Open to opportunities

Ryan Koch

@ryankoch

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Engineering director building mission-critical public-service platforms and teams.

South Korea

Message

What I'm looking for

I’m looking to lead product-and-engineering delivery for mission-critical public services—modernizing legacy systems, building high-trust teams, and shipping securely with data pipelines and practical AI governance.

I’m an engineering leader with 15 years building and shipping production software for mission-critical public services. I’ve spent 6+ years managing engineers and engineering managers, and I stay hands-on with backend systems, data pipelines, and agentic engineering workflows.

I progressed from engineer to practice lead at a federal digital services consultancy, directing 4 teams (28 engineers) delivering a $20M/year platform. I strengthened how the practice hired, led, and delivered, and I rebuilt delivery practices to make discovery and continuous UX research a core part of the SDLC.

Most recently, I led a 15-person product and engineering organization at a national nonprofit through legacy modernization, delivery practice rebuilds, and the org’s first AI governance framework. I led legacy modernization using a strangler fig approach, de-risked launches with percentage-based rollouts and a database migration from EC2 to RDS, automated core Data Analytics workflows (cutting a 40+ hour monthly process to under one hour), and consolidated two technology teams into a unified department with incident management standards.

Earlier, I led production-ready delivery on a $20M/year contract supporting U.S. Armed Services members, with all teams consistently hitting delivery targets. I bring a trust-forward, transparent leadership style—supported by CISM certification and CASP+—and I’m energized by teams that ship fast while improving quality, security, and operational resilience.

Experience

Work history, roles, and key accomplishments

Senior Director of IT

Child Care Aware of America

Dec 2024 - Jun 2026 (1 year 6 months)

Led a 15-person technology organization spanning Software Engineering, Product, UX, Data Analytics, and IT Operations, owning a ~$5.5M annual budget. Drove legacy modernization, data/analytics automation, rebuilt delivery practices, and established the organization’s first AI governance framework.

Engineering Leadership IT Operations Budget Ownership Legacy Modernization Percentage Based Rollouts Database Migration EC2 Amazon RDS Data Automation Incident Management AI Governance

Technical Lead (Nonprofit)

Truss

Jun 2024 - Aug 2024 (2 months)

Led a team of 5 engineers partnering with a nonprofit to guide the successful launch of an in-progress product.

Technical Leadership Team Leadership

Growth and Digital Services Lead

Truss

Dec 2023 - Jun 2024 (6 months)

Led engineering teams through government contract pursuits, including technical challenges and solution design. Managed and coached manager and direct reports.

Engineering Management Government Contracting Solution Design Coaching Technical Leadership Stakeholder Management

MilMove Practice Lead

Truss

Dec 2022 - Dec 2023 (1 year)

Directed four teams building MilMove, the web application supporting U.S. Armed Services members through relocations. Delivered production-ready software on a $20M/year contract and built a transparent selection process for engineering leads.

Delivery Management