Background

About Karl

I architect systems, lead teams, and ship software that matters — from disaster-response platforms at NASA to mission-critical aerospace systems at Jacobs/BlackLynx.

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Beyond the work

Away from the terminal, I'm based in Washington, DC, where I write and release music (you'll find a back catalog on Discogs). I'm happiest with a hard problem, a whiteboard, and a team worth building with — and I care as much about mentoring the next engineer as I do about shipping the next release.

01 — Experience

Current Role

Staff Aerospace Software Engineer

Jacobs · Chantilly, VA

Sept 2025 — Present

Lead delivery for cloud-native mission simulation and telemetry services, owning planning, refinement, demos, and stakeholder alignment from concept through execution.
Drive DevSecOps and release governance through CI/CD, automated testing, quality gates, and security checks that shorten feedback loops and reduce delivery risk.
Establish engineering standards across multi-repo systems, including branch strategy, PR review discipline, Definition of Done, documentation, and integration readiness.
Improve team execution through coaching, onboarding, 1:1s, delivery cadence, and clear operating practices across local, cloud, and client environments.
Translate complex mission, product, and engineering needs into actionable roadmaps that align developers, stakeholders, and delivery priorities.

Lead Software Engineer

NASA / SSAI

Lanham, MD

Dec 2017 — Sept 2025

Architected NASA's cloud-based Flood Mapping System on AWS, delivering near real-time satellite-derived flood products to support global disaster response.
Rebuilt the NASA Earth Observatory — a platform serving ~1.5M monthly visitors — improving performance, UX, and SEO.
Built a high-performance Ceph-based file + metadata platform, improving large dataset discovery and access for researchers.
Delivered an automated content registry workflow that boosted data collection efficiency by ~60% and accelerated researcher access.
Implemented GitLab CI/CD + Docker + Kubernetes delivery — automated deployments, repeatable releases, reliable stakeholder approvals.

Sr. Software Engineer

InformedDNA

St. Petersburg, FL

Jan 2016 — Dec 2017

Architected a Laravel-based case management platform reducing operational costs by $30K/year.
Led CRM enhancements improving client retention and contributing ~15% revenue growth through better lifecycle workflows and reporting.
Spearheaded platform upgrades and security improvements, doubling incident response efficiency and strengthening operational readiness.

Earlier Career

1997 — 2015

Show 5 earlier roles

Ticomix, Inc.

Sr. Software Engineer · Washington, D.C. · 2012–2015

Led CRM platform delivery for 20+ enterprise clients including VDOT and Kastle Systems, architecting custom workflow and integration solutions. Overhauled the delivery process to cut the backlog ~90%, sharpening predictability and customer satisfaction.

Sabre Corporation

Software Engineer · Bethesda, MD · 2010–2012

Engineered web applications serving global travel-industry clients at scale. Raised team engineering standards by mentoring junior developers through pair programming and rigorous code review.

Dante Inc.

Principal Software Engineer · Arlington, VA · 2007–2010

Delivered enterprise solutions for Comcast and Mastercard that improved operational efficiency ~40%. Owned end-to-end Scrum delivery as technical lead — from backlog planning through retrospectives.

Verizon Business

Software Developer · Herndon, VA · 1999–2005

Architected Finium, the multi-tenant managed-security platform that scaled client engagements 10× and directly enabled a $105M acquisition by MCI/Verizon.

Advantage Industries, Inc.

Sr. Software Engineer · Columbia, MD · 1997–1999

Designed database-driven enterprise applications that automated client workflows and eliminated manual bottlenecks. Established the foundations in production delivery and data modeling that shaped a 25-year engineering trajectory.

02 — Research

Co-author

GeoHorizons

Published online May 2026

A Web-Based High-resolution Global Water and Flood Mapping Platform

Peer-reviewed publication describing the Global Water and Flood Mapping System, a NASA-supported platform for high-resolution surface water and flood products derived from commercial satellite data.

F. S. Policelli, A. J. Kettner, K. Hill, and D. Maloney. GeoHorizons, 1(1), gh2025-7.

DOI: 10.1144/gh2025-7

03 — Technical Stack

Languages

Python TypeScript Java PHP Bash

Cloud & Infra

AWS Docker Kubernetes Helm (OCI) Ceph

Delivery & CI/CD

GitLab CI GitHub Actions Bitbucket Release Automation

Web & UI

React Node.js Laravel Vite Tailwind OpenAPI/Swagger

Data Platforms

PostgreSQL MySQL MongoDB Redis Elasticsearch

Leadership

Agile / Scrum Team Coaching Roadmapping DevSecOps Stakeholder Mgmt

04 — Credentials

25+

Years of Experience

1.5M

Monthly Visitors · NASA Platforms

$105M

Platform Acquisition Value

~60%

Efficiency Gained via Automation

Certifications

3 verified · 1 in progress

SAFe

SAFe® Agilist Certification

Scaled Agile, Inc.

In Progress

PSM II

Professional Scrum Master™ II

Scrum.org

Verify credential

PSPO I

Professional Scrum Product Owner™ I

Scrum.org

Verify credential

PSD I

Professional Scrum Developer™ I

Scrum.org

Verify credential

Education

B.S. Computer Science Coursework

University of Maryland

Associate of Arts, General Studies

Howard Community College

Project Management

Rutgers University