Junaid Athar

About Me

Senior Infrastructure & Data Engineering Leader with 15+ years of experience at the intersection of large-scale telecom operations, physical network infrastructure, and enterprise data systems.

At Comcast, leads infrastructure data programs supporting carrier-grade fiber route engineering, ROW and permitting workflows, NJUNS-integrated pole readiness automation, and source-of-truth inventory management across distributed network assets. Deep fluency in OSP infrastructure economics, backbone network operations, and the data architecture required to run them at MSO scale.

15+

Years Experience

$800K

Annual Savings

8+

Team Size Led

Professional Experience

Sr. Manager, Infrastructure & Data

Comcast | Chicago, IL

Dec 2023 – Present

Lead data systems and operational tooling supporting terrestrial fiber route planning, ROW evaluation, conduit diversity analysis, and GIS-based KMZ route documentation for backbone and access network builds
Architected an automated pole readiness system leveraging the NJUNS API to streamline make-ready workflows — automating permit notifications and reducing pole preparation lead times across metro markets
Built and own the source-of-truth inventory system for fiber strand, conduit, splice points, and network asset tracking across geographically distributed assets
Partner cross-functionally with network engineering, transport, and capacity planning teams to support long-haul and metro network growth at carrier scale

Sr. Manager, Data Engineering

Wayfair | Remote

Aug 2021 – Aug 2022

Managed the migration of multi-terabyte datasets from legacy systems to a modern stack, achieving $800k/year in savings through efficient data modeling and lifecycle management
Led a distributed scrum team to deliver high-quality data assets for global supply chain and marketing stakeholders, ensuring technical goals met business needs at scale

Data Engineering Lead (Instagram Search)

Meta | New York, NY

Mar 2020 – Jun 2021

Built and orchestrated complex data signal pipelines analyzing user behavior for billions of users, moving north-star metrics while maintaining user-experience metrics
Established a guardrail metrics framework ensuring cross-functional experiments do not impact product performance and user engagement

Manager, Engineering & Analytics

LafargeHolcim | Chicago, IL

May 2016 – Jun 2019

Led technical stabilization following a $50B merger, integrating disparate POS and ERP data into a unified reporting structure for 1,500+ global stakeholders
Directed the redesign of Salesforce workflows and analytics, improving data capture accuracy and operational visibility across field and enterprise operations

BI Product Lead

Brightstart Corp | Libertyville, IL

Mar 2013 – May 2016

Spearheaded the BI product roadmap as the company scaled from $200M to $2B in annual revenue, building data infrastructure to support a 10x increase in operational complexity

Systems Analyst

Amcor Flexibles | Chicago Area

May 2011 – Feb 2013

Analyzed and improved enterprise systems supporting manufacturing and supply chain operations; leveraged SQL and legacy system integration to enhance data warehousing and internal reporting accuracy

Education

Academic background and professional certifications

Bachelor of Science (BS)

University of Illinois at Chicago

Chicago, IL

Accounting / Information Technology Equivalent
Strong foundation in business logic, data modeling, and systems analysis

AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner

Amazon Web Services

March 2024 - March 2027

Credential ID: 5a04f627ccad4f93b14fa41dd1cade19
Validated cloud computing fundamentals and AWS services knowledge
Verify Certification

Core Skills

🔌

Infrastructure & OSP

Physical Network

Fiber Route Engineering, ROW & Permitting, GIS/KMZ Route Design, OTDR & Acceptance Standards, Conduit/SRLG Diversity Analysis

📡

Backbone & Capacity Planning

Transport Networks

Transport Network Planning, Dark Fiber & IRU Evaluation, Fiber Capacity Forecasting, Infrastructure Lifecycle Management

⚙️

Inventory & Automation

Systems & Tooling

Source-of-Truth Asset Systems, NJUNS API Integration, Make-Ready Workflow Automation, GCP / Snowflake / Python / SQL

🛡️

Governance & Compliance

Standards & Risk

Data Privacy Standards, SOC2/Compliance, Quality Assurance Frameworks, Cost Optimization

👥

People & Stakeholder Leadership

Team & Org

Cross-functional Teams of 8+, Distributed Scrum, Executive Alignment, Budgeting & Procurement

Notable Projects

Selected projects and initiatives that demonstrate expertise and impact

NJUNS Pole Readiness Automation

2024

Make-Ready Workflow System

Architected automated pole readiness system leveraging NJUNS API
Automated permit notifications and utility response coordination
Technologies: NJUNS API, Python, GCP
Impact: Reduced pole preparation lead times across metro markets

Infrastructure Source-of-Truth Inventory

2023-Present

Network Asset Management System

Built end-to-end inventory system for fiber strand, conduit, splice points, and network assets
Provides real-time visibility into infrastructure availability and utilization
Technologies: GCP, Snowflake, Python, SQL
Impact: Single source of truth for capacity planning and field operations

Fiber Route Engineering Tooling

2023-Present

OSP Data & Route Planning

Led data systems supporting terrestrial fiber route planning across carrier-grade infrastructure
GIS-based KMZ route documentation for backbone and access network builds
Technologies: GIS, KMZ, ROW evaluation tools
Impact: Enabled MSO-scale fiber route engineering across Comcast's footprint

Legacy Data Platform Modernization

2021-2022

Cloud Migration at Wayfair

Managed migration of multi-terabyte datasets from legacy systems to modern stack
Efficient data modeling and lifecycle management
Technologies: Snowflake, Python, SQL
Impact: $800k/year in cost savings

Instagram Search Signal Pipelines

2020-2021

Billion-User Scale Data Engineering

Built and orchestrated complex data signal pipelines for billions of users
Established guardrail metrics framework for cross-functional experiments
Technologies: Dataswarm/Airflow, Python, SQL
Impact: Moved north-star metrics while protecting user-experience metrics