Edward Kench, Data Architecture Developer in Clearwater, United States
Edward Kench

Data Architecture Developer in Clearwater, United States

Member since June 18, 2020
Edward is a certified and experienced Azure Data and AI architect. He is a hands-on senior leader and a Microsoft design authority and teacher. An innovative data engineer, he has designed award-winning AI products and is currently building real-time, big data, data lake, warehouse, and ML architectures on modern cloud data and AI platforms. Edward exceeds goals on various types of data projects, including predictive analytics, business intelligence, big data, streaming, and cloud modernization.
Edward is now available for hire

Portfolio

Experience

Location

Clearwater, United States

Availability

Full-time

Preferred Environment

Business Intelligence (BI), Azure, SQL, Big Data, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Databricks, Spark, Python, Azure Synapse, Data Lakes

The most amazing...

...data project I've worked on was my recent role with Microsoft, building ML, AI, and CDM solutions on top of internal commercial customer data.

Employment

  • Senior Azure Architect

    2022 - PRESENT
    Mindtree
    • Collected all business customer activity signals on cloud SaaS products, including Microsoft 365, Azure, and Power BI. Collected signals from Cosmos DB and Azure Data Lake Storage (ADLS) Gen1 to streams into Databricks and Data Factory pipelines.
    • Utilized Common Data Model lakes and warehouses on Synapse, ADLS Gen2, and Azure SQL. Designed Power BI reporting and feature stores for ML models used in Salesforce and other tools.
    • Worked on the main use case, understanding user activities and optimizing marketing strategies, campaigns, and core product analytics. As a second use case, built a common data store for any Microsoft team to share or use their data from other teams.
    • Managed all product architecture and oversight of all code quality, as well as system performance, application monitoring, and thought leadership. Built prototypes and POCs. Followed Agile Scrum methodologies using Azure DevOps.
    Technologies: Azure SQL, Azure Databricks, Python, Azure Data Lake, Microsoft Power BI, Azure Synapse, Azure Event Hubs, Streaming Data, Real-time Data, Azure Machine Learning, Azure Data Factory, Data Pipelines, Azure SQL Data Warehouse (SQL DW), Dynamics CRM 365, Azure Cosmos DB, Apache Kafka
  • Data and AI Manager

    2018 - 2022
    Application Consulting Training Solutions
    • Managed an agile and distributed team consisting of onshore and offshore data scientists, analysts, cloud architects, BI developers, and testers.
    • Led the design of a COVID-19 tracking and tracing analytics system for one of the country's largest school districts.
    • Developed technology roadmaps for Fortune 500 companies making an enterprise-scale move to Microsoft Azure technologies.
    • Built AI systems that performed anomaly detection and time-series analysis on IoT data using ADX and Azure Cognitive Services.
    • Implemented collaboration, communication, and data governance strategies, accelerating the path to advanced analytics and AI.
    • Designed a product to help control Azure consumption costs and utilization in an environment with tens of thousands of Azure resources, including VMs, SQL servers, and big data clusters in Synapse, Databricks, and Azure Data Explorer or Kusto.
    Technologies: Azure Data Lake, Azure Machine Learning, Azure, Azure SQL, Databricks, Microsoft Power BI, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Agile, Python, Spark, SQL Design & Reporting, Data Warehouse Design, Data Analytics, Business Intelligence Architecture, Azure Data Lake Analytics, Big Data Architecture, Business Intelligence (BI), UML, SQL Server DBA, Microsoft Visio, SQL Server BI, ETL, Scrum, NoSQL, MongoDB, PostgreSQL, Azure Cosmos DB, Azure IaaS, Excel 2016, Software as a Service (SaaS), C#, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Neo4j, Microsoft SQL Server, Entity-relationships Model (ERM), Data Architecture, Solution Architecture, Dashboards, Slowly Changing Dimensions (SCD), IT Project Management, User Self-service, Financial Reporting Dashboards, Cloud, DAX, Financial Data, Tableau Server, Distribution Channel Performance, PaaS, Azure Data Factory, Requirements Analysis, Database Administration (DBA), Database Modeling, Dimensional Modeling, Kimball Methodology, OLAP, SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT), SSAS Tabular, Kanban, Azure PaaS, Data Lake Design, Data Lakes, M, Azure Blobs, Geospatial Data, Geospatial Analytics, Startups, Google APIs, C#.NET, Azure Stream Analytics, Azure SQL Data Warehouse (SQL DW), Supply Chain Optimization, Customer Analysis, Budget Management, Project Budget Management, Financial Systems, Predictive Analytics, Blob Storage, Apache Kafka, Big Data, Node.js, Apps, Data Visualization, Data Engineering
  • Vice President of Data and Analytics

    2017 - 2018
    Neptune Flood
    • Designed and developed the core operational and analytics platform for a disruptive web-based insurance startup. Used Azure SQL Server, SSIS, C#.NET, Azure Data Factory, MongoDB, and Power BI.
    • Built and designed a data warehouse for sales and risk analytics with Azure SQL Server and Azure Data Factory.
    • Designed AI for risk analysis, dependent on geospatial analytics with geocodes, topographical, elevation, statistical modeling of risk features and characteristics, and LIDAR data.
    • Constructed a sales forecast tool using R language libraries, SQL Server, and Power BI. This tool was used daily to manage decisions around aggregation and exposure to financial risk.
    • Built mobile real-time analytics that propelled the sales process.
    • Managed onshore and offshore direct reports, including data scientists and engineers, GIS developers, web developers, and testers.
    Technologies: PostgreSQL, Analytics, Microsoft Power BI, C#, MongoDB, SQL, Azure, Azure SQL, SQL Design & Reporting, Data Warehouse Design, Data Analytics, Business Intelligence Architecture, Big Data Architecture, Business Intelligence (BI), UML, SQL Server DBA, Agile, Microsoft Visio, SQL Server BI, ETL, Scrum, NoSQL, Azure Cosmos DB, Azure IaaS, Excel 2016, Software as a Service (SaaS), jQuery, Microsoft SQL Server, Entity-relationships Model (ERM), Data Architecture, Solution Architecture, Dashboards, Slowly Changing Dimensions (SCD), IT Project Management, User Self-service, Financial Reporting Dashboards, Cloud, DAX, Financial Data, Distribution Channel Performance, PaaS, Azure Data Factory, Requirements Analysis, Database Administration (DBA), Database Modeling, Dimensional Modeling, Kimball Methodology, OLAP, SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT), SSAS Tabular, Kanban, Azure PaaS, Data Lake Design, Data Lakes, M, Azure Blobs, Geospatial Data, Geospatial Analytics, Startups, Google APIs, C#.NET, Technical Leadership, Customer Analysis, Budget Management, Project Budget Management, Financial Systems, Predictive Analytics, Blob Storage, Object-oriented Analysis & Design (OOAD), Big Data, Node.js, Apps, Data Visualization, Data Engineering
  • Manager of Business Intelligence

    2012 - 2017
    Bankers Financial Corporation
    • Led the delivery of One-click Homeowners, an award-winning predictive analytics tool that used SQL Server and R libraries to predict insurance risks. This system outperformed human underwriters in the profitability of selected risks.
    • Replaced legacy reporting systems with a cloud-based Azure SQL enterprise data warehouse and Power BI. This system became the primary trusted source in the entire enterprise for business, operational, and financial data.
    • Worked with the corporate leadership—as a senior analytics resource—to guide sales and marketing strategy through data-driven insights with SQL, R, and Power BI.
    • Created data-driven market segmentation insights that allowed for measurable revenue gains and cost savings.
    • Constructed operational BI dashboards with Power BI, Cognos, and Tableau for daily management of business processes for product management.
    • Managed a team of direct reports including offshore and onshore SQL and BI developers, ETL developers, testers, and data scientists.
    Technologies: IBM Cognos, Tableau, IBM Db2, Analytics, Microsoft Power BI, Microsoft SQL Server, Azure, SQL Design & Reporting, Data Warehouse Design, Data Analytics, Business Intelligence Architecture, Big Data Architecture, Business Intelligence (BI), UML, SQL Server DBA, Agile, Microsoft Visio, SQL Server BI, ETL, Scrum, SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS), NoSQL, Azure SQL, Excel 2016, Software as a Service (SaaS), Visual Basic .NET (VB.NET), C#, jQuery, Neo4j, Entity-relationships Model (ERM), Data Architecture, Solution Architecture, Dashboards, Slowly Changing Dimensions (SCD), IT Project Management, User Self-service, Financial Reporting Dashboards, Cloud, DAX, Financial Data, Tableau Server, Distribution Channel Performance, PaaS, IBM Watson Analytics, Requirements Analysis, Database Administration (DBA), Object-oriented Design (OOD), Database Modeling, Dimensional Modeling, Kimball Methodology, OLAP, SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT), SSAS Tabular, Kanban, Azure PaaS, Data Lake Design, Data Lakes, M, Google APIs, C#.NET, Technical Leadership, Budget Management, Project Budget Management, Financial Systems, Predictive Analytics, Object-oriented Analysis & Design (OOAD), Big Data, Apps, Sybase, VB, Data Visualization, Data Engineering
  • Director of Business Intelligence

    2011 - 2012
    Princeton Information Systems
    • Managed direct reports, including onshore and offshore developers, testers, architects, and business analysts in BI, OLAP, data warehouse, and ETL roles.
    • Architected a SQL, Vertica, and Tableau BI solution for managing high-volume cell phone metadata calls from major carriers.
    • Established the BI Center of Excellence and BI Competency Center to centralize, socialize, and continuously improve analytics and insights across the company.
    • Architected and designed data-driven workflow, pipelines, and analytics for a startup company that builts web-based financial workflows.
    Technologies: MicroStrategy, Azure, Tableau, Vertica, SQL, C#.NET, SQL Design & Reporting, Data Warehouse Design, Data Analytics, Business Intelligence Architecture, Big Data Architecture, Business Intelligence (BI), UML, SQL Server DBA, Agile, Microsoft Visio, SQL Server BI, ETL, SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS), Scrum, SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS), Excel 2016, Software as a Service (SaaS), Visual Basic .NET (VB.NET), C#, Microsoft SQL Server, Entity-relationships Model (ERM), Data Architecture, Solution Architecture, Dashboards, Slowly Changing Dimensions (SCD), IT Project Management, User Self-service, Financial Reporting Dashboards, DAX, Tableau Server, Requirements Analysis, Database Administration (DBA), Object-oriented Design (OOD), Database Modeling, Dimensional Modeling, Kimball Methodology, OLAP, SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT), Kanban, SSAS, Technical Leadership, Customer Analysis, WebLogic, VB, Data Visualization, Data Engineering
  • Research Platform Leader

    2006 - 2011
    Nielsen
    • Managed a global onshore and offshore team of 40 to build market and media research analytics applications for all domestic box office and overseas film studios in 18 countries.
    • Delivered localized, multilingual BI systems for reporting on box office numbers for over 50,000 theatres worldwide.
    • Delivered analytics solutions that were hailed by film executives as game-changing and which were used by top executives in all major Hollywood studios.
    • Delivered AI that tapped into Nielsen's deep big data stores to combine demographic, box office attendance, exit polling, and online sentiment analysis data to provide vast green fields for data exploration and self-service film industry reporting.
    • Delivered the first Hollywood analytics system for 3D movies for Avatar.
    • Delivered predictive systems such as the box office estimator, which predicts the grosses for major film releases over upcoming weekends.
    Technologies: Sybase, SSAS, Netezza, C#, MicroStrategy, IBM Cognos, Informatica, SQL, Artificial Intelligence (AI), MATLAB, SQL Design & Reporting, Data Warehouse Design, Data Analytics, Business Intelligence Architecture, Big Data Architecture, Business Intelligence (BI), UML, SQL Server DBA, Agile, Microsoft Visio, SQL Server BI, ETL, SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS), Scrum, SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS), NoSQL, Excel 2016, Software as a Service (SaaS), Visual Basic .NET (VB.NET), Microsoft SQL Server, Entity-relationships Model (ERM), Data Architecture, Solution Architecture, Dashboards, Slowly Changing Dimensions (SCD), IT Project Management, User Self-service, Market Research & Analysis, Requirements Analysis, Database Administration (DBA), Object-oriented Design (OOD), Database Modeling, Dimensional Modeling, Kimball Methodology, OLAP, BizTalk, Technical Leadership, Customer Analysis, Budget Management, Project Budget Management, Film & Television, Predictive Analytics, Object-oriented Analysis & Design (OOAD), Big Data, VB, Data Visualization, Data Engineering
  • Trainer and Consultant

    2001 - 2006
    TechSherpas
    • Helped measurably increase profitability for a major grocer's bakery by designing an SQL data warehouse and a touch-screen system.
    • Worked as an architect on the Nielsen TV rating team during a custom app development project with SQL, C#, and ASP.NET.
    • Taught—as a Microsoft certified trainer—SQL, OLAP, BizTalk, .NET, distributed apps, COM and COM+, SOA, OOP, OOAD, Microsoft solutions, and Microsoft Operations Frameworks.
    • Taught courses in Java and J2EE, WebLogic, WebSphere, JavaScript, OOP and OOAD, and UML.
    Technologies: VB, Object-oriented Analysis & Design (OOAD), UML, Java, BizTalk, C#, SQL, Microsoft Visio, Excel 2016, Visual Basic .NET (VB.NET), Microsoft SQL Server, Entity-relationships Model (ERM), Data Architecture, Solution Architecture, IT Project Management, Requirements Analysis, Database Administration (DBA), Object-oriented Design (OOD), Database Modeling, Dimensional Modeling, Kimball Methodology, OLAP, SSAS, WebLogic

Experience

  • LAUSD COVID-19 Dashboard
    https://achieve.lausd.net/dailypass

    I was the lead cloud data architect on the Los Angeles Unified School District's Return-to-School initiative.
    This system provides dashboards that allow schools to open safely using a daily pass model based on testing and tracing in school cohorts.

  • CIO Magazine | Top 100 Award for Data Analytics
    https://www.cio.com/article/2456293/business-intelligence/cio-100-winners-turn-analytics-into-money-making-new-products.html?page=2

    I led the analytics team, which delivered the One-Click Homeowners insurance predictive analytics application for Bankers Financial Corp., which was included in the CIO Magazine Top 100. This link shows the winners list for that year.

  • Box Office Estimator

    Whenever the TV or news report on how many millions of dollars a major film is expected to make over the weekend, there is a good chance the data you are seeing came from the Nielsen Box Office Estimator.
    I managed the team which built this predictive tool.

  • Nielsen Film Cube

    I led the team that designed a new Hollywood box office reporting system from scratch, replacing a legacy system to report film box office grosses. This system—called Film Cube—supplied film sales data for Nielsen's Hollywood Reporter magazine and all Hollywood studios and media outlets.

    When the film Avatar was released, Fox Studios requested a redesign to the platform to allow the breakout of 3D viewing statistics, leading to changes on the system that allowed any Hollywood Studio to view, for the first time, 3D grosses vs. regular screen grosses across 50,000 theatres, domestic and international.

  • Nielsen Online Campaign Ratings

    For this project, Nielsen and Facebook partnered to combine Nielsen's deep repository of demographic and market habits data with Facebook's user data to provide advertisers with enhanced marketing insights.
    I delivered this tool, which was used by major brands such as Coke and Procter & Gamble, and followed a similar model to Google Ads in how it tracked user web habits.

  • Bankers Financial Enterprise Data Warehouse

    Coming into a legacy AS/400 environment, my role was to create a brand-new data, BI, and analytics platform across multiple verticals, including insurance, surety, and finance.

    The system I delivered replaced multiple legacy AS/400 systems, thousands of reports, and increased self-service BI adoption across the company by 1900%!

    Senior management began to treat data in the warehouse as the de-facto-trusted standard, resulting in it being used to produce corporate income statements and financial reports. It also led to multiple revenue and savings opportunities by becoming a single unified data platform used for strategic initiatives across all business units.

Skills

  • Languages

    VB, M, UML, SQL, Visual Basic .NET (VB.NET), C#, JavaScript, C#.NET, Java, Python, R
  • Frameworks

    Spark, Django, Bootstrap
  • Tools

    SSAS, Microsoft Visio, SQL Server BI, Microsoft Power BI, Tableau, Excel 2016, IBM Cognos, Azure Machine Learning, MATLAB
  • Paradigms

    Object-oriented Analysis & Design (OOAD), Requirements Analysis, Kanban, Dimensional Modeling, Kimball Methodology, OLAP, Agile, Scrum, Business Intelligence (BI), Object-oriented Design (OOD), ETL
  • Platforms

    Databricks, Azure, Azure PaaS, Azure IaaS, Apache Kafka, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Salesforce, Azure Event Hubs
  • Storage

    Microsoft SQL Server, NoSQL, Database Administration (DBA), SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS), Azure SQL, SSAS Tabular, MongoDB, SQL Server DBA, SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS), Database Modeling, SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT), SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS), Data Lake Design, Data Lakes, Azure Blobs, Vertica, Netezza, Sybase, PostgreSQL, Azure Cosmos DB, Neo4j, IBM Db2, Oracle SQL, Data Pipelines
  • Industry Expertise

    Insurance
  • Other

    Analytics, Blob Storage, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Solution Architecture, User Self-service, Financial Reporting Dashboards, Dashboards, Distribution Channel Performance, Market Research & Analysis, Customer Analysis, Supply Chain Optimization, Budget Management, Financial Systems, Financial Data, Film & Television, Project Budget Management, Azure Data Lake, Slowly Changing Dimensions (SCD), Entity-relationships Model (ERM), Big Data, Software as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, Excel Reporting, IT Project Management, Big Data Architecture, IBM Watson Analytics, DAX, SQL Design & Reporting, Data Warehouse Design, Business Intelligence Architecture, Data Analytics, Data Architecture, Azure Data Factory, Azure Data Lake Analytics, PaaS, Azure SQL Data Warehouse (SQL DW), Azure Synapse, Technical Leadership, Data Visualization, Data Engineering, BizTalk, Apps, Geospatial Data, Geospatial Analytics, SAP BusinessObjects (BO), Startups, MicroStrategy, Tableau Server, Predictive Analytics, Azure Stream Analytics, Informatica, WebLogic, Azure Databricks, Streaming Data, Real-time Data, Dynamics CRM 365
  • Libraries/APIs

    Google Analytics API, Google APIs, jQuery, Node.js

Education

  • Bachelor's Degree in Spanish Literature
    1996 - 2000
    University of Montana - Missoula, MT, USA

Certifications

  • Microsoft Certified Solutions Architect Expert
    MAY 2021 - MAY 2023
    Microsoft
  • Microsoft Azure Data Engineer Associate
    APRIL 2021 - APRIL 2023
    Microsoft

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