Austin Smale
Software Engineer Advisor | Full-Stack, Backend & AI Systems | Security+
Active Top Secret/SCI Clearance
- Hagerstown, Maryland
- 267-772-1310
- austin@asmale.me
- asmale.me
Professional summary
Security+ certified full-stack software engineer with 7+ years of experience building and evolving a secure cyber assessment platform serving approximately 1,000–1,500 users across U.S. military and government organizations. Progressed from junior engineer to Software Engineer Advisor and technical anchor, combining end-to-end React, TypeScript, Node.js, MarkLogic, and XQuery development with requirements discovery, security compliance, and Agile delivery. Known for owning complex features, preserving critical architectural context, and delivering pragmatic solutions amid shifting mission priorities. Built Code Intelligence, my current flagship project: a local-first AI workbench combining repository indexing, hybrid retrieval, grounded generation, and evaluation with inspectable source evidence.
Technical skills
Languages: TypeScript · JavaScript · XQuery · Go · Python
Frontend: React · Next.js · HTML · CSS · Tailwind CSS · templ
Backend & data: Node.js · FastAPI · MarkLogic · PocketBase · SQLite · Qdrant · REST APIs · JSON
AI engineering: RAG · Hybrid retrieval · Ollama · Repository indexing · Grounded generation · Retrieval and answer evaluation
Infrastructure: Docker · Git · GitLab CI/CD · GitLab Container Registry · Self-hosted runners · Linux · Nginx · Caddy · Certbot
Security: STIG compliance · Web Server SRG · ATO readiness · PKI assessment workflows
Testing: Unit testing · End-to-end testing · Test planning · Cypress · JUnit
Engineering: Full-stack development · Requirements analysis · System design · Code review · Agile/Scrum facilitation
Professional experience
Peraton
Fort Meade, Maryland
Software Engineer AdvisorJuly 2024–Present
- Develop and maintain the DoWIN cyber assessment platform, supporting the complete assessment lifecycle for approximately 1,000–1,500 users and hundreds of assessments across the Navy, Army, Air Force, Coast Guard, DCSA, and DoWIN.
- Independently owned and completed a release-ready CORA Optimize (CORA-O) MVP covering the customer-prioritized 50% of the full requirement under a compressed timeline, with peer review from two engineers.
- Delivered new CORA-O assessment workflows, briefs, reports, an interim reporting module, and supporting data schemas.
- Conducted an internal security-readiness review against Application Development STIG and Web Server SRG requirements, implementing feasible remediations within the available schedule in preparation for an ATO assessment.
- Translate ambiguous stakeholder requests into actionable requirements, application workflows, and technical implementation plans.
- Facilitate sprint planning, backlog refinement, retrospectives, requirements discussions, and delivery reporting for a two-to-three-person development team operating against rapidly changing government priorities.
- Serve as a source of institutional and architectural knowledge after approximately seven years on the program across two employers.
- Contributed to a program delivery history spanning 31 minor releases while improving maintainability through targeted refactoring and emerging development patterns.
Cinteot
Chambersburg, Pennsylvania / Fort Meade, Maryland
Software EngineerMay 2022–July 2024
Junior Software EngineerAugust 2019–May 2022
Software Engineering InternOctober 2018–August 2019
- DoD CIO 2023 Award Recipient.
- Built a Java NLP prototype to analyze government Requests for Information and evaluate contract opportunities; worked independently for approximately three months before collaborating with another intern and a software engineer.
- Joined DoWIN in August 2019 and progressed from Junior Software Engineer to Software Engineer, co-owning CORA, PKI, and CSSP application areas on a two-engineer team.
- Designed and delivered Risk Indicators for CCRI—now CORA—across the full stack, preserving approved versions and historical records as requirements changed.
- Architected and implemented automated report generation for Command Cyber Readiness Inspections, Public Key Infrastructure Assessments, and Cybersecurity Service Provider Assessments.
- Developed test plans and cases spanning unit and end-to-end testing; led and participated in code reviews and documented processes and designs using Atlassian tools.
- Developed full-stack functionality using React, TypeScript, JavaScript, Node.js, MarkLogic, and XQuery through the July 2024 contract transition to Peraton.
Freelance
Software DeveloperAugust 2016–August 2019
- Managed a Discord bot supporting a community of a few thousand users, using JavaScript, C#, and Java.
- Collaborated on an Android app using IoT beacons for businesses and implemented a CI/CD pipeline to automate test execution; worked with Java, C#, and MySQL.
Selected projects
Code Intelligence — Current Flagship Project
code.asmale.mePython · FastAPI · SQLite / FTS5 · Qdrant · Ollama · Docker Compose · GitLab CI/CD
- Built a local-first repository research workbench connecting incremental indexing, multi-language parsing, code relationship graphs, and grounded engineering answers.
- Combined exact symbol matching, lexical search, and semantic retrieval with reciprocal rank fusion; validated vector candidates against authoritative source snapshots in SQLite.
- Implemented bounded research workflows with source citations, quote validation, syntax context, shared answer deadlines, and persisted traces for timeout and interruption recovery.
- Separated web and API modules with a versioned API and optional headless deployment; added administrator-managed accounts, role-based authorization, revocable sessions, and CSRF protection.
- Developed retrieval and answer evaluation with pinned evidence, per-case artifacts, CI regression gates, and human review tied to exact answer hashes; documented VPS deployment with private home inference.
Tarkov Tracker
tracker.asmale.meNext.js · React · React Flow · TypeScript · PocketBase · Docker · GitLab CI/CD
- Designed and built a full-stack progression platform that models hundreds of interconnected Escape from Tarkov quests as a dependency graph and helps users determine what to work on next.
- Developed a TypeScript and Node.js ingestion pipeline that normalizes tarkov.dev datasets into PocketBase using mode-aware upserts, removing the external API from the runtime dependency chain.
- Implemented Google OAuth, user-scoped progression, prerequisite discovery, required-item tracking, and coordinate-based objective maps with multi-floor support.
Nades
nades.asmale.meNext.js · React · TypeScript · Tailwind CSS · PocketBase · Steam OpenID · Docker
- Built a Counter-Strike 2 utility platform for documenting grenade lineups and combining individual throws into coordinated map executes.
- Designed support for multi-level maps, grenade types, throwing positions, aim points, and timing, then deployed it through a reusable Docker and GitLab CI/CD workflow.
Meals
meals.asmale.meNext.js · React · TypeScript · Tailwind CSS · PocketBase Realtime · Docker
- Built a family meal-planning application connecting reusable recipes, weekly planning, meal history, printable schedules, and grocery-list generation.
- Implemented realtime shopping-list synchronization through PocketBase, allowing multiple clients to see checked-item updates while shopping.