Pysynapse

Resume

Kris Kokomoor

Principal Data, Platform & Systems Engineer

Cloud architecture, AI-augmented engineering, and engineering leadership

Engagement Models

Permanent leadership (Principal/Director), fractional head of data, contract-to-hire, and strategic platform consulting.

Typical Problems Solved

Metric trust issues, agentic dbt/BigQuery configuration, fragile ingestion, schema drift, and complex cloud-native architecture design.

Common Stacks

Python, SQL, Airflow, dbt, BigQuery, Kafka, Snowflake, OpenClaw, Cloud Functions, Terraform, AWS, GCP, Prometheus, Grafana.

Professional Summary

Experienced engineering leader and hands-on builder specializing in cloud-native data platforms, large-scale ingestion, and AI-augmented system design. Seeking Principal/Staff Engineer, Director of Engineering, or Fractional Leadership roles that value long-term ownership, reliability, and strategic modernization. Combines deep systems-level expertise (Linux, infrastructure, performance engineering) with modern cloud and AI tooling to deliver auditable, cost-aware solutions.

Core Skills

  • Data Platforms: BigQuery, PostgreSQL, dbt, Airflow, Kafka, Snowflake, PACS, pub/sub
  • Cloud & Infrastructure: GCP, AWS, Cloud Functions (Gen2), Cloud Run, Terraform, Pulumi, Docker, Docker Compose
  • AI & Agentic Systems: Agentic dbt/BigQuery management, LLM integration, prompt engineering, OpenClaw, agentic workflows
  • Systems Engineering: Linux/UNIX, networking, process & memory diagnostics, performance tuning, distributed systems
  • Quality & Reliability: Validation frameworks, schema drift detection, observability, alerting, reconciliation
  • Languages & Tools: Python, SQL, Bash, Git, REST APIs, JSON workflows, Prometheus, Grafana, PySpark

Experience

Podimetrics | Principal Quality Engineer, Data & Platform Engineering (2024-2025)

  • Designed and implemented a quality-first data platform supporting patient-facing and internal analytics products across GCP in a regulated healthcare environment.
  • Built and operated Airflow-orchestrated pipelines integrating Cloud Functions (Gen2), BigQuery, dbt, and external providers for reliable ingestion and transformation.
  • Explored use of LLM-assisted validation and anomaly detection to accelerate triage and improve signal detection in pipeline monitoring.
  • Architected and deployed a production Airflow 3.x environment on GCP with infrastructure-as-code discipline (Pulumi), operational visibility, and PostgreSQL metadata backend.
  • Developed an early-warning reliability framework using Airflow, dbt tests, BigQuery metrics, and Slack alerts to surface failures before they became business surprises.

Recent Exploration — LLM & Agentic AI Systems

  • Actively integrating LLMs into engineering workflows for automated dbt model generation and BigQuery partition/schema management.
  • Built and configured local agent-based environments using **OpenClaw** to explore persistent context, memory models, tool invocation, and multi-step reasoning workflows.
  • Investigating agentic patterns in data engineering: automated validation, metadata-aware SQL generation, and assisted debugging of Airflow/dbt pipelines.

SURL | Founder and Principal Engineer (2023-2024)

  • Designed and built a secure, auditable data transfer platform for large regulated datasets where commodity collaboration tools were insufficient.
  • Architected an event-driven system using Kafka, PostgreSQL, Python services, S3, and Terraform on AWS to support authorization, auditing, and lifecycle control.
  • Implemented Prometheus and Grafana observability plus explicit ingress and egress cost tracking to support operational transparency and cost-aware decision-making.
  • Owned architecture, implementation, deployment, monitoring, and production debugging end to end.

Pfizer | Senior Engineering and Data Leadership Roles (2009-2023)

  • Led and supported large-scale clinical data and image metadata processing initiatives using AWS, Spark, PySpark, and Snowflake in high-stakes regulated environments.
  • Designed search capabilities for clinical image archives spanning DICOM attributes, trial parameters, and outcome data to improve access for clinicians and research teams.
  • Helped drive modernization of global clinical and analytical platforms supporting regulated research, reporting, and cross-domain analytics.
  • Supported secure, scalable clinical data sharing and anonymization analysis in compliance-sensitive environments.

Early Career | Systems and Infrastructure Engineering (1986-2009)

  • Held progressively senior engineering roles across government, aerospace, healthcare, and enterprise environments.
  • Built deep foundations in UNIX, Linux, networking, infrastructure, and performance engineering that continue to inform cloud architecture work.

Education

  • B.S. Mathematics, University of Florida
  • M.S. Electrical Engineering, University of Florida
  • M.B.A., University of Rhode Island
Contact Kris Back to Home

Available for permanent leadership roles, fractional Head of Data/Platform roles, and strategic consulting engagements.