Conan Mercer

Conan Mercer Site Reliability Engineering Team Lead

A photo of Conan Mercer

My Expertise

I am a Chemistry Ph.D now traveling the path of a Site Reliability Engineer Leader. I thrive in challenging, constantly changing environments. Lately I have been immersed in Site Reliability Engineering, helping to build a great SaaS company at Sage. I design and implement data pipelines on top of AWS infrastructure. I have over 5 year’s experience in the management of international technology projects of a complex nature. I have strong technical abilities in Python, AWS and software development tooling. During my Ph.D I acquired solid skills in data science, public speaking and project management. I have a proven ability to apply the latest research and techniques to solve a variety of scientific problems.

Site Reliability & Infrastructure

Experienced in building and operating scalable, distributed systems using technologies like Docker, AWS ECS, and Kafka. Focused on automation, observability, and resilience across complex service environments, with strong emphasis on uptime and operational simplicity.

Data & Engineering

Applies a scientific, data-driven approach to reliability and performance. Skilled in Python and SQL for analysis and automation, using monitoring and APM tools like New Relic and CloudWatch to uncover trends and improve system behaviour at scale.

Leadership & Communication

Leads teams by fostering trust, clarity, and shared ownership. Strong communication is the foundation of reliability—whether aligning on incident response, mentoring engineers, or simplifying complex systems for wider understanding.

  • Site Reliability Engineering Team Lead April 2025 – Present
    Sage
      Barcelona, Spain

    • Leading a globally distributed, cross-functional engineering team (Australia, Spain, South Africa) focused on improving the reliability, scalability, and performance of a large-scale SaaS accounting product with 180,000+ unique users/month.

    • Hiring manager responsible for attracting, selecting, and growing strong engineering talent.

    Python | AWS | IaC | Github Actions | Kafka | SQL

  • Senior Site Reliability Engineer October 2023 – April 2025
    Sage
      Barcelona, Spain

    • Design and deployment of an API Gateway in front of our API service to secure and throttle customer traffic

    • Migration of large production database to more efficient partitioned database

    Python | AWS | IaC | Github Actions | Git | SQL

  • Senior Data Engineer January 2023 – October 2023
    Sage
      Barcelona, Spain

    • Total ownership of AWS cloud infrastructure for a data science team

    • Brought data science software from development to production

    • A lot of work around CI/CD using GitHub Actions to automate as much as possible

    • Expertise in Docker containerization and orchestration for efficient management of data science codebases

    Python | AWS | IaC | Github Actions | Git | SQL

  • Data Engineer February 2022 – January 2023
    Sage
      Barcelona, Spain

    • Successfully rebuilt AWS cloud infrastructure to increase security and speed of development work

    • Implemented cost-saving measures through the use of spot instances in CI/CD building environment, resulting in a 70% reduction in associated cloud server costs

    • Streamlined deployment process by migrating from TeamCity to GitHub Actions

    • Expertise in Docker containerization and orchestration for efficient management of data science codebases

    Python | AWS | IaC | Github Actions | Git | SQL

  • Test Engineer February 2021 – Present
    Sage
      Barcelona, Spain

    • Working with a talented team of engineers to build a wonderful SaaS company

    • Innovating End to End Restful API development

    • Creating very strong technical documentation

    • Strong CI/CD experience with build servers and automated data reporting

    C# | Grafana | TeamCity | Selenium | Git | SQL | agile | OpenAPI

  • Professional Scrum Master II January 2021
      Professional Scrum Master II
    Scrum.org

    • Industry-recognized "PSM II" certification

    • Validated advanced knowledge of the Scrum framework and how to apply it

    • Scrum mastery

    • Certificate verifiable here

  • Microsoft Certified: Azure Fundamentals September 2020
      Microsoft Certified: Azure Fundamentals
    Microsoft

    • Industry-recognized "Azure Fundamentals" certification

    • Validated depth of knowledge of cloud services and how those services are provided with Microsoft Azure

    • Certificate verifiable here

  • Professional Scrum Master I August 2020
      Professional Scrum Master I
    Scrum.org

    • Industry-recognized "PSM I" certification

    • Validated depth of knowledge of the Scrum framework and its application

    • Scrum mastery

    • Certificate verifiable here

  • Senior Quality Engineer August 2020 – February 2021
    The Project Group
      Banyoles, Spain

    • Leading QA software test automation

    • Lead in the development and maintenance of automated tests in C# within 2 week Sprints

    • Very strong Scrum Master working within a 9 person Scrum Team

    • Strong CI/CD experience with build servers and automated data reporting

    C# | C++ | Selenium | python | SQL | agile | TeamCity | javascript | HTML

  • Quality Engineer April 2019 – August 2020
    The Project Group
      Banyoles, Spain

    •Directly responsible for a 600% increase in QA automated tests during first 7 month period

    •Developing C# automated tests to manage and maintain software with a high standard of quality

    •Strong at guiding new employees and interns

  • Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) December 2018
      Electrochemistry
    National University of Ireland Galway
      Galway, Ireland

    • Ranks among the top 1% of Universities in the world

    • Strong development in computer programming applied to Chemical and Electronic Engineering projects

    • Solid first author publishing record in internationally renowned ACS and Elsevier Journals

    • Very high level of project management experience

  • Bachelor of Science (Hons) June 2014
      Forensic Investigation and Analysis
    Institute of Technology Sligo
      Sligo, Ireland

    • The only course in Ireland accredited by The Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences

    • Strong analytical skills in Chemistry and Biology applied to Crime Scene Management

    • Strong scientific methods and processes in crime solving

    • Very high level of project management experience

  • Reviewer April 2018 – Present
    The American Chemical Society
      Washington, DC, USA

    • Ensure the rigorous standards of the scientific process by taking part in the peer-review system

    • Strong attention to detail and ability to critically explain procedures and requirements to a high standard

    • Uphold the integrity of the journal by identifying invalid research, and helping to maintain the quality of the journal

    technical writing | data analysis | integrity | ethics | peer-review

  • Ph.D Researcher Nov 2014 – Dec 2018
    National University of Ireland Galway
      Galway, Ireland

    • Expert in developing Internet of Things based chemical sensors

    • Very strong experience with method validation, implementation and maintenance of chemical processes in challenging environments

    • Published scientific research in high impact internationally peer-reviewed journals

    C++ | microcontroller fundamentals | electronic engineering | IoT | automation

  • Visiting Researcher July 2015 – Sep 2015
    University of Connecticut
      Storrs, CT, USA

    • Application of quality control associated to the diagnostic process of the project to improve the scalability of the system

    • Design and implementation of new engineering approaches to achieve the technical aims in each phase of the project

    • Demonstrated ability to comfortably work with an international community of people

    tech transfer | team work | diverse backgrounds | scientific collaboration

  • Private in the Corps of Engineers Sep 2009 – Sep 2012
    Irish Defence Forces (Reserve)
      Renmore, Ireland

    • Proven leadership skills by example and positive role modelling

    • Strong ability to motivate others and work with a team

    • Demonstrated ability to be clear, concise and effective with communication

    leadership | team work | diverse backgrounds | planning