Open to Executive Opportunities

Engineering the Future of Cloud & Digital Infrastructure

Senior technology leader with 20+ years driving cloud transformation, operational excellence, and high-performing engineering teams across Fortune 500 enterprises — from Sun Microsystems, Lab126, Walmart, eHealth to Fiserv.

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Sundar Shankar
Sundar Shankar Cloud & Infrastructure Executive
25 Recs
About Me

Turning Complex Infrastructure Into Business Advantage

With over two decades in enterprise technology, I specialize in leading cloud engineering organizations that don't just keep the lights on — they accelerate business outcomes. From migrating data centers to AWS in record time to building SRE cultures that drive operational excellence, my career has been defined by bridging the gap between technology and business strategy.

I've led cloud transformations at eHealth (completing a full AWS migration in 11 months), driven infrastructure strategy at Coupang and Walmart Labs, and managed cloud and network engineering at The Wendy's Company. My approach combines deep technical expertise with executive-level communication — distilling complex architectures into clear business value.

Leadership Principles
🤝
Trust & Transparency
Building psychological safety so teams can innovate boldly and fail forward.
🎯
Emotional Intelligence
Leading with empathy to unlock the highest potential of every team member.
⚡
Authenticity
Showing up genuinely — aligning words with actions, even when it's hard.
🌍
Diversity & Inclusion
Cultivating teams where diverse perspectives drive better decisions.
Core Expertise

What I Bring to the Table

Deep specialization across the cloud infrastructure lifecycle, from strategy to execution.

☁️

Cloud Strategy & Migration

End-to-end cloud transformation — from discovery and planning through execution. Led data center relocations to AWS delivering multi-million dollar savings.

⚙️

SRE & Operational Excellence

Building Site Reliability Engineering cultures with robust monitoring, incident management, and KPIs that drive stability and developer productivity.

🔄

DevOps & Automation

CI/CD pipelines, Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, Ansible), and containerization strategies using Kubernetes and Docker at enterprise scale.

🔐

Security & Compliance

Access control, security operations, and compliance frameworks that protect without slowing innovation. Zero-trust architecture advocacy.

💰

FinOps & Cost Optimization

Implementing financial governance for cloud spend — right-sizing, reserved capacity planning, and accountability models that save millions.

👥

Team Building & Leadership

Scaling distributed engineering teams, mentoring next-generation leaders, and building high-trust cultures that retain top talent.

Impact & Results

Numbers That Tell the Story

Consistent track record of measurable business impact across every role.

>$5M
Cloud cost savings through FinOps, optimization & migration strategy
99.99%
Uptime achieved across managed infrastructure
50+
Engineers led across distributed global teams
3
Major cloud platforms managed (AWS, GCP, Azure)
300B+
Annual transaction volume governed through API platform at Fiserv
38%
Operational efficiency improvement through Cloud Center of Excellence
Credentials

Certifications & Education

Industry-recognized certifications and academic foundation.

🏅

AWS Certified Solutions Architect

Associate — Amazon Web Services
Certified 2019
🔒

CISSP

Certified Information Systems Security Professional — (ISC)²
In Progress
🎓

Master of Business Administration

University of Phoenix, San Jose, CA
MBA
Career Journey

Where I've Made an Impact

Progressive leadership roles across leading technology and enterprise companies.

Fiserv
Director of Platform Engineering
2023 – Present
Leading API management and platform engineering for one of the largest fintech platforms in the world. Driving SLA governance, incident ownership, and gateway consolidation while accelerating AI adoption to improve operational resilience.
The Wendy's Company
Director, Cloud & Networking Engineering
2022
Steered IT infrastructure toward GCP strategic migration. Restructured cloud network architecture, containerization, and deployment standards. Reduced MTTR on service SLAs by cutting alert noise 30%.
eHealth, Inc.
Head of Cloud Engineering & SRE
2019 – 2022
Spearheaded Cloud Center of Excellence (CCoE) and improved efficiency by 38%. Led migration of the entire data center to AWS using Kubernetes in under 11 months. Modernized legacy applications to microservice architecture.
Charlotte Russe
Head of IT, Security & Cloud
2018 – 2019
Authored DR strategy and designed Azure cloud migration roadmap. Boosted availability to 99.95% and reduced incident management by 20%. Cut annual operating costs by $500K through vendor renegotiations.
Coupang
Global Head of Cloud Infrastructure Engineering
2017 – 2018
Championed cloud migration of the largest regional infrastructure (Seoul). Reduced expenses by 12% of $44M AWS and OPEX spend. Built global team from 2 to 22+ engineers and 3 managers.
Walmart Labs
Director of Search Engineering & DevOps
2012 – 2017
Led teams supporting the 2nd largest search platform in the US for eCommerce. Elevated index push speed by 80% and accelerated incident resolution by 50%. Appointed to CloudBees Customer Advisory Board.
Earlier Career
Amazon Lab126 · Yahoo! · Sun Microsystems / Oracle · Sterling
Foundation years in software engineering and infrastructure across Silicon Valley's most iconic technology companies.
Thought Leadership

Speaking & Publications

Sharing insights on cloud strategy, digital transformation, and engineering leadership.

🎤

AWS re:Invent 2021

Las Vegas, NV · Database Leadership Session

Presented eHealth's 11-month cloud database migration — from MySQL/PostgreSQL to Aurora & DocumentDB — alongside AWS VP Jeff Carter. ▶ Watch on YouTube
🏛️

AWS Public Sector Summit 2021

Washington, D.C. · Cloud Adoption Strategy

Shared insights on enterprise cloud adoption, including security, compliance, and large-scale migration strategies. ▶ Watch Session
📝

TechTarget Coverage

Industry Publication · Featured Speaker

Featured in TechTarget's coverage of AWS re:Invent — detailing eHealth's three-phase database migration strategy and outcomes. → Read Article
🏆

eHealth AWS Migration

Official AWS Customer Success Story

Led a landmark cloud migration completed in 11 months (vs. years expected), featured by AWS as an official success story. → Read Case Study
View All Media & Videos →
What Others Say

Peer Recognition

25 LinkedIn recommendations from peers, direct reports, and leadership colleagues.

"Sundar is a cloud platform visionary who can fully utilize the collaborative efforts of his direct and indirect teams to deliver a best-in-class cloud platform. His relentless drive towards delivering on monumental digital transformation and the follow through to analyze and optimize cloud environments is incredibly high value for our organization. Sundar will raise the level of any technical leadership team."

Leadership Peer
Senior Executive Colleague
LinkedIn Recommendation

"Sundar is a leader who helps others around him grow. He mentored me during our time together by having an open feedback loop for our projects. He encouraged the team and me to see the bigger picture of the org and company. Sundar's positive attitude towards work helped encourage and support all of us, which made for a very enjoyable but productive work environment. I recommend him without hesitation."

Direct Report
Cloud Engineering Team Member
LinkedIn Recommendation

"Sundar is an optimist and a willing partner in delivering transformation. He can lead the way in a company's digital transformation and cost efficiency efforts. His executive communication skills and ability to distill complex architectures into clear business value make him an exceptional leader."

Executive Colleague
Cross-Functional Partner
LinkedIn Recommendation
Showing 3 of 25 recommendations · View all on LinkedIn →
Community Impact

Giving Back Through Technology

Empowering the next generation and vulnerable communities to navigate the digital world safely.

🔥 Free for Everyone

TechSkillet

A 100% free community training platform I built to educate children (ages 8–18) and senior citizens on cybersecurity, digital privacy, phishing detection, AI & deepfake awareness, and safe internet practices. Featuring 48+ courses, 200+ modules, gamified learning with XP progression, and free certification — no account required.

48+
Courses
200+
Modules
100%
Free
🏆
Certified
Visit TechSkillet →
🌐 Internet Basics
🔑 Password Security
🎣 Phishing Detection
🤖 AI & Deepfakes
👁️ Privacy & Your Data
📱 Social Media Safety
Writing & Insights

What I'm Thinking About

Occasional thoughts on leadership, technology, and the messy space in between.

Leadership

How the Best Teams Make Decisions with 70% of the Information

Moving fast sounds great in theory. But does "decide with 70% of the facts" actually work in most organizations — or does it depend heavily on culture and how much risk leadership is willing to accept?

Oct 2025 Read on LinkedIn →
AI & Industry

Disrupting Consulting: How AI Will Rewrite the Rules of Implementation

AI is reshaping entire industries — and consulting is no exception. The shift has already begun. The question isn't whether to adapt, but how fast leaders are willing to move.

Oct 2025 Read on LinkedIn →

Let's Build Something Extraordinary

Looking for a proven cloud and infrastructure leader? I'd love to connect and explore how I can drive impact for your organization.

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