Gregory Burd: A Trailblazer in Software Engineering from Belmont, Massachusetts

Gregory Burd, often known simply as Greg Burd, is a distinguished software engineer whose career spans over three decades. Based in Belmont, Massachusetts, Greg has made significant contributions to the world of back-end development, distributed systems, and database technologies. Currently a Principal Software Engineer at Amazon Web Services (AWS), his expertise and leadership have shaped several pivotal projects in the tech industry. This article explores the remarkable journey of Gregory Burd, highlighting his career, achievements, education, and his impact on technology.

Early Life and Education

Gregory Burd’s educational journey laid a strong foundation for his impressive career. He attended Albuquerque Academy from 1982 to 1990, where he developed an early passion for technology and problem-solving. Following this, he pursued a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts in Photojournalism and Philosophy at Whittier College in a unique 3/2 program with UCLA, aiming for a master’s degree in photojournalism within five years. However, his interests soon pivoted towards computer science, and he went on to earn a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from New Mexico State University.

During his time at New Mexico State University, Gregory’s aptitude for software development and systems architecture became evident. His skills landed him a role at NeXT Computer immediately after his education in 1992, marking the beginning of his professional journey in software engineering.

Professional Journey and Career Milestones

Gregory Burd’s career is a testament to his versatility and depth of knowledge in the software engineering field. With over 30 years of experience, Greg has worked with numerous leading companies, each role enhancing his expertise in databases, distributed systems, and back-end development.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Currently, Gregory serves as a Principal Software Engineer at Amazon Web Services (AWS), where he joined in September 2024. His work focuses on enhancing PostgreSQL as part of the Postgres Community Team (PGCT), contributing to one of the most widely used open-source relational databases globally. His expertise in ANSI C, SQL, and database management systems continues to influence AWS’s cloud offerings, ensuring reliability and scalability for millions of users.

Symas Corporation

Before joining AWS, Gregory was a Software Engineer at Symas Corporation from August 2023 to September 2024. At Symas, an open-source support company, he optimized and improved LMDB (Lightning Memory-Mapped Database), a key/value transactional database used by OpenLDAP. He was responsible for enhancing performance, reducing memory usage, and expanding support for emerging technologies like Kubernetes, Docker containers, and Helm charts. His work enabled Symas to serve large enterprise customers better, reflecting his ability to bridge engineering and business needs.

Klar

From July 2022 to July 2023, Gregory worked remotely as a Senior Staff Software Engineer at Klar, a FinTech startup bank based in Mexico City. There, he led a significant restructuring of over 100 PostgreSQL databases into a single AWS Aurora instance, reducing costs by 60% while improving system uptime and performance. He also spearheaded the migration of the data analytics team from AWS RedShift to a data lake architecture, significantly boosting productivity and cutting total costs of ownership. Gregory’s innovation extended to AI-driven customer service bots, enhancing the efficiency and customer satisfaction of Klar’s support operations.

BlockFi

Gregory’s role as Principal Software Engineer at BlockFi from June 2020 to June 2022 involved building and leading an observability team responsible for log shipping, metrics, and alerting pipelines. His implementation of Terraform on AWS and integrations with security and monitoring tools improved audit compliance and operational efficiency. He successfully grew his team, ensuring continuity and knowledge transfer, and worked closely with partners like OtterTune to optimize database performance, reducing latency and operational costs.

Humio, Onshape, and Akamai Technologies

Before BlockFi, Gregory contributed to Humio, a SaaS observability platform, where he improved query performance by combining bloom filters and trigrams for log data indexing. At Onshape, a web-first CAD company, he led the data storage team, re-architecting storage layers and experimenting with various database technologies to ensure consistency and performance. His tenure at Akamai Technologies involved designing and deploying WebRTC systems for scalable multi-party video conferencing, helping to establish new product offerings in video streaming.

Technical Expertise and Contributions

Gregory Burd’s expertise centers around back-end development, databases, distributed systems, and DevOps practices. His work covers a broad spectrum of technologies, including relational, document, and key/value databases like Berkeley DB, LMDB, Bitcask, and LevelDB. He is known for his deep understanding of distributed systems concepts as seen in his contributions to Riak and Dynamo.

Additionally, Gregory has a strong open-source background. He has contributed to Berkeley DB, OpenLDAP, and FreeBSD, demonstrating a keen sense of community building, licensing knowledge, and open-source governance. His proficiency extends to cloud infrastructure and automation tools like Terraform, Kubernetes, and Docker, emphasizing both scalability and maintainability.

Impact on the Tech Community and Open Source

Gregory’s influence goes beyond corporate roles; he is an active participant in the open-source community. His contributions have helped improve foundational technologies that power numerous applications and services. His commitment to maintaining and enhancing key open-source projects like Berkeley DB has earned him recognition in the industry.

He also bridges the gap between engineering and business, understanding product delivery and customer needs. This holistic approach makes him a valuable leader and collaborator, capable of guiding teams or contributing as an individual expert.

Honors and Awards

Gregory Burd’s exceptional work has been formally recognized by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) with the prestigious SIGMOD Systems Award in June 2020. This award was presented to the creators and contributors of Berkeley DB, highlighting their groundbreaking achievement in creating a simple, elegant, and high-performance key-value store that has influenced countless systems over the last 25 years.

Life in Belmont, Massachusetts

Residing in Belmont, Massachusetts, Gregory Burd is part of a vibrant technology ecosystem in the Greater Boston area. Belmont’s proximity to academic institutions and technology hubs like Cambridge and Boston offers an ideal environment for innovation and professional growth. Gregory’s local presence contributes to the rich tech culture of the area, inspiring upcoming engineers and fostering collaborative opportunities.

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Conclusion

Gregory Burd’s journey reflects the evolution of software engineering over the past three decades, characterized by continuous learning, innovation, and leadership. From his early days at NeXT Computer to his current role at Amazon Web Services, Greg has consistently driven improvements in database technology, distributed systems, and cloud computing.

His technical acumen, combined with his commitment to open source and community engagement, makes Gregory Burd a notable figure in the software engineering world. For those in Belmont, Massachusetts, and beyond, his career serves as an inspiring example of how dedication to craft and a forward-thinking approach can lead to lasting impact in the technology landscape.