Kep Protopopov

Summary

I’m a driven technology leader with over 15 years of experience in cloud database engineering and DevOps, passionate about building high-performing, globally distributed teams that deliver innovative solutions. My career reflects a blend of technical expertise and strategic leadership, with a focus on operational excellence and collaboration. Currently, as an Associate Director/Principal Engineer at Illumina, I oversee a team maintaining cloud database platforms with 99.9% uptime, enabling business growth and customer success. I’ve spearheaded cost-saving initiatives, reducing expenses by $0.8M–$1.2M annually through enhanced support efficiency, and merged database teams to boost project delivery speed by 20%. My technical toolkit includes architecting scalable solutions with Snowflake, Redshift, and AWS, optimizing ETL pipelines, and automating operations using Ansible, Terraform, and Jenkins. I ensure compliance with standards like HIPAA, ISO-27001, and SOX, while leveraging Hadoop, MySQL, HBase, and Hive for Big Data integration. Notable achievements include leading an AWS migration with <1% downtime, improving performance by 200-300%, and standardizing architectures across 10+ applications for seamless interoperability. My skill set spans database architecture, performance optimization, cost monitoring, system reliability, high-availability solutions, data lake integration, Scaled Agile (SAFe), monitoring systems, compliance auditing, and team mentoring. Beyond work, I’m passionate about mentoring emerging tech talent, staying ahead of trends in cloud computing, and engaging with tech education communities. Measurable wins—like cutting costs by 30-50% with Snowflake integration—fuel my drive for innovation. Let’s connect to explore cloud strategies, leadership insights, or collaboration opportunities—I’m excited to network with fellow innovators!