Build scalable foundations
Architecture, shared platforms, and standards that make delivery more consistent.
Technology · Experience · Experimentation
Chandra Akella.
Digital Engineering & Experimentation Leader
Current role Manager, Digital Product Analytics – Enterprise Data & Intelligence
I lead the platforms, measurement capabilities, and experimentation practices that help teams build reliable digital experiences and make better product decisions.
~10Product and stakeholder teams engaged
~10Digital products and journeys
4Applications onboarded to CIAM
~10Measurement frameworks governed
01 / About
From engineering foundations to enterprise impact.
I began my career building web applications and digital experiences, then expanded into software engineering architecture, enterprise identity, reusable design systems, and platform modernization. That engineering foundation continues to shape how I lead: I focus on scalable capabilities, cross-functional execution, and technology that solves meaningful business problems.
Today, as Manager, Digital Product Analytics – Enterprise Data & Intelligence, I lead a cross-functional capability spanning Product Analytics, Marketing Technology Solutions, and Experimentation. My work connects measurement strategy, reliable data, behavioral insights, and experimentation with product decisions and digital experience optimization.
Alongside technical delivery, I have contributed to enterprise initiatives through architecture governance and cross-functional delivery practices—from preparing OPMs and securing architecture review and approval to coordinating engineering work and representing progress in quarterly and monthly product reviews. I also explore how AI agents, custom integrations, and workflow automation can make technical and analytical practices more scalable.
Connect insight to action
Measurement and experimentation that help teams make evidence-based product decisions.
Amplify teams
Cross-functional practices and automation that extend what teams can accomplish.
02 / Experience
A career across technology, platforms, and optimization.
Progressing from hands-on engineering to enterprise architecture and cross-functional capability leadership.
JUL 2026 — PRESENT
ALSAC / St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital · Memphis, TN
Manager, Digital Product Analytics – Enterprise Data & Intelligence
Managing Product Analytics and measurement strategy across a cross-functional capability that connects customer behavior, reliable instrumentation, experimentation, and digital experience decisions.
- Lead a 20-person cross-functional capability spanning Product Analytics, Marketing Technology Solutions, and Experimentation; guide priorities, operating alignment, capacity planning, hiring, coaching, team development, and delivery.
- Own measurement strategy across approximately 10 digital products and journeys, connecting business objectives, customer behavior, KPIs, instrumentation, insights, and optimization opportunities.
- Shape the operating model between Product Analytics and a five-person Experimentation team, expanding test ideation beyond UX and Product Management. Product Analytics influences an estimated 60% of the test portfolio.
- Lead development and governance of approximately 10 measurement frameworks, aligning business intent, instrumentation, reporting definitions, and product decisions.
- Coordinate measurement governance for logged-in supporter and CIAM metrics with Product Analytics, Digital Engineering, Okta, and backend reporting teams—covering implementation reviews, journey validation, metric definitions, and prioritized remediation.
- Translate monthly-donor behavior into product opportunities, including campaign-specific donation ask arrays and amounts, post-donation next-best actions, and donor-retention opportunities.
- Produce recurring executive-facing communications on weekly site health, site performance, year-end planning, and code-freeze work prioritization for senior leadership and C-suite audiences.
- Develop AI agents, custom Model Context Protocol (MCP) integrations, and workflow automations for measurement-framework coaching, analytics readiness, knowledge reuse, and design-system component generation.
Product AnalyticsExperimentationMeasurement StrategyAI WorkflowsExecutive Communication
FEB 2018 — JUL 2026
ALSAC / St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital · Memphis, TN
Senior Web Software Engineer III
Alongside my official engineering role, I took on expanded software engineering architecture and platform leadership responsibilities from June 2022 through July 2026, working across product teams to connect business needs, architecture decisions, dependencies, and delivery.
- Architected an Okta-based constituent identity and access management (CIAM) capability serving approximately 3 million end users. Onboarded four customer-facing applications and completed identity-data migration without disruption; identified 10 additional applications for future prioritization.
- Led technical coordination for multiple EPMO initiatives, especially CIAM: developed OPMs, presented them to the Technology Architects group for review and approval, coordinated engineering delivery, aligned progress with Product Owners, and represented the work in quarterly digital product review board (QPRB) sessions and monthly Product Reviews.
- Partnered with Senior Director-led Marketing, Technology, and Product triads through a shared intake and prioritization process, helping clarify technical scope and dependencies for QPRB decisions and communicating progress against prioritized work in monthly Product Reviews.
- Architected and advanced an enterprise design system, aligning UX, Product, and Engineering on reusable patterns, accessibility, governance, consistency, and scalable delivery.
- Spearheaded Adobe Experience Manager modernization from AEM 6.5 SP12 to SP22 and helped prepare product teams for cloud modernization; also led OneTrust consent and preference-management initiatives.
- Championed GitHub Copilot adoption across development, QA, and business-analysis roles and contributed to platform modernization involving React, TypeScript, CI/CD, analytics instrumentation, and authenticated digital experiences.
- Contributed as part of the internal Profiles product team to Salesforce Data Cloud (Data 360) work consolidating identifiers such as Marketing Cloud ID, constituent ID, and Okta ID into a more unified profile for people interacting with St. Jude.
- As part of ALSAC’s Donation Experiences team, contributed to architecture and updates for the Order Management System (OMS) behind the primary donation page, supporting the underlying donation transaction flow.
- Delivered front-end engineering and reusable digital capabilities across cross-functional product teams, building scalable customer-facing experiences and the technical foundation for enterprise platform work.
Software Engineering ArchitectureCIAM / OktaEPMO & QPRBDesign SystemsAEM CMSSalesforce Data CloudPlatform Integrations
AUG 2015 — FEB 2018
Infomerica Inc. · Cary, NC
Web Application Developer / Programmer Analyst
- Delivered web applications and systems-integration initiatives for multiple clients from development through production.
- Developed Adobe Experience Manager components and templates and improved front-end practices through testing frameworks, build tooling, rapid prototyping, and iterative design.
03 / Selected Work
Capabilities that connect the dots.
A selection of the technical and operating capabilities I have helped shape.
01
Identity & architecture
Enterprise Identity & Access
Architected an Okta-based constituent identity capability serving approximately 3 million end users, with four customer-facing applications onboarded and migration completed without disruption. Coordinated OPMs, architecture review and approval, engineering delivery, Product Owner updates, and QPRB reporting for the initiative.
CIAMOktaOAuth 2.0OIDCEPMOQPRB
02
Reusable platforms
Enterprise Design Systems
Advanced shared interface patterns, accessibility, governance, and reusable component capabilities to support consistency and scalable digital delivery.
Design SystemsAccessibilityAI-Assisted Components
03
Modernization
Digital Platform Modernization
Contributed to Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) modernization from AEM 6.5 SP12 to SP22 and cloud-readiness efforts, alongside authenticated experiences, analytics instrumentation, and modern front-end engineering capabilities.
AEM CMSReactTypeScriptCI/CD
04
Optimization & evidence
Measurement & Experimentation
Connected product objectives, KPIs, instrumentation, behavioral insights, and experimentation—expanding analyst contributions to product hypotheses and tests.
Product AnalyticsA/B TestingMeasurement
05
Applied innovation
AI-Enabled Workflow Innovation
Developed AI agents, custom MCP integrations, and workflow automations for measurement coaching, analytics readiness, knowledge reuse, and component generation.
AI AgentsMCPAutomation
06
Profiles & data integration
Customer Data & Identity
Contributed to the internal Profiles product team’s Salesforce Data Cloud (Data 360) work to consolidate Marketing Cloud ID, constituent ID, and Okta ID into a more unified profile for people interacting with St. Jude.
Salesforce Data CloudProfilesIdentity Integration
Public-facing examples
Digital experiences I contributed to
Selected public-facing properties from my engineering and architecture tenure. These links represent experiences I contributed to, not sole ownership of the entire sites.
04 / Expertise
A broad toolkit. A focused purpose.
Leadership and technical depth across the platform lifecycle—from architecture and instrumentation through optimization.
Leadership & Strategy
Cross-functional leadership, operating models, portfolio prioritization, hiring and coaching, stakeholder alignment, executive communication.
Enterprise Platforms & Architecture
CIAM, Okta, OAuth 2.0, OIDC, SAML, SCIM, Salesforce Data Cloud (Data 360), enterprise design systems, Adobe Experience Manager, platform modernization.
Experimentation & Optimization
Experimentation strategy, A/B testing, Adobe Target, product analytics, measurement frameworks, KPI definition, journey analytics.
Analytics & Measurement
Adobe Analytics, Analysis Workspace, Adobe Data Collection / Launch, analytics governance, instrumentation validation, data quality.
Engineering & Innovation
React, TypeScript, Node.js, CI/CD, OneTrust, AI agents, MCP integrations, workflow automation, GitHub Copilot.
05 / Education
Learning that builds foundations.
MS
Master of Science, Computers and Information Science
Purdue University
BS
Bachelor of Technology, Computer Science and Engineering
Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University
06 / Contact
Let’s connect.
I’m interested in conversations about digital engineering, enterprise platforms, product analytics and measurement strategy, experimentation, optimization, and AI-enabled ways of working.
Get in touch