Department Spotlight: The Site Reliability Engineering Team
Discover how Lumin Digital’s Site Reliability Engineers are the unsung heroes behind our digital banking solution, as they work behind the scenes to ensure our systems are always on—no matter what.
Working behind the scenes to ensure that Lumin’s cloud-native digital banking platform is always performing at its peak, the Site Reliability Engineers (SRE) are nothing short of magicians. Part problem solver and part innovator, they’re the people behind the machines, powering the systems that deliver customer satisfaction—day in and day out.
In this article, Lumin’s very own Kyle Evens and Payam Nael pull back the curtain to highlight what their team does and what that means for Lumin’s bank and credit union customers.
Q: Tell us about your department at Lumin Digital in a nutshell.
Payam: In many ways, we are the heartbeat of the organization in the sense that we keep the systems running. And I’m not saying that to be boastful; that’s essentially what we do. From reliability to scalability, we ensure our user demands are met, no matter what. And we often exceed their expectations.
Kyle: Yeah, I’d say that’s all very accurate. If you think of the phrase “software as a service,” our SRE team does everything related to the “as a service” part of the product. We also create tools—for both our customers and our internal teams—that enable robust product capabilities, customization of features, and process optimization.
Q: What do you look forward to at work each day?
Kyle: I frequently have the opportunity to work on finding a solution to a process or a pain point that either the user or the organization is experiencing. Problem-solving is what we do, but I especially enjoy the moment at which the end user gets to test out the fix. The relief and delight that they experience—as a direct result of our work—is extremely rewarding for me.
Payam: Everything we work on is very impactful. We get to make a difference in our users’ experiences and our team’s work on a daily basis. We are constantly challenged with new and different problems, and thanks to our incredibly talented and motivated team, I am always amazed by our work. I’ve never worked with such a highly skilled and high-functioning group before. I tell Kyle that all the time. They attack problems in new and innovative ways that I’ve never seen before.
Q: What differentiates Lumin’s products and services?
Payam: Everyone at Lumin is empowered to take ownership of their work and make it the best it can be. Couple that with exceptional product development and a commitment to our customers, and it’s why we have a superior product.
On the SRE team, we also recognize the power of failures. We take bold and innovative steps, which often result in errors. But instead of discouraging mistakes, we know you can’t come up with game-changing solutions without breaking something occasionally.
Kyle: Our users love our product’s beautiful, intuitive user experience. Lumin has been very intentional in taking advantage of software engineering advances by leveraging a modern software and infrastructure stack. As a result, we can develop new features, make significant improvements, and deploy them much faster than our competitors, who often take months to get the same outcome.
Q: What does all of this mean for banks and credit unions?
Kyle: Unlike large global banks with the resources to spend billions on their digital banking platform, regional banks and credit unions don’t have the same deep pockets. Yet, they are expected to be able to compete on what’s essentially an uneven playing field. That’s why they turn to us. We provide them with a digital banking solution that levels the playing field.
Q: You both talk about what you do with so much passion. What keeps you engaged?
Kyle: It’s incredible how knowledgeable each person is at Lumin, and how willing they are to pitch in. Everyone is passionate about solving problems and creating unique solutions that our customers want and need. We have a culture that fosters teamwork and collaboration; if I boil it down, we’re more than the sum of our parts.
Payam: I’ll say this: if our team left today and did nothing more at Lumin, our users would be pleased with what they have right now. But every day, our team comes up with something new—a new feature, a new gadget, a new improvement—that makes our users’ experiences even better.
Contact us today to learn more about Lumin Digital, our team, and our digital banking solution. We want to learn how we can take your digital banking experience to a new level.
