Chris Newham
Senior Staff Engineer & Software Architect
Intro
Who I am.
Senior Staff Engineer with over 15 years of professional experience architecting and building large-scale distributed systems, with deep specialization in medical device connectivity and data platforms in the Greater Pittsburgh area. Currently focused on the architecture of a Device Data Ingestion Platform converting raw medical device data into trusted, reportable clinical information - built on AWS/EKS, Kafka, and event-driven microservices. An early and pragmatic adopter of LLMs across the software development lifecycle, from design review to guided coding-agent workflows, with a continued passion for learning and mentoring.
Expertise
What I bring.
01
Leadership
Providing direction to technical teams and perspective to business stakeholders
02
Software Solutions
Quality design and implementation following industry best patterns and practices - for server, database, and front-end solutions.
03
Troubleshooting and Problem Solving
Excellent at understanding complex problems, quickly tracking down issues and finding effective solutions.
04
Distributed Architectures
Designing event and queue based microservice architectures on AWS/EKS (Kubernetes), Kafka, and SNS/SQS - with consistent structured logging and distributed tracing for operational health and troubleshooting.
05
Test Driven Development
Designing solutions with thorough and consistent test coverage - utilizing unit, component, and system level tests to maintain quality throughout the life of the product.
06
Mentoring, Training and Support
Mentoring junior developers, working with end users, and generating technical documentation - will bring strong communication skills to the table.
07
AI-Augmented Engineering
Practical, responsible use of LLMs across the development lifecycle - agents as design peer-reviewers to challenge assumptions and surface gaps, scoped coding-agent assistance for targeted changes, AGENT.md guardrails for junior developers, and LLM-assisted research over source and requirements.
Skills
What I've been up to.
85%
AWS/Cloud
85%
Event-Driven Microservices (Kafka, SNS/SQS)
80%
IoT/Connectivity
80%
Kubernetes (EKS)
70%
AI/LLM Engineering (Prompting, RAG, MCP)
75%
Python
65%
Postgres
80%
.NET/C#
75%
Java/Spring
95%
Agile/Scrum/SAFe
Experience
Where I've been.
Jul 2018 – Present
Philips Sleep & Respiratory Care
Senior Staff Engineer
Murrysville, PA
Architecting the Device Data Ingestion Platform - converting raw medical device data into parsed, aggregated data for clinical reporting and use; covering integration with multiple device data specifications, cryptographic strategies, and data integrity/provenance. Focus on cost and time-to-market for new device integrations, performance, and scalability
Designed and built a consistent distributed logging and tracing system (structured logging, Trace Context) across microservices for operational troubleshooting and system health/performance monitoring.
Designed and led implementation to replace legacy remote device connectivity system (which supported ~300k daily connections), with support for over 5M+ daily connections worldwide.
Designed and led cloud-based solution team to integrate encryption protocols between product manufacturing, hardware, and software systems
Promoted to Senior Staff Engineer in Oct 2023
Sep 2017 – Jul 2018
CGI
Senior Consultant
Pittsburgh, PA
Continued role with CGI after acquisition of Summa Technologies.
May 2012 – Sep 2017
Summa Technologies
Senior Technical Consultant
Pittsburgh, PA
Provided architecture recommendations and design strategies to client project teams
Introduced new DevOps and Release Management concepts to enhance build and deployment processes
Integration with client project team to promote code quality and on time project delivery, using Agile methodologies and industry best practices
Provided recommendations, training and mentoring to client project team members to enhance the overall quality of project deliverables
Promoted to Senior Technical Consultant in Jul 2014
Feb 2009 – May 2012
Direct Energy
Software Developer II
Pittsburgh, PA
Designed and built Contract Booking, Financial Reconciliation, and EDI transaction systems, and led a server application migration of 64 applications to an enterprise environment serving 300+ clients (awarded for teamwork and successful delivery).
Sep 2008 – Dec 2009
Three Rivers Trucking
Independent Consultant
Pittsburgh, PA
Gathered requirements and developed a Shipping Management System for supplier and delivery freight operations, improving reliability and reducing dependency on IT support.
Jun 2006 – Dec 2009
Strategic Energy / Direct Energy
Quality Assurance Analyst
Pittsburgh, PA
Led QA/UAT activities for multiple software implementations, built an Electronic IT Request System under SOX Change Control, and developed performance metrics and training for the IT Quality Assurance team.
Education
Where I started.
2001 – 2005
Indiana University of Pennsylvania
Bachelor of Science, Management Information Systems
Indiana, PA
Also President of Sigma Tau Gamma, Pi Chapter
Projects
What I'm exploring.
Personal/Household Knowledgebase (RAG)
Personal project focused on classifying and organizing information from disparate sources - notes, emails, service manuals, guides, and instructions - into a LLM-managed knowledgebase for fast, private, and secure natural-language access.
Local LLM Development
Ongoing work with local, self-hosted <14B-parameter LLMs, refining App/LLM integrations and building maintainable, version-controlled prompt specifications.
LLM Application Integrations
Experimentation building practical LLM integrated software, with access to external data sources and tools, for LLM-driven decision-making.