Summary
R French is a Principal Cloud Architect with 26 years of experience designing and delivering scalable cloud-native systems across startups, big tech, healthcare, and manufacturing. He combines deep hands-on engineering—longstanding Linux kernel and Samba involvement, plus Microsoft Azure Storage experience—with leadership in architecture, DevOps, and distributed team delivery. At Slalom Build he focuses on multi-cloud, Generative AI integrations, and mentoring while retaining strong coding chops in Python, Java, and Go. His background includes shaping open source policy and ATO reform for government digital health projects and modernizing API platforms through CI/CD at TIBCO and Intel. A former academic researcher, he applies metrics-driven decision making and practical experimentation (including a published RFID study) to shorten feedback loops and drive reliable SaaS and serverless products. He also took a global sabbatical as an Airbnb operator, underscoring adaptability and real-world product empathy.
26 years of coding experience
12 years of employment as a software developer
BS Computer Science, BS Computer Science at Georgia Institute of Technology