Alex White

Principal Cloud Architect
alex.white@yamiyo.net
+1 (314) 246-0187
yamiyo.net/alexitpro

Professional Summary

Principal Cloud Architect with over 10 years of experience orchestrating secure, multi-cloud environments (AWS, GCP, Azure) for global enterprises. Specialist in high-compliance architectures, expertly navigating data sovereignty and regulatory landscapes across the APAC region (Mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan). Proven leader of distributed Cloud Centers of Excellence, combining strategic governance with hands-on engineering to modernize legacy systems and optimize data infrastructure (PostgreSQL, CouchDB). Expert in FinOps, delivering a ~30% reduction in cloud spend while driving the market entry of critical business applications through automated, secure infrastructure pipelines.

Technical Skills

Cloud Platforms
AWS (Global & China Regions), Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Microsoft Azure, Multi-Cloud Strategy
IaC & Automation
Terraform (Module Development), Ansible (Playbook Orchestration), CloudFormation, Python, Bash, Jenkins (CI/CD)
Data Infrastructure
PostgreSQL (RDS/Aurora), CouchDB (Clustered Deployments), S3 Lifecycle Management, Disaster Recovery & High-Availability Architectures
Containers & Middleware
Docker, Kubernetes (EKS/GKE/OpenShift), WildFly / JBoss (Performance Tuning), Linux (RHEL/CentOS/Debian), Windows Server
Networking & Security
Cross-Border Connectivity (China/Great Firewall), TCP/IP, BGP, DNS, VPN, Firewalls (Juniper, Ubiquiti, OPNsense), Zero Trust Architecture
Governance & Strategy
FinOps (Cost Optimization), Data Sovereignty (APAC), Technical Mentorship, Vendor Governance

Professional Experience

Principal Architect (APAC Region) Feb 2018 — Present
RGA St. Louis, MO
  • Global Technical Leadership: Direct a distributed 6-person Cloud Center of Excellence (4 Cloud Engineers, 1 Cloud Architect) across APAC (Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Japan) and US regions, establishing architectural standards and operational strategy.
  • AWS China Platform (Governance & Security): Serve as primary technical lead for the AWS China environment behind the Great Firewall, navigating strict access regulations and aligning China Compliance, GSO, and business stakeholders.
  • Cost & Platform Optimization: Designed and executed FinOps strategies that reduced monthly cloud spend by ~30% through spot instance orchestration and rightsizing.
  • Product Architecture: Led end-to-end design and hands-on engineering for high-visibility market launches, including Medscreen+ and Nexus.
  • Regulatory Compliance: Identified and remediated critical infrastructure compliance risks across Hong Kong, Japan, Mainland China, and India, adhering to strict local data sovereignty laws.
  • Vendor Remediation: Rescued the India Investment Solution deployment by completely re-engineering vendor automation to internal DevSecOps baselines and optimizing WildFly performance.
  • International Mentorship: Championed cloud adoption by delivering on-site training to application support teams in Mainland China and Hong Kong, later executing a strategic handover to a mentored successor.
Cloud Systems Engineer Nov 2016 — Feb 2018
RGA St. Louis, MO
  • Automation Engineering: Developed comprehensive Ansible playbooks and modular Terraform code, reducing provisioning turnaround time by ~50%.
  • Code Quality Governance: Established CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, and code review standards for Infrastructure as Code (IaC) repositories.
  • Infrastructure Audit: Conducted deep audits of Asia-region cloud environments, remediating security and data sovereignty compliance gaps.
Systems Engineer Sep 2016 — Nov 2016
Norton Staffing (Contracted to RGA) St. Louis, MO
  • Infrastructure Leadership: Directed daily operations of a 6-person squad managing a hybrid Windows/Linux/AIX estate as the primary escalation point prior to acquisition by RGA.
  • CI/CD Transformation: Architected migration from legacy BuildMaster workflows to modern Jenkins and Ansible pipelines, significantly accelerating release velocity.
  • Containerization & Traffic: Spearheaded containerization of monolithic web services into Docker containers and automated F5 LTM configurations via CLI.
Cloud Engineer Nov 2015 — Sep 2016
LRS, Inc. (NJVC) St. Louis, MO
  • Hybrid Orchestration: Unified provisioning workflows across AWS and private cloud platforms using Python and Bash automation.
  • Configuration Governance: Implemented a centralized Puppet Master architecture to enforce immutable state management across the fleet.
Senior Linux Systems Engineer Lead Aug 2014 — Nov 2015
Enterprise Holdings St. Louis, MO
  • Engineering Leadership & IaC: Introduced Infrastructure as Code methodologies to traditional operations teams to elevate code quality.
  • Middleware Optimization: Tuned JBoss and WebSphere application containers to resolve critical latency under high transaction loads.