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system-defrag.exe

Your tech is fragmented. I fix that.

George Rios — Fractional CTO · Financial Services & Fintech Systems Integration

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George Rios
Experience25+ years
FocusBanking, Payments, Compliance, Wealth & Lending Tech
LocationRemote · US-based
Track record

Results That Count

  • JPMorgan Chase — Tech Lead on the Chase Manhattan / JPMorgan merger infrastructure. Unified HR, payroll, recruiting, and BI systems across data centers. Built accessHR serving 10,000+ daily users and increased per-server capacity 5x.
  • Ernst & Young — Tech Lead on the global Sarbanes-Oxley compliance platform deployed to 100,000+ users. Redesigned the Global Independence System, integrating D&B and global data vendors into one platform.
  • Kellstrom Aerospace — Led migration of a 300+ module legacy .NET ERP (Phoenix) to a modern API-first architecture. Classic defragmentation: monolith in, integration seams out.
  • 360Connect — CTO. Built and maintained a single codebase across ~20 vertical lead-gen sites generating $350K+/month. Defragmentation as a business model.
  • Built Scour (scour.georgerios.com) — a technology stack assessment tool that maps your entire landscape: automated inventory, health scoring, and a prioritized remediation roadmap. I use it on every engagement.
  • Also ship WorkJet (workjet.dev) — an AI workbench for teams routed through your own AI gateway for governance and cost control — and Worktale (worktale.org) — a privacy-first CLI that turns git history into structured work records. I build the tools I use.
Point of view

In My Voice

“In financial services, fragmentation isn't an inconvenience — it's an audit finding, a reporting nightmare, and a deal-killer in due diligence. Three systems disagreeing on the same customer record is a compliance incident waiting to happen.”
“I've walked into post-merger integrations, SOX remediation projects, and legacy migrations. The pattern is always the same: take the sprawl, map the seams, build the connective tissue.”
“A Big Four engagement gives you a 200-page PDF and leaves. I give you the map — and then I walk the territory with you and ship the integration.”
Financial Services & Fintech Challenges / 06

Challenges I Solve for Financial Services & Fintech

01

Post-Merger Systems Consolidation

Unify overlapping platforms across HR, finance, CRM, and data warehouses after M&A. Walked the Chase Manhattan / JPMorgan merger from the inside — I know what actually breaks vs. what the deck says.

02

Compliance & Audit Platforms (SOX)

Design and ship the tooling that makes audits painless: access controls, evidence collection, change management, segregation of duties. Built the E&Y global SOX platform for 100,000+ users.

03

Legacy Platform Modernization

Monolith to API-first without the 18-month rewrite. Identify the seams, stand up the interop layer, migrate module by module. Proven on a 300-module .NET ERP.

04

Data Warehouse & BI Integration

Unify disparate source systems, vendor data feeds (D&B, Bloomberg, ratings bureaus), and internal transaction stores into one reporting pipeline. One number, not three.

05

Payments & Transaction Systems

Third-party processor integration, ledger reconciliation, near-real-time compliance monitoring. Designed systems processing millions of daily requests and thousands of concurrent users.

06

Fractional CTO / Embedded Sprint

Embed for 90 days alongside your current leadership. Systems Map in 30 days. Interop layers in 60. Hand off with knowledge transferred and documentation your team can actually maintain.

About

About Me

I'm a fractional CTO with 25+ years in enterprise systems integration, starting at JPMorgan Chase during the Chase Manhattan merger and continuing through Ernst & Young's global compliance platform, Symantec, and LexisNexis (via Law360).

I build the tools I use — Scour for stack assessment, WorkJet as an AI workbench for governed team AI, and Worktale for privacy-first proof-of-work. I write the code, design the architecture, and manage the vendors. No consulting-firm layer between the thinking and the shipping.

I work directly with CEOs, CFOs, and founders at $25-50M revenue fintech, wealth, lending, and financial-services companies where 15-30 systems have accreted over years of growth — and nobody owns the full map.

Key Technologies18

C# / .NET TypeScript ASP.NET Core PostgreSQL SQL Server MySQL Snowflake ClickHouse Redis Docker CI/CD ETL / ELT Data Warehousing SOX tooling Payment Gateways AI / LLM Integration MCP Cloud-agnostic deployments
Webgeorgerios.com
Practiceplsft.com
Toolsscour · workjet · worktale
LinkedInlinkedin.georgerios.com
01 / 02
“We were drowning in technical debt. George not only rescued the project but left us with a maintainable codebase and a team that understood it.”
Marcus J.VP Engineering, E-commerce Firm
02 / 02
“George transformed our legacy C# monolith into a modern, cloud-ready architecture. What we thought would take 18 months took 3 with his approach.”
Jay K.CEO, Insurance Brokerage Firm
Engagement models

Engagement Models

Three ways to work together — from an embedded 90-day sprint to ongoing advisory. Every engagement starts with the same deliverable: a complete Systems Map within 30 days.

01Recommended

Embedded

A fractional CTO embedded in your operations, driving defragmentation end-to-end. I join your team, work alongside your people, and deliver measurable reduction in system fragmentation — with audit-ready documentation from day one.

  • Full systems fragmentation audit: apps, databases, APIs, vendors, shadow IT
  • Systems Map delivered within 30 days — a living document of your entire tech landscape
  • Build interop layers, unified APIs, and data pipelines that collapse redundant systems
  • Hire, evaluate, and manage vendors and contractors against the integration roadmap
  • Weekly planning calls; daily async availability · 3-month minimum
02

Half-Day Systems Review

A focused 4-hour session to diagnose fragmentation and deliver an actionable consolidation plan. Ideal ahead of a compliance audit, M&A diligence, or a VP of Engineering hire when you need an outside read on the landscape.

  • 7–14 day preparatory period to access repos, infrastructure, vendor contracts
  • On-site or remote deep-dive with technical and business stakeholders
  • Walk away with: Fragmentation Report, Integration Punch List, 90-Day Consolidation Roadmap
03

Advisor

A long-term advisory relationship to guide your integration roadmap after the initial engagement. Available after completing an Embedded sprint or Half-Day Systems Review.

  • Twice-monthly strategy calls to review progress, re-prioritize, and unblock
  • Quarterly roadmap refresh aligned to business goals
  • Unlimited async correspondence — email, Slack, or your preferred channel
  • Architecture review on new vendor selections and infrastructure changes · 6-month minimum
// the thesis

Why defragmentation beats “more software”

Everyone over 30 remembers watching their hard drive defragment — scattered blocks consolidating into contiguous space, the system getting faster as the gaps close. Your financial-services firm is no different.

At $25–50M, you have 15–30 SaaS tools. The same customer record lives in four different databases. Someone in operations reconciles them by hand every quarter. When the auditor asks “how many active clients do you have,” three departments give three different answers. Nobody planned this — it accreted.

I don't rip and replace. I map the landscape, build the connective tissue, and consolidate what's redundant. 30 days to a Systems Map. 90 days to measurable reduction. Audit-ready along the way.

Discovery call

Your tech is fragmented. I fix that.

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