development and operations teams by acting as a liaison, ensuring code compatibility with SELinux policies, minimizing deployment roadblocks, and fostering cross-functional collaboration.

Software Engineer (Web Technology Group) – Applied Security Inc., Reston, VA March 2010 – March 2012

Transformed infrastructure management by deploying Puppet across DNS, Jenkins, Mercurial, and Cobbler systems, automating server configuration and ensuring consistent performance across project-specific build and test environments.
Architected a custom internal cloud solution leveraging Puppet, Cobbler, PDNS, and VMware ESX to enable rapid creation of test VM stacks, significantly improving testing efficiency and deployment speed.
Expanded Jenkins automation capabilities by designing and extending jobs to build rpm/deb packages, publish them to internal repositories, and deploy to test machines, streamlining CI/CD pipelines.
Developed scalable packaging solutions by writing and maintaining RPM spec files for CentOS and Debian build directories for Ubuntu, ensuring efficient deployment across diverse environments.
Built robust automation scripts for configuration consistency and system initialization, including /etc/init.d/ scripts for various projects, while maintaining yum and apt repositories to support smooth package management.
Created advanced reporting tools by designing Django and Pytons-based applications for generating ad-hoc reports, improving data accessibility and decision-making processes.

Software Engineer III – NeuStar Inc., Sterling, VA March 2009 – February 2010

Secured the DNS key management system with transaction signatures (TSIGs) as per RFC-2845, ensuring robust security for secondary zone transfers and compliance with industry standards.
Advanced DNS scalability and performance by extending and optimizing the UltraDNS Python-based XMLRPC API and AXFR/IXFR zone transfer utility (C++), enabling faster, more reliable domain updates across environments.
Enhanced query diagnostics by developing a utility to capture DNS query timing statistics, improving real-time performance monitoring and reducing troubleshooting timelines across critical systems.
Standardized build automation by establishing consistent build procedures across the UltraDNS product line, fostering operational efficiency and seamless collaboration with off-site teams in Arizona and India.

Senior Software Engineer (Test Centre Product) – StackSafe Inc., Sterling, VA November 2006 – January 2009

Led development of StackSafe’s flagship Test Center product, earning the 2008 ITIL Innovation of the Year Award for revolutionizing IT testing and operational reliability.
Designed and implemented a TurboGears-based licensing system, including PostgreSQL database architecture and sqlalchemy migrations, ensuring seamless licensing workflows and release updates.
Optimized software deployment by building Rails-based GUI licensing and upgrade features, supported by an automated Ruby cron job to manage server checks for new releases.
Enhanced virtual storage integration by creating a Python-based storage daemon, enabling network access to virtual machine QEMU disk images using qemu-nbd and nbd-client.
Strengthened virtualization management through contributions to the Python-based management daemon, improving scalability and ensuring efficient virtual machine lifecycle operations.
Automated deployment processes by customizing the Debian installer to streamline product-specific installations and verify virtualization readiness for host systems.
Streamlined CI/CD pipelines by engineering a Python-driven nightly-build system that compiled source code, deployed it to test environments, and executed smoke tests for quality assurance.
Championed QA excellence by conducting root cause analyses of build failures across multiple languages (Python, C++, Ruby,Perl), driving stability through unit testing and bi-weekly bug scrubs.
Ensured infrastructure reliability by managing engineering lab configurations and automating package management with Puppet, while contributing patches to key open-source projects.
Fostered cross-functional collaboration by coordinating with off-site engineering teams in California and New Jersey, aligning development, testing, and delivery efforts to meet deadlines and quality standards.

Software Engineer – Cisco Systems, Herndon, VA November 2000 – September 2006

Led the development of the LMP (RFC 4204) feature for the 15454 DWDM multi-service transport platform, driving innovation in telecommunications protocols and enhancing product capabilities.
Designed and implemented the LMP interface, including the IDL, CORBA layer, and TL1 (Transaction Language 1)code, ensuring seamless protocol communication and system integration.
Streamlined defect resolution by tracking and addressing incoming defect reports for the LMP implementation, maintaining product quality and ensuring adherence to high engineering standards.
Achieved interoperability success during tests with the Calient PXC at the KDDI research labs in Tokyo, resolving issues on-site within days—a task competitors required months to complete, earning recognition for exceptional turnaround time.
Enhanced team knowledge transfer by training support engineers on the LMP feature, ensuring smooth deployment and long-term maintenance of the system.
Assigned priorities for TL1-related bugs on the 15600 platform to a team of 7 engineers located in California, Texas, Italy, and India. Remove roadblocks associated with fixing the problems.
Removed 100K SLOC by aligning divergent code bases between the 15454 and 15600 platforms. The common code base freed up engineers who had previously been dedicated to either the 15454 or 15600. Fixing a bug or extending one platform also ended up being reflected on the other platform as well.
Wrote and maintained an extensive TL1 regression test suite in Expect. The test suite originally was meant to provide early testing for OSMINE deliverables. The tests were so successful, they began being used as a stability metric after branch syncs or merges. Before the tests were available, it might be weeks before a sync error was discovered. After the tests were implemented, sync errors were noticed within a day.

Previous Positions

Software Engineer (15327, 15454, 15600 Platforms) – Cisco Systems Herndon, VA
Senior System Analyst – CACI, Fairfax, VA
Senior System Analyst – RS Information Systems, McLean, VA

OPEN SOURCE PROJECTS

Certmaster (2015 – Present): Enhanced the Fedora Certmaster project by adding support for multiple Certificate Authorities (CAs) and advanced hash functions beyond sha1, increasing its flexibility and security.
Haskell Augeas FFI Bindings (2009 – Present): Developed foreign function interface bindings, enabling Haskell users to seamlessly interact with the Augeas library for configuration file management.
Python-Module-for-Puppet (2009): Extended Python packaging support in Puppet to enable the installation of specific package versions, improving modularity and version control.
Contributions on GitHub (2009 – Present): Actively contributed to various open-source projects, submitting patches and enhancing functionality across diverse repositories.

EDUCATION

Master of Science in Computer Science | George Mason University, Information Technology and Engineering School ’06

Bachelor of Science in Computer Science | Cornell University, College of Engineering ’90