Sankar V

Strategic Technical Leader and Customer Success Executive with over 21 years of enterprise networking and telecom systems experience. Proven track record leading and driving end-to-end Customer Found Defect (CFD) resolution, bridging client enterprise operations with core R&D engineering, and architecting AI-driven automation frameworks that significantly reduce Mean Time to Resolution (MTTR). Adept at directing high-stakes escalation bridge calls, safeguarding multi-million-dollar ARR across Fortune 500 accounts in multi-billion-dollar portfolios, and driving long-term customer retention and satisfaction.

Senior Systems Engineer / Escalation Engineering Lead - Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) - San Jose, CA

(2022-06)

Strategic Project: HPE Aruba WLAN Mission-Critical Enterprise Portfolio

• Led & Drove End-to-End Customer Found Defects (CFD) Across HPE's $10B+ Networking Portfolio: Owned the entire CFD lifecycle—from live customer triaging, complex lab replication, and deep architectural root-cause analysis (RCA) to patch validation and rollout—for critical Sev-1/Sev-2 enterprise issues in Aruba WLAN (including controller clustering, RF roaming, and failover anomalies), successfully mitigating churn and securing multi-million-dollar account renewals.
• Cut MTTR by ~40% via Automated AI Diagnostics: Architected and deployed an automated log diagnostics pipeline leveraging Python, Model Context Protocol (MCP) agents, and Amazon Bedrock (RAG), slashing triage and root-cause analysis cycle times across massive enterprise WLAN controller archive bundles.
• Maintained 99%+ SLA Compliance Across Support-to-R&D Handoffs: Engineered bi-directional automation workflows integrating Jira and REST APIs, eliminating diagnostic handoff bottlenecks between frontline global support, QA, and core engineering teams.
• Restored Executive Customer Confidence Following Outages: Authored executive Root Cause Analysis (RCA) reports, post-incident reviews (PIRs), and strategic architectural mitigation roadmaps for customer C-suite and VP-level technical stakeholders.

Lead Network Systems Engineer – Validation & Solutions Delivery - CNN IT Corp Inc (Client: AT&T Labs) - NJ, USA

(2021-12 - 2022-05)

Strategic Project: AT&T Core Carrier Routing System (CRS) Certification Testing

• Ensured 100% Zero-Downtime Live Rollouts: Authored and certified strict Methods of Procedure (MOPs) and comprehensive validation plans for nationwide and global CRS router deployments, executing complex configuration and route-policy rollouts with zero unscheduled customer outage.
• Mitigated Production Deployment Delays by ~30%: Served as lead technical liaison with third-party vendor engineering teams to rapidly isolate and resolve software and hardware anomalies during high-stress scale and failure-recovery testing.

Technical Manager – Escalation & Solutions Delivery - HCL America, Inc. (Client: Extreme Networks) - Portland, OR

(2021-02 - 2021-12)

Strategic Project: SLX-OS High-Performance Enterprise Data Center Switching

• Protected High-Value Renewal Accounts as North America POC: Served as designated escalation lead for marquee North American enterprise data center clients; directed executive customer bug scrubs and technical bridge calls to maintain renewal health.
• Accelerated Field Resolution Velocity by ~25%: Developed clear technical runbooks, QoS rate-limiting guides, and ASIC forwarding failure-recovery documentation, significantly upskilling frontline engineers.

Technical Manager – Escalations & Deployments - HCL Technologies Ltd (Client: Cisco Systems) - Chennai, India

(2018-08 - 2021-02)

Strategic Project: Cisco Service Provider Access Group (ASR9xx Series)

• Saved High-Risk Live Maintenance Windows: Directly led customer operations teams through live, high-risk maintenance windows, deploying immediate workarounds that avoided catastrophic network outages and SLA breach penalties.
• Turned Around At-Risk Client Accounts: Managed customer sentiment across daily escalation bridge calls for distressed telecom accounts, delivering clear RCA presentations that stabilized customer retention.

Senior Technical Leader – Customer Escalation Team - HCL America Inc (Client: Cisco Systems) - San Jose, CA

(2017-04 - 2018-07)

Strategic Project: Cisco Access Products Escalation Team USA

• Resolved 100+ Critical Customer Escalations: Closed over 100 Sev-1/Sev-2 field escalations across global telecom accounts, directly driving customer satisfaction (CSAT) improvements and expanding platform adoption.
• Accelerated Proof-of-Concept (POC) Win Rates: Partnered with pre-sales engineering on mission-critical POCs, resolving complex customer-specific architectural friction points to expedite contract sign-offs.

Technical Leader – Core Routing Systems - HCL Technologies (Client: Cisco Systems) - Chennai, India

(2012-05 - 2017-04)

Strategic Project: Gigabit Switch Router (GSR/C12000) & ASR9K Platforms

• Led Multi-Disciplinary Engineering Teams: Managed cross-functional development and QA teams against rigorous delivery timelines; led software hardening releases for tier-1 telecom carriers such as AT&T.

System Analyst & Team Lead - D&B Transunion Ltd

(2009-04 - 2012-05)

• Managed a team of 5 support and development engineers
• Led high-priority emergency bridge calls
• Automated operational monitoring tools

Programmer Analyst - Cognizant Technologies (Client: France Telecom)

(2008-03 - 2008-12)

• Handled environment technical ownership
• Provisioning workflow test automation

Member Technical Staff - HCL Technologies (Client: Cisco CMTS)

(2005-01 - 2008-02)

• Delivered cable modem defect resolutions
• Policy-based load-balancing features for Cisco IOS platforms

Certificate of Specialization - Leadership and Management - Harvard Business School Online (2023-10 - 2025-06)

Bachelor of Engineering - Computer Science - University of Madras (2000-06 - 2004-05)