About

Lee Atchison

Lee Atchison is a software architect and author who helps companies architect and operate AI-powered SaaS at scale.

Software Architect Author Former AI Company CTO Advisor

Background

Three Decades of Industry‑Shaping Experience

Lee Atchison is a software architect and author who helps companies architect and operate AI-powered SaaS at scale.

He focuses on four things: building AI into SaaS products, controlling what AI costs to run, keeping AI features reliable in production, and designing for scalability and high availability.

Lee spent seven years at Amazon and AWS, where he helped rearchitect Amazon’s retail website and built AWS Elastic Beanstalk. He then spent eight years at New Relic, leading the architecture that carried its SaaS observability platform through rapid growth. He also served as CTO of AI company Product Genius.

Today he advises companies through his practice, Atchison Technology. He is the author of Architecting for Scale (O’Reilly, second edition) and The Software Conductor, and creates courses for O’Reilly, LinkedIn Learning, and Atchison Academy. He publishes the Software Architecture Insights newsletter and podcast.

Amazon.com AWS New Relic Product Genius Blameless Hewlett Packard

Published Works

Books by Lee Atchison

Practical guides for architects and technology leaders navigating modern software challenges.

The Software Conductor

A journey of discovery from software developer to architect. Designing systems. Leading teams. Creating harmony.

Architecting for Scale O’Reilly Media

How to maintain high availability and manage risk in the cloud. An essential resource for technical teams worldwide.

Overcoming IT Complexity O’Reilly Media

Simplify operations, enable innovation, and cultivate successful cloud outcomes by taming IT complexity.

Business Breakthrough 3.0 with Ken Gavranovic

A five-step process that fuels engagement, boosts agility, and drives lasting change in your organization.

View All Books →

Writing & Media

Thought Leadership

Lee regularly contributes to leading publications and hosts content covering software architecture, cloud, and modern technology leadership.

Software Architecture Insights Host of the Software Architecture Insights newsletter and podcast

O’Reilly Media Course developer and published author

LinkedIn Learning Course developer including “Software Architecture: From Developer to Architect”

Software Engineering Daily Guest co-host on the leading software engineering podcast

InfoWorld Former featured writer covering cloud computing and modern software architecture

Cloud Native Now Former regular contributor on cloud-native architecture and DevOps

Consulting

Organizations Lee Has Worked With

Lee has provided architecture consulting, fractional CTO/Chief Architect services, and strategic guidance to a wide range of organizations.

Enterprise & Global Brands

Bank of America Nike Starbucks Walt Disney Company Deutsche Telekom Seagate OutSystems Major League Baseball

Technology & SaaS

Ory Netdata CAST Software Blameless Redis Uptycs F5

Work with Lee

Lee is available for consulting engagements, fractional Chief Architect services, speaking, and media appearances.

Get in Touch