Ramachandran is available for hire
Hire RamachandranRamachandran Balasubrahmanian
Verified Expert in Engineering
DataOps Developer
Bengaluru, India
Toptal member since July 3, 2026
Bio
Ramachandran is a director with over 15 years of experience in data governance, data platforms, and technology controls. At Fair Isaac Corporation (FICO), he led enterprise data technology control governance for 50+ financial services clients, cutting incidents by 95% and protecting 232+ million records per cycle. His expertise spans data management and end-to-end ownership of enterprise data platforms for regulated financial services.
Portfolio
Sabbatical Leave
Apache Hop, Data Quality Governance, Data Quality, Data Governance...
FICO
ServiceNow, AWS IoT, Python, SQL, CI/CD Pipelines, Microsoft Purview, DataOps...
FICO
Python, CI/CD Pipelines, DataOps, Data Quality, Master Data Management (MDM)...
Experience
- ELT - 15 years
- DataOps - 15 years
- ETL - 15 years
- Data Management - 13 years
- Data Governance - 12 years
- Data Quality - 12 years
- Master Data Management (MDM) - 11 years
- MDM - 9 years
Preferred Environment
ServiceNow, CI/CD Pipelines, Master Data Management (MDM), Data Management, Data Integration, Data Migration, Apache Hop, P&C Insurance, Guidewire, Guidewire Data hub
The most amazing...
...operating model I've built cut control failures by 95% and protected 232+ million records per cycle for enterprise financial-services clients (50+).
Work Experience
Family Care, Learner, Explorer
2025 - 2026
Sabbatical Leave
- Context: Planned one-year sabbatical for family caregiving — circumstances fully resolved. Returned to market May 2026, immediately available.
- Production AI: Designed, built, and deployed MediGovern RAG (live dashboard, production API, open-source repo) and Pipeline Pulse EDP platform demo.
- Thought leadership: Launched The Governed Data & AI Brief(2,000+); published EDP knowledge hub, runbook, templates, and leadership perspectives.
- Credentials: Advanced DAMA CDMP toward Master (approval pending); Anthropic Claude & MCP certified; Scrum Master 2025; Data-Driven Decision Making 2025.
Technologies: Apache Hop, Data Quality Governance, Data Quality, Data Governance, Data Masking, GDPR, PDPL, HIPAA, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Data Mapping, QuickBooks Online, Spreadsheets, Algorithmic Trading
Associate Director, Senior Manager
2022 - 2025
FICO
- Owned enterprise-scale data technology control governance across metadata, quality, reliability, and AI-readiness for 50+ financial services clients. Cut control-related incidents by 95% in three months.
- Represented platform governance in executive and cross-LOB forums. Clarified application owner, information owner, and data owner accountability while driving adoption of technology controls.
- Implemented metadata validation, anomaly detection, ServiceNow escalation, RCA evidence packs, and preventive quality contracts. Reduced mean time to resolution 4x.
- Partnered with data architecture and engineering on ingestion design, lineage, and control integration. Supported $10+ million ARR, delivered $2+ million annual savings, and reduced onboarding from four weeks to two to three days.
- Led 25+ engineers across India, the US, and Canada. Ran governance forums, defect reviews, and stewardship routines to surface and prevent control gaps.
Technologies: ServiceNow, AWS IoT, Python, SQL, CI/CD Pipelines, Microsoft Purview, DataOps, Data Quality, Master Data Management (MDM), Data Management, Data Integration, ELT, ETL, MDM, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Data Mapping, Integration, QuickBooks API, QuickBooks Online, Scalability, Spreadsheets, Algorithmic Trading
Manager
2018 - 2022
FICO
- Governed enterprise metadata and validation platforms (AWS Athena, Python), cutting pipeline incidents by 50% in three months and enforcing quality checks at ingest.
- Scaled SLA-driven reconciliation, CI/CD quality gates, and change controls across 75+ GB batch workloads and 2.5-3 million API calls per cycle. Improved engineering velocity by approximately 50%.
- Automated metadata-driven data quality checks using AWS Athena, Python, and Boto3, reducing incidents by 50% in three months and onboarding clients 70% faster with zero custom rework per client.
Technologies: Python, CI/CD Pipelines, DataOps, Data Quality, Master Data Management (MDM), Data Management, Data Integration, ELT, ETL, MDM, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Data Mapping, Integration, QuickBooks Online, Scalability, Spreadsheets, Algorithmic Trading
Lead, Associate Manager
2016 - 2018
FICO
- Established PII protection, access-control, ingestion, and reconciliation foundations across 100+ data paths, later extended to protect 232+ million regulated records per cycle. Contributed reviews and RFP inputs tied to $5 million in new ARR.
- Built enterprise ingestion, validation, transformation, and reconciliation pipelines for decisioning and analytics platforms serving global financial clients.
- Delivered COBOL-to-JSON transformation for 3,500-column datasets, 25-35 GB files, and 5 million records within a 2-hour SLA.
- Led technical reviews, RFP inputs, and client demonstrations that contributed to 6+ new enterprise clients and $5 million in new ARR.
Technologies: DataOps, Data Quality, Master Data Management (MDM), Data Management, Data Integration, ELT, ETL, MDM, Data Mapping, Integration, QuickBooks Online, Scalability, Spreadsheets, Algorithmic Trading
Technical Lead, Data Migration, Reconciliation, and Enterprise Integration
2015 - 2016
HCL Technologies
- Designed Guidewire Insurance Suite migration frameworks and pipeline optimizations for BFSI clients, reducing delivery time by approximately 32%, improving ingestion by 40%, and improving query performance by 30%.
- Spearheaded Guidewire Insurance Suite migrations for global teams using reusable ETL, validation, and reconciliation frameworks.
- Built validation, cleansing, and SQL optimization workflows for BFSI and publishing clients.
Technologies: DataOps, Data Quality, Master Data Management (MDM), Data Management, Data Integration, ELT, ETL, Guidewire, Data Mapping, Scalability, Spreadsheets
Associate Tech Lead, Programmer Analyst, Software Engineer
2009 - 2015
EY
- Delivered BFSI data migration, reconciliation, and technology control programs, progressing into cross-functional validation and delivery leadership responsibilities.
- Delivered data migration, reporting, SQL automation, and enterprise application support across consulting and delivery roles.
- Progressed from software engineering into data management, reconciliation, and platform delivery leadership, the foundation for everything that followed at FICO.
Technologies: DataOps, Data Quality, Master Data Management (MDM), Data Management, Data Integration, ELT, ETL, Guidewire, Data Mapping, Scalability, Spreadsheets
Experience
Enterprise Data Platform
https://pipeline-pulse-79.lovable.appI worked on an enterprise data platform, aligning a control plane covering 17 chapters (the 11 wheel knowledge areas plus ethics, AI governance, maturity assessment, and the organizational enablers), each mapped to a working module with evidence.
Metadata Driven Data Quality Framework and Reconciliation
I reduced the resolution time from 20-100 hours to under 4 hours and compressed client onboarding from 4 weeks to 2-3 days. This reduced client onboarding time by more than 70% and incident reduction by 95%.
Golden Record RAG Pipeline
https://golden-records-demo.lovable.appI built a production-deployed customer data platform that resolves fragmented customer data into a single trusted record for fintech compliance. It features entity resolution, survivorship, attribute lineage, vector RAG, and GDPR tooling, all running end-to-end on a real-scale dataset of 89,198 records. You can explore the live application, animated architecture, and guided playbook directly from this page.
Education
2005 - 2008
Master's Degree in Computer Science
KGISL Institute of Information Management - India
2002 - 2005
Bachelor's Degree in Mathematics and Statistics
University of Calicut - Kozhikode, India
Certifications
MAY 2026 - MAY 2029
DAMA CDMP Practitioner
DAMA
DECEMBER 2024 - DECEMBER 2025
SAFe
Scaled Agile Framework
FEBRUARY 2016 - PRESENT
Guidewire Data Hub and InfoCenter
Guidewire
Skills
Libraries/APIs
QuickBooks API
Tools
Spreadsheets, Collibra
Paradigms
ETL, Database Design
Storage
Master Data Management (MDM), Data Integration
Languages
Python, SQL, Python 3
Platforms
AWS IoT, Apache Hop
Other
Data Governance, DataOps, Data Quality, Data Management, ELT, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Data Mapping, Integration, QuickBooks Online, Scalability, Algorithmic Trading, MDM, Guidewire, Guidewire Data hub, ServiceNow, CI/CD Pipelines, Microsoft Purview, Data Migration, Lovable, Vibe Coding, Data Quality Governance, Metadata, DAMA DMBOK, SAFE Scrum Master, Data Management FUndamentals, Statistics, Mathematical Logic, P&C Insurance, Data Masking, GDPR, PDPL, HIPAA
Collaboration That Works
How to Work with Toptal
Toptal matches you directly with global industry experts from our network in hours—not weeks or months.
1
Share your needs
Discuss your requirements and refine your scope in a call with a Toptal domain expert.
2
Choose your talent
Get a short list of expertly matched talent within 24 hours to review, interview, and choose from.
3
Start your risk-free talent trial
Work with your chosen talent on a trial basis for up to two weeks. Pay only if you decide to hire them.
Top talent is in high demand.
Start hiring