Francis Refol

IT Automation Engineer / DevOps / Infrastructure
https://portfolio.refol.us
917.933.5124

Summary

Hands-on IT Automation Engineer with experience in infrastructure-as-code, CI/CD pipelines, identity management, and modern cloud-native tools. Proven ability to design, automate, and maintain enterprise-grade environments.

Work Experience

Technical Applications Engineer
Jul 2022-Aug 2024
Technology Concepts & Design Inc | Purchase, NY
TCDI is a legal services and cybersecurity solutions company.
  • Developed Ansible scripts
    to automate comprehensive management of network inventories, including the deployment of security patches and application updates. Leveraged APIs and SQL for playbook creation.
  • Configured and maintained enterprise monitoring tools
    to track system health and job workflows across hybrid environments (Windows, Linux).
  • Managed and maintained
    critical development assets for the TCDI team, including GitHub Enterprise server, TeamCity, JFrog Artifactory, JFrog XRay, and SonarQube.
  • Supported and administered
    virtual machines running on Windows and Ubuntu Linux operating systems.
  • Supported and administered
    PingID and PingFederate to orchestrate authentication and authorization of users to internal applications.
  • Maintained and supported
    Nuix servers utilized by e-Discovery data processors.
  • Developed and maintained
    software using C# and Java, integrating with Nuix and Relativity APIs.
  • Authored and maintained Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)
    to document daily operational workflows, improving team efficiency and onboarding.
Assistant Director of Development Operations
May 2011-Jul 2022
Stroz Friedberg, an AON Company | New York, NY
Stroz Friedberg is a full service investigation firm that develops data discovery software. It was acquired by TCDI on July 2022.
  • Led end-to-end test lifecycle management
    for proprietory Win32 applications (Stroz Discovery and Nuix-X), improving defect resolution timelines.
  • Automated software validation processes
    using Pytest and Selenium, enhancing reliability and deployment speed.
  • Delivered high-quality builds
    through automated build systems such as Jenkins and TeamCity.
  • Developed custom MSI installers
    for enterprise applications, ensuring seamless deployment across environments.
  • Integrated backend services with e-Discover tools
    (Nuix, Relativity APIs) to enhance legal data processing workflows.
Build Manager/Developer
Feb 2009-Apr 2011
BlackStratus | Edison, NJ
BlackStratus (formerly NetForensics) develops enterprise-class Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) software.
  • Managed and enhanced
    a custom automated build system utilizing Java and Apache Ant, ensuring efficient and reliable build processes.
  • Maintained and developed
    the installation codebase for the nFX SIM One product using Advanced Installer and Java.
  • Created and deployed
    patch updates for the nFX SIM One product, ensuring seamless functionality and user experience.
Advanced Development Engineer
Aug 2006-Feb 2009
NETGEAR Incorporated | San Jose, CA
NETGEAR is a worldwide provider of networking products for the home and business.
  • Engineered firmware solutions
    in an embedded Linux environment and
    created MSI installers
    for Windows components.
  • Designed, implemented, and maintained
    an automated build system to streamline development processes.
  • Oversaw and conducted
    comprehensive internal and external testing to ensure product quality.
  • Collaborated with global support teams
    to develop and enforce procedures aimed at preventing and eliminating defects in both new and existing products.
Various Technical & Leadership Roles
Apr 1990-Aug 2006
Held progressively senior positions in software development, automation, quality assurance, and operations across multiple organizations, including McAfee Software, SkipJam Corporation, and Helix Software. Led CI/CD implementations, managed QA testing processes, developed enterprise software solutions, and oversaw IT operations to support business growth.

Core Skills

  • Automation & Monitoring:
    Ansible, Rundeck, Jenkins, TeamCity, RESTful APIs, CI/CD, MSI
  • Infrastructure & Virtualization:
    VMWare, Proxmox, Windows, Linux, Docker, Network Administration
  • Security & Compliance:
    SIEM, PingID, PingFederate, SolarWinds, Disaster Recovery
  • Scripting & Development:
    Python, Bash, Powershell, Java, C#, Git, GitHub, Jenkins, TeamCity
  • Project Tools:
    Jira, Confluence, YouTrack
  • Soft Skills:
    Documentation, Cross-functional Collaboration, Problem Solving, Communication

Home Lab & Automation Portfolio

  • Built and maintain a fully-featured homelab using Proxmox virtualization, Ubuntu VMs, and Docker — simulating production-grade infrastructure.
  • Provision infrastructure and applications via Ansible and Terraform (IaC), achieving reproducible, version-controlled deployments.
  • Automate CI/CD, testing, and deployment pipelines using GitHub Actions, Jenkins, and Semaphore, including automated secret management.
  • Implement identity and access management using Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD) + Active Directory, standardizing SSO and centralized authentication for Linux and Windows hosts and services.
  • Design hybrid storage & backup architecture: local SSDs, Ceph cluster, iSCSI/NAS, NFS/Samba (TrueNAS), with VM snapshot backups via Proxmox Backup Server.
  • Configure network services and reverse proxy infrastructure: redundant Pi‑Hole DNS servers, layered firewall, and Nginx reverse-proxy cluster with automated Let’s Encrypt TLS certificates.
  • Deploy observability and monitoring stack using Prometheus for metrics collection and Grafana for dashboards, along with logging and alerting pipelines to track VM/container health, resource utilization, and service uptime.
  • Maintain full version-controlled documentation, architecture diagrams, and automation scripts to ensure reproducibility, auditability, and maintainability.

Education

Bachelors of Science in Computer Engineering, CUNY Brooklyn College, 1990