Cloud security
Landing zones with identity guardrails, policy, private networking and audit logging, all as code and deployed without a stored password.
Say hello to Ricky.
Ricky is the 3D stand-in for Kendrick “Kenny” Smalls: cloud security and AI engineer in New York, eight years in telecom and IT, currently building a Microsoft Sentinel SOC on an Azure landing zone he wrote in Terraform. Ask Ricky anything, or scroll to the projects.
Ask RickyClick him to boop · hold to lean in
What I bring.
SOC & detection
Log collection, detections written as code and mapped to ATT&CK, phishing and ticket triage with an AI assist that gets measured, not assumed.
AI engineering
LLM apps and agents that take a real chore off someone’s plate, with evaluation built in. I also train coding models for a living.
Networking & infrastructure
Eight years around fiber, broadband and RF in the field, now Linux hosts, containers and private networks in the cloud.
Where I’ve worked.
2026 — now
AI Training Specialist · DataAnnotation, remote
Prompt writing and data generation for large language models, RLHF evaluation, and training coding models on real engineering tasks.
2022 — now
AI Automation & Agent Developer · Cereus Consulting Group
Working, learning and building AI agents and automation systems for my own companies and for small-business clients. Cebro, an AI operations platform I use every day. Shepherdly, a church assistant that turns a sermon link into recaps, social posts and notes. A Make.com bid generator and the Rolodeck staffing automation for CEREUSTECH. A WorkMarket API integration that fetches and accepts job offers. A library of 16 Claude skills for engineering, product and marketing work. Backends on Supabase, deployments on Vercel, seven sites in production.
2020 — now
Director of Operations · CEREUSTECH Solutions
Fiber construction and directional boring subcontracting: crews, dispatch, pricing and closeout. Replaced hand-keyed spreadsheets with automated bids and staffing.
2018 — 2020
Telecom Field Technician · TriWire / Optimum
Broadband, cable and fiber installs and troubleshooting across New York. Fiber optic, broadband and RF certified.
Hands-on, not hypothetical.
0years in tech and telecom
0public projects on GitHub
0live apps you can open right now
0sites running in production
Degree and certifications.
Degree
B.S. Computer Science, Cybersecurity · Monroe University
President of the IT Club.
CompTIA
Security+ · Network+
Security operations, threat management, networking fundamentals and troubleshooting.
Telecom
Fiber Optic · Broadband · RF · Customer Satisfaction · Optimum
Earned during field technician work.
From the field to the cloud.
KENX TENX is my IT alias: Ken times ten. I bring that 10x mindset to everything I do, because being phenomenal is better than being forgotten. I started as an Optimum field technician, then moved into a director and project management role at CEREUSTECH, a fiber construction company I still lead. Building and managing crews showed me where systems fail and what those failures cost. Now I build technology to help prevent them: secure Azure foundations, SOC detections and AI tools measured against real-world problems.
Based inNew York City · remote or hybrid
Open toAI engineering, SOC, cloud, cloud security, networking, IAM, help desk and IT support
Currently buildingMicrosoft Sentinel SOC on my Terraform landing zone
RickyThe host is a side project: Three.js in the browser, no model files
Hiring for AI, SOC, cloud, networking, IAM or help desk?
I’m looking for a full-time role, remote or around New York. Grab a 30-minute slot on my calendar, or send a message that goes straight to my phone.
Calls are booked through Calendly. Messages reach me on Telegram and I reply on this site.