Nandhini Muralidharan
Auckland
Summary
Software professional, now as Automation Chapter Lead with 10+ years of experience driving operational excellence through strategic automation initiatives. Adept at leading high-performing teams, identifying opportunities, and fostering strong stakeholder relationships to deliver impactful solutions across diverse business functions. Proven ability to translate technical expertise into actionable strategies that bridge the gap between technology and business objectives. Effective at planning promotional strategies to drive membership growth. Encouraging and focused leader with demonstrated success in bonding team members based on shared goals. Dedicated to revitalizing the group with forward-thinking approaches.
Overview
11
11
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work History
Chapter Lead
Spark NZ
11.2023 - Current
- Architect & Implement Automation Solutions: Design and build cutting-edge automation systems, optimizing workflows and boosting efficiency.
- Lead & Develop Automation Team: Manage a team of senior architects, automation engineers and product owners, providing technical guidance and fostering their skills for high-impact automation projects.
- Champion Automation Initiatives: Proactively identify opportunities to automate tasks and processes, spearheading efforts to drive innovation and streamline operations.
- Designing a next-generation document verification architecture utilizing Azure Cognitive Services to automate proof eligibility checks for customer submissions. This solution leverages Azure Computer Vision for document type classification and Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to extract key data (age, institution). By addressing limitations of existing APIs, the new architecture aims to reduce manual intervention, improve data accuracy, and streamline customer onboarding.
- Formulated and implemented a unified logging architecture for a multi-cloud environment (Azure and AWS) leveraging Azure Monitor Log Analytics and AWS CloudWatch. This eliminated the need for on-premises sidecar microservices, streamlining log collection and centralizing data from various Spark systems.
- The centralized platform empowers utilization of diverse Azure Application Insights features for deeper analysis and improved observability. Additionally, this architecture provides granular control over the logger flow, enabling us to tailor data ingestion and processing based on specific needs.
- Engineered and developed a high-security Splunk event logging project for a government client (Ministry of Justice clearance required). Streamlined data ingestion from Microsoft Entra and Azure DevOps (ADO) by designing and implementing a secure logging architecture. Overcame access and clearance hurdles through meticulous planning, fostering strong team collaboration, and proactive preparation. This project successfully centralizes critical security and operational data for enhanced visibility and analysis.
- Architected optimized large-scale JSON transformation (50,000+ records) by implementing a cost-effective JSON to JSON Liquid map within a Logic App. This solution achieved efficient data manipulation in mere seconds, significantly reducing processing time compared to alternative methods.
- Conceptualized and executed Logic App flow by implementing a Service Bus communication architecture. This eliminated infinite loops, deadlocks, and overload caused by overlapping time-triggered workflows. The solution leverages existing Service Bus infrastructure and implements new queues, minimizing additional costs. Importantly, it maintains secure communication within the Azure environment by eliminating the need for public internet exposure of HTTP endpoints.
- Leading the initiative for strategic migration of all on-premises and Azure workloads to Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) by leading the development of a comprehensive plan in collaboration with DevOps and Data teams. This initiative will optimize resource utilization, enhance scalability, and streamline containerized application management. Additionally, I'm exploring the potential of Terraform to automate infrastructure provisioning for the migration, aiming to further improve efficiency and consistency.
- Reduced Azure costs by NZD$2,000 per month through a multi-pronged approach:
Optimized data storage: Identified and deleted unused Cosmos DBs, resulting in cost savings. - Streamlined data pipelines: Consolidated and optimized Azure Data Factory (ADF) pipelines, eliminating redundant instances and POCs. Established best practices and guidelines for efficient ADF usage across the organization.
- Right-sized Azure SQL servers: Analyzed and adjusted the provisioned capacity of SQL servers, aligning them with actual needs for improved cost-efficiency. (Consider mentioning the specific cost reduction here if possible)
- Promoted cost awareness: Championed a culture of cost-consciousness within the team, empowering them to identify and reduce Azure consumption.
- Spearheaded a rapid weekend migration of all public endpoints in Azure workloads (SQL, Logic Apps, Function Apps, and ADF) to private endpoints, involving a dedicated team. This initiative significantly reduced internet exposure and enhanced our security posture.
- Improved and maintained a zero-vulnerability posture for SQL servers in production and non-production environments by proactively remediating vulnerabilities identified by Azure Microsoft Defender for SQL. Initially addressed 18 high-risk, 27 medium-risk, 8 high-risk, 28 low-risk, and 4 medium-risk vulnerabilities. I continue to monitor and remediate newly discovered vulnerabilities to ensure ongoing security.
Manager - Digital and Emerging Tech
EY
06.2022 - 11.2023
- Digital Identity System Verification (Banking): Led a testing team to verify and validate the login process for a new banking client's digital identity system. Successfully identified and resolved all critical and non-critical defects, ensuring a smooth go-live for the system.
- Security Risk Management Improvement (Logistics): Conducted an audit and implemented improvements to the security risk management setup for a logistics client. Successfully integrated business and architectural design principles to achieve industry-standard security systems. Helped the team in building data pipelines and migrating data from Oracle to Azure Cosmos DB using Microsoft Azure.
- E-commerce Cloud Architecture (AWS): Designed the cloud environment for a client's e-commerce platform undergoing digital transformation. Leveraged ReactJS, Java, microservices architecture, and MongoDB on the AWS platform.
- Catalog Management System with Azure Purview (Python): Developed a catalog management system for a client using Azure Purview and Python. Developed technology and business proof-of-concepts to explore and advance new business capabilities. Possess hands-on experience with technical design, building, development, and implementation of architectures, design patterns, distributed systems, and system design principles.
- Collaborated with partners, project managers, senior management, and cross-functional teams to forecast roadmaps, plan project deliverables, and secure new business for EY and clients.
- Effectively communicated insights and findings to the community through various formats, including short reports, articles, discussions, and webinars.
- Focused on adding value through content creation, knowledge sharing, and facilitating collaboration within teams.
- Supported departmental initiatives by providing strategic advice, identifying key resources and service providers, conducting market research, and performing in-depth consulting analyses to deliver critical insights.
- Assisted strategy teams in exploring, developing, and assessing ideas related to immersive technologies.
- Responsible for coaching developers and business analysts to prepare the team for upcoming projects and potential clients.
- Possess experience engaging and collaborating with diverse stakeholder groups to build mutually beneficial relationships and work effectively on specific activities.
Sr. Tech Lead
Verizon India
09.2017 - 05.2022
- Grab & Go Innovation (Retail): Developed a contactless "Grab & Go" service for customers to collect new orders during the pandemic, eliminating rep interaction. Leveraged the existing telesales pickup framework to implement curbside pickup, boosting sales and rep commission rates. Achieved a remarkable 96.5% customer engagement with the Grab & Go service.
- Customer Experience Platform (CXP) Leadership: Led a team of backend developers for a newly reformed unified e-commerce architecture. Subject Matter Expert (SME) for multiple domain services, acting as the release manager for various sprint cycles. Contributed to a significant improvement in customer experience (NPS score) by 5 points, through restructuring a 20-year-old architecture. Championed a root-cause analysis culture within the team, leading to the delivery of 700+ user stories with a minimal 0.7% defect rate (1500+ defects identified and fixed). Architected a distributed and scalable platform, resulting in: Increased NPS score (28 to 33), Reduced customer calls (105M to 90M), Doubled protection revenue, Generated $180M in accessories revenue
Ticketon Optimization (Hackathon): Organized and led a cross-functional team during a company-wide hackathon to analyze production ticket data. Utilized failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA) to identify opportunities for improving revenue, customer engagement, and rep commissions.
Auto-Activation Improvement: Optimized code and designed a smart setup framework to automate device activation failures, reducing IVR call-ins by 4.3K (95.6% success rate). - Smart Setup Implementation: Reutilizes the smart setup framework to decrease rep-customer transaction time by 48%. Previously, customer device setup required in-store rep assistance for content transfer and feature activation. Campaigned for the adoption of the framework and led multiple teams to deliver the project, successfully completing 56.4% of orders with minimal customer interaction.
- Custom Fit Modernization: Led the development of an end-to-end plug-and-play application to migrate the data usage app from a legacy framework to a modern microservices and ReactJS architecture. This project served as a successful proof-of-concept for the transformation of other retail POS application components.
Associate Software Engineer
Cognizant
03.2014 - 08.2017
- Zero-Defect Scrum Master: Led multiple Scrum teams in delivering user stories with zero defects. Implemented rigorous sprint planning processes to identify and address potential roadblocks. Introduced daily impediment removal practices to ensure developer productivity. Championed new development and testing pipelines before code pushes, resulting in: Zero defects in System Integration Testing (SIT) and reduced production-critical defects
- Agile Transformation Leader: Spearheaded the transition from waterfall to agile development methodologies, including training and gamifying educational methods for project members. Successfully led the team through a smooth and efficient first sprint with agile practices.
- Table of Contents (TOC) Module Enhancement: Managed and developed all enhancements for the TOC module, fulfilling both Scrum Master and Project Manager roles. Coordinated cross-functional teams to achieve zero-defect releases.
- Legal Data Analytics Lead: Led the data analytics module, acting as a search engine for success statistics and case analysis of legal professionals. Optimized search performance through proper database indexing and efficient query writing.
System Engineer
The Interaction Labs
07.2013 - 02.2014
- Developed and tested data visualization components for Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) software used by educational institutions.
- Implemented automated data collection methods to gather user interaction and performance metrics.
- Created interactive dashboards and KPI monitoring systems to visually present educational data, empowering educators to track progress and optimize learning experiences.
- Utilized my skills in integration testing, validation, reporting, and database management to ensure smooth data flow and reliable reporting within the AR/VR environment.
Education
Master of Science - Information Technology And Project Management
Auckland University of Technology
Auckland, NZ11-2025
Skills
Architecture and Design
Team Leadership and Mentorship
Cloud Engineering and Architecture
Data Engineering and Analytics
Security and Compliance
Problem-Solving and Innovation
Certification
Certified Azure Solutions Architect Expert
Certified Amazon Web Services Cloud Practitioner
Certified Agile Project Management Foundation & Practitioner (Agile PM)
Timeline
Chapter Lead
Spark NZ
11.2023 - Current
Manager - Digital and Emerging Tech
EY
06.2022 - 11.2023
Sr. Tech Lead
Verizon India
09.2017 - 05.2022
Associate Software Engineer
Cognizant
03.2014 - 08.2017
System Engineer
The Interaction Labs
07.2013 - 02.2014
Certified Azure Solutions Architect Expert
Certified Amazon Web Services Cloud Practitioner
Certified Agile Project Management Foundation & Practitioner (Agile PM)
Master of Science - Information Technology And Project Management
Auckland University of Technology
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