Yasin Cengiz

Engineering Leader — building enterprise platforms and AI-powered products.

About

I'm a senior engineering leader with 20+ years of experience building enterprise software — starting as a software engineer and growing into the role of Senior Director, leading globally distributed teams at Oracle. I helped architect Oracle Fusion GRC / Risk Cloud from its earliest stages into the enterprise compliance platform it is today, used by Fortune 500 customers worldwide.

My current focus is at the intersection of AI and enterprise software. I designed and shipped Security Command Center — an agentic AI application that continuously monitors security posture and surfaces high-risk transactions with prioritized remediation workflows. I'm also defining Oracle's AI governance strategy for our GRC platform: how we introduce AI agents responsibly into regulated environments, with proper audit trails, agent boundaries, and accountability frameworks.

I'm passionate about bridging enterprise-grade software capabilities with real-world business needs. Outside of Oracle, I build AI-powered workflows and automation systems as personal projects — voice agents, content pipelines, lead generation systems — because I believe the best way to understand where this technology is going is to keep building with it.

Experience

Oracle

2015 – Present

Senior Director, Software Development

  • Lead a globally distributed engineering organization of ~20 people across multiple teams and time zones for Oracle Fusion GRC / Risk Cloud — a platform I helped architect from the ground up.
  • Designed and shipped Security Command Center, an agentic AI application that continuously monitors security posture and surfaces high-risk transactions with prioritized remediation workflows.
  • Define enterprise AI governance strategy: agent boundaries, audit trails, and accountability frameworks for AI in regulated GRC environments.
  • Led end-to-end migration from always-on monolith to on-demand Kubernetes on OCI, reducing infrastructure compute costs by ~90%.
  • Built and shipped multiple products from the ground up: HCM Recruiting Search, Employee Wellness, and Workforce Reputation Management.

Oracle

2010 – 2015

Senior Software Development Manager

  • Managed teams of up to 10 engineers across Fusion HCM and On-Premise GRC products, running parallel workstreams with different deadlines and technology stacks.
  • Established code quality standards and performance profiling practices — one initiative improved application throughput by 80% through systematic memory and CPU optimization.
  • Served as a key interviewer for engineering hires across the broader organization, shaping hiring standards and team composition.

Oracle

2008 – 2010

Software Engineer

  • Designed and developed a business performance engine using web ontologies.
  • Created domain models and UML specifications for core GRC platform components.

LogicalApps (acquired by Oracle)

2006 – 2007

Software Engineer

  • Built a Java application analyzing user responsibilities in EBS/PSFT, monitoring access levels and triggering notifications on compliance violations.
  • Early foundational work in what would become Oracle's GRC platform.

Key Achievements

Security Command Center

Designed and shipped an agentic AI application for Oracle Risk Cloud that continuously monitors security posture and surfaces high-risk transactions with prioritized remediation workflows.

90% Infrastructure Cost Reduction

Led the end-to-end migration of Oracle Fusion GRC from an always-on monolith to on-demand Kubernetes on OCI, cutting compute costs by approximately 90%.

80% Throughput Improvement

Drove systematic memory and CPU profiling across the application stack, delivering an 80% improvement in application throughput through targeted optimization.

Architecting Oracle GRC from the Ground Up

One of the original engineers on Oracle Fusion GRC / Risk Cloud — helped design and build the platform from its earliest stages into an enterprise-scale solution used by Fortune 500 customers.

Multiple Products Built from Scratch

End-to-end ownership of HCM Recruiting Search, Employee Wellness, and Workforce Reputation Management — from concept through production delivery.

12 U.S. Patents

Holds 12 U.S. patents spanning AI, semantic reasoning, ontology-based engines, identity aggregation, and enterprise software — reflecting deep technical innovation over two decades.

Skills & Expertise

Leadership & Strategy

  • Enterprise software development leadership
  • Distributed team management across time zones
  • AI strategy and governance
  • Product roadmap ownership
  • Risk management and compliance
  • Agile / Scrum, full SDLC
  • Mentorship and developer career growth

AI & Automation

  • AI agent design and deployment
  • Agentic workflow architecture
  • LLM integration into enterprise products
  • Prompt engineering, RAG
  • Claude Code, OpenAI Codex, MCP
  • AI voice agents (ElevenLabs, Vapi)
  • Workflow automation (n8n, Zapier)
  • AI governance frameworks

Technical

  • Java, Python
  • Oracle DB, SQL
  • OCI, Kubernetes
  • Git, Jenkins, Maven
  • Enterprise SaaS architecture (Oracle Cloud)
  • API design and integration
  • Workflow orchestration platforms
  • Social media and content automation pipelines

GRC Domain

  • SOX Compliance
  • IT General Controls (ITGC)
  • Audit Management
  • Risk & Compliance Frameworks
  • Third-Party Risk Management (TPRM)
  • Regulatory Reporting
  • Segregation of Duties

Thought Leadership

Yasin writes regularly on LinkedIn about AI architecture, enterprise engineering, and the future of software development. A few recurring themes:

AI Governance & Zero-Trust Architecture

Advocates for treating AI agents as untrusted actors, not trusted infrastructure. Has written extensively about prompt registries, tool allow-lists, data boundary rules, human checkpoints, and kill switches for enterprise AI agents in regulated environments.

Building Production-Grade AI Agent Systems

Shares hands-on lessons from building multi-agent architectures: use specialized agents over monolithic ones, reserve LLMs only for tasks requiring genuine understanding, and use deterministic code for everything else. The AI is ~20% of the work — architecture and data flow are the other 80%.

The Future of Software Engineering

Believes the engineers who thrive won't be the best coders, but the best managers of AI agents. Draws a parallel between managing AI and managing junior developers — both require clear acceptance criteria, code review, and task decomposition. The new divide is Delegators vs. Non-Delegators.

RAG: Honest Limitations

Publishes research-backed deep dives on Retrieval-Augmented Generation — citing Stanford HAI and Google DeepMind — and advocates for hybrid retrieval strategies (BM25 + dense) and honest acknowledgment of what RAG can and cannot do.

Read full posts on LinkedIn.

Education & Certifications

Education

  • M.B.A., Business Administration Concordia University, Irvine — 2011–2013
  • M.S., Computer Science City College, City University of New York — 2005–2007
  • B.S., Computer Engineering Istanbul Dogus University — 1999–2004

Certifications

  • OCI Generative AI Professional Oracle Cloud Infrastructure
  • Oracle Fusion AI Agent Studio Developer Professional Oracle
  • Oracle Fusion AI Agent Studio Foundations Associate Oracle
  • ASA Sailing Certifications 101, 103, 104, 114

Outside of Work

When I'm not building software, you'll probably find me on the water. I'm an ASA-certified sailor — coastal cruising, bareboat chartering, offshore passages — and it's my favorite way to unplug and recharge.

I picked up pickleball a couple of years ago after a long run with soccer and got hooked almost immediately.

Chess has been a constant for years — there's something about it that never gets old.

FAQ

Common questions from recruiters and hiring managers.

Are you open to relocation?

I'm based in Irvine, California, and not looking to relocate. That said, I'm open to hybrid roles in the greater Los Angeles or San Diego areas.

What type of roles interest you?

I'm focused on engineering leadership positions — Senior Director, Head of Engineering, or VP of Engineering — where I can drive AI strategy and lead high-impact teams. I'm specifically looking for companies where AI is central to the product strategy, not a bolt-on.

Are you open to contract or consulting roles?

No — I'm only considering full-time opportunities.

What industries are you interested in?

I have deep expertise in GRC, compliance, and enterprise SaaS — but I'm open to any domain where there's a serious engineering leadership challenge and a meaningful AI opportunity. The quality of the team and the ambition of the product matter more than the vertical.

How do you approach AI governance?

I treat AI agents as untrusted actors, not trusted infrastructure — the same Zero-Trust principles that apply to network security apply to AI systems. That means least-privilege access, hard boundaries, behavioral monitoring, human checkpoints on high-stakes decisions, and well-defined kill switches. I've applied this framework at Oracle for GRC use cases and write about it regularly.

How large are the teams you've led?

I currently lead approximately 20 engineers organized across multiple teams in a globally distributed setup. Prior to that I managed teams of up to 10 engineers running parallel workstreams with different deadlines and technology stacks.

Get in Touch

The best way to connect is on LinkedIn. If you're a recruiter or hiring manager, feel free to use the AI chat above — you can leave your name, email, and a brief message and Yasin will get back to you.