Ben Kastner

Hello, I'm

Ben Kastner


Geospatial Data & Software Engineer with 6+ years of experience developing custom, object-oriented Python frameworks and ETL pipelines to produce mission-critical map data for airborne augmented-reality mission management systems. Skilled at evaluating, integrating, and testing large, diverse datasets customized to high-stakes operational environments. Specialist in optimizing data ingestion and storage for airborne mission management systems, with a deep understanding of system performance and hardware-level bottlenecks.

/ Career

Sep 2025 - Present

GIS Engineer Lead

SHOTOVER Systems

Directed technical strategy and vendor integration while leading the GIS team and delivering international customer training on proprietary tools.

Technical LeadershipStrategic SourcingExecutive AdvisingClient TrainingCollaboration
Aug 2019 - Sep 2025

GIS Engineer

SHOTOVER Systems (formerly Churchill Naviation)

Engineered automated Python ETL pipelines and custom server infrastructure to process, convert, and optimize multi-terabyte GIS and aeronautical datasets.

ETL EngineeringGIS ProcessingInfrastructure AutomationBig DataWorkflow AutomationQuality Assurance

/ Education & Certifications

Bachelor of Computer Science

Calvin College

2015 - 2019

Capstone Project: Constructed an Ubuntu Linux-based Beowulf cluster, utilizing Ansible for automated node deployment, systems orchestration, and environment configuration.

Capstone Certificate - Advanced Geographic Information Systems

University of Wisconsin - Madison

2021 - 2022

Completed while working full time.

/ Testimonials

/ Tech Stack

Expert
Proficient
Beginner

Spatial

QGIS
GDAL/OGR
OpenStreetMap

Database

PostgreSQL

Backend

Python
Bash
Batch/CMD

Infrastructure

Ubuntu Linux
Windows

Collaboration

Git
GitHub
Slack