Developing a system for effective leadership
Developing a system for effective leadership and managing the chaos
New York, NY
Hi I'm Sherod
Platform Engineering Manager @ Bloomberg
New York, NY
Open for new opportunities
Hi I'm Sherod
Platform Engineering Manager @ Bloomberg
Platform Engineering Manager at Bloomberg, leading two teams (10 engineers) building AI tooling and the developer platform 9,000+ engineers ship on every day. 12+ years turning infrastructure into leverage for other teams — most recently making internal platform APIs callable by AI agents end-to-end. Off-hours: home lab of three Claude Code agents that open and review their own PRs.
Open for new opportunities
AI Platforms
Distributed Systems
API Architecture
Full-Stack
Leadership
Project Management
Product
Design
→ Skills & Expertise
Technologies and tools I use to bring ideas to life
Frontend Development
12+ years• Building modern, responsive web applications
React
Angular
Next.js
TypeScript
JavaScript
Tailwind CSSVite
WebpackModule Federation
Backend Development
12+ years• Scalable server-side architecture and APIs
Node.jsTypeScript
Go
Python
PostgreSQL
Redis
GraphQL
Apache Kafka
Apache AirflowEvent SourcingAPI Integration
DevOps & Infrastructure
10+ years• Cloud infrastructure and deployment automation
Docker
Git
Terraform
Packer
Proxmox
OpenStackNetworking
TrueNAS
KubernetesLeadership & Strategy
4+ years• Team leadership, product management, and design thinking
LeadershipPeople ManagementProject ManagementProduct StrategyDesign ThinkingMentoring
→ Work Experience
13+ years of building scalable software solutions
• Platform Engineering Manager leading two teams (10 engineers) building AI tooling and the developer platform that powers 9,000+ Bloomberg engineers. Focused on making internal platform APIs callable by AI agents end-to-end alongside the human users they already serve.
Key Achievements
- Lead two engineering teams (10 engineers total) covering AI platform tooling and the internal developer platform
- Drove the bridge from the team's API surface to agentic developer tools — internal libraries, gateway changes, and identity work so AI agents authenticate as first-class clients alongside humans
- Founded the team's microfrontend framework (Vite + Module Federation): other product teams self-serve onto the platform with full auth, deployment, and shared UI primitives — collapsing a former central-team bottleneck
- Coach engineers to work ahead via POCs in the margin: validate a direction, surface real constraints, graduate the work into the roadmap with known tradeoffs
- Stay hands-on in the codebase — model the working-ahead behavior I expect from the team and run POCs alongside ICs
Tech Stack
GoTypeScriptReactModule Federation
KubernetesObservability
PythonAI / LLM tooling
• Founding engineer on Bloomberg's internal infrastructure provisioning platform. Architected full-stack software for the platform from day one and grew into a tech-lead role while staying hands-on in the codebase.
Key Achievements
- Founding engineer on the internal infrastructure provisioning platform — designed the allocation lifecycle state machine, API-level observability instrumentation, and the workflow analytics stack used to drive SLO definition and capacity planning
- Built the platform's unified API gateway as the external API surface for managed infrastructure — single consistent contract regardless of which underlying system serves the request
- Designed and shipped the API-level observability layer (per-endpoint metrics, per-team SLO dashboards, runtime-switchable) before the team had any API observability
- Grew into tech-lead role while staying hands-on — modeled the working-ahead instinct that became how the team operates
Tech Stack
PythonGoJavaScriptReactNode.jsModule Federation
GraphQLObservability
Kubernetes• Led infrastructure modernization and REST API platform development. Designed SWIFT banking system integration and implemented zero downtime deployments.
Key Achievements
- Completed full Terraform migration of manually deployed systems
- Designed and implemented TLS client certificate authentication
- Led REST API platform development for institutional trading
- Designed SWIFT banking system for institutional trading integration
- Implemented zero downtime deployments using HA Proxy
- Proposed framework using Node.js, React.js, and Flux architecture
- Contributed to becoming second-largest Bitcoin exchange by volume
Tech Stack
Node.jsReact.jsTerraformDockerPostgreSQL• Implemented Redis caching system, developed custom CMS, and led migration from Magento to custom Node.js framework.
Key Achievements
- Implemented Redis caching system reducing database calls
- Developed custom CMS tailored to company workflow
- Led migration from Magento to custom Node.js order processing framework
Tech Stack
Node.jsRedis
MongoDBJavaScript
CSS
→ Personal Projects
Technical projects showcasing AI infrastructure, development tools, and automation solutions
agent-smith
• Autonomous AI engineering teammates that live inside the home lab cluster and treat Matrix as the input channel. Tag a bot, it opens a PR; tag the other bot, it reviews; the product-manager bot owns PRDs and roadmap. They auto-address review comments, use the cluster's own observability stack via MCP, and never hold the real credentials — those stay behind an egress proxy at the cluster edge. Packaged as a public Helm chart anyone can deploy.
Three-Agent Crew, One Parametric Image:DevBot (code), InfraBot (k3s/Flux), and PMBot (product/PRDs) run as separate StatefulSets from the same ghcr.io/sherodtaylor/agent-smith image. Per-agent persona, MCP config, and subagents live under agents/<name>/; the shared base CLAUDE.md is one ConfigMap
Matrix-Driven, Autonomous PR Workflow:Messages in #dev / #infra are real Claude Code prompts. After opening a PR the author mentions the other bot for review; the reviewer runs the code-review skill and posts inline findings. A Stop-hook re-wakes the author on unaddressed comments so iteration happens without a human in the loop
Egress Credential Firewall (iron-proxy):Productionized so agents never hold real GitHub or Anthropic tokens — iron-proxy MITMs egress with a private CA and swaps placeholder tokens for real credentials per-host against a domain allowlist. A compromised pod leaks nothing useful
MCP for Everything Observable:VictoriaMetrics + VictoriaLogs MCP servers, a stdio NATS MCP server for the durable event log, and the Matrix channel plugin for inputs. 'Check the api-latency dashboard' becomes a single prompt
Two-Pane Runtime:Each pod runs claude in tmux — pane 0 owns the Matrix identity, pane 1 runs a second claude --remote-control with its own $HOME so humans can attach via kubectl exec or the Claude desktop/web app
Public OSS Distribution:image (ghcr.io/sherodtaylor/agent-smith) and Helm chart (oci://ghcr.io/sherodtaylor/charts/agent-smith) ship every release; framework docs at sherodtaylor.github.io/agent-smith
Claude Code
MCP
AI Agents
Matrix
NATS
k3sFlux GitOps
Helm
iron-proxy
Bun
GoDockertmux
GitHub Actions
sherodtaylor/agent-smith
SpareCoins
• A crypto investment mobile application that rounds up spare change from everyday transactions and automatically invests it in cryptocurrency. Think Acorns for crypto - democratizing crypto investing through micro-investing with seamless bank integration.
View Live Demo
Interactive mobile application showcase
Automated Crypto Investing:Connects to bank accounts to round up transaction spare change and automatically purchases cryptocurrency through Coinbase exchange integration
GraphQL-First Architecture:Built robust backend API using Golang, GraphQL, and Echo framework with OAuth authentication. Generated type-safe client code using GraphQL codegen for seamless frontend integration
Rich Mobile UX:Developed React Native frontend with Apollo GraphQL for data fetching. Created engaging user experience with custom Lottie animations for transaction flows, account linking, and investment progress visualization
Financial Integration:Implemented secure bank account connectivity using Plaid API for real-time transaction monitoring with automated round-up calculations and crypto purchase execution
React Native
GolangGraphQLApollo
Lottie
OAuth
Echo
Plaid
Coinbase API
FinTech
sherodtaylor/sparecoins
Private
Home Lab Cluster
• Self-hosted k3s cluster running every app my family actually depends on. Flux reconciles every manifest from sherodtaylor/homelab, Traefik fronts the lot with auto-renewed Let's Encrypt certs, ExternalSecrets pulls credentials from Infisical, and VictoriaMetrics + VictoriaLogs catch anything that drifts — so the house keeps running while I keep tinkering.
View Dashboard
Live service grid from the cluster
Media + Entertainment:Jellyfin and Plex stream the family library, Jellyseerr handles requests, the *arr stack (Sonarr, Radarr, Lidarr, Prowlarr) automates discovery, qBittorrent and Sabnzbd handle downloads, Audiobookshelf catalogues the audiobook collection
Photos + Files + Storage:Immich runs face recognition over years of family photos, Nextcloud hosts personal files, TrueNAS (8 TB via NFS) backs every stateful service in the cluster
Home Automation:Home Assistant runs the house — lights, thermostats, schedules, sensors across the home — all on the same cluster, not a separate appliance
Observability Built-in:VictoriaMetrics + VictoriaLogs ingest every pod's metrics and logs; Grafana dashboards and Alertmanager catch regressions before they become outages
GitOps All the Way Down:Flux reconciles every Kustomization and HelmRelease from sherodtaylor/homelab; cert-manager + kubernetes-replicator handle TLS across namespaces; the cluster rebuilds from a single git push
Proxmoxk3sFlux GitOps
Helm
Traefik
cert-manager
ExternalSecrets
Infisical
TrueNAS
Home Assistant
JellyfinPlex
Immich
Nextcloud
Audiobookshelf
Sonarr
Radarr
Prowlarr
qBittorrent
VictoriaMetrics
VictoriaLogs
Grafana
Alertmanager
Let's Encrypt
sherodtaylor/homelab
Dotfiles
• Maintained comprehensive dotfiles and development environment configurations for consistent, reproducible development setups across multiple systems.
Cross-Platform Configuration:Unified development environment setup for macOS and Linux systems
Editor Configuration:Advanced Neovim configurations with language servers and productivity enhancements
Neovim
Zsh
GitTmux
Shell
macOS
Linux
Dockersherodtaylor/dotfiles
→ Community Involvement
Giving back through mentorship, volunteer work, and community leadership
Bloomberg Diversity Interview Prep Bootcamp
MentorshipVolunteer Instructor & Mentor
6-month program
• A comprehensive bootcamp program designed to train underrepresented candidates for technical interviews through mentoring and hands-on training from Bloomberg engineers. Provides 1:1 guidance, curriculum development, and mock interview preparation.
Key Contributions
- Designed and delivered Systems Design curriculum
- Took on 1:1 mentee and prepared them for coding interviews
- Provided weekly mock interviews and detailed feedback sessions
- Followed training schedule for 6 months: algos, system design, coding interviews
Bloomberg Community Service Leadership
VolunteerCommunity Service Leader
Ongoing
• Leading community service initiatives within Bloomberg engineering teams, organizing volunteer activities and coordinating outreach programs to support local NYC communities.
Key Contributions
- Logged 15+ volunteer hours in past year
- Mobilized multiple engineering teams for community service
- Coordinated homeless aid initiatives and care package distribution
- Organized NYC park cleanup efforts
Latest Articles
Thoughts on software development, leadership, and technology
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the 10x developer and how to get ahead