Distributed systems & ML/data infrastructure

Kirill Makhonin.

Principal Software Engineer / Platform Architect

Hands-on software engineer and platform architect building distributed data, ML/AI, and infrastructure platforms across heterogeneous environments. Lead engineering teams and write Python, Go, Rust, and infrastructure as code to solve business problems.

17+ years of experience spanning industrial simulation and geospatial applications, enterprise data platforms, distributed ML training, identity systems, GPU infrastructure, and AI application platforms.

Explore the experience

Distributed systems

Private clouds, GPU infrastructure, networking, and custom hardware integrations.

ML & data platforms

Distributed training, data workflows, model inference, and AI application infrastructure.

Technical leadership

Architecture, hands-on implementation, engineering team development, and platform operations.

Experience

Feb 2026 – Present

Current

Platform Architect

US Digital Infrastructure Company

Lead architecture and implementation across GPU compute infrastructure and an AI application platform, combining technical leadership with hands-on work in orchestration, security, networking, and integrations.

GPU compute platform. Architected and built GPU compute infrastructure supporting virtual machines and physical servers. Owned system design and hands-on implementation across resource provisioning, management, and remote access.
AI application platform. Lead technical delivery of an AI application platform with engineering and product. Built isolated execution environments and service integrations while overseeing the agent core and data subsystem.
Platform security architecture. Designed and led implementation of security architecture for a multi-tenant platform. Covered identity, authorization, workload isolation, and data protection across services and infrastructure.
LLM inference and routing. Integrated an open-source inference engine and designed and built request routing and load balancing for language-model workloads.

4 more projects

Compute management and automation

Built compute-management software using open-source virtualization, a web management console, and infrastructure inventory tooling. Developed automation across compute, hardware, and network operations.

Access controls and observability

Established platform access policies and identity integrations. Implemented telemetry, monitoring, and auditing for platform operations.

Datacenter monitoring

Built monitoring and selected equipment controls for datacenter facility systems. Integrated physical infrastructure with platform software and external operational systems.

Hardware-assisted networking prototype

Built an initial prototype for distributed firewall and overlay-network functions using hardware acceleration. Connected platform software with programmable networking hardware.

Full project record

Nov 2022 – Jan 2026

Sr. Principal Engineer, Platform Architect

US Agricultural Technology Company

Led platform infrastructure and reliability engineering for data and ML teams. Owned architecture, development, and operations across analytics, distributed training, identity, and hardware-integrated testing.

Platform engineering leadership. Owned technical direction, development, and operations for a platform infrastructure and reliability team supporting data and ML engineers. Established on-call, service objectives, monitoring, and support practices.
Data-platform architecture and migration. Re-architected shared analytics software into an autoscaling, multi-tenant platform. Migrated large data collections while preserving compatibility and service continuity for existing workflows.
Distributed ML training. Built distributed computer-vision training workflows across cloud and on-premises environments. Integrated different training systems, networking, and workload placement with shared orchestration and developer tooling.
Hardware-in-the-loop platform. Developed a research prototype into a hardware-in-the-loop testing platform. Automated equipment allocation, recovery, monitoring, and simulated inputs for application and system-software validation.

3 more projects

Self-service infrastructure

Built self-service cloud infrastructure so engineering teams could provision and adapt their own environments. Designed storage for analytical information and files.

Identity and authorization

Designed and built shared identity and authorization services for people, applications, and devices. Connected engineering tools with centralized access controls and independent device-access management.

Infrastructure cost reporting

Made shared compute and data-infrastructure costs attributable to engineering teams. Delivered dashboards, budget alerts, and trend notifications to support engineering-group budgeting.

Full project record

Jun 2021 – Nov 2022

Infrastructure Tech Lead

US EV Manufacturer (through EPAM Systems)

Led a joint client and EPAM engineering team building a data and ML platform. Developed shared tooling that helped teams deliver and operate data pipelines.

Data and ML platform. Led architecture and engineering across a joint client and EPAM team. Built data-ingestion and model-workflow blueprints, implemented selected workflows, and integrated data-quality monitoring.
Infrastructure SDK and CLI. Created a shared infrastructure SDK and CLI for reusable provisioning and deployment components. Improved pipeline development with common abstractions, workflow tooling, and validation before deployment.

1 more project

Workflow operations

Adapted workload execution and scheduling to the constraints of managed cloud services. Added deployment validation, build and release tooling, and operational monitoring.

Full project record

Aug 2019 – Jun 2021

Infrastructure Tech Lead

US Credit Bureau (through EPAM Systems)

Led engineering for internal and customer-facing analytics platforms, from architecture and implementation through security assurance and maintenance.

Analytics platform leadership. Led engineering for internal and customer-facing analytics platforms from implementation through maintenance. Helped build the engineering team and owned technology decisions with product.
Platform architecture and reliability. Owned architecture and implementation of a cloud analytics platform, including redundant infrastructure, interactive development environments, automated provisioning, and service recovery.
Security design and assurance. Led platform security design and data-protection work. Supported internal certification, independent security audits, and compliance documentation.

Full project record

Sep 2017 – Aug 2019

Lead Systems Engineer

EPAM Systems

Helped establish Python engineering within the Big Data practice. Delivered customer and open-source ML platforms and developed engineering talent through technical training.

Healthcare ML platform. Led implementation of a Healthcare ML platform through production delivery. Coordinated engineers, an architect, and the customer on data-processing and model workflows.
Open-source ML platform. Built and released open-source ML training and deployment software. Connected notebook-based development with training infrastructure, model export, and deployment workflows.
Python engineering practice. Helped establish Python engineering within the data-engineering practice. Developed technical training for external participants, including curriculum, assessments, and mentoring; graduates joined the company.

Full project record

Jun 2012 – Aug 2017

Senior C++ Developer, Architect

Russian University Research Laboratory

An early engineer in a research laboratory developing geospatial applications, industrial simulation, and software integrated with physical equipment. Owned systems from application architecture through field deployment.

Arctic monitoring application. Owned architecture and end-to-end development of an offline Arctic monitoring application. Integrated radar, vessel positions, and satellite imagery with data processing, databases, and visualization for remote field use.
Industrial simulation. Built networking, communication, and deployment layers for industrial training simulators. Modernized a C++ environmental-simulation core, added capabilities, and automated testing.

2 more projects

Field deployment

Prepared software, infrastructure, and installation guidance for environments with limited connectivity and maintenance access. Tested deployment and failure scenarios and supported field installation, with attention to reliable operation and usability.

Industrial remote-control prototype

Developed and demonstrated a remote-control prototype for industrial equipment, combining software with physical systems.

Full project record

Sep 2009 – Jun 2012

Web Developer

Crocus City Hall

First commercial engineering project, started while in high school. Took responsibility for a full-stack ticketing application and ongoing support.

Ticketing and reservations. Delivered and supported a full-stack online ticketing and reservation platform for a concert venue. Owned the customer interface, backend, and booking workflows, starting the commercial project while in high school.

Full project record

Technical expertise

Languages: Python, Go, Rust, TypeScript, React, C/C++, C#/.NET
Infrastructure: Kubernetes, Kubernetes webhooks, Kubernetes operators, Operator SDK, AWS, GCP, Terraform, Terraform providers, Terragrunt, Pulumi, Ansible, Linux, macOS, Helm, NVIDIA GPU Operator, PXE/iPXE, Multus, IPMI, Virtualization, Infrastructure inventory
ML & data: Kubeflow, Slurm, EFA/RDMA, Airflow, Databricks, Jupyter, JupyterHub, JupyterLab, Monte Carlo, Kafka, Redis, PostgreSQL, Graph databases, vLLM, MLflow
Identity & AI: OIDC, mTLS/PKI, JWT/JWKS, OPA, Firecracker, MCP
Operations: Observability, Prometheus, Grafana, VictoriaMetrics, OpenTelemetry, Loki, PagerDuty, Rootly, GitHub Actions, Jenkins
Networking: DHCP, DNS, REST, ConnectRPC, gRPC, MetalLB, Traefik, Istio, Envoy, High availability, Load balancing
Security: PKI, HSMs, JWT, OAuth, Open Policy Agent, OpenBao, TLS/mTLS

Education & interests

Education

M.S. Computer Science

2018

ITMO University

Graduated with honors. Final project: Arctic Tracking System.

B.S. Computer Science

2016

ITMO University

Final project: remote-control prototype for industrial equipment.

Professional development

AWS Certified Machine Learning – Specialty

Amazon Web Services · Earned 2021

Architecting with Google Cloud Platform Specialization

Coursera · Earned 2019

Languages

English · Fluent

Russian · Native

Outside engineering

Aviation (private pilot)

IoT

3D printing

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