SENIOR DEVOPS ENGINEER
human-centric infrastructure
OPEN TO SENIOR PLATFORM / DEVOPS ROLES · REMOTE OR DALLAS

Nearly twenty years across software and infrastructure. Currently running ten-plus RKE2 clusters across physical venues for Drive Shack / Puttery, and cleaning up etcd fires when they happen. My mental model of "production" includes the guests, not just the pods.

Platforms are products. On-call humans are users too.

/ practice areas

what i actually do, in nine pieces.

Twenty years across infrastructure, platforms, and the interfaces on top of them. All of them shape how I think about production.

operational
9y

kubernetes & orchestration

  • rke1 / rke2
  • rancher
  • helm
  • argocd

Production Kubernetes across ten-plus physical venues, managed through a central Rancher control plane in AWS.

more

The unglamorous day-2 work is the job: RKE1 to RKE2 migration, cert rotation, workload cleanup, etcd recovery, Longhorn rollout, and upgrades that have to happen without taking the venue down with them.

2026-03 — nyc etcd self-removal recovery

operational
9y

infrastructure as code

  • terraform
  • ansible
  • packer
  • vagrant

Venue provisioning built as a repeatable pipeline.

more

Terraform for infrastructure, Ansible for configuration, Jenkins for orchestration, feature flags for controlled rollout. The goal is boring: fewer snowflakes, fewer steps only one person remembers, a path from blank environment to running services that someone else can follow.

2026-02 — venue provisioning pattern (infra → config → services)

operational
10y

observability

  • prometheus
  • grafana
  • victoriametrics
  • icinga
  • pushover

Monitoring built for action, not dashboard cosplay.

more

Synthetic checks, metrics, alerting, and runbooks that close blind spots across venues and infrastructure. Prometheus, VictoriaMetrics, Grafana, Icinga, and Pushover where they make sense. The homelab is the test range before production gets touched.

2026-01 — full observability stack on helm's deep

operational
15y

cloud & platforms

  • aws
  • route53
  • cloudflare
  • vmware / proxmox

AWS-primary platform work with enough multi-cloud literacy to know when not to commit.

more

Led a cloud cost reduction from roughly $14k/month to $5k/month through rightsizing, consolidation, and cleanup, with reliability holding through the cut. Certified Cloud Practitioner.

2024 — ~64% aws cost reduction (rightsizing + infra cleanup)

operational
12y

ci/cd & delivery

  • jenkins
  • github actions
  • gitea actions
  • helm repos

Release paths should make the safe thing easy and the dangerous thing obvious.

more

I build CI/CD systems, internal Helm repos, deployment standards, and controlled rollout patterns that reduce heroics and make production change less dependent on whoever remembers the magic command.

2025-12 — internal helm repo + enforced release path

operational
8y

devsecops & secrets

  • hashicorp vault
  • ansible vault
  • aws kms / secrets manager
  • rbac

Secrets and access run like the rest of production: managed, audited, in code.

more

Vault, KMS, Secrets Manager, Ansible Vault, Kubernetes RBAC, AWS IAM. Least-privilege baked into delivery, not bolted on after the audit.

2025 — least-privilege rbac rollout across venue estate

operational
19y

backend & languages

  • python
  • node.js
  • bash / zsh
  • ruby / rails
  • go (learning)

Long software background now aimed at platform tooling and automation.

more

Python, Node.js, TypeScript, Bash, and enough Ruby and Rails to ship in it. Seven years of PHP underneath the rest. I build the glue: CLIs, integrations, deployment tools, reporting scripts, API wrappers, and internal systems that take repetitive work off the team's plate.

2026-03 — rancher mcp server (fastmcp, httpx, pydantic v2)

operational
10y

frontend & interfaces

  • vue / tailwind / vite
  • typescript
  • next.js
  • react

Decade of frontend work before the DevOps pivot, still active for internal tools and the occasional side project.

more

Shipped the Virtual Courses game UI at Topgolf and internationalized the gameplay platform across regions. Internal tools deserve usable interfaces, and developer platforms have users.

2020 — topgolf gameplay ui (internationalized, multi-region)

operational
8y

maker & hardware

  • esp32 / arduino
  • 3d printing
  • home automation
  • pi cluster

Hardware and home automation as the physical counterpart to the platform work.

more

ESP32, Arduino, 3D printing, home automation, and the occasional wildly overengineered party prop (most recent: NFC fossil dig station for a kid's Jurassic Park birthday). The maker work informs how I think about hidden infrastructure: systems that work invisibly and well.

2026 — nfc fossil dig station (jurassic park party build)

/ career log

versions, in reverse chronological order.

Twenty years across nine roles. The first three are expanded by default. The rest open on click.

v13.x 2020 — present Senior DevOps Engineer Drive Shack / Puttery · Dallas, TX
Joined May 2020 on contract as DevOps Engineer, converted full-time to Senior DevOps Engineer April 2021. Own DevOps, automation, cloud, CI/CD, and venue platform reliability across the org. Built and scaled a multi-venue Kubernetes/Rancher platform, designed company-wide Ansible for Windows and Linux, and led an AWS cleanup that cut spend by roughly 64% without sacrificing reliability.
vol/22 2022 — 2023 Director of Communications DFW Curling Club · Farmers Branch, TX
May 2022 to Nov 2023. Same DevOps posture applied to volunteer communications: make the system understandable, keep people informed, reduce chaos before it becomes work for everyone else.
v12.x 2015 — 2020 Software Engineer II Topgolf · Dallas, TX
Nov 2015 to May 2020. Full-stack engineer on real-time gameplay systems, developer tooling, and venue deployment workflows for 50+ locations. Shipped the Virtual Courses game UI, helped virtualize the venue software stack, and internationalized gameplay across regions.
v11.x 2015 Platform Engineer Vinli · Dallas, TX
Aug to Nov 2015 (4 mos). Platform work on connected-vehicle infrastructure: deploying and scaling a microservices platform, Docker and Kubernetes orchestration, and infrastructure monitoring.
v10.x 2015 Angular.js Developer Ristken Software Services · Dallas, TX
Jun to Jul 2015 (2 mos). Short engagement on the Odyssey team building hybrid mobile apps for iOS and Android with Cordova, Ionic, and Angular.js.
v9.x 2014 — 2015 Interactive Developer Sq1 · Dallas, TX
Oct 2014 to Apr 2015 (7 mos). Second Sq1 stint. Shorter-lifecycle client web work and maintenance/feature additions for existing apps, coordinating delivery across teams to spec and timeline.
v8.x 2014 Freelance Web Developer Sq1 · Dallas, TX
Sep to Oct 2014 (2 mos). Bridge engagement at Sq1 between Youtoo and the Interactive Developer role. Same shorter-lifecycle client work.
v7.x 2014 Web Developer 70kft · Dallas, TX
Aug 2014 (1 mo). One-month contract finishing the software marketplace for Verizon's new consumer cloud platform: Node.js backend endpoints, Angular.js interface elements, and a UX refactor of the existing interface.
v6.x 2014 Systems Administrator Youtoo Technologies · Irving, TX
Feb to Jul 2014 (6 mos). Social-TV company stitching social media and short-form video into live broadcasts. Built Ruby/Rails deployment automation, ran a 50+ node worldwide AWS footprint, and built custom monitoring and alerting in Ruby and Node.
v5.x 2013 — 2014 Web Developer Zngine · Irving, TX
Sep 2013 to Jan 2014 (5 mos). Brought on full-time after nearly a year of building the same app as a contractor through Sq1. Split time between new features and refactoring as business needs shifted, and standardized testing and conventions across the JavaScript surface.
v4.x 2012 — 2013 PHP Developer Sq1 · Dallas, TX
Oct 2012 to Sep 2013 (1 yr). First Sq1 stint. Built a large-scale, high-availability music-oriented social network on Node.js, Express, Mongoose, MongoDB, and Backbone.js, including a Backbone-powered web radio player and a RESTful API driving the whole experience.
v3.x 2012 Senior PHP Developer Latimundo · Dallas, TX
Feb to Oct 2012 (9 mos). PHP web applications and high-availability Linux web servers at a cinema and animation production house serving DFW clients.
v2.x 2010 — 2012 Director of Business Development Zee-Way · Dallas, TX
2010 to 2012 (2 yrs). Business development at a small hosting shop running semi-managed shared, virtual, and dedicated servers for clients worldwide. Sales-adjacent role that was really my first long stretch inside the hosting business.
v1.x 2008 — 2011 Freelance Web Developer Refreshed Web Design · Dallas, TX
2008 to 2011 (3 yrs). Ran a small freelance web development firm focused on PHP web applications, end-to-end from concept and design through deployment and hosting.
v0.x 2008 — 2009 Sales Specialist Limestone Networks, Inc. · Dallas, TX
Aug 2008 to Apr 2009 (9 mos). Inbound sales for unmanaged dedicated hosting. Generated and presented sales metrics, supported clients across chat, email, and phone, handled IP assignment and control-panel licensing, and processed chargebacks. Where the infrastructure curiosity started.

$ git log --all --oneline --since="2007-01-01"

/ off the clock

the rest of it.

Outside work I still build infrastructure, just smaller and weirder. Home automation, 3D printing, woodworking, electronics, homelab systems, and the occasional wildly overengineered party prop.

Certified
  • certified curling instructor
  • PADI advanced open water diver
  • AWS cloud practitioner (lapsed; re-test pending)
Volunteering
Director of Communications DFW Curling Club
2022 — 2023

Led communications, member engagement, event coordination, and public messaging for a volunteer sports club. Less glamorous than production infrastructure, but the same core skill shows up fast: make the system understandable, keep people informed, and reduce chaos before it turns into work for everyone else.

Elsewhere

woodworking · 3d printing · esp32 / arduino · home automation · curling · scuba · homelab infrastructure · built environments.

/ faq

questions recruiters (you?) always ask me.

What are you looking for?
A senior DevOps or Platform Engineering role. Remote or Dallas-based. I'm most interested in teams running production infrastructure at real scale, multi-region, multi-tenant, or multi-venue, where reliability and developer experience both matter. I'm less interested in pure cloud-native greenfield work and more interested in the messy reality of production systems that have to serve humans in physical spaces.
Why are you leaving your current role?
I'm not in a rush. I've built something I'm proud of at Drive Shack / Puttery: a multi-venue Kubernetes platform, company-wide Ansible, major cost reductions, and a long list of incidents handled well. I'm looking for the next tier of problem. More scale, more peers who push me, and a team where platform engineering is funded as a first-class function instead of an afterthought.
What's your strongest skill?
Diagnosing production problems under pressure and writing up what happened afterwards. I'm good at the forensics, narrowing down what actually went wrong versus what looked wrong, and I'm a stickler about postmortems that tell the truth, including the uncomfortable parts.
What about software development? You were a developer for a long time.
Twelve years before the DevOps pivot. Full-stack, with real UI and UX experience. I don't bill myself as a developer anymore. DevOps is the title and the work. But that background is why I care obsessively about developer experience in the platforms I build, and I can still write production Python, Node, or Bash without needing to look it up (but I usually still do anyway).
Why haven't you told me about your cat yet?
You didn't ask. This is Linus, orange American shorthair, b. 2014, official CTO. He's been the constant through twelve years of career changes, so he gets to be on every important thing I make. Why the lambda? Because Half-Life 2 is one of the greatest games of all time. And it looks kickass.
What's your stack, in one line?
Kubernetes (Rancher / RKE2) · Terraform · Ansible · AWS · Prometheus / Grafana · Python · Jenkins / GitHub Actions · Helm · VMware / Proxmox. Macbook primary, Linux in production, Windows where needed.
Are you open to relocating?
Remote-first is the strong preference. I'm open to hybrid if the role is in the Dallas / Fort Worth metroplex. Not relocating.
Contract vs. full-time?
Full-time primary. Open to senior contract work on the side where it makes sense and doesn't conflict.
What does "human-centric infrastructure" mean?
Engineers shipping code, operators running it, guests using what we built. They're all users of the platform, and they all deserve to be designed for. Elegance is a means; the end is people.
Biggest mistake you made in the last year?
Trusting that a cloud provider's default pod storage would be fine for a low-traffic Postgres. It wasn't. We lost data on a controller-manager failure and spent a long night rebuilding. The postmortem is honest about that. emptyDir for stateful workloads is indefensible and I should have caught it before production.
What do you not want to work on?
Adtech, gambling, crypto-as-the-product, surveillance, weapons. Not how I want to spend the next decade.
How should I reach out?
Email is best. See the contact section at the bottom of the page. GitHub is /rex. LinkedIn is /in/piercemoore. I respond to all of them within a day or two. No phone number on the website for now; happy to share it once we're in a conversation.
/ contact

reach out — email is best.

Addison, TX · open to senior platform role · remote or dallas · selective contract work

email
email
github
/rex
linkedin
/in/piercemoore
resume
piercemoore.com/cv

start where you are.