Blake Pierce,

Bringing people and technology together to solve problems.

Intro

I'm a software engineer and emerging engineering leader with experience building cloud-native platforms, scaling distributed systems, and delivering solutions that solve real customer problems.

My career has been shaped by a combination of technical ownership, business-minded decision making, and a passion for helping people succeed. From leading interns and mentoring teammates to presenting technical strategy to executive leadership, I enjoy operating at the intersection of technology, people, and business outcomes.

Experience

Software Developer

SAS · May 2025 — Present

As a Software Developer at SAS, I contribute to the architecture and evolution of the cloud platform that powers enterprise analytics workloads. I serve as a subject matter expert for platform initiatives, providing input on split-plane architecture, multi-tenant workload management, and large-file handling capabilities. Beyond technical implementation, I help drive engineering excellence by mentoring developing engineers, leading an intern through the delivery of a customer-facing feature, and promoting modern AI-assisted development practices across the organization. I also work to improve team effectiveness by introducing automation and process improvements that strengthen operational discipline and consistency.

Senior Associate Software Developer

SAS · March 2024 - May 2025

In this role, I took ownership of critical Kubernetes-based services responsible for launching and managing analytics workloads in the cloud. Working closely with teammates, I helped deliver significant performance improvements that dramatically increased system scalability and addressed important customer challenges. I also developed cloud-native capabilities that enabled customer migrations to modern platform architectures while improving application performance. In addition to technical contributions, I regularly communicated project progress and business impact to executive leadership.

Associate Software Developer

SAS · September 2023 - March 2024

As an Associate Software Developer, I transitioned into a primary ownership role for a key microservice within SAS's cloud ecosystem. I worked closely with cross-functional teams to deliver new features, improve platform capabilities, and resolve issues impacting internal and external users. This role provided valuable experience in large-scale software delivery, service ownership, and agile development within a complex enterprise environment.

Associate Software Development Engineer in Test

SAS · September 2022 - September 2023

I began my software career as a Software Development Engineer in Test, where I developed automated, containerized tests for Kubernetes-based microservices deployed through CI/CD pipelines. This experience helped me build a strong foundation in cloud-native technologies, automated testing, software quality, and modern engineering practices while contributing to the reliability and stability of customer-facing services.