Gene Ames | AWS Solutions Architect

AWS Solutions Architect

Gene Ames

AWS Solutions Architect | Cloud Engineer | Systems Design

I am an AWS Solutions Architect and Principal Cloud Engineer with a track record of delivering mission-critical cloud platforms for Fortune 500 enterprises. I bring deep expertise in enterprise architecture, cloud transformation, and platform engineering across AWS, Azure, and GCP, with a primary focus on AWS-native solutions.

I lead the design and implementation of secure, multi-account cloud environments, enabling organizations to scale through automation, governance, and resilient architecture. My background includes modernizing monolithic systems into microservices, integrating distributed systems, and building high-throughput, event-driven platforms on AWS.

I am also building portfolio projects with Amazon Bedrock, large language models, and retrieval-augmented generation architectures, extending my AWS platform background into AI-enabled solution design. I am recognized for bridging business strategy and technical execution, mentoring engineering teams, and delivering production-grade solutions that meet stringent compliance, security, and reliability requirements.

Leadership

Technical Leadership

Led AWS-focused architecture and modernization initiatives across Fortune 500 healthcare, aerospace, banking, and retail organizations.
Mentored senior engineers and technical leads, supporting career progression into principal engineering roles.
Defined enterprise architecture patterns for microservices, event-driven platforms, and cloud-native infrastructure.

Guided adoption of GitOps, Infrastructure as Code, and Kubernetes-based delivery platforms across engineering teams.
Served as the technical bridge between engineering leadership, product stakeholders, and enterprise architecture organizations.
Known for turning cloud strategy into governed, production-ready platforms with strong operational discipline.

Platform Depth

Core Technical Expertise

AWS Architecture

Multi-account environments, EKS, Lambda, Fargate, API Gateway, event-driven integration, security, governance, and resilient platform design

Platform Engineering

Kubernetes, OpenShift, Docker, GitOps, Argo CD, CI/CD modernization, and infrastructure automation

AI / GenAI Platforms

Amazon Bedrock, LLM integration, retrieval-augmented generation, prompt workflows, and portfolio-based AI solution development

Languages

Java, TypeScript, Node.js, Python, SQL

AWS

EC2, Lambda, Fargate, EKS, S3, API Gateway, SNS, SQS, Step Functions, RDS, DynamoDB, CloudFront, WAF, Route53

Azure

AKS, Functions, App Service, Azure SQL, SQL MI, CosmosDB, Azure DevOps, API Management, Service Bus

Google Cloud

GKE, Cloud Run, Cloud Spanner, BigQuery, Pub/Sub

Databases

Oracle, SQL Server, DB2, PostgreSQL, MySQL, AWS Aurora

NoSQL & Data

DynamoDB, CosmosDB, MongoDB, Elasticsearch, AuraDB

Messaging & Integration

Kafka, RabbitMQ, ActiveMQ, IBM MQ, SNS, SQS, Service Bus, Pub/Sub

Career

Professional Experience

CDW / IGNW

Senior Cloud Architect / Principal Engineer (Multiple Enterprise Clients)

Delivered cloud architecture and platform engineering solutions for Fortune 500 clients across banking, healthcare, and logistics, with emphasis on AWS modernization, Kubernetes platforms, and enterprise migration programs.

Application Modernization & Microservices

Architected and delivered Spring Boot microservices on Red Hat OpenShift for enterprise banking systems with production reliability requirements.
Led modernization of monolithic applications into containerized Spring Boot services deployed on AWS EKS, improving scalability and operational consistency.
Led migration of 100+ microservice deployments from Octopus Deploy to GitOps-based delivery with Argo CD, strengthening deployment governance and repeatability.

Azure Cloud Migration

Architected migration of 64 enterprise applications from on-premises infrastructure to Microsoft Azure as part of a broader cloud transformation program.
Designed the data migration strategy for 1,200+ SQL Server databases to Azure SQL Managed Instance.
Drove migration of 150+ CI/CD pipelines from Octopus Deploy to Azure DevOps to standardize engineering delivery.

Cloud Platform Engineering

Migrated PostgreSQL workloads to Google Cloud Spanner and adapted application persistence layers using Spring Cloud JPA.
Led migration of IBM Cloudant databases to MongoDB on Google Cloud Platform.
Built data migration and ingestion pipelines with BigQuery DTS to support downstream transformation and curation workflows.
Supported migration of 50+ enterprise applications from Pivotal Tanzu to Red Hat OpenShift, improving platform consistency across teams.

Collinear Group

Principal Engineer

Led backend architecture and microservices development for Boeing manufacturing planning systems.
Designed services that captured real-time SQL Server updates and synchronized Elasticsearch indexing for operational visibility.
Implemented distributed services executing proprietary manufacturing planning algorithms.
Designed multi-service workflows using Camunda BPMN orchestration to improve process coordination across the platform.

Nike – Global Trade & Customs

Principal Engineer / Technical Architect

Served as the technical leader for architecture and delivery across multiple teams supporting Nike’s global trade compliance platform.
Led two development teams spanning Java services and Python/AWS workloads.
Directed architecture reviews, production launches, and engineering standards governance.
Designed enterprise integrations with SAP, Kafka, and Splunk.
Partnered with business stakeholders to define platform capabilities, delivery priorities, and technical strategy.
Translated architecture direction into delivery plans, Agile epics, and implementation roadmaps.

Cambia Health Systems

Cloud Engineer

Developed Java components for a healthcare patient attribution rules engine operating in a regulated environment.
Designed and deployed containerized workloads to AWS Batch through ECR.
Managed database migrations and schema versioning with Flyway to support controlled releases.
Operated AWS Database Migration Service pipelines for large-scale data transfers.
Extended public APIs for the attribution engine using TypeScript.

Nike – Enterprise Architecture & Platforms

Principal Reference Architect

Authored enterprise reference architectures and implementation guidance for cloud-based services.
Contributed to the architecture design of Nike’s enterprise Kafka messaging platform.
Developed AWS disaster recovery reference architectures using CloudFormation, Lambda, SNS, SQS, and CloudWatch.
Produced the official Enterprise Architecture Point of View for enterprise content management systems.
Assessed technology stacks, pipelines, and repositories across multiple engineering organizations to improve platform alignment.

Ancestry