Karl Hill
Aerospace Mission Software | Platform Engineering · DevSecOps · High-Assurance Delivery
Washington, DC (202) 599-1442 karlhillx@gmail.com karlhill.com
Summary
Software engineering leader with 20+ years building secure, cloud-native platforms for aerospace, NASA, federal, and high-assurance environments. Hands-on architecture, DevSecOps governance, platform engineering, Agile delivery leadership, and stakeholder alignment — so teams build, test, release, and operate mission-ready software when failure is expensive.
Selected Leadership Impact
- Lead cloud-native mission software delivery across aerospace, NASA, federal, and high-assurance environments.
- Raise engineering discipline via CI/CD, release governance, PR standards, and Definition of Done.
- Reduce integration risk across multi-environment baselines — planning, traceability, and release readiness.
- Align technical execution with stakeholders across engineering, product, ops, and mission teams.
Professional Experience
Staff Aerospace Software Engineer, Jacobs, Chantilly, VA
- Lead cross-functional engineering execution across cloud-native mission services, CI/CD pipelines, multi-repo delivery, release readiness, and integration risk management.
- Guide team execution, onboarding, coaching, and delivery discipline while strengthening engineering quality, ownership, and accountability.
- Coordinate multi-environment release readiness across isolated and integrated systems, reducing late-stage integration risk and improving baseline alignment and traceability.
- Establish and enforce engineering standards — repo and branch governance, PR/review practices, Definition of Done, and documentation — to reduce integration risk across multi-repo and multi-environment systems.
- Drive DevSecOps and release governance through CI/CD, automated testing, quality gates, and security checks to shorten feedback loops and improve system reliability.
- Translate mission and operational needs into roadmaps and sequenced delivery plans, communicating status and tradeoffs clearly to technical and non-technical audiences.
Lead Software Engineer, SSAI / NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD
- Architected NASA's cloud-based Flood Mapping System on AWS, delivering near real-time, satellite-derived flood products to support disaster response.
- Built a high-performance file and metadata platform on Ceph, improving virtual directory mapping and accelerating discovery and access for large scientific datasets.
- Rebuilt NASA Earth Observatory's high-traffic web platform, supporting ~1.5M monthly visitors while improving performance, UX, and SEO.
- Delivered an automated content registry workflow, boosting data collection efficiency by ~60% and accelerating researcher access to new datasets.
- Implemented DevSecOps delivery with GitLab CI/CD, Docker, and Kubernetes, enabling automated deployments, repeatable releases, and reliable stakeholder approvals.
- Led Agile delivery across teams and stakeholders, translating mission needs into roadmaps, sequencing dependencies, and driving consistent delivery.
Senior Software Engineer, InformedDNA, Washington, D.C.
- Architected and delivered a Laravel-based case management platform, reducing operational costs by $30K/year.
- Led CRM enhancements that improved retention and contributed ~15% revenue growth through better lifecycle workflows and reporting.
- Built and optimized APIs to improve database efficiency, reduce operational overhead, and increase application performance and reliability.
- Spearheaded platform upgrades and security process improvements, doubling incident response efficiency and strengthening operational readiness.
Senior Software Engineer, Ticomix, Inc., Washington, D.C.
- Delivered SugarCRM solutions for 20+ clients (including Virginia Department of Transportation, Washington Redskins, and Kastle Systems), improving sales operations, visibility, and team productivity.
- Drove execution discipline to cut backlog ~90%, improving delivery predictability, product quality, and customer satisfaction.
- Built a lightweight opportunity-identification application that helped customers surface and prioritize new business opportunities.
- Collaborated effectively on distributed teams — clear async communication, strong documentation, and reliable delivery across time zones.
Earlier Engineering Experience
- Held software engineering and principal engineering roles across travel, enterprise CRM, telecommunications, managed security services, and large-scale client platforms.
- Built Java, PHP, CRM, telephony, and internal operations systems for enterprise clients including Comcast, Mastercard, Verizon/MCI, and global travel customers.
- Delivered production systems, workflow automation, client onboarding platforms, API integrations, and reliability improvements — including Finium, the multi-tenant managed-security platform that enabled a $105M acquisition.
- Helped mature engineering practices through Scrum adoption, testing discipline, code quality, junior developer mentoring, and cross-functional delivery.
Education
- Bachelor of Science, Computer Science coursework, University of Maryland
- Associate of Arts, General Studies, Howard Community College
- Project Management, Rutgers University
Certifications
- Professional Scrum Master™ II, Scrum.org
- Professional Scrum Product Owner™ I, Scrum.org
- Professional Scrum Developer™ I, Scrum.org
- Certified ScrumMaster® (CSM®), Scrum Alliance