Platform Engineering for Government: Deployment Friction from Days to Minutes While Maintaining Compliance

Security Incidents

Unplanned Downtime

99.9%

Platform Uptime (SRE)

Consecutive "Exceeds" CPARs

In classified government environments, deployment friction kills velocity. Small engineering teams wait days for infrastructure provisioning. Security reviews block releases. Compliance becomes a bottleneck, not an enabler. I lead platform engineering initiatives that eliminate this friction—enabling small teams to operate at enterprise scale through self-service infrastructure and policy-as-code.

I'm Troy Tanner, Technical Program Manager with 15+ years of platform engineering experience—10+ years in commercial enterprise systems and 5+ years in DoD mission-critical operations. I bring commercial DevOps velocity to government compliance requirements.

Deploy 6x faster (from 2 to 12 releases annually)
Reduce deployment cycles from 6 months to 2 weeks
Reliably serve 2,800+ Air Force personnel with 99.9% uptime
Maintain zero security incidents across 60 production releases
Support systems processing $2.74B in annual procurement operations

This isn't luck. It's the result of platform engineering principles I've applied across commercial and government environments: golden path CI/CD templates, automated compliance workflows, SRE reliability practices, and FinOps discipline that reduced $1.2M in technical debt.

I combine technical program management with architectural direction and hands-on expertise—translating commercial platform engineering to classified government constraints where velocity and compliance both matter.

Let's Talk See How I Did It

Platform Engineering + SRE: How I Enable Teams

Success in government systems requires building platforms that reduce cognitive load, enable self-service, and bake in compliance. Here's my approach to platform engineering in classified environments:

Internal Developer Platforms

I lead development of internal developer platforms that reduce deployment friction from days to minutes while maintaining compliance. Self-service infrastructure provisioning, golden path CI/CD templates, and policy-as-code automation enable small engineering teams to deploy rapidly without platform bottlenecks—reliably serving 2,800+ Air Force personnel. Result: 6x deployment frequency with zero security incidents across systems processing $2.74B in annual operations.

SRE + FinOps Practices

I lead implementation of reliability engineering practices that achieve 99.9% uptime while eliminating waste through FinOps discipline. Under my technical leadership, teams established DORA metrics tracking, SLO-driven development, and platform efficiency improvements that reduced technical debt by $1.2M (17.65% improvement)—maintaining zero unplanned downtime across mission-critical systems serving 2,800+ Air Force personnel.

Platform + Value Stream Optimization

I lead legacy system modernization through incremental refactoring and platform engineering, measuring success by deployment frequency and lead time. Under my technical leadership, teams accelerated from 2 releases per year to 12 using AI-assisted code analysis, dual-run migrations, and automated testing—without disrupting production operations serving 2,800+ Air Force personnel.

Platform Engineering in Classified Environments

Commercial platform engineering doesn't work in classified government systems. You can't access GitHub, Docker Hub, or public cloud marketplaces. Air-gapped networks require local artifact repositories. RMF/STIG compliance must be automated, not manual.

I've led development of internal developer platforms that work within these constraints—enabling engineering teams to deploy rapidly while reliably serving 2,800+ Air Force personnel processing $2.74B in annual procurement operations across military installations.

The Challenge: Technical + Organizational

The technical constraints are just the beginning. You're coordinating with contracting officers, cybersecurity teams, and mission stakeholders who all have legitimate concerns. Changes require Authority to Operate reviews. Deployments happen in secure enclaves. Every infrastructure change gets audited.

Under my technical leadership, teams navigated these constraints while reducing deployment friction from 6 months to 2 weeks through self-service platforms and continuous ATO practices.

The Solution: Automated Compliance

The key is building platforms that make compliance automatic, not adversarial. Golden path templates with baked-in security, policy-as-code enforcement, and automated evidence collection eliminate security review bottlenecks.

Whether you need internal service catalogs, FinOps cost optimization, or SRE practices in classified environments, I bring 15+ years leading platform development in both commercial and government systems—practical experience from production deployments, not demos from conference talks.

Program Scale $2.74B operations | 2,800+ personnel | Secret clearance

Compliance Record Zero security incidents | RMF/STIG compliant | 41% CAT-I reduction

Delivery Performance 60 releases in 5 years | Zero unplanned downtime | 12 releases/year sustained

Customer Satisfaction 3 consecutive "Exceeds Requirements" CPAR evaluations

Building Self-Service Platforms in Classified Environments

How I Reduced Deployment Friction from 6 Months to 2 Weeks Through Platform Engineering

Year 1

Infrastructure as Code & Automation Foundation

I directed teams to establish the automation foundation—infrastructure as code, CI/CD pipelines, and golden path templates. Engineering teams could self-provision development environments without platform bottlenecks. First automated deployment reduced provisioning time from 3 weeks to 2 hours. We established DORA metrics baseline and identified deployment frequency as the primary constraint limiting velocity.

Year 2

Policy-as-Code & Self-Service CI/CD

Under my technical leadership, teams built an internal developer platform with security compliance automated from day zero. Policy-as-code enforcement through golden path pipelines ensured teams couldn't deploy non-compliant infrastructure. Automated STIG validation, vulnerability scanning, and RMF evidence collection eliminated security review bottlenecks. Small engineering teams could now deploy to production rapidly while reliably serving 2,800+ Air Force personnel. Deployment frequency increased from 2 releases/year to monthly releases.

Year 3

SRE Practices & Reliability Engineering

I championed SRE discipline with SLO-driven development and DORA metrics tracking. Teams achieved 99.9% platform uptime while maintaining zero security incidents across all releases. Government stakeholders observed faster capability delivery without compliance degradation. We expanded observability, automated testing, and progressive deployment strategies. These reliability engineering practices built stakeholder confidence—deployment frequency became a capability accelerator, not a risk.

Year 4-5

FinOps & Platform Maturity

Under my continued leadership, teams sustained 12 releases per year through platform engineering practices that reduced cognitive load for engineering teams while reliably serving 2,800+ Air Force personnel. I directed implementation of Continuous ATO with automated evidence collection, eliminating compliance audit friction. Through FinOps discipline and AI-assisted analysis, we achieved $1.2M in technical debt reduction (17.65% improvement) while maintaining 6x deployment velocity. Results: Three consecutive "Exceeds Requirements" CPAR evaluations, zero security incidents, and zero unplanned downtime across 60+ production releases supporting $2.74B in annual operations.

Ready to Build Self-Service Infrastructure?

Whether you're struggling with deployment friction, security review bottlenecks, rising cloud costs, or enabling teams in classified environments—I lead platform engineering initiatives that reduce cognitive load and automate compliance through self-service infrastructure and policy-as-code.

Email Me Connect on LinkedIn