Scott Banwart

Director, Cloud Infrastructure Automation | Building high-performing platform engineering teams

Profile

I am an engineering director/principle engineer who specializes in leading teams focused on cloud architecture and automation. In my current role at VHT I lead a team of automation engineers who are building a SaaS platform hosted in AWS. We use tools like Terraform, Ansible, Jenkins and Python to create end-to-end automated processes to build and deploy our SaaS environment and applications at the touch of a button. We leverage AWS-native services like EC2, Lambda, RDS and Elasticache Redis to quickly and cost-effectively build our cloud infrastructure. We also focus on architecture and infrastructure improvements to increase the scalability and resiliency of our cloud platform.In the past two years we have enabled growth and scalability of our SaaS applications that has lead to 10x growth in revenues. Through the use of automation we have improved our delivery cadence from a release every 6-8 weeks to a release at the end of every two-week sprint. This has been in support of an enterprise-wide project to transform the company from a traditional software vendor selling perpetual licenses into a SaaS company selling cloud-based subscription services. While I am primarily focused on managing my team, I still find time to do some of the engineering work myself. I enjoy applying my over 20 years of experience in systems development, integration, and cloud-native development to building internal tools for our team and prototyping new ideas.

Experience

Director, Cloud Infrastructure Automation

Sep 2022 - Present
Medallia, Inc. • Cleveland/Akron, Ohio Area

Management of the DevOps team with responsibilities in cloud platform architecture, automation, operations, and security. Contribute to research and prototyping of new technology. Management of team backlog and work tracking. Partnering with our internal product organization to identify and prioritize critical engineering and security work. Assist team members with personal growth and career goals. Work closely with the business to achieve and maintain security and compliance posture. Project Highlights - Engineering leader in the transformation from a traditional enterprise software vendor into a cloud-based SaaS vendor - Technical lead representing cloud operations where we achieved SOC2 certification - Leader and engineering contributor in efforts to increase the scalability of our cloud platform by 10x, leading to 50% revenue growth - Leader and engineering contributor for our initial project to build out end-to-end automated build and deployment processes for our flagship cloud products

  • Coaching and mentoring of DevOps engineers
  • Management of cloud infrastructure compliance documentation in pursuit of a FedRAMP Moderate authorization
  • Management of cloud infrastructure and automation for an environment growing revenue by 25% year over year
  • Oversee migration of operational duties to Medallia internal SRE and security teams as part of the Mindful acquisition
  • Contributor to ongoing program to optimize our cloud costs and usage

DevOps Manager

Jan 2018 - Sep 2022
Mindful/VHT • Cleveland/Akron, Ohio Area

Management of the DevOps team with responsibilities in cloud platform architecture, automation, operations, and security. Contribute to research and prototyping of new technology. Management of team backlog and work tracking. Partnering with our internal product organization to identify and prioritize critical engineering and security work. Assist team members with personal growth and career goals. Work closely with the business to achieve and maintain security and compliance posture. Project Highlights - Engineering leader in the transformation from a traditional enterprise software vendor into a cloud-based SaaS vendor - Technical lead representing cloud operations where we achieved SOC2 certification - Leader and engineering contributor in efforts to increase the scalability of our cloud platform by 10x, leading to 50% revenue growth - Leader and engineering contributor for our initial project to build out end-to-end automated build and deployment processes for our flagship cloud products

  • Engineering leader and team manager in the transformation program from a traditional enterprise software vendor into a cloud-based SaaS vendor
  • Technical lead representing cloud operations where we achieved SOC2 certification
  • Leader and engineering contributor in efforts to increase the scalability of our cloud platform by 10x, leading to 50% revenue growth
  • Leader and engineering contributor for our initial project to build out end-to-end automated build and deployment processes for our flagship cloud products

Advanced Technology Development

Jan 2008 - Dec 2017
Stone Donut, LLC • Oakwood Village, OH

Development of solution architecture, technology platform and standards. Research into new technologies and development methodologies to improve delivery platform. Development of internal tools and frameworks for solution delivery. Consulting medium and large enterprise clients on the design and development of integration solutions. Assist with analysis and mapping business requirements to technical solutions. Work with project managers to create project estimates. Manage development teams to ensure adherence to architecture and development standards. Mentor junior and senior developer staff members.

  • Created a cloud-native web application for managing product master data for a retailer to support both their physical locations and multiple e-commerce marketplace platforms
  • Integrated Dynamics AX with an external vendor management system as part of a digital transformation program for a leading provider of digital imaging products and services
  • Integrated critical business systems with Dynamics AX using BizTalk for a $10 billion distributor of mobile devices and accessories as part of a digital transformation project spanning 40 countries
  • Integrated key customers, vendors, and government compliance agencies with Dynamics AX and BizTalk for a $2 billion beverage distributor
  • Integrated Dynamics AX with internal manufacturing and finance systems for a $60 billion manufacturer of computer equipment as part of a lean manufacturing transformation project

Senior E-Business/Integration Developer

Apr 2006 - Dec 2007
The Tranzonic Companies • Mayfield Heights, OH

Design and implementations of integration and middleware architecture as part of an ERP implementation project. Implemented BizTalk 2006 R2 as the integration platform as part of a project to deploy the Dynamics AX 4.0 ERP system. Developed AX AIF modifications to support integration requirements. Implemented integration between AX and Manhattan ILS. Used BizTalk to integrate existing legacy line-of-business systems with Dynamix AX. Managed legacy EDI system using Sterling GENTRAN Server for AS/400.

Network Administrator

Jul 2004 - Apr 2006
Athens Foods, Inc. • Brookpark, OH

Managed internal information technology functions including network administration, systems administration and user support. Managed and implemented EDI trading partners using Sterling GENTRAN for Windows. Maintained existing trading partner connections and developed connections and maps to bring new trading partners on board. Developed and maintained the company website using C# and ASP.NET. Managed and maintained the Made2Manage ERP system. Performed ERP functions like user and security management, database maintenance and handling system patches and upgrades.

Systems Developer

Feb 2001 - Mar 2004
RPM International Inc. • Medina, OH

Designed and developed internal line-of-business applications using C# and ASP.NET. Initiated and developed a replacement capital expenditure tracking system to manage project spend across the entire enterprise. Managed and maintained the risk tracking system used for SOX compliance. Maintained the internal employee portal.

Education

B.S. in Computer Science

1998 - 2001
The University of Akron

Certifications

Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist - BizTalk

Microsoft
Scaled Agile, Inc.

Amazon EKS Deep Dive

Linux Academy

Awards & Honors

Star Award

Apr 2020
VHT
Key customer win

Star Award

Dec 2019
VHT
Inspiration

Volunteer Work

High School Ministry Leader

Aug 2023 - Present
The Chapel

Small group leader and sound board for high school students.

Elementary Ministry Leader

Aug 2018 - Aug 2023
The Chapel

Small group leader for elementary students on Sunday mornings.

Skills

Engineering Leadership

Engineering Management • Architecture • Software Project Management

DevOps

Terraform • Ansible • Jenkins • CircleCI • Automation • Continuous Integration • Continuous Delivery • Datadog • PagerDuty

Cloud Engineering

Amazon Web Services (AWS) • Cloud Architecture • Cloud Operations • Cost Optimization

Languages

EnglishNative Speaker

Interests

DevOps

Platform Engineering

Small Web