Ben Livingood
Belgrade, US
livingood@gmail.com
(406) 285-1066

I am a results-focused Software Engineer. I enjoy increasing stability of server code while working at a high speed. I have engineered and maintained scalable infrastructure reliably handling high traffic while still maintaining compliant code, and keeping it up to date with current trends and protocols.

Experience

Software Development Engineer in Test (SDET)
June 2023
 — 
September 2025
Workiva

In this role it was my job to create integration tests suits and other software to reliably run on github actions and assisting the team to with complying with software development lifecycle requirements and meeting security practices such as keeping libraries up to date, and patching CVE's all without causing loss of service.

  • Designed and executed the FIPS transition plan, including a testing suite, migration strategy, server side code and failover infrastructure to ensure zero service disruption (and it worked)
  • Migrated all team repositories to GitHub Actions (GHA), streamlining CI/CD and improving developer efficiency
  • Implemented and Optimized key metrics (SLO/SLI) for team infrastructure
Software Developer
September 2012
 — 
June 2023
Workiva

Software Developer and Infrastructure Engineer specializing in system automation and cloud delivery. I established CI/CD pipelines for server deployments, migrating systems to container orchestration using Docker and Kubernetes. I also provisioned scalable cloud infrastructure with AWS and Terraform, built an internal chatbot used across over 150 channels, and integrated security maintenance (Dependabot) into team workflows.

  • Migrated team repositories from doing maven plugin-based library upgrades to using Dependabot. Delivered in 2 days what was aske for in 6 months
  • Wrote CI/CD software (Python) to chain builds into working Docker images, deployed reliably via Helm to Kubernetes clusters
  • Engineered a full-stack developer environments using Vagrant, and later Docker, reducing application setup time and enabling faster feature releases
  • Strengthened the testing strategy for teams by ensuring robust unit and total stack integration tests, increasing code stability and quality and 50% fewer mocks
  • Analyzed,Tuned, and Exported service metrics (Kotlin/Java) to various internal sites to optimize for deployability, maintenance, and sustained up-time
Systems Engineer
March 2012
 — 
August 2012
Oracle
  • Architected, built, and tested large-scale infrastructure capable of handling billions of monthly requests
  • Scaled, tuned, and extended existing solutions to proactively react to demanding, high-volume real-world changes
  • Assisted in rigorous security audits and compliance initiatives for government entities (Army/FEDRAMP)
Linux Systems Engineer
June 2010
 — 
March 2012
RightNow Technologies

First officially titled Linux Systems Engineer at RightNow. I worked in the Cloud Operations group making packages for deploy to our datacenters as well as triaging day-to-day operation issues.

  • Maintained and extended cloud-based infrastructure, reliably handling billions of monthly requests with minimal latency
  • Served as a Liaison between internal teams, customers, and Government entities on critical matters of security and compliance

Education

Montana State University-Bozeman
January 2000
 — 
January 2002
Master of Science in Computer Science
  • CS 536 - Advanced Artificial Intelligence
Montana State University-Bozeman
January 1995
 — 
January 1999
Bachelor of Science in Computer Science
  • CS 436 - Artificial Intelligence

Awards

Kudo
Present
 — 
Present
Workiva

Received multiple times for assisting employees in addition to work in normal role

A-Team Q3, Star Award
December 2010
RightNow

DISA team performance and compliance work.

Languages

English:
Native speaker
Spanish:
Basic

Skills

Development Languages:
Kotlin, Java, Python, Go, CoffeeScript, Bash/Zsh
DevOps & Cloud software:
Kubernetes, Docker, Helm, New Relic (dashboards , monitoring and alerts), Splunk (deep dives into code execution debugging), Vagrant, Amazon Web Services (AWS), CI/CD Construction, GitHub Actions (GHA)
Misc:
SLO/SLI/SLA creation, tuning, refinement, Integration Test Environment Suite writing, Site Reliability Engineering (SRE)

Interests

Exercise:
Kettlebell, Powerlifting
Language Learning:
Spanish, Norwegian (Bokmal), German, Frensh