Donna Hardy

Results-driven Data & AI Systems Engineer with 10+ years of experience architecting cloud-based ETL/ELT pipelines, scaling modern data infrastructure, and leading high-impact, client-facing technical implementations. Highly specialized in bridging the gap between core data engineering and cutting-edge artificial intelligence, with proven expertise deploying end-to-end RAG architectures, multi-agent orchestration, and production-grade MLOps pipelines that improve model accuracy and streamline development lifecycles. Expert in establishing rigorous Data Governance frameworks (including SR 11-7 and HIPAA) and optimizing automated CI/CD pipelines to guarantee absolute data security, compliance, and systems reliability across regulated environments.

AI Data Engineer / Prompt Engineering Consultant at HandShake AI (2026-05 – Present)

• Design, test, and refine high-quality prompts and multi-agent workflows to maximize the accuracy and contextual relevance of HandShake AI's conversational models, systematically reducing hallucination rates.
• Collaborate with software and data engineers to establish robust evaluation benchmarks and pipeline controls, ensuring seamless integration of structured enterprise data into deployed AI architectures.

AI Data Engineer / Prompt Engineering Consultant at FixPoint (2025-08 – 2025-10)

• Designed and deployed end-to-end data pipelines supporting RAG architectures and multi-agent orchestration workflows, improving model response accuracy by 40% across enterprise AI deployments.
• Built and maintained scalable API integrations via LangChain to connect enterprise data systems, reducing AI hallucination rates by 25% through structured data validation and ingestion controls.
• Established MLOps best practices including pipeline versioning, model monitoring, and data orchestration workflows, reducing AI development lifecycle time by 30% and improving deployment reliability.

Deputy Data Analyst at DNC (2024-08 – 2024-11)

• Leveraged GCP BigQuery and dbt to design and maintain data transformation pipelines, improving data ingestion reliability and reducing reporting latency by over 50%.
• Utilized SQL, BigQuery, dbt, GitHub, Hex, and Looker to enhance database management and application efficiency, improving data accessibility and reliability across departments.
• Developed and maintained data standards for integration with DNC HQ, resulting in seamless data flow, improved data accuracy, and heightened system efficiency.
• Designed, built, and supported reports and tools that aligned key priorities across multiple teams, enhancing collaboration and focus.

Data Science Fellow at The Knowledge House (2023-01 – 2024-12)

• Established Data Governance policies and practices over projects, ensuring data integrity and compliance with industry standards.
• Utilized SQL Server, Amazon Redshift, and Teradata to manage and analyze large datasets, improving data retrieval efficiency and supporting data-driven decision-making.
• Developed and evaluated ETL pipelines and data visualizations that provided actionable insights aligned to project goals and objectives.

Data Engineer / Data Governance Lead at Dynamic Visions (2019-01 – 2026-01)

• Architected and optimized CI/CD pipelines supporting data engineering workflows, refining 90% of deployment procedures and reducing release cycle time across cross-functional technical teams.
• Led client-facing solution architecture sessions with institutional stakeholders, translating complex technical requirements into scalable data pipeline designs and coordinating production deployments with minimal downtime.
• Designed and enforced data governance, privacy, and security frameworks in regulated environments — including SR 11-7 model risk management — ensuring pipeline compliance across financial services data systems.
• Developed and maintained REST API integrations and ELT/ETL data pipelines using Python, SQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, and cloud platforms (GCP/BigQuery, AWS, Azure) to enable seamless data exchange across institutional systems.
• Implemented new strategies that reduced costs by 20% and increased growth by 30% in key business areas through data-driven analytics and visualization.
• Created strategic data visualizations to communicate pipeline performance and business insights to executive stakeholders using Tableau and Looker.

Software Quality Assurance Analyst at ACS (2010-01 – 2011-12)

Evaluated healthcare software for HIPAA compliance.

Senior Quality Assurance Analyst at Genuine Parts / NAPA (2013-01 – 2014-12)

Optimization web quality.

Senior Quality Assurance Engineer at ADP (2015-01 – 2016-12)

Utilized MySQL and SOAP for billing platform data validation.

Quality Assurance Engineer at Centers for Disease Control (2017-01 – 2019-12)

Established data metrics for viral research and executed precise data wrangling via Toad and REST APIs. Throughout these positions, consistently translated technical QA findings into actionable insights by creating visual dashboards and reporting metrics for executive stakeholders.

Innovation Fellowship Program in Data Science – The Knowledge House (2023-01 – 2024-12)

Master of Arts in Research Psychology – Argosy University

Bachelor of Arts in Research Psychology & Communication – University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Certificate in Business Management – Gwinnett Technical College