JEFFREY HULFORD

Senior DevOps Engineer

Professional Summary

Senior DevOps Engineer with deep expertise in modern infrastructure automation, monitoring, and observability. Specializing in Ansible automation, Prometheus/Grafana monitoring stacks, and enterprise Windows infrastructure. Proven track record of implementing robust CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure as code, and comprehensive monitoring solutions in high-performance trading environments.

🏆 Secret Achievement: Built an entire retro gaming ecosystem in JavaScript just for fun

Professional Experience

Senior DevOps Engineer

DRW | Chicago, IL | 2021 - Current
  • Established GitOps workflows and CI/CD pipelines for infrastructure as code
  • Implemented Windows, Blackbox, and VMware exporters for full-stack monitoring
  • Established code review processes, branch protection policies, and CI/CD best practices
  • Architected Prometheus/Grafana monitoring stack with Alertmanager for enterprise observability
  • Designed and maintained high-availability monitoring solutions for critical trading infrastructure
  • Created custom Grafana dashboards and Prometheus alerting rules for proactive incident management
  • Automated Windows server deployments and configurations using Ansible and PowerShell
  • Evangelized AI tool adoption while maintaining GitOps guardrails and code quality

Previous DevOps & Infrastructure Roles

Various Organizations | Chicago Area | Many Years Experience
  • Led technical initiatives as Technical Executive for Database and Windows infrastructure verticals
  • Built automation workflows for Windows, Network, and Storage environment management
  • Developed PowerShell automation frameworks for server provisioning and configuration
  • Implemented infrastructure monitoring best practices across hybrid cloud and on-premises environments
  • Championed "automate everything" philosophy, reducing manual operations significantly

Technical Skills

DevOps & Automation

Ansible Git/GitOps CI/CD Pipelines Infrastructure as Code Container Orchestration

Monitoring & Observability

Prometheus Grafana Alertmanager Splunk Windows Exporter SCOM Blackbox Exporter VMware Exporter

Infrastructure

Windows Server VMware vSphere VMware Horizon Active Directory Hybrid Cloud

Languages & Scripting

Python PowerShell YAML Bash JavaScript PromQL

AI & Development Tools

Claude Code Cursor Windsurf VSCode Eclipse Unity

Soft Skills & Leadership

Cross-Functional Collaboration Communication Mentoring & Training Sense of Humor (Professional)

Education

Master's Degree, Management Information Systems

Morris Graduate School of Management

Bachelor of Science, Computer Networking

Robert Morris University - Illinois

Technical Training & Certifications

Ongoing Professional Development

Continuous learning in DevOps practices, cloud technologies, and modern infrastructure automation