Brent Sifford

About Brent Sifford

Accomplished technology leader with 25+ years of experience driving platform strategy, cloud infrastructure, and AI-enabled developer ecosystems for large-scale SaaS platforms. Proven track record leading global engineering organizations to deliver petabyte-scale systems across multi-region and sovereign cloud environments, balancing scalability, reliability, and data privacy requirements. Deep expertise in modernizing microservice platforms, standardizing observability and operational practices, and building internal platforms that accelerate developer productivity, including AI tooling and agent-based workflows. Recognized for aligning technical vision with business outcomes, reducing costs by 30–40%, and delivering high-impact solutions in complex, regulated environments.AREAS OF EXPERTISE• Platform & Cloud Engineering Leadership: Direct global engineering teams delivering petabyte-scale SaaS platforms across multi-region AWS environments, including sovereign cloud deployments. Expertise in Kubernetes (EKS), distributed systems, and infrastructure standardization to achieve 99.99% uptime and significant cost efficiencies.• AI Developer Platforms & Engineering Productivity: Driving adoption of AI across engineering organizations through internal platforms, including agent-based development environments, reusable integration catalogs, and training programs that improve developer effectiveness and accelerate delivery.• Microservices & Platform Modernization: Modernizing large-scale systems through microservices architecture, runtime and dependency upgrades (Java, AWS SDK), and platform standardization, improving performance, resiliency, and security across hundreds of services.• Security, Privacy & Compliance: Delivering secure-by-design platforms and tooling aligned with global regulatory standards (GDPR, CCPA, etc.), including automated vulnerability management and data privacy systems developed at scale.• SRE, Observability & Operational Excellence: Establishing SLIs/SLOs, operational review frameworks, and standardized monitoring and alerting practices to improve reliability, reduce toil, and accelerate incident response across distributed systems.• Strategic Program & Organizational: Leadership: Leading cross-functional initiatives spanning infrastructure, platform engineering, and product development. Experienced in scaling global teams, defining technical roadmaps, and aligning engineering execution with business and customer outcomes.

Experience

1. Sr Software Engineering Manager - Platform Engineering

   Sumo Logic

   Aug 2023 — Present · Austin, TX, US

   Lead a global platform engineering organization responsible for cloud infrastructure, Kubernetes, and developer platforms supporting a petabyte-scale SaaS business across multi-region AWS environments. Own platform strategy spanning reliability, cost optimization, and AI-driven developer productivity- Directed global platform expansion, including sovereign cloud deployments, enabling regional compliance and enterprise growth- Led Kubernetes (EKS) migration for ~95% of services, improving scalability while reducing infrastructure costs by ~30%- Driving internal AI developer platform (agent-based workflows, reusable integrations), accelerating engineering productivity at scale- Established platform-wide SLOs, operational reviews, and observability standards, improving reliability and reducing operational toil- Led modernization of microservice platform (Java 17, SDK upgrades), improving performance (~25%) and reducing critical vulnerabilities (~80%)

Education

• Austin Community College

  A.A.S. Management Information Systems, Information Technology, Software Development

  2004 — 2006

• East Texas A&M University

  Master of Science (M.S.), Management

  2013 — 2019

• East Texas A&M University

  Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences, Applied Arts and Sciences

  2011 — 2013

Skills

• Css
• Sql
• Linux
• Asp.net
• Active Directory
• Agile Project Management
• Sql Server Management Studio
• Mentoring
• Ado.net
• Software Development
• Scrum
• Asp
• Ajax
• Iis
• Javascript
• Ssis
• T-Sql
• Staff Development
• Sharepoint
• Training
• Testing
• Staff Management
• Architecture
• Wordpress
• C#
• .net
• Ssrs
• Business Intelligence
• Windows
• Microsoft Sql Server
• Linq
• Html
• Sql Server
• Visual Basic
• Access
• Subversion
• Databases
• Vb.net
• Web Services
• Project Management