Relocating to Czech Republic, Q1 2027 · Unrestricted EU Work Authorization
Tom Meese

Twenty years delivering cross-functional programs across IT, operations, and enterprise services. Complex programs succeed when business, IT, and vendor teams are aligned to the same mission and someone owns the execution across all of them.

20+
Years of program delivery
$35M+
Program budgets managed
180→45
Days: reduced customer deployment cycle time
18→2
Service disruptions · 12-month stabilization
Program philosophy
Connect business goals to execution. Surface risk early. Empower teams to deliver.

Relocating to Czech Republic in Q1 2027. My spouse is a Czech/US dual citizen, which grants unrestricted EU labor market access as a family member of an EU citizen — no employer sponsorship or work permit required.

Large enterprise programs require someone who can operate across every layer of an organization: engaging the customer, translating business strategy into execution plans, aligning IT, business, and vendor teams to the same schedule, and keeping executives informed without burying them in detail. That’s the job. I’ve been doing it for twenty years across four companies.

At Aerospike, that meant building a global org, managing a multi-million dollar budget across engineering and services, and growing ARR from $18M to $75MM+; at Janrain, cutting customer deployment cycles from 180 to 45 days and reducing SaaS service events from 18 to 2; at Axian, building the program management infrastructure that turned a $3M consulting practice into a $10M one.

“It’s about understanding the program before touching it. Measuring what’s actually happening. Diagnosing root causes, not symptoms. Building improvements that hold.”
Leadership vs. IC

Most of my career has carried a leadership title. I’ve built teams and run organizations. The programs I’m most proud of are the ones where I was closest to the execution. An IC role is a deliberate choice to stay there.

Technical Background

A software engineer with agentic AI pipelines running in production. That background changes how technical conversations go: it earns credibility with engineering teams, surfaces implementation problems before they become program problems, and accelerates decisions that need both sides of the table. PMP in progress.

// Program Delivery
$18M→$75MM+
ARR growth across a 6-year tenure — rebuilt global professional services, launched Aerospike Cloud, and a Database-as-a-Service, and drove SOC 2 and ISO 27001 certification
Aerospike
99.99%
Uptime SLA sustained across fleet of enterprise customer databases — 24/7 global operations with structured risk management and incident governance
Aerospike · ACMS Infrastructure
30%
Reduction in Days Inventory Outstanding — managed delivery of an S&OP dashboard for a commercial automotive division that surfaced parts inventory impact on customers
ProKarma · Automotive S&OP
2x
SOC 2 and ISO 27001 delivered at two companies: decomposed requirements, built cross-functional adoption plans, executed change management, delivered audit readiness
Janrain · Aerospike · Compliance OCM
// Experience
Independent
May 2024–Present · Portland, OR
Senior Technical Program Consultant
Owned end-to-end program delivery across concurrent client engagements spanning GTM programs, business transformation, and production AI systems.
Aerospike
Jul 2018–May 2024 · Mountain View, CA
Head of Cloud Services & Programs
Rebuilt the global professional services organization, led delivery of Aerospike Cloud Managed Service and Database-as-a-Service with a cross-functional team across North America, EMEA, and APAC, and drove SOC 2 and ISO 27001 certification.
ARR $18M → $75MM+
ProKarma
Aug 2016–Jul 2018 · Portland, OR
Head of Enterprise Programs
Led enterprise program delivery for F500 clients at a $500M professional services firm across automotive, healthcare, and retail verticals.
Janrain
Jun 2013–Aug 2016 · Portland, OR
Head of Cloud Operations & Programs
Led global platform stabilization that reduced service disruptions from 18 to 2 in 12 months; built the operating cadence and governance structures that scaled with the business.
18 disruptions → 2 in 12 months
Axian
Jan 2006–Dec 2012 · Portland, OR
President & GM
Built the Web Services and Data Analytics practice from zero into the company's primary revenue driver; managed all client delivery programs and project sequencing across the consulting practice.
$3M → $10M revenue
// Program Approach
Five principles, built across twenty years.
01
Understand the program before touching it.
Every program gets a diagnostic pass before anything is built or changed. What’s the actual problem, who owns what, where are the real dependencies? Acting before understanding is how programs compound their problems.
02
Build the visibility instruments before you need them.
Status dashboards, dependency trackers, and executive reports don’t help when built in response to a crisis. The time to build them is before anyone is asking. Visibility built early becomes the shared language of the program.
03
Design communication cadence around the business.
Meeting rhythms should map to what actually happens in the business: billing cycles, board meetings, milestone gates. Arbitrary check-ins that don’t connect to a consequence become noise.
04
Surface issues early. Bring a recommendation, not just a flag.
Surfacing a problem without a proposed path forward creates noise, not value. The job is to bring the issue and a direction at the same time, so the conversation can be about the decision, not the discovery.
05
Alignment requires real shared understanding, not a kickoff meeting where everyone nods.
Real alignment means everyone understands the why, not just the what. It takes longer to establish than a kickoff deck and it requires real conversation, not just presentation. But when it’s real, follow-through stops being a management problem because the team already owns the outcome.
// Beyond Work
Real West Gravel 2026

Competing at the masters level in cycling and triathlon.

Structured training, deliberate recovery, and long-range goal setting keep me competitive at the masters level. The same planning and consistency that goes into work goes into the training.

// Community
Murrayhill Recreation Association
President & Vice President
Directed a $20M+ capital budget representing 1,400 households. Governance, stakeholder management, and long-range capital planning, applying the same operational disciplines in a volunteer context.
Oregon Business Academy
Volunteer Judge · 2025–Present
Evaluated student business presentations and provided structured feedback on strategy, execution planning, and market viability.
Looking for a complex program that needs an experienced hand.

Whether the program is stalled, scaling, or starting from scratch — the approach is the same. Understand before acting. Build visibility early. Align the team on the why, not just the what.