Jacob Steelsmith
Cloud Platform & Engineering Leader | AWS | Distributed Systems | AI-Assisted Engineering
Hands-on technology and engineering leader with 15+ years of experience modernizing platforms, scaling cloud infrastructure, and leading high-impact engineering initiatives in resource-constrained environments. Proven track record transforming legacy monoliths and on-premise systems into cloud-native, serverless, and distributed architectures on AWS. Deep expertise across backend systems, platform engineering, DevOps, infrastructure, real-time streaming systems, and AI-assisted development workflows.
Built and led the evolution of engineering and IT capabilities at a growing organization supporting thousands of public safety candidates nationwide, delivering mission-critical systems with high availability, scalability, and security requirements. Led initiatives spanning serverless application platforms, real-time virtual testing and proctoring systems, cloud-native data platforms, CI/CD modernization, observability, identity modernization, and enterprise infrastructure transformation.
Strong background in AWS, Python, distributed systems, serverless architecture, event-driven design, platform reliability, and operational scalability. Experienced building systems with Lambda, API Gateway, Cognito, RDS, S3, EKS, Kinesis, Redshift, Glue, CloudFormation, and modern frontend frameworks including React. Early adopter of AI-assisted engineering workflows, agentic AI tooling, RAG systems, and structured knowledge pipelines to improve engineering velocity, operational insight, and software quality.
Known for operating effectively in ambiguous, high-pressure environments, aligning technology strategy with business outcomes, and remaining deeply hands-on technically while leading teams and modernization efforts. Combines strategic leadership with practical engineering execution, strong cross-functional collaboration, and a builder mindset focused on delivering scalable, maintainable systems that solve real operational problems and create value.
What I Do
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AWS Cloud Architecture
Deep expertise across the AWS ecosystem including compute, storage, networking, and managed services. Designing solutions that balance performance, cost, and operational simplicity.
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Serverless & Distributed Systems
Building event-driven architectures with Lambda, Step Functions, EventBridge, and SQS. Designing systems that scale automatically and handle failure gracefully.
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Infrastructure as Code
Defining reproducible infrastructure with CloudFormation and Terraform. Automating deployments through CI/CD pipelines with OIDC authentication and least-privilege access.
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Technical Leadership
Guiding engineering teams through architecture decisions, code reviews, and best practices. Mentoring developers and establishing standards that improve delivery velocity and system reliability.
Learn More
Explore my resume for a detailed look at my experience, check out my projects to see what I've built, or review the architecture of this site itself as a demonstration of AWS engineering.