{ "personal": { "firstName": "Christian", "lastName": "Okada", "title": "Lead Go-to-Market Engineer", "phone": "571.527.9694", "email": "christian.okada@gmail.com", "linkedin": "OkadaChristian", "location": "Washington, DC", "websiteUrl": "https://0k4da.github.io" }, "about": "Eight years building software: DevOps for a large federal client, cloud architecture, then leading Slalom's AI Value Platform. Now I lead go-to-market engineering at Parloa, where I built and run the go-to-market engine and the context engine, along with the pricing framework and ROI business cases behind every deal.", "intro": "I'm a builder who accelerates GTM teams.", "tagline": "Eight years building software, from federal DevOps to leading Slalom's AI Value Platform.
Now leading go-to-market engineering at Parloa: the go-to-market engine, the context engine, pricing, and ROI business cases.", "skills": { "technical": [ "LLM Applications & RAG", "GTM Systems & Deal Intelligence", "AWS & Cloud Architecture", "Python / TypeScript / Node.js", "React / Angular", "APIs & Databases", "DevOps, CI/CD & IaC", "Security & IAM" ], "leadership": [ "Technical Direction & Team Leadership", "Engineering Mentorship", "Pricing, ROI & Business Cases", "Client Partnership" ] }, "skillDescriptions": { "LLM Applications & RAG": { "title": "LLM Applications & RAG", "summary": "Retrieval-augmented generation, LLM pipelines, and multimodal AI applications", "examples": [ "Built multimodal RAG application for utilities using OCR, document chunking strategies, and vector search with pgvector and OpenSearch", "Architected EnhanceIQ's event-driven task analysis service processing hundreds to thousands of tasks through Step Function pipelines running 12 different analytical prompts per task", "Developed AI Capability Assessment and internal use case library to establish thought leadership in AI investment strategy", "Leveraged multiple embedding models and vector databases to optimize semantic search and retrieval accuracy across different document types" ] }, "GTM Systems & Deal Intelligence": { "title": "GTM Systems & Deal Intelligence", "summary": "Internal systems and knowledge layers for go-to-market teams", "examples": [ "Build and maintain internal systems for all go-to-market teams at Parloa across pre-sales and post-sales", "Built and maintain the company deal brain, bringing in context from all sorts of company sources as the knowledge layer for active motions and sales pipeline", "Built a best-in-class research platform for customer-specific data" ] }, "AWS & Cloud Architecture": { "title": "AWS & Cloud Architecture", "summary": "Serverless, event-driven, and containerized systems on AWS", "examples": [ "Built performant RAG architecture for utilities using Textract, ECS, Bedrock, OpenSearch, and RDS Postgres with pgvector for regulatory document analysis", "Led development of AI Value Platform using serverless architecture with Lambda, API Gateway, and DynamoDB serving hundreds of users", "Architected EnhanceIQ as event-driven service using SQS, Lambda, and Step Functions to orchestrate complex LLM inference workflows", "Architected AI Value Platform as full-stack serverless microservices with React, TypeScript, Lambda, and DynamoDB", "Architected AI Value Platform serverless infrastructure with DynamoDB, Lambda, API Gateway, and S3 for hundreds of internal users and external clients" ] }, "Python / TypeScript / Node.js": { "title": "Python / TypeScript / Node.js", "summary": "Full-stack development with modern languages across frontend, backend, and infrastructure", "examples": [ "Built React frontend and TypeScript Node.js backend for AI Value Platform with test-driven development practices", "Developed Python-based RAG applications with AWS services for utilities regulatory drafting assistance", "Created Node.js/TypeScript mobile application for PSPS wildfire prevention system with Angular frontend", "Contributed as full-stack engineer at Triblio building end-to-end features integrating with third-party services" ] }, "React / Angular": { "title": "React / Angular", "summary": "Modern frontend development for web and mobile applications", "examples": [ "Built React frontend for AI Value Platform with complex state management and real-time data visualization", "Developed Angular/Python full-stack solution for AI applications with reusable framework patterns", "Created mobile application using Node.js/TypeScript and Angular for Public Safety Power Shutoff system", "Built responsive interfaces handling hundreds of users with smooth interactions and accessibility standards" ] }, "APIs & Databases": { "title": "APIs & Databases", "summary": "REST/GraphQL APIs and SQL/NoSQL data design", "examples": [ "Architected API Gateway-backed REST APIs for AI Value Platform handling complex ROI calculations and user management", "Designed DynamoDB schemas for AI Value Platform supporting complex querying patterns and high-volume data access", "Built Terraform modules for Apollo GraphQL federated architecture enabling microservices communication", "Implemented RDS Postgres with pgvector for semantic search and vector embeddings in RAG architecture", "Designed RESTful APIs for AI applications with security best practices and rate limiting" ] }, "DevOps, CI/CD & IaC": { "title": "DevOps, CI/CD & IaC", "summary": "Docker, Kubernetes, Terraform/CDK, and deployment automation", "examples": [ "Developed custom IaC with CDK and CloudFormation for PSPS mobile application infrastructure", "Configured Kubernetes orchestration with zero-downtime deployment strategies for federal client at Accenture", "Built CLI deployment automation from scratch using Bash scripting at Triblio", "Championed test-driven development for AI Value Platform achieving high team velocity while maintaining quality", "Built Terraform modules for Apollo GraphQL federated architecture for national pet retailer's API infrastructure" ] }, "Security & IAM": { "title": "Security & IAM", "summary": "Enterprise security standards with least privilege IAM policies", "examples": [ "Implemented IAM best practices and test-driven security for AI Value Platform maintaining enterprise security standards", "Built security-first architecture with IAM policies for compliance-sensitive utilities regulatory environment", "Developed least privilege access patterns for serverless applications using AWS IAM roles and policies", "Established reusable security framework for client AI applications with audit logging and access controls" ] }, "Technical Direction & Team Leadership": { "title": "Technical Direction & Team Leadership", "summary": "Leading engineering teams with clear vision and technical excellence", "examples": [ "Lead development team of 6 engineers building AI Value Platform serving hundreds of users", "Architected AI Value Platform as company's first external client-facing product with enterprise security standards", "Set technical direction for serverless architecture, test-driven development, and AI-assisted coding adoption", "Designed performant RAG architecture for utilities combining multimodal OCR, vector search, and compliance controls", "Served as primary architect and engineer building full-stack features with React and TypeScript Node.js" ] }, "Engineering Mentorship": { "title": "Engineering Mentorship", "summary": "Building trust and pulling developers forward in AI-assisted engineering", "examples": [ "Developed strong trust and relationships with team members, joining with them in adopting AI-assisted development", "Championed AI-assisted coding adoption across Slalom, demonstrating practical value and building internal momentum", "Championed AI-assisted coding adoption across the team, demonstrating practical applications and best practices", "Built AI Capability Assessment and use case library to establish thought leadership in AI investment strategy", "Held regular knowledge transfer sessions and syncs to share learnings and architectural patterns" ] }, "Pricing, ROI & Business Cases": { "title": "Pricing, ROI & Business Cases", "summary": "Pricing frameworks, ROI models, and business cases for every persona", "examples": [ "Built a robust pricing framework used for every deal at Parloa", "Built proprietary AI Value Calculator with complex ROI forecasting models analyzing implementation time, adoption rates, and KPI impact", "Building out use case modeling and financial ROI metrics for business cases—not just for the CFO, but for all sorts of personas", "Developed methodology for AI/ML use case prioritization incorporating forecasted ROI, risk, effort, and value", "Built proprietary AI Value Calculator at Slalom with complex ROI forecasting models analyzing implementation time, adoption rates, and KPI impact" ] }, "Client Partnership": { "title": "Client Partnership", "summary": "Joint problem-solving and honest technical guidance for stakeholders", "examples": [ "Managed multiple stakeholders for AI Value Platform, shaping platform direction through collaborative ideation", "Provided honest assessments of technical feasibility while exploring creative solutions with clients", "Took input from clients for new features and translated requirements into actionable technical designs", "Built utilities RAG application through close partnership in compliance-sensitive regulatory environment", "Enabled AI Value Platform's first external client access through careful requirements gathering and trust-building" ] } }, "experience": [ { "company": "Parloa", "tagline": "Conversational AI agents for customer experience", "color": "company4", "positions": [ { "title": "Lead Go-to-Market Engineer", "dateRange": "Feb 2026 – Present", "achievements": [ "Built and run Parloa's go-to-market engine: the internal systems every GTM team works in, from BDR outreach and sales to partners and professional services scoping, all connected to our CRM", "Built and maintain the context engine, which pulls context from all sorts of internal sources into one knowledge layer for active deals and the sales pipeline", "Work closely with value engineering on go-to-market strategy: build the use case and ROI models behind our business cases, made for every persona in a deal and not just the CFO, and run enablement so the field can use them", "Built the pricing framework used on every deal at the company", "Built slide automation that turns value models into designed business case decks", "Built prospecting automation in Clay for BDR outreach campaigns, and a research platform for customer-specific data" ] } ] }, { "company": "Slalom", "positions": [ { "title": "Technical Lead - AI Value Platform", "dateRange": "2023 – Jan 2026", "achievements": [ "Led a team of 6 engineers building the AI Value Platform, which helps companies decide where to invest in AI; it served hundreds of internal users and was Slalom's first product opened to outside clients", "Built the AI Value Calculator, which forecasts the ROI of an AI use case from implementation time, time to benefit, adoption rate, and KPI impact", "Built the AI Capability Assessment, which checks whether an organization is ready to take on an AI use case, and an internal library that tracks the AI work Slalom has delivered", "Designed and built EnhanceIQ, an event-driven service that runs hundreds to thousands of tasks through an LLM pipeline on Step Functions, with 12 analysis prompts per task", "Architected the platform and wrote much of the code (React, TypeScript/Node.js, Lambda behind API Gateway, DynamoDB); set the team's standards for IAM, test-driven development, and AI-assisted coding" ] }, { "title": "Senior Consultant - Solution Architect", "dateRange": "2022 – 2023", "achievements": [ "Built an LLM app that helps utilities draft regulatory documents, using RAG on AWS (Textract, ECS, Bedrock, OpenSearch, Postgres with pgvector) and multimodal LLM OCR", "Built a reusable full-stack framework (Angular/Python) for client AI apps, with automated S3 deploys and security set up from the start" ] }, { "title": "Cloud Architect / Full Stack Engineer", "dateRange": "2022", "achievements": [ "Built a mobile app that warns customers before planned Public Safety Power Shutoffs (outages to prevent wildfires), using Node.js/TypeScript and Angular with infrastructure in CDK and CloudFormation", "Built Terraform modules for a national pet retailer's federated Apollo GraphQL APIs, plus GitLab CI/CD to deploy them" ] } ], "color": "company1", "tagline": "Technology consulting" }, { "company": "Triblio", "positions": [ { "title": "Software/DevOps Engineer", "dateRange": "2021 – 2022", "achievements": [ "Built a deployment CLI from scratch and set up CloudWatch and Grafana monitoring, which made deploys faster, more stable, and easier to watch", "Worked as a full-stack engineer on end-to-end features, integrating third-party services into account-based marketing workflows" ] } ], "color": "company2", "tagline": "Account-based marketing SaaS" }, { "company": "Accenture Federal Services", "positions": [ { "title": "DevOps Engineer", "dateRange": "2018 – 2021", "achievements": [ "Designed deployment pipelines and infrastructure for a large federal client as part of its technical architecture team", "Set up Kubernetes and Docker Swarm with zero-downtime deploys, and managed Ansible Tower workflows covering 200+ automated operations" ] } ], "color": "company3", "tagline": "Federal technology services" } ], "education": { "school": "James Madison University", "degree": "BS Computer Science", "minor": "Music Industry", "graduationDate": "May 2018" } }