Data engineering, expanded to architecture.

Inherited an unstable pension system for a multi-employer pension plan with critical operational issues. The platform had accumulated technical debt and the client relationship was at risk due to recurring system failures and delayed deliverables.

Stabilize system operations, restore client confidence, and deliver pending change orders worth $600K+ while simultaneously managing ongoing pension administration needs.

Led a structured stabilization initiative by triaging critical defects, implementing modular fixes, and establishing a prioritized backlog. Decomposed complex pension domain into structured system requirements. Designed automation for retroactive coverage processing with downstream life event automation. Directed technical stabilization across development and QA tracks with SQL-heavy backend analysis and automation design, delivering incremental improvements while maintaining operational stability.

Stabilized the pension system, delivered $600K+ in change order revenue, and restored the client relationship. Established repeatable patterns for managing unstable legacy platforms through structured decomposition and agile delivery.

A public pension fund for unionized workers required a comprehensive multi-employer pension implementation covering eligibility, benefit calculations, disability, death benefits, payment methods, and participant statements — a complex game mechanic situation serving 200K-300K participant lives. The pension rules were complex and poorly documented, requiring deep domain expertise to decompose into implementable system architecture.

Decompose the full scope of the pension fund domain into implementable system architecture, ensuring complete coverage of all pension modules across a multi-year implementation.

Decomposed the fund's complex pension domain into implementable system architecture across 1500+ structured requirements spanning eligibility logic, benefit calculations, disability processing, death benefits, payment methods, and participant statements. Mapped pension rules, calculations, and business logic to system modules enabling parallel development streams. Drove first scaled agile program for the value stream, earning SAFe certification through hands-on release train engineering.

Delivered comprehensive pension domain architecture across 1500+ structured requirements enabling parallel development across multiple teams. 3.5-year implementation navigated through SAG-AFTRA strike and COVID, bringing client relationship from red to yellow status.

The benefits platform served 15 enterprise clients requiring data integration pipelines to 10-15 vendors each — insurance carriers, payroll systems, DCFSA administrators. At operational steady state, approximately 70 integrations ran concurrently across SQL/SSIS pipelines handling EDI 834, flat files, position-based formats, feedback loops, and change detection.

Design and maintain the data integration architecture serving the full client portfolio — pipeline design, format engineering, and vendor feed reliability across all 15 enterprise accounts.

Led integration pipeline design across 20+ analysts and developers, establishing SQL/SSIS data export pipelines for vendor integrations after participant elections. Engineered SQL/SSIS integration pipelines for EDI 834, flat files, position-based formats (e.g., a retirement provider with ~5,000 positions per row), multi-row files, feedback loops, and change detection logic. Designed data transformation architectures mapping internal platform data to vendor-specific output formats across insurance carriers, payroll providers, and benefits vendors. Maintained COBRA, ACA, and PHI compliance across all data integration touchpoints.

Architected and maintained data integration platform serving 1M+ benefit plan participants with ~70 concurrent pipelines across 15 enterprise clients. Self-initiated sprint cycles drove continuous pipeline improvement without formal agile mandate.