David E. Racine III

I'm a Senior DevOps Engineer at Papa Johns International, specializing in Google Cloud Platform architecture, Kubernetes orchestration, and infrastructure automation. With a background in Computer and Information Science from Nicholls State University, I bring both technical expertise and leadership experience to every project.

My work focuses on enabling development teams to deploy applications efficiently on GCP while maintaining robust security practices. I've led initiatives in Workload Identity implementation, GKE optimization, and cloud governance dashboards that have directly improved our cloud operations.

I thrive at the intersection of infrastructure and development, helping teams adopt best practices in CI/CD, Infrastructure-as-Code with Terraform, and container orchestration with Kubernetes.

1. Mar 2025 — Present

   Senior DevOps Engineer / Technical Lead · Papa Johns International

   Technical Leader driving Cloud Operations, FinOps, and DevOps Engineering excellence across enterprise infrastructure. Leading strategic initiatives for cost optimization, security compliance, and platform modernization.

   • •Team Lead and SME for all DevOps projects, providing leadership and technical guidance to internal team and contracted resources
   • •Co-Championing Harness & GKE Enterprise integration since August 2024, driving major rollout planned for 2025-2026
   • •Co-Developed initial Harness CI & CD Standards adopted across engineering organization
   • •Led GCP Project Cleanup initiative identifying 29 unused projects, saving $4,600 monthly ($55K+ annually)
   • •Completed Stretch to Central network standardization to support Autopilot effort and network modernization
   • •AWS UK and GCP UK Org Admin, leading UK Bridges and Technical Discussions for PJUS environment integration
   • •Security Remediation lead partnering with InfoSec on Mend, CrowdStrike POCs and TLS/SSL defect remediation
   • •Enforced Bitbucket access standards, cleaning up elevated access and establishing governance policies

   • GCP
   • AWS
   • Kubernetes
   • GKE
   • Terraform
   • Harness.io
   • FinOps
   • CrowdStrike
   • Mend
   • Istio
   • ArgoCD
2. Jan 2025 — Present

   Co-Founder & Chief Administrative Officer · Civic Technologies LLC

   Designing Games to Shape the World's Next Generation of Civic Leaders!

   • •Architect systems-driven Roblox experiences that teach government, policy, and leadership—turning casual players into tomorrow’s engaged citizens
   • •Ship features across Lua (Knit + Fusion) and a React/Node web portal framework, integrating game telemetry, leaderboards and more; stand up CI/CD pipelines and GCP & self hosting along the way
   • •Wear the Managing-Member hat: wrangle governance meetings, keep ownership records straight, manage state filings and registered-agent docs, juggle tax & banking paperwork, and generally make sure the lights stay on while the team keeps building.

   • Roblox
   • LUA
   • Knit
   • Fusion
   • React
   • JavaScript
   • TypeScript
   • Excel
   • Docs
   • QuickBooks
   • LegalZoom
   • DocuSign
3. Jan 2023 — Mar 2025

   DevOps Engineer · Papa Johns International

   Cloud infrastructure engineer supporting enterprise GCP/AWS architecture and DevOps practices across multiple application teams. Drove automation, security, and cost optimization initiatives.

   • •Assisted with projects across various application teams, promoting adherence to best practices in cloud infrastructure and configuration on GCP
   • •Engaged in strategic discussions with architecture teams, contributing insights on cloud architecture and design decisions
   • •Collaborated with development teams to facilitate onboarding of applications onto GCP, ensuring efficient integration and streamlined deployment workflows
   • •Implemented cloud governance strategies focusing on cost management, compute resource management, and overarching cloud governance
   • •Implemented security practices including Workload Identity and IAM for enterprise cloud infrastructure security
   • •Developed infrastructure-as-code using Terraform, Ansible, Groovy, and Bash to automate and standardize cloud deployments

   • GCP
   • AWS
   • Kubernetes
   • GKE
   • Terraform
   • Ansible
   • Bash
   • Groovy
   • IAM
   • Workload Identity
   • Istio
   • Harness.io
4. Nov 2020 — Jan 2025

   Co-Founder & Government Coordinator · Ridgeway

   Co-founded Ridgeway, an online county roleplay experience built around realistic local government—creating a space where players actually practice civic leadership through structured systems and community-driven governance.

   • •Designed the county’s governmental framework end-to-end: executive leadership, law enforcement/public safety, judiciary/courts, and the broader local government “departments”—with clear chains of command, procedures, and role-based progression that kept RP consistent and scalable.
   • •Created policy + process “rails” that made the RP feel real without killing fun—things like operational standards, case/court flow, reporting, accountability, onboarding, and escalation paths—so hundreds of players could participate without chaos.
   • •Developed the structural backbone for LEO and court RP: incident handling, evidence/case structure, court proceedings cadence, and leadership workflows—so interactions felt fair, consistent, and replayable.
   • •Developed the structural backbone for LEO and court RP: incident handling, evidence/case structure, court proceedings cadence, and leadership workflows—so interactions felt fair, consistent, and replayable.

   • Roblox
   • LUA
   • Javascript
   • React
5. Jan 2022 — Jan 2023

   Associate DevOps Engineer · Papa Johns International

   Entry-level cloud infrastructure role learning enterprise GCP architecture and DevOps fundamentals while supporting application teams.

   • •Learned and applied cloud infrastructure best practices on GCP platform
   • •Supported application teams with deployment workflows and troubleshooting
   • •Assisted with Terraform and Ansible automation projects
   • •Participated in on-call rotations and incident response

   • GCP
   • Kubernetes
   • Terraform
   • Ansible
   • Bash
   • Linux
6. Oct 2021 — Dec 2021

   Store Manager · Papa Johns - Franchise - Rohoho

   Managed daily store operations under Area Supervisor in New Orleans, LA.

   • •Oversaw daily operations including scheduling, staff hiring, and disciplinary actions
   • •Developed and maintained schedules that optimized staff allocation to maximize efficiency
   • •Fostered a positive and productive work environment, positioning the store as a leading performer within the franchise
   • •Successfully recruited and trained a capable successor, ensuring seamless leadership transition

   • Operations Management
   • Team Leadership
   • Staff Development
   • Scheduling
7. Aug 2017 — Sep 2021

   Shift Leader · Papa Johns - Franchise - Rohoho

   Assisted General Manager in daily store operations at Store #1247.

   • •Assisted the General Manager in enhancing the efficiency of staff scheduling across shifts
   • •Played a pivotal role in the hiring process, including conducting interviews and evaluating candidates
   • •Organized and facilitated regional promotional events, coordinating logistics to align with brand standards
   • •Managed shift operations, overseeing staff performance and ensuring compliance with company policies

   • Operations
   • Team Leadership
   • Event Coordination
   • Staff Management

• Featured

  Civic Technologies

  Designing Games to Shape the World's Next Generation of Civic Leaders!

  • Next.js
  • TypeScript
  • Roblox
  • LUA
  • Knit
  • Fusion
  • React
  • Excel
  • QuickBooks
  • LegalZoom
  • DocuSign
• Case Study

  GCP IAM Cleanup & Standardization

  Security and governance initiative to clean up and standardize IAM across GCP.

  • IAM
  • Security
  • Governance
  • GCP
  • Active Directory