JALEN PICKENS
Technology Transformation Leader
Jalen enters ambiguous or disorganized environments, identifies the real source of the problem, establishes structure, translates complexity, and helps organizations make better decisions.
Available for OCONUS employment and relocation. U.S. Citizen. Active Secret clearance (T3). PMP · ITIL Foundation v5 · CompTIA SecurityX · Security+ · Cloud+.
Program Delivery • Requirements & Configuration Governance • Decision Intelligence • Emerging Technology · Worked in Europe, USA, and South Korea • Global Perspective
Selected Scale & Leadership
2,000+
Service/configuration actions governed end to end
~200
C4I/IT initiatives across a managed portfolio
250+
Technical reviews facilitated; contributor across 500+ sessions
150+
Personnel trained on requirements, configuration and governance
600+
Users supported in garrison endpoint, identity and network operations
200+
Users enabled by a four-person greenfield site stand-up
15,000+
Personnel served by the installation planning environment supported
Selected Project Delivery Record
- Accepted experience
- 49 non-overlapping months accepted by PMI across five Army IT/IS projects, 2022–2026.
- Delivery approaches
- Traditional, adaptive and hybrid delivery, selected by uncertainty and consequence.
- Team size
- Teams ranging from 5–9 people to 20+.
- Project range
- Network modernization, rapidly deployable communications, infrastructure reactivation, secure connectivity expansion and enterprise gateway planning.
Budget figures are omitted because they were protected or classified. No portfolio dollar authority is claimed.
Mission IT & Technical Leadership
Configuration & Change Management
Maintained baselines, configuration documentation and approved states, and coordinated change approval, implementation planning and rollback considerations.
Requirements Governance
Governed requirements from incomplete submission through validation, traceability, decision, acceptance and closure across a high-volume portfolio.
RMF & Cybersecurity
Supported RMF, ATO/ATU workflows, security requirements, risk assessments and cybersecurity compliance alongside cybersecurity and ISSM stakeholders.
Secure Communications & COMSEC
Supported COMSEC and secure communications activities, including cryptographic key loading and protected communications equipment in mission environments.
Systems Integration
Integrated hardware, software, network infrastructure, secure communications and mission systems against technical requirements and cybersecurity controls.
IT Modernization
Supported upgrades, equipment integration, legacy replacement, testing, operational transition, sustainment, rollback and decommissioning.
Project & Program Management
PMP-certified delivery across predictive, adaptive and hybrid approaches, with scope, schedule, risk, resource and acceptance control.
Contractor Coordination
Coordinated with contractor teams, including SAIC personnel, inside the Department of Defense IT environment on technical execution and documentation.
Mission Operations Support
Supported major operational exercises and daily mission IT operations through configuration, integration, testing, troubleshooting and sustainment.
System Lifecycle Management
Tracked systems from requirement and review through configuration, implementation, operational use, sustainment, change and decommissioning.
Technical Platforms & Equipment
Direct hands-on experience
Operated, configured, supported or validated directly in the course of the work.
Tactical communications & transport
- SNAP
- CPN / CPN-X and coalition partner network equipment
- SATCOM connectivity
- VSAT / Starlink
- TACLANE
- Routers
- Switches
- Fiber
- VTC
Enterprise systems & endpoint management
- Windows
- Active Directory
- SCCM / Microsoft Configuration Manager
- Microsoft Intune
- Microsoft 365
- Exchange Server
- iOS / iPadOS
Identity, credentials & enterprise mobility
- Identity and access management
- Credential and token provisioning
- PKI and certificate-based authentication
- Mobile device management
- Government-furnished laptops, desktops, smartphones, tablets and peripherals
IT service management & operations
- ServiceNow
- Remedy
- AESMP
Security, monitoring & technical validation
- SolarWinds
- ACAS / Nessus
- SCAP / STIG
- PowerShell
- Command Prompt
- Event Viewer
- Device Manager
- Ping and ipconfig
- Cable, connectivity, configuration, log and before/after validation methods
Secure communications equipment
- COMSEC support activities
- Cryptographic key loading
- Protected communications equipment
- Encrypted transport (TACLANE)
Data & mission platforms
- Palantir Gotham (working experience)
Project delivery, analysis & collaboration
- Microsoft Project
- Microsoft Excel
- Power BI
- SharePoint
- Microsoft Visio
- Microsoft Word
- Microsoft PowerPoint
- Microsoft Outlook
- Microsoft Teams
Governance & cybersecurity practices
Frameworks, processes and disciplines applied in the work. These are practices, not vendor products.
Cybersecurity & authorization
- RMF support
- Authorization to Operate (ATO) / Authorization to Use (ATU) support — Korea, 2024–2026
- Zero Trust principles — Korea, 2024–2026
- Security controls, cybersecurity compliance and risk assessments
- Information Assurance / ISSM support — Germany, 2021–August 2023 (assisted, not designated)
- Executive / VIP IT support under DoD cybersecurity requirements — Germany, 2023–2024
Configuration, change & requirements governance
- Configuration management and baselines
- Change management and change approval
- Requirements governance and traceability
- Technical review boards and configuration documentation
- Implementation planning, rollback considerations and decommissioning
Operational mission support
- Exercise support: Ulchi Freedom Shield and Freedom Shield — Korea, 2024–2026
- Systems integration and operational implementation
- Sustainment, troubleshooting and recovery or rollback
- Contractor coordination, including SAIC personnel — Korea, 2024–2026
Environments supported
Named operating environments supported as a practitioner — not systems architected or owned.
Networks & mission environments
- CENTRIX-K / CX-K — Korea, 2024–2026
- NIPR
- SIPR
- MPE
- JWICS
- LAN / WAN
- Coalition and multinational mission-network environments
Working familiarity / transferable knowledge
Adjacent terminal and band environments; transferable knowledge rather than claimed direct platform ownership.
Adjacent terminal & band environments
- C-band, Ku-band, X-band and Ka-band mission applications
- DKET
- Mobile DKET
- USMC SWAN
- mVSAT
- ISA terminal environments
Proficiency varies by platform and assignment; the labels above distinguish direct operation and support from adjacent or transferable familiarity. No certification, administrator ownership or expert status is implied where the evidence shows use, support or exposure.
Practice
Diagnostician
Identify the real source of the problem.
Strategist
Establish structure the organization can operate.
Translator
Make complexity legible to everyone who must act on it.
Method — SAFER
- SScope — Define the actual problem. Clarify boundaries. Identify objectives. Determine what is known and unknown.
- AAssess — Collect evidence. Identify authoritative sources. Understand stakeholder perspectives. Evaluate dependencies, risk, constraints, and existing systems.
- FFormalize — Translate ambiguity into structure. Define requirements. Clarify ownership. Establish decision points. Create an executable approach.
- EExecute & Verify — Implement the approach. Coordinate stakeholders. Monitor progress. Validate results. Adapt when evidence changes.
- RRecord — Document decisions. Preserve evidence. Capture lessons. Establish continuity. Make the solution transferable.
Experience
2024–2026 · Requirements & Configuration Management Team Lead / IT Specialist | Indo-Pacific enterprise
Enterprise Requirements & Configuration Governance
Govern a high-volume technology portfolio from incomplete request through technical validation, decision, implementation, acceptance, status accounting, and closure.
- — Established a required-documentation collection phase and returned incomplete packages before they consumed scarce board capacity.
- — Strengthened authoritative-source practices, controlled repositories, status accounting, ownership, escalation, acceptance and continuity.
- — Weighed mission need, technical feasibility, interoperability, workforce capacity, cybersecurity, configuration, lifecycle, external dependencies and the consequences of delay before recommending an integration path.
- — Used aging, stage, owner and dependency reporting to drive training, escalation, prioritization and corrective action.
- — Supported Zero Trust-aligned governance and Authorization to Operate (ATO) / Authorization to Use (ATU) authorization workflows by maintaining traceability across requirements, configurations, cybersecurity controls, risk decisions, evidence, approvals, and operational use.
- — Coordinated technical, change and requirements reviews with cybersecurity, network, system administration and mission stakeholders so approved baselines matched what was actually implemented and operated.
September 2023–August 2024 · Executive / VIP IT Support | Germany | DoD enterprise and mission-partner environments
Executive IT & Secure Mobility Support
Provide responsive, high-touch technical support that sustained secure access, communications and mobility for senior leaders and VIP users across classified, unclassified and mission-partner environments.
- — Sustained secure access and continuity of communications for senior leaders across classified, unclassified and mission-partner environments.
- — Delivered mobile and on-site support across locations to maintain mission readiness and continuity of communications.
- — Resolved credential, certificate and authentication failures without weakening DoD cybersecurity and Information Assurance requirements.
2021–August 2023 · IT Specialist / Systems Administrator / Team Leader | Germany & Eastern Europe
Operational Infrastructure & Systems Delivery
Deliver and sustain secure endpoint, network, identity and communications capability in garrison and deployed environments.
- — Established a supportable communications environment from bare site conditions, with controlled baselines and documented ownership.
- — Sustained secure day-to-day operations across identity, endpoint and network services for a large garrison user base.
- — Integrated hardware, software, network infrastructure and mission systems against cybersecurity requirements rather than treating security as a separate review.
- — Isolated faults through cable and connectivity checks, command-line and log review, monitoring and security tooling, configuration comparison and before/after validation.
- — Left sustainers a supportable baseline through equipment accountability, maintenance status, version and configuration records and handoff documentation.
May–July 2026 · Plans, Analysis & Integration | Installation-level planning environment serving 15,000+ personnel
Strategic Analysis & Organizational Improvement
Convert fragmented operational, performance, customer-feedback and planning inputs into decision-ready products and executable improvement plans.
- — Identified and corrected data-quality inconsistencies before leaders relied on the percentages.
- — Produced action-oriented recommendations covering content reduction, technical rehearsal, mobile delivery, immediate feedback, dual-language cohesion and visible leadership presence.
- — Turned an attractive campaign concept into a reviewed, signed-off planning baseline with measurable success criteria and contingency paths.
2026–Present · FamilyOS | Early-stage independent product
Independent Product & AI Workflow Design
Translate family needs into a controlled, testable digital product and AI-assisted workflow system.
- — Created a structured MVP testing environment and a traceable product-development process. No commercial scale or launch results are claimed.
2017–2020 · Owner / Paid Part-Time Technical Support Provider | El Paso, Texas
Independent Technical Services & Customer Support
Turn individual customer technology problems into scoped, supportable solutions with clear cost, schedule, communication and acceptance.
- — Built the service ownership, troubleshooting discipline and customer communication later applied to complex Department of Defense technology delivery.
Selected Work
From Tribal Knowledge to Governed Operations
An immature requirements and configuration capability moved toward a documented, repeatable operation that could be transferred to follow-on personnel.
Reconstructing Ground Truth
When the enterprise tool of record could no longer be depended upon, ground truth was rebuilt from authoritative technical sources rather than assumed from local records.
Building an Operational SOP in One Month
Entering an unfamiliar organization, learning quickly, and formalizing an undocumented process into documentation the organization adopted.
From Campaign Idea to Executable Plan
Converted a low-cost customer-feedback concept into a reviewed, decision-ready implementation package connecting business need, stakeholders, scope, schedule, resources, risk, measures, and contingency paths.
Selected work has been generalized to protect operational, customer, technical, and security-sensitive information.
Credentials
- — Project Management Professional (PMP)
- — Bachelor's Degree — Computer Networks & Cybersecurity
- — Master's Degree — Information Technology / Project Management — In Progress
- — CompTIA SecurityX (formerly CASP+)
- — Security+
- — Cloud+
- — ITIL Foundation v5
- — AI & Project Delivery Professional Development — PMI learning in Generative AI, Prompt Engineering and CPMAI concepts — Completed 2026
Technical Competencies
- Configuration Management
- CI lifecycle, configuration identification, baselines, status accounting, change control, post-change verification, functional configuration audits, RTM, CMDB-aligned repositories.
- Asset & Hardware Lifecycle
- Bills of materials, compatibility, staging, deployment, repair, inventory, custody, refresh, transfer, turn-in and disposition.
- ITSM & Enterprise Tools
- ServiceNow, Remedy, AESMP, incident and request lifecycle, technical review board / change control board / working group governance, release and change enablement.
- Systems & Networks
- Windows, Active Directory, Microsoft 365, Configuration Manager (SCCM), Intune, routers, switches, encryption devices, fiber and video teleconferencing across multiple classified and coalition enclaves.
- Cybersecurity
- RMF, STIGs, vulnerability scanning, SCAP, patch and vulnerability remediation, audit readiness.
- Data
- SharePoint, Excel, Power BI, SOPs, lifecycle trackers and decision dashboards.
Education
- — B.S., Computer Networks and Cybersecurity — University of Maryland Global Campus, conferred December 2025.
- — M.S., Information Technology (Project Management) — University of Maryland Global Campus, in progress, expected December 2027.
- — Applied virtual-lab domains: Linux administration, cloud services, Windows endpoint management, security testing, cloud security and integrated cybersecurity analysis.
Certifications
- — PMP (2026)
- — ITIL Foundation v5 (2026)
- — CompTIA SecurityX (2023)
- — Security+ (2021)
- — Cloud+ (2024)