new file: content/pages/cover-letters/2026-01-17-careforce-ai-senior-fullstack-engineer-russell-ballestrini.rst
new file: content/pages/cover-letters/2026-01-17-lumos-devops-engineer-russell-ballestrini.rst new file: content/pages/cover-letters/2026-01-17-octane-staff-platform-engineer-russell-ballestrini.rst new file: content/pages/cover-letters/2026-01-17-prompt-health-senior-devops-engineer-russell-ballestrini.rst
This commit is contained in:
parent
cff5e5e93e
commit
c903273acf
4 changed files with 102 additions and 0 deletions
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
|
|||
Careforce AI - Senior Fullstack Engineer
|
||||
========================================
|
||||
|
||||
:date: 2026-01-17
|
||||
:slug: 2026-01-17-careforce-ai-senior-fullstack-engineer-russell-ballestrini-cover-letter
|
||||
:status: draft
|
||||
|
||||
To the Careforce AI team:
|
||||
|
||||
Administrative burden in healthcare is a solvable problem. Clinicians shouldn't spend more time documenting than treating. AI agents that actually reduce that burden while maintaining accuracy is exactly the kind of work I want to do.
|
||||
|
||||
**Python & FastAPI**: 15+ years of Python. Currently building unsandbox.com, a multi-tenant remote code execution API using FastAPI with containerized isolation, artifact generation, & async execution. Production FastAPI services handling concurrent workloads with proper async patterns.
|
||||
|
||||
**LLM integration at scale**: At Coursemojo (2022-2025), I scaled AI-powered educational tools using OpenAI & Anthropic APIs. Built the infrastructure layer that let the product team iterate on prompts & features without worrying about rate limits, cost optimization, or reliability. Authored "uncloseai: Machine Learning Reference Guide to Inference Clients" covering streaming techniques across 42 programming languages.
|
||||
|
||||
**React & full-stack**: Built complete SaaS products end-to-end. Make Post Sell is a multi-tenant e-commerce platform I bootstrapped. Remarkbox is an embeddable comment system I've run since 2016. Both required frontend work alongside backend & infrastructure.
|
||||
|
||||
**Healthcare-adjacent experience**: EdTech shares a lot with healthcare. At Remind & Coursemojo, I worked on software that millions of people depended on daily. Reliability matters. Data privacy matters. Understanding the domain matters.
|
||||
|
||||
**Early-stage startup fit**: I've bootstrapped multiple products from zero. I understand the pace & scope of early-stage work. At YC-backed companies, you need engineers who can own significant surface area without needing everything spelled out.
|
||||
|
||||
Russell Ballestrini
|
||||
|
||||
https://russell.ballestrini.net | https://github.com/russellballestrini
|
||||
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
|
|||
Lumos - DevOps Engineer
|
||||
=======================
|
||||
|
||||
:date: 2026-01-17
|
||||
:slug: 2026-01-17-lumos-devops-engineer-russell-ballestrini-cover-letter
|
||||
:status: draft
|
||||
|
||||
To the Lumos team:
|
||||
|
||||
Identity governance is one of those problems that compounds. Every new app, every role change, every offboarding creates access sprawl. Building the infrastructure that handles this at scale for companies like MongoDB & Pinterest requires serious DevOps work. That's what I do.
|
||||
|
||||
**AWS & cloud infrastructure**: EC2, ECS, RDS, DynamoDB, SQS, Lambda, CloudFormation. At Remind, built infrastructure supporting 30M users across 60+ microservices. At Coursemojo, ran Fargate-based services with auto-scaling & cost optimization. Currently building unsandbox.com on AWS with container orchestration & multi-tenant isolation.
|
||||
|
||||
**Terraform & IaC**: CloudFormation, Terraform, Ansible, SaltStack. At Cofense (2020-2022), worked in SOC2/FedRAMP environments where infrastructure needed to be reproducible, auditable, & version-controlled. Identity & access management products need that same rigor.
|
||||
|
||||
**Kubernetes & containers**: ECS/EKS deployments throughout my career. Docker containerization, orchestration, resource management. At Remind, managed container infrastructure that kept critical services running during COVID-19 traffic spikes.
|
||||
|
||||
**CI/CD & automation**: GitHub Actions, Jenkins, ArgoCD patterns. Designed & implemented pipelines at multiple companies. Strong bias toward automation. If something runs more than twice, it should be scripted.
|
||||
|
||||
**Observability**: Introduced Datadog at both Remind (EC2 agents) & Coursemojo (Fargate sidecars). APM, logs, custom metrics, SLO definition. Understanding how to instrument systems so engineers can debug production issues fast.
|
||||
|
||||
**Python proficiency**: 15+ years. Comfortable contributing to large codebases. Currently building unsandbox.com, a multi-tenant code execution platform in Python/FastAPI.
|
||||
|
||||
Building infrastructure for identity governance at enterprise scale is exactly the kind of challenge I'm looking for.
|
||||
|
||||
Russell Ballestrini
|
||||
|
||||
https://russell.ballestrini.net | https://github.com/russellballestrini
|
||||
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
|
|||
Octane - Staff Platform Engineer
|
||||
=================================
|
||||
|
||||
:date: 2026-01-17
|
||||
:slug: 2026-01-17-octane-staff-platform-engineer-russell-ballestrini-cover-letter
|
||||
:status: draft
|
||||
|
||||
To the Octane team:
|
||||
|
||||
$1.6B in loan originations means your platform handles real money at scale. When infrastructure fails, dealers can't close sales & customers walk. Building platform services that are reliable, scalable, & secure under that pressure is exactly what I've done throughout my career.
|
||||
|
||||
**AWS at depth**: EC2, ECS, RDS, DynamoDB, SQS, Lambda, CloudFormation. At Remind, built infrastructure supporting 30M users & 60+ microservices. Led cloud cost optimization initiatives while maintaining reliability. At Coursemojo, ran Fargate-based services with auto-scaling for AI workloads. Currently building unsandbox.com on AWS with multi-tenant isolation & resource quotas.
|
||||
|
||||
**Platform engineering**: At Remind, I was the infrastructure layer that product teams built on. Observability, deployment pipelines, service reliability. At Cofense, worked in security-focused environments (SOC2/FedRAMP) where platform services needed to be auditable & reproducible. Fintech compliance requirements are familiar territory.
|
||||
|
||||
**Technical leadership**: Staff-level means mentoring & architecture decisions, not just execution. I've bootstrapped companies (LinkPeek, Remarkbox, unsandbox.com) where I owned everything. At larger companies (Remind, Cofense, Coursemojo), I've led initiatives & helped other engineers level up.
|
||||
|
||||
**Reliability at scale**: At Remind, managed infrastructure during COVID-19 lockdowns when education communication became critical & usage spiked dramatically. Systems stayed up. At Coursemojo, built the reliability layer for AI services handling concurrent workloads.
|
||||
|
||||
**Security mindset**: At Cofense (email security company), worked in SOC2/FedRAMP environments. Understanding that fintech means PCI, SOC2, & treating security as a first-class concern, not an afterthought.
|
||||
|
||||
Building platform infrastructure for a profitable unicorn in the lending space is exactly the kind of challenge I'm looking for.
|
||||
|
||||
Russell Ballestrini
|
||||
|
||||
https://russell.ballestrini.net | https://github.com/russellballestrini
|
||||
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
|
|||
Prompt Health - Senior DevOps Engineer
|
||||
======================================
|
||||
|
||||
:date: 2026-01-17
|
||||
:slug: 2026-01-17-prompt-health-senior-devops-engineer-russell-ballestrini-cover-letter
|
||||
:status: draft
|
||||
|
||||
To the Prompt Health team:
|
||||
|
||||
Healthcare software that actually works means clinicians spend time with patients instead of fighting their tools. At $100M+ ARR growing 100%+ YoY, you've proven the product works. Now you need infrastructure that scales with that growth without breaking. That's what I do.
|
||||
|
||||
**Datadog & observability**: At Remind, I introduced Datadog with EC2 agents for container APM, logs, & custom metrics across 60+ microservices supporting 30M users. At Coursemojo, I did it again with Fargate sidecar agents. I know how to instrument systems so engineers can debug production issues fast instead of spending hours correlating logs across services.
|
||||
|
||||
**Kubernetes & container orchestration**: ECS/EKS deployments throughout my career. At Remind, I managed the container infrastructure that kept critical education services running during COVID-19 lockdowns when usage spiked dramatically. Currently building unsandbox.com, a multi-tenant remote code execution platform with container orchestration, user isolation, & resource quotas across 42+ programming languages.
|
||||
|
||||
**Terraform & infrastructure-as-code**: CloudFormation, Terraform, Ansible, SaltStack. At Cofense (2020-2022), worked in security-focused environments (SOC2/FedRAMP) where infrastructure needed to be reproducible, auditable, & secure by default. Healthcare compliance requirements aren't new territory.
|
||||
|
||||
**AWS at depth**: EC2, ECS, RDS, DynamoDB, SQS, Lambda, CloudFormation. Built infrastructure handling millions of concurrent users that needed to be both cost-effective & reliable. At Remind, I led cloud cost optimization initiatives while maintaining the reliability 30M users depended on.
|
||||
|
||||
The combination of fast growth, healthcare impact, & serious infrastructure challenges is exactly what I'm looking for.
|
||||
|
||||
Russell Ballestrini
|
||||
|
||||
https://russell.ballestrini.net | https://github.com/russellballestrini
|
||||
Loading…
Add table
Add a link
Reference in a new issue