Devon Hillard
Enterprise Architect · Commerce Specialist · AI Strategist
Profile
Enterprise architect and commerce specialist with 28 years of hands-on experience spanning the full arc of web technology — from building ATG's earliest customer implementations to leading AI strategy for a global consultancy. Deep expertise in eCommerce platform architecture, cloud migration, and DevOps at scale for Fortune 500 clients including AT&T, Procter & Gamble, Ulta, and the U.S. Department of Defense. Currently focused on bridging AI/LLM capabilities with real business problems — building RAG pipelines, AI-powered tooling, and agent-based workflows that deliver measurable ROI.
Experience
Principal Architect, McFadyen Digital, Vienna, VA
2023-present- Founded and led the McFadyen AI Council, driving AI/ML/LLM education across the organization and developing new AI-powered service offerings for enterprise marketplace clients.
- Mentor and guide solution architects on large-scale eCommerce and marketplace engagements, establishing architectural standards and review processes.
- Serve as a thought leader on enterprise architecture, contributing to pre-sales technical strategy and client-facing solution design for multi-million dollar engagements.
Senior Cloud Application Architect, Amazon Web Services, Seattle, WA
2022-2023- Led cloud migration engagements for large enterprise clients in AWS Professional Services, designing scalable, secure, and cost-optimized architectures.
- Developed reusable IP, guides, and tooling for the AWS ProServe organization, accelerating delivery timelines for future engagements.
- Specialized in AWS BluAge mainframe modernization — migrating legacy COBOL/mainframe workloads to cloud-native Java applications on AWS.
Founder, Black Magic Consulting, Boulder, CO
2019-present- Built an ATG Oracle Commerce auto-scaling solution on AWS and a headless microservices-based payment system for a large national retailer.
- Launched multiple Shopify-based eCommerce sites with extensive custom integrations, theme development, and third-party system connections.
- Created and maintain several open-source frameworks for Spring Boot, Cloudflare Workers, and developer productivity (see Open Source section).
Founder, 10MinuteMail, Seattle, WA
2006-present- Created and operate a widely-used temporary email service, consistently serving 100,000+ daily visitors with a self-sustaining ad-based revenue model.
- Independently built and maintained the infrastructure for nearly 20 years, spanning multiple technology generations and scaling approaches.
CTO, Managed Services, Tenzing, Toronto, CAN 2018
- Spearheaded the technology strategy and product roadmap for Tenzing’s eCommerce division, the company’s fastest-growing line of business.
- Led initiatives in proprietary IP development, DevOps automation, and cloud adoption, improving service delivery speed and reliability.
- Cultivated vendor relationships and technology partnerships, expanding service offerings and positioning Tenzing as a top managed service provider in eCommerce.
Founding Partner, Spark::red, Seattle, WA
2007-2018- Co-founded a premier ATG Oracle Commerce managed hosting provider, growing the business over 11 years serving enterprise retail clients.
- Designed and implemented a full-lifecycle DevOps ecosystem: CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, APM, monitoring, alerting, redundant load balancing, and automated backup systems.
- Established server hardening practices and high-availability infrastructure, maintaining enterprise-grade uptime and security for mission-critical eCommerce platforms.
Senior Architect / Security Architect, Cingular Wireless (now AT&T), Redmond, WA
2003-2007- Led security and privacy compliance for Cingular’s customer-facing web applications, driving the organization to VISA/PCI compliance.
- Designed and oversaw development of multiple web applications, translating business requirements into architecture documents and guiding teams through implementation.
- Established coding standards, SDLC practices, and security review processes, reducing maintenance costs and improving application quality across the portfolio.
Earlier Career
1998-2007- Senior Architect at ATG (1998-2001) — one of the earliest ATG employees, advanced from support through professional services to architecture. Designed systems for Fortune 500 clients in eCommerce, banking, and content delivery.
- ATG Architect at ClearLogic Consulting (2007-2010) — led upgrade projects and built high-throughput applications for clients including Ulta and Scotts.
- Senior Consultant at Cell Exchange (2002-2003) — led multi-discipline teams building applications and rapid prototypes for the Navy, Air Force, DoD, and corporate clients.
- Co-Founder of MagicWaiter (2002-2003) — built a clustered application serving 100,000+ members, 4TB+ of content at sustained 30 Mbit/s with peaks over 100 Mbit/s.
Open Source
- Spring User Framework — user management starter for Spring Boot with registration, login, and security built on Spring Security
- SpringCFTurnstile — Cloudflare Turnstile integration for Spring Boot applications
- workers-users — user management and session state framework built on Cloudflare Workers
- MotionMCP — MCP server for the Motion task management system
- CCMagic — Claude Code enablement framework for structured AI-assisted development workflows
- jira-omnifocus — Ruby script to create and manage OmniFocus tasks from Jira tickets
- github-omnifocus — Ruby script to create and manage OmniFocus tasks from GitHub issues
- SpringShopifyAppFramework — Spring Boot framework for building Shopify applications