Martin Samuels – Independent Cloud Platform Architect & DevOps Engineer

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  2. Martin Samuels – Independent Cloud Platform Architect & DevOps Engineer
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Personal Profile

    A results-driven IT professional with 17+ years of experience delivering highly available, secure, and cost-effective cloud infrastructure through repeatable and automated solutions. A DevOps evangelist and mentor with a proven track record of managing environments of varied sizes. Skilled at tailoring technical details for engineers while providing concise, high-level updates to stakeholders.

Skills Summary

    Amazon Web Services

    ,

    Terraform

    ,

    Python

    ,

    Git

    ,

    Ansible

    ,

    Docker

    ,

    Technical Mentorship

Technical Skills

Cloud Platforms:

AWS (VPC, EC2, S3, Route53, DynamoDB, RDS, IAM, Lambda etc.), Microsoft Azure

Virtualisation:

VMware vSphere, Microsoft Hyper-V

Infrastructure Automation:

Terraform, CloudFormation, Docker, Ansible, Puppet

DevOps Tools:

Gitlab CI/CD, Jenkins, Octopus Deploy, Prometheus, Grafana

Scripting:

Python, Bash

Methodologies:

Agile (Scrum, Kanban), Waterfall

Soft skills:

Problem Solving, Cloud Architecture Design, Team Leadership, Technical Mentorship

Certifications Achieved

  • AWS DevOps Engineer Professional, & Solutions Architect Professional
  • AWS Solutions Architect Associate, SysOps Administrator Associate, & Developer Associate
  • Architecting Microsoft Azure Solutions, & Implementing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure

Experience

Independent Cloud Platform Architect & DevOps Engineer

MPS Digital | June 2023 – Present
  • Three-month contract leading a DevOps modernisation project to reduce licensing costs by approx. £10,000 per year by migrating between delivery platforms for AWS EKS based web applications. Modernised tightly coupled Terraform projects, transitioning from legacy versions without disrupting production services."
    • Initial 6-month contract was renewed twice to 16 months as part of the team that delivered more change across 12 months than any other digital team in the UK’s second-largest Government Department, with a 99.68% success rate. Successes include:
      • Reducing failures due to AWS limits by automating the identification and disassociation of redundant Route53 Hosted Zone associations.
      • Achieving 100% security compliance (up from ~30%) by using Lambda functions to identify, verify, and remediate EC2 instances across accounts.
      • Enhancing FinOps maturity by standardising tagging across 90+ Terraform projects while ensuring interoperability across shared modules and interdependent resources.
      • Simplified the on-boarding to a self-hosted Gitlab infrastructure by implementing a self-service OIDC enablement process, providing access to AWS accounts on a per-repository basis.
    • One-month contract reducing a release process’ completion time from several hours to under 30 minutes, ensuring accessibility for all engineers. By introducing Agile practices and automated pipelines I enabled multiple weekly releases where release cycles were previously delayed due to reliance on manual effort from a single team member.
      • Designed and documented cost-effective infrastructure solutions tailored to varied client needs.
        • Promoted clients' services by producing educational blog posts on technical subjects.
          • Developed and launched online training courses for aspiring DevOps engineers.
            • Provided private mentoring to DevOps engineers, advancing their skills and enabling career growth.
              • Shared knowledge and experience with the wider community by speaking at public events.

                Cloud Engineer

                AND Digital, UK Wide | September 2022 – June 2023
                • Streamlined deployments by creating an 'AWS Lambda packager' for external dependencies.
                  • Authored training materials on FinOps practices to educate clients and colleagues.
                    • Designed a serverless application prototype, showcasing AWS' capabilities to prospective clients.

                      Senior Platform Engineer

                      Capgemini, UK Wide | December 2018 – September 2022
                      • 30-month assignment, with five contract renewals simplifying the management, protection, and logging of WAN traffic across AWS accounts and on-premises infrastructure by assisting in the delivery of a Centralised Internet Access solution for a UK Government Department. I developed infrastructure as code to support the cloud architect’s designs, and automated deployments using Gitlab CI Pipelines with Terraform and Python.
                        • 9-month assignment, with two contract renewals supporting the migration of a CotS application from on-premises to Azure for a UK Government Department. I collaborated with the software vendors and infrastructure architects to create suitable infrastructure as code to host the selected product, while automating the deployment of the application and its supporting services.
                          • Contributed to a proof-of-concept for migrating legacy applications from end-of-life systems using Docker Enterprise Edition and Terraform.
                            • Line management of staff, responsible for five other team members.
                              • Promoted from Platform Engineer to Senior Platform Engineer within 24 months.

                                Cloud Engineer

                                Perfect Image, Tyne and Wear | October 2016 – December 2018
                                • Enhanced the disaster recovery posture of a global media corporation, leveraging Citrix XenDesktop and XenApp to enable remote access to all services during emergencies.
                                  • Improved performance and availability of clients’ infrastructures through cloud adoption projects.
                                    • Promoted from Infrastructure Engineer to Cloud Engineer within 12 months.

                                      Technical Consultant

                                      TSG, Tyne and Wear | April 2015 – October 2016
                                      • Delivered highly available and cost-effective hosting for client servers by implementing and maintaining a VMware-based infrastructure.
                                        • Improved performance and availability of clients servers by migrating to TSGs hosted infrastructure.

                                          Senior Technical Consultant

                                          Aegis IT, Tyne and Wear | September 2007 – April 2015
                                          • Improved reliability and performance of data access for a client with limited bandwidth at remote sites by implementing a VMware View Virtual Desktop Infrastructure.
                                            • Managed and mentored a team of six staff members, many of whom later secured senior positions.
                                              • Earned five promotions, from Trainee Service Desk Operative to Senior Technical Consultant.

                                                Education & Training:

                                                • Professional Scrum Master
                                                • Docker Fundamentals and Docker Enterprise Operations
                                                • BSc (Hons) Information Systems – Newcastle University

                                                Interests

                                                Sports:

                                                Determination helped me to complete the Great North Run under my target time of 2 hours.

                                                Photography:

                                                Creativity resulted in my images being published and exhibited in various locations.

                                                Music:

                                                Self-motivation led me to launch and co-host an internet radio station promoting local artists.

                                                Recommendations

                                                "He has the ability to work independently and as part of a team. He can troubleshoot issues and provide strategic solutions...all we could hope for from a Contractor" -

                                                Delivery Manager at a UK Gov dept

                                                "A technically excellent mentor." -

                                                DevOps Engineer I assisted early in their IT career

                                                "A beast of an engineer." -

                                                DevOps Engineer at AND Digital

                                                Get in touch!

                                                You can track me down on a number of social media sites or e-mail me using the form provided on the next page. All comments and queries are welcome. Click through for more details.

                                                Contact me