Dakota Hollmann

Lead Data Engineer & Architect | Data Strategy & Cost Optimization ($350K+ Saved) 📍 Denver Metropolitan Area
🔗 LinkedIn / 💻 GitHub

🧭 Executive Summary

I am operating as a Lead Data Engineer & Architect who thrives at the intersection of complex technical systems and strategic business goals. Currently, I direct telemetry architecture at a massive scale at a Fortune 500 enterprise telecom company processing exponential data growth at massive scale while augmenting auto-scaling frameworks with rigorous FinOps tuning to drive down compute costs and establish engineering standards that empower my team.

With over 10 years of experience across the data lifecycle and a completed MBA in Data Analytics, I focus on being a “Force Multiplier.” Whether it’s migrating legacy Teradata systems to AWS or building custom API ingestion frameworks in Python, I ensure that every technical decision is an investment in the company’s long-term profitability.

Core Impact:

Massive Scale: Architected telemetry ingestion processing 165B+ rows/hour for 30M+ customers.
Strategy & ROI: Delivered $350K+ in cumulative cost & efficiency savings across roles through automation, FinOps, and workflow optimization.
Leadership & Mentorship: Mentored 6 Data Engineers, served as Technical Lead for an organization of 14, and earned 15+ peer/leadership recognitions.
Innovation: Pioneered the team’s AI-augmented engineering adoption — internal AI agents, enterprise-tool piloting, and centralized engineering standards.

🛠️ Core Competencies & Tech Stack

Languages: Python, SQL, Bash
Cloud & Big Data: AWS (EMR, Lambda, Glue, Athena, S3, Step Functions), Spark/PySpark, Snowflake, Redshift
Architecture: Distributed Systems, ETL/ELT Design, Serverless Ingestion, Cost Optimization (FinOps)
DevOps & Tooling: Git, GitHub Actions, Airflow, JIRA APIs (JQL)
Analytics: Data Quality Frameworks, Tableau, Alteryx, Power BI
Familiar: Terraform, Docker, Databricks

👨‍💻 Professional Experience

Founder & Principal @ MHI Consulting LLC

(Jan 2026 – Present) · Boutique technical-recruiting advisory.

Senior Data Engineer (Contract) @ Spectrum

(Dec 2023 – Present)

Pipeline Architecture & FinOps: Designed the initial architecture of an enterprise telemetry pipeline now processing 165B+ rows/hour for 30M+ enterprise customers (Medallion raw → ingest → enriched), and delivered an estimated $35K+ in annualized recurring compute/storage savings through optimization and modern cloud-native migration (~5 hours of daily runtime removed).
API Ingestion Framework: Developed a serverless ingestion engine using AWS Lambda, Python, and Athena to automate data capture from internal systems and partition-load into S3 via Parquet.
Engineering Standards (SME): Advanced team maturity with reusable, unit-tested utilities and frameworks adopted as team standards (140+ unit tests, 400+ documentation updates); set standards for code structure and cloud fleet configuration.
AI-Augmented Engineering: Pioneered the team’s AI adoption — among the first to pilot enterprise AI coding tools (Copilot, Amazon Q) and built internal AI agents and a centralized standards/config library.
Technical Leadership & Mentorship: Onboarded and upskilled 6 Data Engineers, own code reviews, and lead cross-functional troubleshooting; recognized 15+ times by peers and leaders while sustaining high delivery (180+ completed work items, 230+ merged code changes).

🔻 Click to view Technical Environment & Additional Context

Technologies: AWS [S3, Lambda, Step Functions, EMR, CloudShell, EventBridge], Python, PySpark, VS Code, GitLab.
Impact Detail: Re-architected a legacy Bash-based runtime metric collector to remove unnecessary compute overhead, saving 45–90 seconds per job across 600+ workflows.
Security: Partnered with networking and security teams to establish cross-VPC access patterns for data retrieval systems.

5G Senior Data Analyst @ DISH Wireless

(Mar 2023 – Dec 2023)

FCC Compliance Automation: Engineered an automated site-validation framework using Alteryx to support the June 14, 2023 FCC 5G deployment commitments.
Operational Throughput: Increased audit capacity from 4 sites/day to unlimited automated audits, reducing site review time from ~2 hours to 5 minutes (90%+ reduction).
Technical Leadership: Served as Technical Lead for an organization of 14 Analysts and Engineers, including the direct management of an India-based data resource.
Data Enablement: Architected the data-polling layer and sourced service accounts for executive 5G rollout dashboards using Redshift, Athena, and Snowflake.

🔻 Click to view Technical Environment & Additional Context

Technologies: Alteryx, Snowflake, AWS Redshift, Tableau, SQL Server, Python.
Process: Owned daily multi-dataset validations for 5G site integration during high-pressure launch windows.
KPI Design: Designed operational KPIs and reporting models improving SLA transparency across APAC, EMEA, and Americas regions.

📂 Previous Experience (Arrow Electronics, DISH Network, Early Career)

ETL Engineer II @ Arrow Electronics (May 2022 – Mar 2023)

Warehouse Optimization: Developed and tuned complex ETL workflows (Informatica, Oracle, Teradata) supporting a multi-terabyte, 24/7 global supply chain warehouse.
Storage Efficiency: Engineered a Hadoop-to-SQL pipeline that achieved a 90% reduction in storage footprint through advanced normalization.
Global SLA Performance: Constructed rolling performance dashboards to track operational SLA metrics with 93–96% accuracy across three continents.

Technical Product Owner @ Arrow Electronics (Feb 2022 – May 2022)

Agile Delivery: Prioritized backlogs and managed delivery across 3 Agile sub-teams, bridging communication between 10+ business stakeholders and 20+ technical members.

Software Engineer III (Database Development) @ DISH Network (Jun 2021 – Feb 2022)

Enterprise Cloud Migration: Orchestrated the technical validation of 150+ database objects during a large-scale Teradata to AWS (Redshift/Snowflake) migration.
DevOps Leadership: Spearheaded the Git adoption and implementation project for a team of 8 Data Engineers.

Senior Business Operations Analyst @ DISH Network (Oct 2020 – Jun 2021)

High-Volume Operations: Managed complex queue logic and staffing models for 100K+ daily customer contacts and 2,000+ FTEs.
Financial Impact: Identified and delivered $250K+ in annual cost savings through efficiency reporting.

(Prior roles: Business Operations Analyst I-III, WFM Specialist, Retail Leadership)

🎓 Education

Master of Business Administration (MBA), Concentration in Data Analytics Florida Gulf Coast University – Fort Myers, FL (2026) Focused on the intersection of advanced data architecture, business profitability, and cost-optimization strategy.

Bachelor of Science (BS) in Computer Science, Minor in Mathematics
Metropolitan State University of Denver – Denver, CO (2022) Currently serving as an Alumni Member for the Computer Science and DSML Advisory Boards.

Associate of General Studies Arapahoe Community College – Littleton, CO (2020)

Career Studies Certificate in Computer Repair Technician
Southwest Virginia Community College – Cedar Bluff, VA (2018)

Associate of Arts and Sciences in Education
Southwest Virginia Community College – Cedar Bluff, VA (2017)

🎤 Public Speaking & Leadership

Computer Science & DSML Advisory Board Member @ MSU Denver (May 2020 – Present) * Governance: Currently serving as an Alumni Member for the Computer Science and Data Science & Machine Learning (DSML) Advisory Boards, guiding curriculum alignment with evolving industry standards, workforce readiness, and ABET accreditation requirements.

Mentorship & Speaking: Regularly invited guest speaker and mentor; recently presented “Nodes, Edges, and Elevator Pitches: Networking Like a Computer Scientist” to 40+ early-career technologists.
Upcoming — Adjunct Teaching: Invited by CS faculty to teach Fundamentals of Database Systems (anticipated Spring 2027); finalizing arrangements through the university.

🔻 Click to view Full Speaking & Engagement Timeline

2026

Apr 10 — Participant, CS Advisory Board Meeting
Apr 09 — Guest Lecturer, CS 3120 (Machine Learning) (View Presentation Code/Repository) Conducted a live technical demonstration of the Medallion Data Architecture, teaching students to navigate API integrations, data grain mismatches, and the detection of statistical confounders (Simpson’s Paradox) before model training.
Apr 09 — Industry Panelist, CS 1050 (Computer Science 1)
Shared career journey insights with freshmen, focusing on the transition from business operations to Senior Data Engineer and the value of a “force multiplier” mindset.
Feb 09 — Guest Lecturer, CS 4360 (Senior Experience)
Scheduled engagement to discuss enterprise data architecture and career navigation with senior undergraduates.

2025

Dec 05 — Industry Participant, CACED Senior Project Day & Networking Lunch
Nov 20 — Guest Speaker, CS 3210 (Principles of Programming Languages) & CS 3700 (Computer Networks)
Shared industry insights on job search strategies, technical interviewing, and navigating life after graduation.
Nov 03 — Guest Speaker, CS 1030 (Computer Science Principles)
Virtual presentation on “How to Get a Job in CS,” covering interviewing techniques, networking strategies, and essential developer tools.
Oct 23 — Industry Panelist, CS 1050 (Computer Science 1)
Moderated Q&A for freshmen covering core competency building (problem-solving, collaboration), internship navigation, and early career advice.
Aug 14 — Invited Member, Inaugural DSML Advisory Board Meeting
Selected to serve on the founding board to shape the Data Science & Machine Learning curriculum strategy.
Jul 12 — Industry Mentor & Strategy Lead, Sustainability Hub Hackathon
Partnered with Charter Spectrum’s women’s resource group to review “Empowering Colorado,” an LLM/RAG-based sustainability data platform. Advised students and faculty on data democracy, scalability, and the technical roadmap for creating a centralized repository of credible climate data.
May 28 — Organizer, “Learning By Design” Workshop (Charter Spectrum Partnership)
Apr 18 — Featured Alumnus, Spring 2024 CS Department Newsletter
Apr 10 — Guest Speaker, CS 3810 (Principles of Database Systems) — Career Navigation & Architecture
Feb 03 — Guest Speaker, CS 4360 (Senior Experience) — “Life After Graduation”

2024

Aug 21 — Volunteer, Computer Science Welcome Day
Apr 29 — Presenter, MSU Denver ACM Chapter (View Slides)
Mar 29 — Participant, CS Advisory Board Meeting

2022

Feb 17 — Guest Speaker, CS 3810 (Principles of Database Systems) (View Slides)
May 13 — Graduate, MSU Denver (Bachelor of Science)

2020

Aug 18 — Guest Speaker, CS 1030 (Computer Science Principles) (View Slides)

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