Eleven roles, newest first. An AWS and Azure consultant's timeline — cloud, virtualisation, identity, and the on-premises work that doesn't show up on most cloud CVs.
November 2023 – May 2024
Senior Azure Administrator
Version1 — London
- Sat inside a DevSecOps and Platform team doing Level 3 Azure support across several customer accounts — Terraform, Ansible and GitHub were the daily tools.
- Ran server migrations and DR tests inside an isolated bubble network, alongside landing zone updates.
- Wrote Azure Policy for security, tagging, monitoring and keeping costs in check.
- Kept on-premises VMware and Hyper-V VMs running (and migrating to Azure where it made sense), plus got hands-on with Docker on AKS.
- PowerShell scripting, Intune and Entra ID admin, security remediation, Azure DevOps sprint work — all part of the rotation.
September 2021 – November 2023
Cloud Delivery Engineer
Agilisys Ltd — London
- Split time between project delivery and Level 3 BAU support across AWS and Azure.
- Deployed AWS Network Firewall (HLD and LLD written up properly) and automated AMI updates and documentation through AWS SSM.
- Got CloudFormation and Control Tower doing the automation heavy lifting — VPC creation, AWS Organizations, Sub-OUs, all scripted rather than clicked.
- Built Lambda functions on the side, chased down vulnerability scan findings, and kept an eye on Trusted Advisor and GuardDuty.
- Moved on-premises applications across — some to Azure via Azure Migrate, others to a VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) private cloud, with NSX-T, Bitbucket, Terraform and Python doing the work.
November 2017 – September 2021
Infrastructure Engineer (Contractor)
Wellcome Trust — London
- Took Azure AD from nothing to fully implemented — ADFS decommissioned, Azure AD Connect in its place, plus Conditional Access, MFA, SSO, and Information Protection with proper data classification across Azure and Office 365.
- Led the VMware-to-VMC migration as Team Lead: 70+ production servers moved over with VMware HCX, the whole platform stood up in Terraform as Infrastructure as Code.
- Pulled existing Azure and AWS resources into Terraform and GitHub, then locked down credential exposure with a tiered logon model — Tier 0, 1, 2.
- Helped move the firewall estate off Checkpoint onto Palo Alto 8.0, shifted the Websense proxy across too, and rolled out Global Protect.
- Took VMware from 6.0 through 6.5 to 6.7 across three data centres and 35+ ESXi hosts, while the underlying compute and storage moved to Dell VxRail.
- Closed out Microsoft RAP vulnerabilities on the Domain Controllers, got LAPS and PAWs in place, and ran (then retired) HP 3PAR and Dell Compellent storage.
June 2017 – September 2017
Windows/VMware SME (Contractor)
Stonegate-IT
- Worked alongside an IBM team on a data centre migration for Homebase Retail Group.
- Built a 5-node MS Failover Cluster on VMware 6.5, plus a DFS setup spanning a multi-forest domain.
- Moved VMs between data centres, ran IVT testing, and chased down SQL cluster, Linux and Windows server issues as they came up.
- Set up an SMTP relay through an F5 load balancer, and got Azure AD Connect syncing multiple forests into one Azure AD.
February 2015 – June 2016
Wintel Server Engineer (Contractor)
Deloitte UK
- 3rd line Wintel engineer on the Applications Platforms team — led the Windows Server 2003-to-2012 migration and the IIS Web Farm project as Team Lead.
- Took IIS from 6.0 to 8.5 across 300+ in-house ASP.NET applications, with Apache and Tomcat 7 also under my administration.
- Handled certificate requests for internal and external sites, planned the IIS move to Rackspace, and kept F5 VIP profiles in shape.
- Patched vulnerabilities for the Cyber Intelligence team and watched over performance across Hyper-V and VMware.
May 2014 – February 2015
3rd Line Technical Support Analyst (Contract)
Norton Rose Fulbright
- 24/7 technical support across Microsoft, Exchange, Citrix, VMware and Linux.
- Handled data centre migration, backups, decommissioning old physical servers, and SAN VNX management.
- Deployed VDI, kept an eye on blade health, and installed ESX servers with iSCSI and Fibre connections.
- Designed new AD structures and GPOs, and rolled out DFS shares across more than 8 sites.
January 2014 – May 2014
Unified Communications Engineer (Contract)
Deloitte, UK
- 3rd line support for Exchange and Lync 2010 BAU, through the tail end of an Exchange 2003-to-2010 transition.
- Watched incidents come in via SolarWinds and SCOM across 2,000+ mailboxes.
- Command-prompt message tracking, queue management, database upkeep, topology updates, health checks — the routine that keeps mail flowing.
- Upgraded and patched blades, and looked after the Symantec Mail Gateway.
January 2014
Citrix Engineer (Contract)
Kingston Smith Group
- Level 3 engineer on the Citrix XenApp 6.0-to-6.5 upgrade.
- Fixed a VDI performance issue at a new site by deploying an extra read-only Active Directory server there.
February 2013 – December 2013
Server Analyst (Contract)
NHS
- Covered discovery, design, deployment and migration across Microsoft (AD, Exchange, DNS), VMware and Citrix.
- Led the version jump — VMware 3.5 to 5, XenApp 5.0 to 6.5, Windows Server 2003 to 2008 — AD FSMO roles included.
- Decommissioned the NCL Active Directory domain and kept server and SAN backups running (SEP, EMC Networker).
- Built new VMware, Windows and Citrix estates from scratch for trusts that had been separated out.
September 2012 – February 2013
Support Engineer (Permanent)
2e2
- 3rd line support across storage, Microsoft, VMware, Citrix and Linux — Windows Server and Exchange upgrades included.
- P2V virtualisation and cloud administration, as needed.
- Set up and automated VMware SRM, with failover tests run regularly.
July 2011 – July 2012
Technical Support Engineer (Permanent)
CloudXI
- Cisco VOIP telephony support, plus Level 3 support for Microsoft, VMware, Citrix and Linux.
- Level 1/2 network support for ISP clients running Cisco and Juniper gear.
- Went on-site for Cisco switch and router installs and troubleshooting, documenting the network configs as I went.