Aaron Martell

MAGIC LEAP - SUNNYVALE, CA (REMOTE)

• Contributed to numerous internal tools and infrastructure initiatives across Google Cloud Infrastructure and Developer Services for Android XR and Galaxy XR.
• Refactored legacy pipeline processing code, reducing the legacy Python codebase by 20%, and redesigned the data pipeline platform for hierarchical abstraction, templating, improved robustness, and better error reporting; the design was ranked among the best proposals from senior software engineers at Google.
• Completed a zero-downtime migration of multi-petabyte data storage.
• Reduced technical debt, improved stability, and cut day-to-day support overhead on the Android XR device-performance-metrics platform by refactoring and deprecating multiple components, freeing the team to collaborate with users on new features.
• Gathered customer requirements and pain points, prioritized them, and translated them into actionable recommendations and the next-generation platform deliverable, strengthening system resilience.
• Joined Google's on-call rotation and handled user support, monitoring live jobs and services and partnering with users to scale and enhance pipelines for high availability.

MAGIC LEAP - SUNNYVALE, CA (REMOTE)

• Owned the cloud platform and developer tooling (GitLab, Vault, Harbor, Cloudflare, and AWS/GCP onboarding) as technical lead, serving 700+ software engineers, with backup ownership of ArgoCD and the Prometheus/Grafana observability stack.
• Led the Infrastructure-as-Code migration to Terragrunt, converting 6 of 7 systems from an in-house Terraform wrapper; authored Terraform modules, publishing pipelines, and pipeline templates to enable the conversion.
• Architected a two-tier, high-availability HashiCorp Vault service on Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE), integrated with GitLab, ArgoCD, and GCP/AWS via Pub/Sub sync, with grant-based secret access for 80+ teams and certificate/key management.
• Delivered self-serve, Terragrunt-backed GitLab management with dynamic CI/CD job creation; custom tooling enabled a zero-downtime conversion from a Terraform-only codebase and cut time to deployment by 95%.
• Established program-management scaffolding adopted across SRE sub-teams, managing initiatives and deliverables for two years.

MAGIC LEAP - SUNNYVALE, CA (REMOTE)

• Reduced cloud spend by $1.5M immediately and $300K+ annually through cost controls, fleet right-sizing, and aggressive audits.
• Migrated the GitHub codebase and users to GitLab, growing from 250 to 700+ users and doubling project volume while scaling infrastructure through a concurrent configuration-as-code rewrite.
• Converted the AI/ML cloud fleet to DevOps deployment with built-in cost controls and monitoring, saving $200k+ annually.
• Expanded a pipeline-backed documentation service to full coverage of 35+ internal services and tooling.

LAIKA - HILLSBORO, OR

• Led a Microsoft 365 migration of 700+ mailboxes (email, calendaring, and core security posture), extending the rollout to Intune and SaaS integration with on-premises resources.
• Drove security and Windows-infrastructure organizational change, modernizing tooling to a current, supported codebase.
• Established the foundation for Infrastructure-as-Code and CI/CD, replacing click-ops and one-off tooling.
• Recruited to lead active and future projects; upskilled, trained, and mentored a team of 7+ junior engineers and sysadmins.

WETA DIGITAL - WELLINGTON, NZ

• Designed a multi-regional, scalable, and highly-available network backbone for cloud rendering using custom Terraform modules and Terragrunt, deployed across 2 regions and architected to scale to 10+.
• Built AWS and Azure cloud infrastructure via GitOps-driven Terraform workflows (deployed production on AWS).
• Founding member of a 3-person cross-functional team unifying infrastructure and pipeline engineering and deploying cloud services for 100+ engineers.
• Lead developer for 15+ Infrastructure-as-Code modules and the established architecture.

WETA DIGITAL - WELLINGTON, NZ

• Operated the studio's VMware virtualization, Kubernetes clusters, Microsoft 365, VDI, and the observability stack.
• Automated Microsoft 365, VMware, and Windows operations with custom PowerShell modules still in use 5+ years later.
• Deployed Microsoft 365 for 2000+ mailboxes in a non-internet-facing environment with strict segregation and tenancy.
• Authored the RFP and executed a VMware hardware refresh and greenfield vCenter deployment with a zero-downtime migration.

EPIC HOSTING - VERONA, WI

• Managed hardware deployments across 4+ core and disaster-recovery sites (3 US, 1 UK), covering Cisco and Palo Alto firewalls, network switches, Cisco UCS, and storage, and delivered end-to-end connectivity (BGP) for customers on-site at their premises and colocation facilities.
• Lead UCS engineer for 17 domains and 800+ servers; the deployment became an internal case study for scaling UCS architecture.
• Project manager for all operations projects over nearly five years, leading implementation and installation across sites on a $5M+ annual budget.
• Principal design engineer for a 2.4 MW secondary site (renovation, technology and infrastructure installation, and a 2x expansion of critical floor space, cutting cost per cabinet over 11%).
• Designed HVAC expansion reducing cooling footprint 50% and raising compute capacity 50%, with ROI within two months.

EPIC - VERONA, WI

• Progressed from Systems Engineer to Network Engineer, to finally lead data center and network operations.
• Led capacity planning for future data center operations, establishing policies, procedures, and practices still in use and duplicated across 4 sites exceeding 5 MW of capacity.
• Led and managed hardware deployments, power, cooling, and expansion coordination across two data center sites.
• One of three technology personnel in the physical design and layout of a greenfield 3 MW facility with modular build-out, leading power-scale decisions.
• Aided design and execution of an expansion in a pre-existing data center, including prototyping cabinets, network switches, PDUs, and codifying an asymmetrical cable-management system; all components were used in the greenfield secondary site.
• Established the first formal data center operations team, training and managing 3 technicians, one of whom became my replacement when I moved to Epic Hosting.

Languages

Python, Go, Bash, PowerShell, HCL (Terraform / Terragrunt)

Cloud Platforms

Google Cloud Platform (GKE, IAM, Pub/Sub), AWS, Azure

Infrastructure as Code & GitOps

Terraform, Terragrunt, ArgoCD, GitLab CI/CD

Containers & Orchestration

Kubernetes (GKE), Docker, Harbor

Networking

TCP/IP, DNS/DHCP, BGP, load balancing, Cisco & Palo Alto firewalls

Virtualization & Compute

VMware vSphere / vCenter, Cisco UCS

Security & Identity

HashiCorp Vault, Okta, IAM, certificate & key management

Observability

Prometheus, Grafana, Sensu

Minneapolis, Minnesota

• B.S. Physics + B.S. Astrophysics
• aka Particle Smasher and Rocket Scientist