From Mainframe and Java enterprise systems in the early 2000s to architecting cloud-native, AI-assisted crew automation today. Aviation, healthcare, financial services, e-commerce — different industries, the same instinct for finding out why a system actually broke.
I architect and lead development on JetBlue’s Deadhead Automation (DHA) system — automating crew deadhead assignments across thousands of daily flights using event-driven workflows on Azure Service Bus and Durable Functions. This is the system I write about on LinkedIn — the SOAP integrations, the silent failures, the 2am debugging sessions are all real, drawn from this work.
Led the re-architecture of DHA from Azure Functions to a structured NestJS / TypeScript microservices platform, improving testability, maintainability, and team velocity. Built SkySOLVER / TOPS IROP message processing pipelines for real-time crew eligibility evaluation during irregular operations — under tight SLA constraints, where a wrong decision has real operational consequences.
“Implemented end-to-end observability using OpenTelemetry — distributed tracing, structured logging, and Grafana Cloud dashboards — reducing mean time to diagnosis on production incidents.”
Designed the Azure-native infrastructure underneath all of it: AKS, CosmosDB, Service Bus, Key Vault, ACR, Private Endpoints — treating security and compliance as first-class requirements, not afterthoughts. Mentor and guide a team of 10 engineers, defining architecture decision records, coding standards, and code review processes. Increasingly leverage AI-assisted development — Claude and GitHub Copilot — for architecture reasoning, code review, and documentation, while staying clear-eyed about where it helps and where it confidently misleads.
A shorter, transitional engagement — contributed to platform engineering initiatives in the period leading up to the JetBlue assignment. Brief, but it’s where the Sutherland relationship and the technical credibility that led to the JetBlue engagement were established.
Founded and ran a software consultancy delivering web and enterprise applications across e-commerce and services sectors. This was the JavaScript decade — staying hands-on across the full stack as the ecosystem itself kept shifting underneath: Node.js, Express, Vue.js, Svelte, React, PostgreSQL, MongoDB.
Conducted JavaScript and Node.js training sessions for developer groups — translating dense language concepts into practical, project-driven learning. That instinct for teaching from first principles is the same one behind the Observability Series and the tutorials going up on this site now.
Owned end-to-end client delivery — scoping, architecture, estimation, development, production support — which meant being the architect, the developer, and the person who got the call when something broke, all at once.
Seven years leading development and maintenance for enterprise healthcare and financial clients across Illinois and Missouri — the era that taught me what “production” actually means when real money and real medical claims are on the line.
At Blue Cross Blue Shield (Florida, Chicago) — claims processing, FSA/HRA adjudication, enrolment and payment processing. At GE Consumer Finance (Ohio), Northern Trust, and Bank of America (Florida) — consumer finance, card processing, trust accounts. At Wellpoint (Saint Louis) — health insurance platform development and maintenance.