Terry J. Virdell
Director • Senior Manager • Principal Architect • Data Engineer
Healthcare Data Engineering | Cloud Data Platforms (AWS/Azure/Databricks/GCP) | IT Strategy & Governance
Interoperability & Compliance | Budget & Operations Management | Compliance (FHIR/FDA/SOC2)
Professional Summary
Strategic Technology Director & Hands-On Architect with 15+ years of experience bridging the gap between organizational strategy and complex engineering execution. A "Leader with a Heart" with a proven track record of managing $2.4M+ operational budgets, leading diverse teams of 30+ staff (onshore/offshore), and maintaining a 98% retention rate through inclusive mentorship. Simultaneously serves as a principal technical contributor with deep expertise in Databricks Lakehouse, Python Automation, and HL7 FHIR/USCDI compliance. Expert in establishing "Zero-Fail" quality governance for massive datasets, having validated 20M+ healthcare records, achieved zero critical production defects over 15 years, and secured $13M+ in annual cost avoidance. Specializes in guiding organizations through digital transformation, vendor consolidation, and regulatory compliance (HIPAA/SOC2/FDA) while ensuring technology investments directly support mission goals.
Core Skills
| Healthcare Data, Medical Device & AI Compliance | |
|---|---|
| • | Interoperability: HL7 FHIR R4, USCDI v3, CMS Mandates (HTI-1), SMART on FHIR |
| • | Medical Device (FDA): IEC 62304, ISO 14971 (Risk Mgmt.), 21 CFR Part 820, SaMD |
| • | Data Engineering: ETL / ELT Pipelines, Data Ingestion, & Lakehouse Architecture |
| • | Privacy Engineering: De-Identification, Synthetic Data Generation (Generative AI), SOC2, HIPAA |
| • | Payer/Provider Data: Claims (X12 837/835), Clinical, PBM, & Clearinghouse Standards |
| • | AI & Automation: Python, SQL, Red Gate, Postman AI, Cursor AI, Claude, Gemini, LLM-Assisted Dev |
| Executive Leadership, IT Operations & Cloud Platform | |
|---|---|
| • | Strategic Leadership: IT Strategy, Change Management, Emotional Intelligence (EQ), Negotiation |
| • | IT Operations (Ops): Infrastructure & Hardware Oversight, Helpdesk/Service Delivery, Cybersecurity |
| • | Resource Management: Budget Ownership ($2.4M+), Vendor Negotiation, & Org Scaling |
| • | Cloud Architecture: AWS, Azure, GCP, API Gateways, Databricks, IaC (Terraform) |
| • | DevSecOps: CI/CD Pipelines, Docker/Kubernetes, Observability (DataDog/Elastic), Security Scanning |
| • | QA & Performance: Test Automation Frameworks, Load/Stress Testing (50k+ Users) |
Professional Experience
Principal Clinical Data Architect & Compliance Consultant
Your Data Health, Bellevue, WA- Strategic Advisory: Provide fractional CTO-level leadership for HealthTech startups, guiding architecture for HTI-1, USCDI v3, and CMS interoperability mandates. Prepare engineering teams for investor diligence (Series A/B) by auditing data integrity and scalability.
- Compliance & Security Architecture: Audit and remediate ETL pipelines and FHIR resources to ensure strict adherence to HIPAA, Privacy Rule, and CMS compliance. Design "Zero-Trust" privacy pipelines and automated de-identification protocols to protect PHI in cloud environments.
- AI-Driven Innovation: Serve as principal architect for rapid prototypes using Python, GCP, and React. Leverage LLM-assisted development (Cursor AI, Claude, Gemini) and Postman AI to build automated validation tools that accelerate time-to-market.
Manager, Software Engineering & Data Quality | Principal Quality Engineer
OPALA, Remote- Startup Scaling & Leadership: As a founding technical leader, built the Quality Engineering and Data Validation capabilities from the ground up. Scaled the team and culture, establishing the "QA Guild" to drive engineering excellence and defining OKRs that aligned technical execution with business goals.
- Engineering Management: Partnered cross-functionally to deliver high-volume APIs for major healthcare payers (Premera, Providence). Managed technical debt, resource allocation, and performance calibration for distributed engineering squads.
- Cloud-Native Architecture: Architected enterprise-grade test automation and data validation frameworks using Python and Databricks Lakehouse across AWS and Azure. Integrated modern tooling, including Postman AI, Inferno, Touchstone, and JIRA Xray, into the CI/CD pipeline.
- Interoperability & Data Integrity: Led the end-to-end validation of FHIR-compliant ETL pipelines, ensuring accuracy for CMS-mandated Member Attribution, Payer-Provider Data Exchange, and Prior Auth workflows.
- Privacy Engineering: Engineered synthetic data solutions to meet SOC2 and HITRUST requirements, enabling safe, rigorous testing of complex healthcare scenarios without exposing PHI.
Director, IS Applications & Services, QA & Automation (Software & Hardware)
Providence St. Joseph Health, Renton, WA- Operational Oversight & IT Leadership, Hands-On, Mentor: Directed a diverse department of 30+ staff (managers, engineers, consultants), ensuring the reliability, security, and performance of enterprise-wide software and hardware infrastructure.
- Budget & Vendor Management: Controlled a $2.5M operational budget, successfully driving cost-effectiveness by negotiating vendor contracts, consolidating toolsets, and optimizing external consultant spending.
- System Reliability & Risk Management: Architected an enterprise "Defect Prevention Governance" framework that secured $13M in annual cost avoidance. This initiative drastically reduced production outages and safeguarded the integrity of critical patient/member data.
- Organizational Change & User Support: Led a massive digital transformation and training initiative, delivering technical upskilling to 1,300+ staff (PMs, Analysts, Engineers). This program modernized the IT culture and improved service delivery standards across the organization. Architected and developed Power BI, Tableau, and custom UI dashboards, measuring success and showing improvements in testing, test plans, test cases, and risk scoring reports for ensuring project success and visibility.
- Inclusion & Accessibility: Pioneered the enterprise policy for 508 Compliance, deploying automated tools to ensure all internal and external applications were accessible to users with disabilities, directly supporting the organization's mission of inclusivity.
Senior Manager, Quality Assurance & Testing (Software & Hardware)
Providence Health & Services, Renton, WA- Infrastructure & Hardware Oversight: Managed the "Software & Hardware" Testing Center of Excellence, ensuring the operational readiness of 225+ annual IT projects ranging from clinical application updates to infrastructure upgrades.
- Service Delivery Optimization: Boosted project schedule completion rates and eliminated major production disruptions by standardizing IT protocols, serving as the backbone for reliable application delivery.
- Medical Device & Imaging Validation: Led validation for critical clinical hardware: remote telehealth robots, ER wireless stethoscopes, FDA-regulated monitoring devices (bedboards, cameras). Validated medical imaging software to prevent critical defects in patient scan storage.
- Staff Leadership: Maintained a 98% retention rate during complex organizational changes by prioritizing mentorship, professional development, and culture-aligning technical teams with the organization's mission.
QA Manager, IS Business Process Manager, ICD-10 Testing Lead
Providence Health & Services, Renton, WA- Revenue Cycle Integrity: Led end-to-end ICD-10 testing across Epic EMR and 18 downstream billing systems, validating EDI 837 claims and 835 remittance transactions to ensure financial compliance.
- Process Automation: Automated 10,000+ test cases, saving 20,000+ manual hours and ensuring zero revenue loss during the transition.
Amalga QA Manager & Clinical Data Analyst
Providence Health & Services, Renton, WA- Patient Safety & Clinical Logic: Developed and validated real-time clinical alerting logic for Sepsis Scoring, MEWS, and infection tracking, directly contributing to patient safety initiatives.
- Data Interoperability: Consolidated HL7 and Meditech feeds into Amalga data platforms; this logic was later adopted into the Epic EMR standard.
Education & Certifications
| Degree / Program | Institution / Date |
|---|---|
| Full Stack Web & Mobile Development | Expected June 2026 |
| Nucamp.co, Bellevue, WA | |
| B.S. Business Administration – IT Management | February 2025 |
| Western Governors University, Salt Lake City, UT | |
| A.A.S. CIS & Business | June 2005 |
| Bellevue College, Bellevue, WA | |
| Certifications: ISTQB CTAL-TM, ISTQB CTFL, Six Sigma Green Belt, Microsoft Certified Professional, Google Project Manager | |
Community & Leadership
- Volunteer, Northwest Harvest & regional food banks
- Board Member, Beacon Hill Youth Soccer
- Coach, Seattle CYO Sports (Soccer, Basketball, Track)
- Providence 2019 Emilie Gamelin "Values in Action - Excellence" Award
- Providence Accessibility Committee - Creator, Chair
- PTO Vice President – Beacon Hill Elementary