Austin is available for hire

Austin Dimmer

Verified Expert in Engineering

DevSecOps Developer

Location

Sotogrande, Spain

Toptal Member Since

April 20, 2021

Austin is a highly qualified and experienced technology professional. Through his advanced knowledge of cloud computing, software engineering, and DevSecOps, he helps clients deliver faster time-to-market, increased quality, and accelerated innovation. Austin has provided extensive skills to prestigious clients like the European Commission, Bloomberg, CheckHQ, Involve AI, Lego, and Publicis.

Portfolio

Volemic

AWS Cloud Development Kit (CDK), Terraform, Python, GitHub

Boehringer Ingelheim

AWS IAM, Terraform, Terragrunt, AWS CloudFormation...

Bloomberg Industry Group - Main

Amazon Web Services (AWS), AWS Lambda, Terraform, AWS CloudFormation...

Experience

C# - 12 years Azure - 12 years Human-computer Interaction (HCI) - 12 years Cybersecurity - 10 years Python - 5 years TypeScript - 5 years DevSecOps - 5 years

Availability

Part-time

Preferred Environment

Amazon Web Services (AWS), Azure, TypeScript, C#, Python, Visual Studio, Visual Studio Code (VS Code), Windows PowerShell

The most amazing...

...thing I've developed is an advanced voice command system that allows me to control the applications that run on my computer and makes me more productive.

Work Experience

Senior DevOps Engineer

2023 - PRESENT

Volemic

Helped the team produce a prioritized and strategic roadmap for technology adoption and architectural evolution.
Upgraded the core infrastructure from Terraform to AWS CDK to more closely align with client needs and business capabilities.
Deployed AWS Security Reference Architecture to help improve AWS accounts governance and security posture.

Technologies: AWS Cloud Development Kit (CDK), Terraform, Python, GitHub

Senior DevOps Engineer

2023 - PRESENT

Boehringer Ingelheim

Created Terraform modules for core AWS services that enabled code sharing and embedded AWS best practices.
Collaborated on a large-scale Data Lakehouse project with multiple stakeholders across the organization.
Established high-quality structured logging and troubleshooting diagnostics capabilities for team members that greatly enhanced the debuggability and maintainability of the team's IaC codebase.
Assisted team members in producing POCs that helped validate and verify core security and scalability concerns.

Technologies: AWS IAM, Terraform, Terragrunt, AWS CloudFormation, AWS Cloud Development Kit (CDK), Amazon EC2, Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), AWS Config, Amazon Route 53, Amazon S3 (AWS S3), Ruby, QA Testing, IaaS, Amazon Elastic Container Service (Amazon ECS), Amazon SageMaker, Databricks, Python, Python 3

Hands-on AWS Cloud Security Architect

2022 - 2023

Bloomberg Industry Group - Main

Developed a GitOps framework using AWS CDK that enhanced the team's ability to ship software more securely, faster, and with higher quality.
Created detailed documentation and onboarding support processes for the GitOps framework.
Developed and executed a detailed migration plan to move from an AWS Landing Zone to AWS Control Tower for AWS account governance.

Technologies: Amazon Web Services (AWS), AWS Lambda, Terraform, AWS CloudFormation, IT Security, Cloud, AWS Cloud Development Kit (CDK), AWS Control Tower, Cloud Architecture, AWS Cloud Architecture, Governance, Cloud Security

AWS Cloud Architect

2022 - 2022

Disney Streaming Services

Planned the move from an isolated (non-governed) AWS environment into Disney-governed AWS environments in line with Disney governance and service standards.
Developed code to automate the migration process with high precision, repeatability, and reliability.
Led the handover efforts to the new team after the migration effort had proven to be a 100% success with zero downtime for the migrated services.
Led the Disney architecture and security governance reviews to ensure migrated services aligned with Disney expectations and standards.

Technologies: Amazon Web Services (AWS), AWS IAM, Kubernetes, Jenkins, Spinnaker, PostgreSQL, Migration, Cloud Migration, Data Migration, Compliance, Governance, IT Governance

Senior DevSecOps Engineer

2021 - 2022

Check Technologies, Inc

Established world-class AWS accounts governance systems and implemented AWS Security Reference Architecture.
Implemented AWS SSO and deprecated AWS Access Keys for all team members.
Developed first-class detection, logging, and monitoring capabilities.
Delivered world-leading infrastructure security automation.
Implemented world-class threat detection and incident response capabilities.

Technologies: Amazon Web Services (AWS), TypeScript, AWS Cloud Development Kit (CDK), Terraform, Infrastructure as Code (IaC), GitLab, GitLab CI/CD, Docker, AWS CloudFormation, IT Security, Endpoint Security, SecOps, Documentation, Penetration Testing

Lead MLOps Engineer

2021 - 2022

involve.ai

Analyzed and improved the efficiency, accuracy, scalability, and stability of ML-enabled content processing workflows.
Provided technical guidance and coaching to developers and engineers on maintaining best practices.
Managed a world-class engineering DevSecOps and MLOps organization that served as a center of excellence for other teams.
Partnered with engineering, marketing, CS, product, sales, and machine learning heads.
Implemented new relic synthetics, APM, ML model endpoint monitoring, and serverless application tracing to enhance observability, monitoring, and alerting capabilities.
Enhanced Involve AI AWS Accounts governance and management significantly. Implemented AWS multi-account best practices and AWS security reference architecture.
Implemented a comprehensive testing methodology. Defined all aspects of development, from appropriate technology and workflow to coding standards.
Determined and implemented IT security strategy. Maintained SOC 2 Type II compliance. Delivered and maintained GDPR compliance.
Reviewed contracts, data processing agreements, and other agreements for accuracy and compliance.

Technologies: TypeScript, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Amazon SageMaker, Apache Airflow, Amazon Elastic Container Service (Amazon ECS), AWS Fargate, Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), Amazon Aurora, PostgreSQL, SQL, Python, Architecture, Infrastructure as Code (IaC), AWS Cloud Development Kit (CDK), Terraform, Docker, Docker Compose, MLflow, DVC, IT Security, ISO 27001, Endpoint Security, SecOps, Documentation, Penetration Testing

Senior DevSecOps Engineer

2021 - 2021

involve.ai

Played a major role in helping to secure a $16.5 million investment funding round.
Created a prioritized operational plan that improved DevSecOps processes and software delivery capabilities. Designed, architected, and implemented infrastructure automation with AWS CDK.
Improved the product security posture and CI/CD quality gates significantly.
Collaborated effectively with a diverse team of front-end, back-end, and full-stack developers.
Helped train and develop client team members on advanced infrastructure as code automation technology. Generated comprehensive system documentation.
Conducted AWS Well-Architected reviews to ensure system reliability, performance, security, scalability, and cost-effectiveness.
Designed and implemented a serverless architecture for a mass mailing email application using AWS CDK. Collaborated with the development team on this project. Email delivery throughput was enhanced 10x over the previous system.
Implemented AWS SSO integration with GSuite that enhanced employee system access and security.
Configured Perimeter 81 client VPN connectivity to AWS.
Implemented AWS Control Tower. Established good security hygiene and governance using AWS Security Hub at the AWS account level.

Technologies: Amazon Web Services (AWS), Docker, Docker Compose, TypeScript, JavaScript, Serverless, AWS Lambda, AWS Fargate, Amazon Aurora, MySQL, Apache, PHP, Agile, User Experience (UX), Cloudflare, New Relic, Amazon Route 53, AWS Cloud Development, AWS CloudFormation, GitHub, Continuous Delivery (CD), CI/CD Pipelines, Cypress, IT Security, ISO 27001, Endpoint Security, SecOps, Documentation, AWS Cloud Architecture, Cloud Infrastructure, Data Privacy, Data Protection

Senior DevSecOps Engineer

2020 - 2021

European Commission

Implemented an AWS cloud landing zone that improved baseline cloud security posture management.
Delivered 100% automated DevSecOps pipeline for a digital forensics application used by computer security incident response capability (CSIRC) teams.
Implemented an Azure AD and AWS SSO solution that helped improve the daily productivity of around 50 CSIRC and SOC teammates and eliminated the need for IAM access keys.
Onboarded GitHub Enterprise and GitHub Actions to help streamline collaboration, developer productivity, CI/CD pipelines, and the ability to ship higher-quality software faster.
Produced comprehensive documentation on DevSecOps processes that facilitated internal upskilling and more productive collaboration with vendors.
Helped lead the development team to an on-time launch of the cloud digital forensics data-gathering application used by the CSIRC teams.
Introduced Azure AD PIM to the team to reduce permanent admin role assignments.
Implemented CIS remediation Lambda functions to improve AWS CIS compliance secure score from 45% to over 90%.
Collaborated on the production of cloud security and CI/CD threat models.

Technologies: Azure, TypeScript, Python, Windows PowerShell, Threat Modeling, Cybersecurity, DevSecOps, AWS DevOps, Azure DevOps, GitHub, Linux, Amazon EC2, Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), AWS CloudFormation, AWS Cloud Development Kit (CDK), Amazon Web Services (AWS), Continuous Delivery (CD), Continuous Integration (CI), Security, AWS IAM, Pulumi, SAML, Single Sign-on (SSO), Static Application Security Testing (SAST), Azure Active Directory, Solution Architecture, Cloud, Software Architecture, Cloud Security, Networks, Networking, IT Security, Endpoint Security, SecOps, Documentation, Penetration Testing, AWS Cloud Architecture, Cloud Infrastructure

Senior DevSecOps Engineer

2019 - 2020

LEGO

Created solution architecture for a serverless data integration application.
Implemented a fully automated CI/CD pipeline for development teams.
Trained Lego employees on AWS technology and best practices.
Introduced Serverless best practices to Lego B2B development teams.
Conducted AWS Well-Architected Framework reviews of developed systems.
Improved secrets management systems and Lego employee security awareness.
Contributed to and participated in Agile processes, training, and workshops with the rest of the team.

Technologies: Serverless, Serverless Architecture, Serverless Framework, Amazon Aurora, Azure, Microsoft Graph, AWS Cloud Development Kit (CDK), AWS CloudFormation, TypeScript, Cybersecurity, DevSecOps, Python, Security, SAML, Single Sign-on (SSO), Azure Active Directory, Amazon Web Services (AWS), AWS IAM, Continuous Delivery (CD), Continuous Integration (CI), Solution Architecture, Software Architecture, PostgreSQL, Cloud Security, Networks, Networking, IT Security, Endpoint Security, SecOps, Documentation

Lead DevSecOps Engineer

2018 - 2019

Publicis Worldwide

Delivered a three-phase DevSecOps maturity project in collaboration with remote development teams.
Enhanced the security posture of both external client projects and internal systems in line with ISO 27001 Stage 1.
Undertook GDPR compliance audits for both internal and external client systems with solution recommendations.
Led a successful migration of internal systems from Azure to AWS to help streamline internal operations and skills requirements.
Visited development teams on an international field trip to Belarus and helped build relations.
Contributed to a major pitch with my technical expertise, helping the agency win a large contract with Samsung Electronics.
Created a POC for a secure automated data analytics reporting solution using AWS Redshift, AWS Glue, and AWS RDS for SQL Server.
Developed a POC for a Java-based CMS system deployed to AWS ECS using AWS CDK.
Studied for and passed AWS Certified DevOps Engineer Professional exam.

Technologies: Agile, AWS CloudFormation, GDPR, AWS Cloud Development Kit (CDK), SQL, Azure SQL, TypeScript, Cybersecurity, DevSecOps, Python, Amazon Web Services (AWS), AWS IAM, Azure, Security, Continuous Delivery (CD), Continuous Integration (CI), Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST), Static Application Security Testing (SAST), Solution Architecture, Software Architecture, Cloud Security, Networks, Networking, IT Security, ISO 27001, Endpoint Security, SecOps, Documentation, AWS Cloud Architecture, Azure DevOps

Cloud Solutions Architect

2016 - 2018

Emakina Group

Collaborated with the Emakina CTO and developed the cloud solution architecture for a major strategic client who needed to deploy hundreds of websites at scale with consistent, secure, and compliant governance processes.
Led the development of the website factory after completion of the PoC and contract signing.
Delivered DevSecOps consultancy and mentoring for application teams to help them onboard to the website factory.
Obtained the AWS Certified Solutions Architect—Associate certification.

Technologies: SQL, IIS, Windows Server, Windows PowerShell, Sitefinity, C#, C#.NET, AWS WAF, AWS CloudFormation, Amazon EC2, Amazon Route 53, Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), DevSecOps, DevOps, Azure, Azure SQL, Python, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Git, GitHub, AWS IAM, SAML, Single Sign-on (SSO), Azure Active Directory, Solution Architecture, Software Architecture, Cloud Security, Networks, Networking, VPN, IT Security, Endpoint Security, SecOps, Documentation, Penetration Testing

Lead Software Architect

2008 - 2018

Effective Computing

Created a speech recognition system that controls 200+ software applications in a deeply automated way.
Created DevSecOps CI/CD pipelines for software distribution through alpha, beta, and production deployment phases.
Implemented capability for distributed system control using voice commands.
Created highly evolvable and modular system architecture that allows adaptions to a rapidly changing technological landscape.
Obtained Microsoft Specialist: Programming in C# and Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer: Universal Windows Platform certifications.

Technologies: Windows, XAML, Telerik WPF, Telerik, Visual Studio, C#, Windows PowerShell, Architecture, Azure DevOps, User Experience (UX), Human Interface Design, Human-computer Interaction (HCI), ReactiveX, C++, Windows Communication Foundation (WCF), Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), Azure, Azure SQL, SQL, SQLite, DevSecOps, DevOps, CI/CD Pipelines, Git, GitHub, Security, Azure Active Directory, Continuous Integration (CI), Continuous Delivery (CD), Solution Architecture, Software Architecture, Cloud Security, Networks, Networking, IT Security, Endpoint Security, SecOps

Systems Administrator

2008 - 2017

Effective Computing

Set up, configured, and operated Azure Security Center.
Set up, configured, and operated Microsoft Office 365, Microsoft Office 365 Security and Compliance Center, and Microsoft Office 365 mobile device compliance.
Set up, configured, and operated Microsoft Forefront Threat Management Gateway, Microsoft Active Directory, Windows Group Policy, and Microsoft SQL Server.
Procured and upgraded computing and network hardware at favorable prices.
Performed Windows and Linux OS updates and maintenance.

Technologies: Office 365, Azure, SQL, Azure SQL, IIS, Threat Management Gateway (TMG), Group Policy, DNS, Windows, Windows Server, Windows PowerShell, Cloud Security, Networks, Networking, Azure Active Directory, Azure Resource Manager (ARM), Security, Azure Key Vault, VPN, Endpoint Security, SecOps

Managing Director

2008 - 2017

Effective Computing

Founded Effective Computing Ltd. and set up all administrative and accounting systems.
Prepared annual accounts in collaboration with the company accountant.
Migrated SAP Business One accounting solution into cloud-based Zoho Books.
Raised investment capital to finance the business in the startup phase.
Secured access to and participated in Microsoft BizSpark.
Negotiated with third-party suppliers to obtain favorable pricing.
Participated in industry events such as Business of Software, Microsoft Build, Adobe MAX, AWS re:Invent, and AWS re:Inforce.

Technologies: SAP Business One, Accounting, Finance, Financial Modeling, Excel VBA, Excel 365, Office 365, Zoho, Zoho Books

Experience

VoiceShortCuts

I developed a state-of-the-art voice control system called VoiceShortCuts. The system enables computer users to use voice recognition as an input method for controlling applications.

The benefits to the user of VoiceShortCuts include but are not limited to:
• Increased productivity.
• Increased software feature discovery and usage.
• Decreased musculoskeletal stress.
• Decreased mental stress.
• Decreased information overload.
• Faster adaptation to infrequently used software.

Thinking Voice Control with Austin Dimmer | DotNetRocks Podcast

https://www.dotnetrocks.com/?show=1358

Carl Franklin and Richard Campbell talk to Austin Dimmer about his efforts to build a great voice control system — including for Visual Studio! The conversation digs into the complexity of recognizing a diversity of voices and being fast enough to get the words right. Then the hard stuff — how to keep words in context so that you can derive enough meaning from them to be useful. This isn't just about transcription; it's about control.

VoiceShortCuts Product Demo

https://youtu.be/VFOdeVCagJ8

A rough and ready product demo of VoiceShortCuts. In the demo, two computers, a laptop, and a Microsoft Surface are being controlled via remote voice commands issued from a Samsung Series 7 Tablet PC.

The following features of VoiceShortCuts are demonstrated:
• Controlling remote computers.
• Opening websites.
• Accessing developer tools in the browser.
• Controlling Visual Studio with VoiceShortCuts.
• Controlling Adobe Bridge to rank photos with VoiceShortCuts.
• Controlling Ableton Live with VoiceShortCuts.

The demo only scratches the surface of what VoiceShortCuts is capable of.

QA Support for Open-source European Commission Credentials Leak Project

https://github.com/EC-DIGIT-CSIRC/credentialLeakDB

I was approached to help set up GitHub Actions pipelines and basic QA for one of the first European Commission projects that Digit CSIRC had made opensource. I helped the lead developer set up SonarCloud and integrate Py-cover test data into the project.

Skills

Languages

TypeScript, C#, C#.NET, XAML, Python, SAML, SQL, C++, Excel VBA, JavaScript, PHP, Ruby, Python 3

Frameworks

Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), Serverless Framework, Windows PowerShell, Cypress

Tools

Visual Studio, GitHub, AWS CloudFormation, AWS Cloud Development Kit (CDK), Git, Sitefinity, Terraform, Microsoft Graph, Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), AWS IAM, SonarQube, Azure Key Vault, VPN, Docker Compose, AWS Fargate, Apache, Amazon SageMaker, Apache Airflow, Amazon Elastic Container Service (Amazon ECS), GitLab, GitLab CI/CD, Jenkins

Paradigms

DevSecOps, Human-computer Interaction (HCI), DevOps, Continuous Delivery (CD), Continuous Integration (CI), Human Interface Design, Serverless Architecture, Agile, Human-centered Design (HCD), Azure DevOps, Penetration Testing

Platforms

Azure, Telerik WPF, Windows, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Visual Studio Code (VS Code), Windows Server, Telerik, Linux, Amazon EC2, Docker, AWS Lambda, New Relic, Kubernetes, Spinnaker, Databricks

Industry Expertise

Cybersecurity, Accounting

Other

Ergonomic Design, AWS DevOps, Voice Recognition, Cloud, CI/CD Pipelines, Security, Cloud Security, IT Security, Endpoint Security, SecOps, Serverless, IIS, AWS WAF, Windows Communication Foundation (WCF), Amazon Route 53, Group Policy, DNS, Pulumi, Single Sign-on (SSO), Static Application Security Testing (SAST), Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST), Solution Architecture, Software Architecture, Networks, Networking, ISO 27001, Documentation, User Experience (UX), Information Architecture (IA), Design, Engineering, Threat Modeling, Architecture, User Interface (UI), GDPR, SAP Business One, Finance, Financial Modeling, Excel 365, Office 365, Zoho, Zoho Books, Threat Management Gateway (TMG), Business Management, AWS Certified Solution Architect, GitHub Actions, Snyk, Azure Resource Manager (ARM), Cloudflare, AWS Cloud Development, Infrastructure as Code (IaC), MLflow, DVC, AWS Cloud Architecture, Cloud Infrastructure, Data Privacy, Data Protection, AWS Control Tower, Cloud Architecture, Governance, Migration, Cloud Migration, Data Migration, Compliance, IT Governance, AWS Config, QA Testing, IaaS

Libraries/APIs

Entity Framework, ReactiveX, Terragrunt

Storage

SQLite, Amazon S3 (AWS S3), Azure Active Directory, Amazon Aurora, Azure SQL, PostgreSQL, MySQL

Education

2001 - 2002

Master's Degree in Ergonomics

Loughborough University - Loughborough, UK

1997 - 1998

Bachelor's Degree in Engineering with Business Management and European Studies

Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya - Barcelona, Spain

1993 - 1997

Bachelor's Degree in Engineering with Business Management and European Studies

University of Strathclyde - Glasgow, UK

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