Michel Mainville
Bilingual Technology Leader · Builder · Montréal

Michel
Mainville

Twenty-five years in the federal public service, from programmer to IT director, across three departments. Outside of work I build: my own lab, run with AI agents and infrastructure-as-code — the same discipline, at personal scale.

Experience 25 years
Languages English · French
Security GC Secret · 2030
Location Montréal, QC
Current role

IT Director, Enterprise Application Portfolio Management and Architecture

Government of Canada · Oct 2023 – Present

Key Skills

What I bring

Leadership

Building and leading multidisciplinary IM/IT teams — from an 8-person architecture practice to a 220-person solutions portfolio — in regulated, security-sensitive environments.

Architecture & Portfolio

TOGAF-based architecture practice: application portfolio management, integration, and data architecture across large federal departments.

Project Delivery

Direction of IM/IT projects under central-agency oversight — scope, cost, risk, and benefits tracking.

Modernization

Modernization programs across the major transitions: mainframe-to-open-systems migration, cloud adoption, and application portfolio rationalization.

Security & Governance

Delivery in classified and sensitive environments — ITSG-33 risk management, privacy, and governance processes that hold up under audit.

Procurement & Vendors

Competitive procurement and vendor management for enterprise platforms and service contracts, within federal procurement rules.

Practice

Built, not claimed

Building with AI Agents

Daily work with Claude and the Model Context Protocol: AI agents that administer infrastructure, review code, and ship changes — under least-privilege access, audit trails, and human sign-off. I built the tooling they run on.

Running My Own Infrastructure

A private lab run like an enterprise: Proxmox virtualization, my own git forge with CI, Prometheus and Grafana monitoring, a CMDB as system of record, and hardened networking throughout.

Git-First Method

Everything versioned — sites, infrastructure, documentation. Changes happen in git, get reviewed, and deploy from git. This site included.

Working With Me

Advisory

Explore together

Career

25 years · Federal public service
Oct 2023
Present

Defence

IT Director, Enterprise Application Portfolio Management and Architecture

Lead the enterprise application architecture practice and the application portfolio management program. Built the governance that gives the department a single, current view of its application portfolio and feeds it into planning.

Sep 2022
Oct 2023

Environment

Chief Enterprise Architect

Directed enterprise architecture, vendor management, data management, geospatial services, emerging technology, and the Cloud Centre of Excellence. Updated the department's Digital Modernization Roadmap and stood up an innovation team for emerging-technology adoption.

Mar 2022
Sep 2022

Employment & Social Programs

Director, Cloud Operations

Ran the teams implementing the department's cloud strategy: secure development environments meeting federal privacy and security standards, and its first SaaS delivery platforms for client-facing programs. Worked closely with central security and infrastructure agencies.

Oct 2021
Mar 2022

Employment & Social Programs

A/Executive Director, Business Solutions

Oversaw six divisions delivering ERP, citizen-facing services, and internal digital solutions. Introduced portfolio-based management for forecasting and planning.

Team~220 staff · 6 divisions
Budget$50M
Apr 2019
May 2021

Employment & Social Programs

IM/IT Director, Citizen Service Solutions and Partner Initiatives

Ran operational support and modernization for biometric and passport systems across 320+ sites. Delivered the department's COVID-19 secure remote access solution.

Oct 2018
Apr 2019

Employment & Social Programs

IM/IT Project Manager, Passport Processing Modernization Initiative

Planned and ran a major modernization of passport processing systems with partner departments — interdepartmental governance, costing models, risk assessments.

Dec 2016
Oct 2018

Employment & Social Programs

IM/IT Technical Advisor, IT Service Management (ITSM)

Wrote the department's ITSM Roadmap — vision, milestones, and implementation path — consulting internal experts and central service partners on SLAs and OLAs.

Feb 2015
Dec 2016

Employment & Social Programs

IM/IT Manager, Architecture, End-State Platforms and Security

Oversaw architecture, security, and platforms for the mainframe-to-open-systems migration, using TOGAF architecture models and ITSG-33 security risk management.

Jul 2013
Feb 2015

Employment & Social Programs

IM/IT Manager, Solution Alignment Office

Led 8 enterprise architects and business analysts defining TOGAF-based models, and chaired the governance working groups for service renewal across business, data, and application domains.

Team8 enterprise architects
Feb–Jul 2013

Employment & Social Programs

Solution Architect — Unisys Migration Project

May 2012
Feb 2013

Employment & Social Programs

Solution Architect — Solution Architecture Services

Jun 2010
May 2012

Employment & Social Programs

Manager, Business Architecture

Nov 2008
Jun 2010

Employment & Social Programs

Team Lead & Senior Analyst, Business Architecture / EI Strategic Review

May 2006
Nov 2008

Employment & Social Programs

Manager & Team Leader, Automated Claims Processing Project

Oct 2001
May 2006

Employment & Social Programs

Programmer/Analyst — ROE Web, ROE Management System, ROE Laser Print, ACP

Accomplishments

Selected highlights
2020

Directed Secure Access Virtual Environment (SAVE)

Enabled remote work for over 30,000 departmental employees during the COVID-19 emergency, in collaboration with central security and infrastructure agencies.

2016

Founding Chairperson, Managers' and Team Leaders Community

Established and led a professional community of practice for managers and team leaders across a large federal department.

2014

Deputy Minister's Award of Excellence

Awarded for contributions to a major enterprise modernization initiative.

2010

Co-founder, Stroked Ego

Co-founded a men's clothier in Ottawa — a parallel track in design, brand, and entrepreneurship.

Credentials

Certifications · Education

Technical certifications

2013

TOGAF Level I

The Open Group Architecture Framework — enterprise architecture methodology

2013

Business Process Analysis

2011

ITIL Version 3 Foundation

IT Infrastructure Library — service management framework

2009

Government Strategic Reference Model (GSRM)

Formal education

2002–2005

Part-time study towards Bachelor of Science

Carleton University, Ottawa

2000–2001

Diploma, Solutions Developer

Institute for Computer Studies, Ottawa

1996–1998

Part-time study towards Biotechnology

University of Ottawa

1994–1996

Pre-science

CÉGEP Heritage, Hull

Find me

This page is the professional record. The explorations live at michyul.com →