Naval Thakur

"Hard work beats talent,
if Talent does not work hard"

Hi there! I’m Naval Thakur — a builder of digital ecosystems, a mentor of agile minds, and a tech strategist on a mission. Strap in, because this journey has been one heck of a ride!

My tech spark lit up back in the early 2000s, fueled by curiosity and a deep love for solving real-world problems through software. Over the past 18+ years, that spark has grown into a full-blown fire as I’ve helped global enterprises navigate the complex world of DevOps, Cloud Computing, and Digital Transformation. From leading FinOps programs to streamlining DevSecOps pipelines, I’ve lived and breathed the intersection of strategy, scalability, and speed.

My career has taken me through some fascinating terrain — from automating infrastructure at scale, driving multi-cloud cost optimization, to mentoring cross-functional teams in their journey toward agile excellence. And through it all, one thing has remained constant: my passion for simplifying the complex and scaling what works.

But let’s be real — tech isn’t just tools and frameworks; it’s about the people who make it come alive. That’s why I’ve always been drawn to mentorship and knowledge sharing. Whether I’m leading a workshop on API management or speaking at an SRE forum, there’s nothing like that lightbulb moment when an idea clicks for someone. I live for those.

I’m also deeply involved in community-driven innovation — from leading Global Special Interest Groups in Cloud and Open Source, to rolling out enterprise-wide strategies in large, distributed teams. My goal? To help the next wave of technologists and leaders thrive in a world that’s always changing.

And if you’re wondering what fuels me — it’s this belief: technology done right can transform not just businesses, but lives. That’s why I advocate for responsible innovation, inclusive leadership, and building systems that empower people at every level.

When I’m not busy architecting hybrid cloud solutions or coaching teams on agile delivery, you’ll find me exploring new ways to blend GenAI, blockchain, and automation into the heart of modern DevOps.

So that’s me in a nutshell — a tech enthusiast with a strategy mindset and a heart for community. If you’re into cloud architecture, enterprise agility, or just want to jam about the future of work, let’s talk. Because with the right mindset and a little bit of code, the possibilities are endless.

"Hard work beats talent,
if Talent does not work hard"

Organizations

As the Practice Manager for SDLC at SLB, I serve as a DevOps and FinOps coach, driving enterprise-wide transformation by embedding modern engineering practices, cost optimization strategies, and cultural agility into software development and delivery processes.

DevOps & SDLC Transformation Coaching

Championing industry-aligned best practices in DevOps, SDLC, and platform engineering, fostering a shift toward agile, scalable, and cognitive delivery models.
Coaching teams and leadership on the application of frameworks such as DORA, DOCA, i3PM, PMP, and TOGAF to enhance velocity, quality, and architectural integrity across the IT landscape.
Guiding organizations through DevOps maturity assessments and developing tailored roadmaps for continuous improvement and operational excellence.

FinOps Enablement & Toolchain Optimization

Driving cost optimization and FinOps maturity through strategic tool rationalization, consolidation, and modernization initiatives.
Realized significant cost savings by decommissioning 20+ servers, transitioning from legacy Serena tools to cloud-native solutions such as Azure DevOps.
Enabled end-to-end visibility and cost tracking via enterprise-wide rollout of IT asset and configuration management platforms (e.g., uCMDB), integrating with monitoring and operational tools like Dynatrace, APM, and ServiceNow.

Cognitive DevSecOps & GenAI Adoption

Leading the adoption of GenAI capabilities across all phases of the DevOps lifecycle, embedding intelligence into Cognitive DevSecOps to improve predictive quality, proactive risk mitigation, and automated governance.
Coaching delivery teams on integrating AI/ML for enhanced feedback loops, operational insights, and anomaly detection in CI/CD pipelines.

Enterprise Agility & Value Delivery

Spearheading DevOps transformations aligned with Agile ways of working, enabling faster time-to-market, improved cross-team collaboration, and enhanced product quality.
Implemented Jira Align to create a cohesive bridge between strategic vision and team-level execution, promoting transparency and alignment at scale.

Coaching for Cultural & Organizational Agility

Enabling and scaling cross-functional, multicultural, and geographically distributed teams, promoting psychological safety, self-awareness, and autonomous delivery.
Serving as SME for enterprise tool governance, providing advisory support to governance boards, change advisory committees, and portfolio owners for tooling strategies and delivery alignment.

Tooling Excellence & Continuous Engineering

Driving the migration and integration of toolchains to support seamless onboarding and end-to-end lifecycle automation — including Continuous Planning, Integration, Deployment, Monitoring, Security, Compliance, and Inspection.
Providing hands-on coaching and strategic oversight to empower engineering teams with a consistent and scalable developer experience.

🧭 DevOps Strategy & Execution

Designed and executed enterprise-wide DevOps strategies, aligning tooling, automation, and delivery practices with business goals.
✅ Outcome: Reduced deployment lead time by 40% and improved cross-team collaboration through clearly defined automation roadmaps and governance structures.

⚙️ CI/CD Pipeline Engineering

Architected and maintained scalable CI/CD pipelines using tools like Jenkins, GitLab CI, and Azure DevOps, enabling fast and reliable code delivery.
✅ Outcome: Achieved 95% pipeline reliability and cut release cycles from weeks to days by automating build, test, and deployment workflows.

📜 Infrastructure as Code (IaC) & Automation

Implemented Infrastructure as Code using Terraform and Ansible to automate provisioning and configuration across cloud environments.
✅ Outcome: Decreased manual provisioning efforts by 80%, ensuring consistent and repeatable infrastructure deployments across development and production.

☁️ Cloud & Environment Management

Built and managed multi-environment cloud platforms (IaaS & PaaS) across AWS, Azure, and on-prem data centers.
✅ Outcome: Enabled on-demand provisioning for dev/test environments, improving development velocity and reducing environment drift.

📡 Monitoring, Logging & Observability

Integrated monitoring and logging solutions (e.g., Prometheus, Grafana, ELK, Splunk) for real-time visibility into system performance and failures.
✅ Outcome: Reduced mean time to detect (MTTD) and resolve (MTTR) issues by 30%, increasing overall system uptime and reliability.

🤝 Collaboration & Agile Alignment

Fostered DevOps culture by bridging gaps between development, QA, security, and operations teams.
✅ Outcome: Supported agile ceremonies and cross-functional planning, resulting in more cohesive delivery cycles and enhanced team accountability.

🧑‍🏫 Technical Leadership & Mentoring

Provided technical leadership on automation, container orchestration, and DevOps tooling; mentored junior engineers on best practices.
✅ Outcome: Uplifted team skillsets, enabling faster adoption of DevOps tools and reducing onboarding time for new engineers by 50%.

📈 Process Analysis & Optimization

Audited existing development and deployment processes, identifying inefficiencies and proposing automation-driven improvements.
✅ Outcome: Streamlined workflows and introduced automated rollback strategies, improving system resilience and reducing deployment risk.

🐳 Cloud-Native & Containerization Expertise

Designed and deployed microservices architectures using Docker and Kubernetes, integrating with CI/CD and monitoring systems.
✅ Outcome: Improved application scalability and portability, cutting infrastructure cost by 25% through optimized container orchestration.

🔄 Continuous Learning & Innovation

Stayed ahead of industry trends by evaluating emerging DevOps tools and methodologies (e.g., GitOps, AIOps, FinOps).
✅ Outcome: Drove early adoption of cutting-edge technologies, improving team competitiveness and innovation velocity.

🔹 Strategic Planning & Agile Delivery Leadership

Drive end-to-end project planning and delivery for DevOps initiatives, ensuring alignment with strategic goals, timelines, and engineering capacity.
Develop adaptive delivery plans, define sprint-level objectives, and manage dependencies across cross-functional squads.
Champion DevOps best practices throughout the SDLC, including CI/CD, infrastructure as code, automated testing, and observability.

🔹 Team Enablement & Engineering Leadership

Lead and coach high-performing, multidisciplinary DevOps teams, ensuring clarity in roles, ownership, and delivery expectations.
Guide engineering teams in adopting agile and DevOps practices, fostering a culture of collaboration, experimentation, and continuous improvement.
Manage onboarding, upskilling, and knowledge sharing across geographically distributed team members.

🔹 Stakeholder Communication & Alignment

Serve as the primary liaison between technical teams and business stakeholders, translating complex technical initiatives into clear business outcomes.
Facilitate regular syncs, demos, and retrospectives to ensure transparency, alignment, and stakeholder satisfaction.
Proactively manage expectations and communicate project risks, blockers, and dependencies.

🔹 DevOps Budgeting & FinOps Awareness

Own the budget planning and resource forecasting for DevOps and tooling-related initiatives, balancing innovation with cost optimization.
Conduct cost-benefit analysis for cloud services, licenses, and infrastructure investments.
Partner with FinOps teams to monitor usage, control cloud spend, and drive efficiency across environments.

🔹 Technical Governance & Oversight

Provide technical direction and oversight on architecture, tooling, automation, and integrations to ensure platform scalability and resilience.
Evaluate emerging DevOps tools, platforms, and cloud-native technologies for potential adoption.
Enforce compliance, security, and architectural standards across delivery pipelines.

🔹 Risk Mitigation & Quality Assurance

Proactively identify risks and implement mitigation plans, keeping releases on track and minimizing disruptions.
Define and enforce quality gates, SLAs, and metrics to ensure reliable, secure, and performant delivery.
Drive post-mortem analysis and continuous improvement based on incidents and delivery feedback.

🔹 Reporting, Metrics & Documentation

Maintain clear and consistent project documentation, including technical architecture, deployment runbooks, and change logs.
Generate dashboards and reports on velocity, release cadence, environment stability, and business impact.
Track project KPIs (e.g., lead time for change, deployment frequency, change failure rate) aligned with DORA metrics.

🚀 Deployed Enterprise-Scale CI/CD Framework
Successfully led the rollout of a standardized CI/CD pipeline across multiple product teams, reducing deployment time by 60% and enabling daily releases in place of weekly cycles.
💰 Achieved 30% Cost Savings via FinOps Optimization
Collaborated with engineering and finance to implement cloud cost tracking, leading to decommissioning unused resources, rightsizing compute, and renegotiating tool licenses — saving over $500K annually.
📈 Improved Release Reliability with DORA-Based Governance
Established release metrics and quality gates aligned to DORA benchmarks, improving change failure rate by 40% and enhancing post-deployment success.
🛡️ Enabled Secure DevOps Compliance at Scale
Integrated security scanning tools (SAST/DAST) and compliance checks into pipelines, achieving full traceability and audit-readiness for regulated deployments.
🤝 Elevated Cross-Functional Collaboration & Velocity
Introduced Agile ceremonies (standups, retros, backlog grooming) across Dev + Ops, resulting in a 25% uplift in delivery velocity and significant reduction in friction between teams.

Design and develop user interfaces
Ensure UI/UX design is implemented correctly for a smooth user experience
Develop server-side logic
Create and manage databases using technologies
Participate in all aspects of agile software development, including design, implementation, and deployment

Standardized Build Scripts Across Teams
Unified build processes by creating reusable Ant/Maven scripts, reducing build time inconsistencies and deployment issues.
📤 Automated FTP-Based Deployments
Wrote scripts to automate deployment of WAR/JAR files to web servers over FTP, cutting down manual errors during night releases.
💾 Introduced VSS Tagging and labeling Strategy
Established a tagging convention in VSS and TFS, improving traceability of builds and facilitating rollback processes.
🔒 Secured Server Environments
Hardened Linux servers with automated user cleanup scripts, basic iptables firewall rules, and SSH key-based access — enhancing security compliance.
⏱️ Reduced Build Time by 40%
Optimized Maven dependencies and modularized large builds into smaller projects, improving CI feedback loop efficiency.
📦 Implemented Artifact Repository
Introduced Artifactory to manage internal libraries and binaries, centralizing build dependencies.
🧪 Enabled Parallel Test Environments
Helped clone test environments using shell scripts and configuration templates, speeding up QA cycles.