Benton Roberts’ Résumé

Profile

I am a deeply experienced computer professional with the technical and communication skills to apply cutting-edge digital technology to any organization’s bottom line - including machine learning and large language models. With more than 20 years of industry experience, I combine the hardcore technical expertise of an old-school sysadmin, the state-of-the-art practices of an AI-enhanced programmer, and the business pragmatism of a startup veteran.

Hands-On Skills

Software

Full-stack Software Development skills in Python, Go, Ruby, Clojure, and more
Accelerated by Claude and other cutting-edge AI agents
Experience with the standard Python data science toolchain: Pandas, PyTorch, Jupyter, et al.
Comfortable with different coding styles: imperative / compositional; object-oriented; functional
Preferences for a fast text editor + terminal over an IDE, and for pragmatism over perfection

Systems

Expert application and systems troubleshooting
Fluent with modern DevOps, continuous integration, deployment techniques
Able to work productively in a highly regulated environment

Scalability

Expert in managing containers and orchestration at scale: machine-learning workloads; ETL; legacy and stateful apps
Expert in monitoring and management techniques
Currently serving as Managing Director of Cloud Services

Deeper Expertise

Product Development

Assess business and technical requirements among technical and business stakeholders
Negotiate a common shape for company applications
Perform pre-sales and post-sales technical support and product integration

Enterprise Operations

Implement app deployment workflows based on immutable artifacts
Deep-dive troubleshoot into a wide range of problems, from the browser to the kernel
Develop flexible monitoring and tracing solutions driven by constantly evolving requirements and standards

Cloud Workload Management

Containerize applications correctly, and consolidate virtual hosts
Identify and improve application resource usage
Develop container-level and cluster-level autoscaling plans for Kubernetes or ECS

Recent Experience

2024-present

Managing Director, Cloud Services, Elevate, Inc. (Phoenix / D.C.)

Building AI-enhanced solutions to support eDiscovery, compliance, and other legal services.
Working on product development, deep coding, plus infrastructure and identity management.
Non-technical duties include technical pre-sales / marketing, and leadership / mentoring.

2022–2024

Deputy CTO, Redgrave Strategic Data Solutions (San Francisco / Denver / D.C.)

Designed and implemented bespoke software solutions to support legal operations.
Technical duties included a mix of case work, infrastructure development, and product development.
Non-technical duties included vendor vetting and management, technical pre-sales / marketing, and leadership / mentoring.

2011–2021

Principal Staff Cloud Engineer, Medidata Solutions, Inc. (New York / San Francisco)

Designed and implemented several different deployment mechanisms based on evolving business requirements. Adopting container-based deployment system saved the company 5-figures per month in AWS costs through increased server density.
Played a key role in managing the company’s cloud footprint, as it grew from several VMs to several thousand, in a highly regulated industry
Involved in negotiating and evangelizing company technical standards, from post-IPO to recent company acquisition.

Benton Roberts