gregjockers

Independent software development and automation consultant serving small businesses and financial/trading firms across Texas, New York, and Miami. I design, build, and operate production systems end to end — real-time market-data pipelines, low-latency Rust services, and AI/LLM-powered workflow automation — and own the entire technical stack from initial requirements through development, deployment, Linux infrastructure, networking, and security. My work spans performance-critical systems engineering for trading firms and practical AI integration for operational businesses, and I specialize in turning manual, error-prone processes into reliable automated systems that deliver measurable results: reduced latency, lower costs, and increased lead generation. I work primarily in Rust and Python — with Bash, JavaScript/React, and SQL — and bring the operational discipline of a prior high-stakes career, handling every engagement with a focus on reliability, security, and clear, constraint-driven design. Key responsibilities: - Design, build, and maintain custom software and automation tooling in Rust, Python, and Bash to eliminate manual work and improve operational efficiency across client businesses - Engineer real-time market-data pipelines for trading and financial-analysis firms that ingest, process, and deliver live data into client analytical tools for faster decision-making - Optimize performance-critical systems — profiling bottlenecks, porting hot paths to Rust, and tuning concurrency, connection handling, and network I/O to reduce end-to-end latency (achieved a 27% reduction for trading-firm clients) - Architect, deploy, and operate low-latency services on self-managed Linux/VPS infrastructure, including real-time blockchain market monitoring and time-sensitive transaction submission - Integrate AI/LLM capabilities into client workflows — intake triage, data and document processing, and decision-support tooling — designed with explicit constraints and guardrails for predictable, safe behavior - Deliver full-stack technical delivery and support: Linux server administration, TCP/IP networking, firewall and SSH/TLS configuration, secure key and credential management, and hardware/software setup - Build data-driven marketing automation, including Google Ads campaign restructuring and optimization (restructured one client's campaigns to ~4x bookings while cutting ad spend ~85%) - Develop real-time data-acquisition and processing tooling, including API integration and custom scrapers for live operational and market data - Scope projects directly with clients — translating business goals into technical requirements, advising on tradeoffs, and delivering measurable outcomes - Own the full project lifecycle: requirements, architecture, development, testing, deployment, documentation, and ongoing maintenance - Apply disciplined engineering practices — version control, code review, testing, and least-privilege access/permission models — across the systems I build and operate - Provide ongoing technical consultation and support, keeping systems running in production and iterating based on client needs

- Designed, launched, and led a department-wide bunker-gear decontamination and quartermaster program spanning all 54 stations and ~2,000 firefighters (~6,000 sets of gear), replacing the state-minimum twice-yearly cleaning standard with post-incident cleaning to reduce occupational carcinogen exposure. - Negotiated a high-volume service agreement that cut per-set cleaning cost to 22% of standard market rate (78% reduction) while structuring it so the vendor more than doubled revenue and grew headcount 50%. - Implemented a barcode-scanning inventory system and asset-tracking policies to manage ~6,000 gear assets across 54 locations, with full chain-of-custody accountability. - Trained and directed station personnel to run the program daily, reaching 100% department-wide adoption; managed all state and local regulatory compliance, including Texas Commission on Fire Protection (TCFP) standards.