Resume · Cybersecurity & Presales Engineering

StevenRichards

Cybersecurity and presales engineering leader with 20+ years spanning enterprise security architecture, complex solution design, and applied AI systems work.

resume@rookdynamics.com LinkedIn Greater Cincinnati Area

Overview

Professional Summary

Cybersecurity and presales engineering leader with over 20 years of experience across enterprise security architecture, complex solution selling, and applied AI systems work. Currently serving as Domain Consultant at Palo Alto Networks, focused on Cortex XDR and XSOAR across a broad range of enterprise verticals. Career spans presales and solution engineering roles at Cylance, Optiv, IBM, Juniper Networks, and Internet Security Systems, building on a foundation in network and security infrastructure dating to the late 1990s. Outside of the day job, actively building agentic AI systems, autonomous infrastructure, and AI-integrated tooling, developing practical expertise in LLM routing, context and memory management, RAG pipelines, and multi-agent coordination.

Applied Work

AI Systems Projects

Independent work spanning agentic AI systems, autonomous infrastructure, and applied security tooling. Built and operated under Rook Dynamics since 2024.

AI Operations Platform (Rust)

Multi-tenant agentic orchestration platform with secrets management, CI/CD pipelines, and HashiCorp Vault integration across 21+ engineering phases.

Multi-Agent AI Infrastructure

Five-agent system using Anthropic-native MCP tooling with dynamic tool discovery: deploy-ops, lab-infra, rust-reviewer, frontend-builder, security-auditor.

AI Security & Applied ML

Isolated AI red team training enclave with vector DB integration, OWASP targets, and adversarial testing tooling for AI-augmented penetration testing.

Persistent Agent Daemon (Rust)

Multi-agent coordination daemon with PostgreSQL/pgvector for RAG capabilities and a Python/SQLite context management system for long-running agent state.

Browser Extension (TypeScript/WXT)

Automated text routing, IOC lookup, and indicator defanging with LLM integration for intelligent content classification.

Infrastructure & DevOps

Full ESXi to Proxmox migration. Multi-node private lab with dedicated VMs orchestrated via MCP-based remote execution.

Experience

Enterprise Cybersecurity

Palo Alto Networks, Cincinnati, OH
Domain Consultant - Cortex (Pre-sales)
2019 – Present
FY23: 145% · FY22: 187% · FY21: 117% · FY20: 212% · FY19: 123% | Century Club 2019-2023*
  • Lead design and technical sale of advanced security solutions across Financial Services, Healthcare, Government, Education, Manufacturing, and Critical Infrastructure.
  • Develop custom Insider Risk Management solution with Cortex XSOAR, replacing a failed Exabeam implementation for the region's largest financial customer.
  • Apply practical AI/ML knowledge to position AI-SPM, XSIAM, and Cortex analytics; advised on AI security posture and governance.
Cylance Inc., Cincinnati, OH
Security Engineer (Pre-sales)
2015 – 2019
FY18: 127% · FY17: 223% · FY16: 167%
  • Early adopter of AI/ML-driven endpoint security , technical lead for product evaluations using machine learning models for predictive threat prevention.
  • Developed dynamic live-malware demonstration methods; delivered technical expertise enabling expansion across 5 states.
Optiv (formerly Accuvant), Cincinnati, OH
Senior Solutions Engineer (Pre-sales)
2009 – 2015
FY14: President's Club · FY13: #1 Account Team, President's Club · FY12: President's Club
  • Delivered enterprise pre-sales engineering across a full cybersecurity product portfolio.
  • Led RFP responses, executive-level presentations, and technical architecture sessions.

Background

Full Career History

Palo Alto Networks, Cincinnati, OH
Domain Consultant, Cortex (Pre-sales)
2019 – Present
Cylance Inc., Cincinnati, OH
Security Engineer (Pre-sales)
2015 – 2019
Optiv (formerly Accuvant), Cincinnati, OH
Senior Solutions Engineer (Pre-sales)
2009 – 2015
  • Delivered enterprise pre-sales engineering across a broad security portfolio, supporting multimillion-dollar sales cycles through RFP responses, architecture sessions, and executive presentations. Consistent President's Club performer.
IBM (Internet Security Systems), Cincinnati, OH
Security Solutions Architect
2007 – 2008
  • Served as Solutions Architect for ISS following IBM acquisition, positioning the full ISS security portfolio across enterprise accounts in the Midwest region.
Consentry Networks, San Jose, CA
Consulting Systems Engineer
2005 – 2007
  • Consulting systems engineer for an early network access control startup. Worked directly with customers on NAC architecture, policy design, and deployment across complex enterprise environments.
Juniper Networks (NetScreen, OneSecure), New York, NY / Chicago, IL
Consulting Systems Engineer
2002 – 2005
  • Consulting systems engineer through the NetScreen acquisition by Juniper and the OneSecure integration. Supported enterprise firewall, VPN, and IDP deployments across financial services, healthcare, and government accounts in the Northeast and Midwest.
SecureInfo Corporation, San Antonio, TX
Security Engineering Consultant
2001 – 2002
  • Security engineering consultant supporting federal government clients with compliance, risk assessment, and security architecture work.
Internet Security Systems, Chicago, IL
Systems Engineer
2001
  • Systems engineer supporting ISS intrusion detection and vulnerability management products across enterprise accounts in the Chicago region.
CNG Financial, Cincinnati, OH
Security Engineer
1999 – 2001
  • In-house security engineer for a financial services company. Responsible for firewall management, intrusion detection, security policy, and incident response across a multi-site environment.
DLP Technologies, Cincinnati, OH
Network Administrator
1997 – 1999
  • Network administrator responsible for infrastructure design, maintenance, and support. Served as an early entry point into enterprise networking and security operations.

Capabilities

Technical Proficiency

AI Engineering & Operations
Agentic AIMCP Claude CodeAnthropic SDK RAGPrompt Engineering AI-SPM LangGraphOpenRouter Prompt Injection DefenseContext Window Management Agent Memory ArchitectureLLM Routing Multi-Agent Coordination
AI Project Stack
Rust (Axum, Tokio)TypeScript ReactNext.js WXTPostgreSQL SQLiteQdrant pgvectorOllama Podman
Languages & Scripting
PythonRuby / Rails SQLREST APIs
Infrastructure & DevOps
HashiCorp VaultDocker CI/CDProxmox / ESXi Active DirectoryDNS / DHCP MySQL / MariaDBOracle DB Infrastructure-as-CodeGit
Security Domains
NGFWEDR / XDR / EPP SIEM / XSIAMSOAR / XSOARZero Trust CSPM / ASPMThreat Intelligence AI Red TeamingPen Testing UEBA / ITDR
Platforms
Rocky LinuxRedHat CentOSUbuntu FreeBSDOpenBSD UnixWareSCO Unix Windows Server 2019+Windows 10/11

Service

Military Experience

United States Air Force Reserve, 906th Tactical Fighter Group
F-16 Weapons Systems Specialist (462x0)
1989 – 1995
  • Maintained and serviced F-16 aircraft weapon systems ensuring operational readiness.
  • Held Secret clearance (expired).
"
I've served as CISO of several large organizations. Wherever I go, I view Steve Richards as a trusted advisor and consider him a part of our team. His view of what is happening in the industry is both deep and broad and his focus on problem-solving is truly unique.
Marc Yoder · Former CISO, Texas.gov & Texas Dept. of Transportation