Greg Herlein

San Francisco, CA
gherlein@herlein.com
github.com/gherlein
+1-415-368-7546

Summary of Qualifications

  • 20+ years of experience in software development and cloud systems architecture
  • 10+ years of direct people management experience
  • 10+ years of experience building distributed SaaS systems in the cloud
  • Extremely fast learner and technology early adopter
  • Creative problem solver – inventor of 6 patents and many innovative products
  • Led teams of Cloud Solution Architects at AWS directly supporting GTM sales plans
  • Drove a multi-million dollar program integrating cloud technologies at Rakuten
  • Principal Architect for data lake modernization project for over 1100 Engineers
  • Solid understanding of compliance, including networking and security
  • Exceptional presentation skills – strong with both Engineers and Executives
  • Strong communication and interpersonal skills – adept at cross-team collaboration
  • Reputation for building globally distributed teams “that don’t break”

Work History

BrightSign – Vice President, Software Engineering (7/2022 – Current)

  • Roku spin-out – B2B product spans cloud, media, and IoT with multiple customer touch points
  • Leading agile and cloud transformation for team of 50+ Senior Engineers in US and UK
  • Directly interfacing to several Fortune 50 customers leading technical integrations
  • Architecting “Management Cloud” – which includes ML for managing large fleets of devices

Amazon AWS – Leader (L7), Solutions Architecture and Developer Evangelism (12/2020 – 7/2022)

  • Managed teams of Cloud Solutions Architects across US West Coast – pre and post Sales
  • Worked directly with Sales to support adoption and growth of AWS services
  • Built and led a function to increase customer awareness and adoption of key APIs and services

Cisco – Director Software Engineering (12/2014 to 12/2020)

  • Led CX transformation team of 100+ Engineers building a modern cloud-based data lake
  • One year directly leading cloud integration at Rakuten Mobile, a cloud-based 5G network
  • Two years as Principal Architect driving cloud migration for a group of over 1100 Engineers
  • Two years leading a 150+ Engineer team that built and operated a streaming video SaaS

Cognitive Networks (startup) – Vice President, Engineering (9/2013 - 11/2014)

  • Product: SaaS-based Smart TV ML-based automated content recognition (ACR) system
  • Rebuilt team from initial 6 hires to over 20 Software and DevOps Engineers
  • Scaled from 200K to 4M+ monitored TVs generating petabytes/month of detailed viewer data
  • Fully automated all deployments, shifted focus to SLA/SLO and measuring performance
  • Improved up-time from low 90% to better than 99.95% within months

Fogbridge Corporation – Founder and Principal Engineer (4/2006 - 11/2014)

  • Consultant for custom software development, AWS migration and mobile development
  • Customers were small and large companies: Technicolor, THX, BrightSign/Roku
  • Wrote and shipped two iOS educational games: “MultiAlien” and “SatDef”
  • Company was full time employment in 2013-2014 and my “side job” otherwise

Rackspace – Director, Product and Software Development (5/2012 - 4/2013)

  • Managed a team of 100+ Engineers and Product Managers spread across several sites
  • Responsible for the Rackspace Cloud Console, Cloud Monitoring, iOS/Android mobile apps
  • These components interfaced with every other component in Rackspace’s cloud

Technicolor – Vice President Engineering, Technicolor Fellow (4/2004 - 5/2012)

  • Product: large-scale video advertising SaaS offering using IPTV technology for retail ads
  • Managed a team of 100+ Engineers in both the US and China
  • Solution generated over $1B in revenue during my eight-year tenure
  • System deployed in over 5000 retail stores – migrated backend from on-prem to cloud
  • Drove the successful on-time launch for Walmart resulting in a $190M customer win
  • Selected as a Technicolor Fellow - invitation only for the top-tier technologists
  • Managed patent portfolio, authored six issued patents and managed a pool of ~40 total patents

Arkstream, Inc. – Co-Founder/Vice President Engineering (7/2003 - 2/2004)

  • Co-founded this seed-stage startup and led the implementation of an IPTV ad-insertion product
  • Product was hardware-based audio-video transcode of live IPTV packet streams
  • Wrote the low-level IP packet processing, RTP stream handlers and MPEG TS handlers

Alcatel Genesys – Consultant, Senior Software Engineer (7/2000 - 6/2003)

  • Full time Software Engineer (contract through Herlein Engineering Inc. see below)
  • Designed and built new network-based proxy servers for high volume telephone switches
  • Refactored a major project to make it HA resulting in a multi-million dollar renewal
  • Designed and built an automated test suite to fully exercise detailed call flows

Quicknet Technologies, Inc. – Director of Engineering (5/1999 - 6/2000)

  • Grew a team from 5 to 30+ to build a VoIP telephony app over 5 years before Skype existed
  • Invented the Linux Telephony sub-system and contributed device drivers to the Linux kernel

Herlein Engineering, Inc. – Principal Software Engineer (5/1998 - 4/2004)

  • Full time consulting through this company for 1998 and again from 2000-2003
  • Wrote a variety of custom products including embedded systems, Linux, early VoIP products
  • Invented, developed and sold the Simple Telephony Control Protocol (STCP)
  • Co-authored and drove the IETF to ratify the Speex Codec RTP payload spec (RFC-5574)

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution – Shipboard Support Engineer (3/1997 – 5/1998)

  • Full time system and network support onboard cutting-edge new oceanographic research ship
  • Managed full ships network including server farm, Inmarsat (internet connectivity), RS-422 loop
  • Managed network and data systems on the deep-diving submarine “Alvin”

Pacific Gas and Electric Research and Development – Technologist (1/1992 – 3/1997)

  • Custom software development for various research projects
  • One major project led to a patent and development of a new low level radio protocol
  • Developed and deployed some of the first embedded Linux solutions

United States Navy Submarine Service – Reactor Supervisor/Operator (12/1985 – 12/1991)

  • Maintained, repaired and operated all nuclear power plant instrumentation and controls
  • Qualified in Submarines, earning coveted “submarine dolphins”
  • As Ship’s Training Coordinator wrote the first database for required ships school grads
  • Multiple personal awards, ship awarded the Presidential and Navy Unit Citations
  • Top Secret/Special Compartmented Information clearance (TS/SCI)