Career history / 1997—present
From enterprise Unix and international infrastructure to architecture leadership, integration and private AI. Depth built through the work.
Download executive CV ↓Sep 2017 – present
Independent architecture leadership: target states, transformation roadmaps, integration, design authorities, supplier assurance and programme recovery. Recent confidential consulting covers operational optimisation, executive decision support and private AI platforms. Client identities and restricted implementation details remain confidential.
Apr – Jun 2023
Full-time role in the architecture delivery practice across Azure and AWS. The principal engagement used SpeechDX, Azure Cosmos DB and Power BI to analyse speech patterns over time in support of dementia research.
Dec 2021 – Mar 2022
Disclosed assignment within the independent consulting practice: supplier solution assurance, Azure AD B2B/B2C identity, SIEM/SOC integration, penetration-testing coordination and Azure DevOps deployment controls.
Feb 2015 – Sep 2017
Owned group infrastructure and security architecture. Built specialist teams and chaired weekly Technology Design Authorities. Architecture for a Windows 10 and Office 365 transformation covering 15,000 users in 11 countries; assessment and migration planning for 800+ server applications.
Jan 2013 – Jun 2014
Developed and secured approval for a £1m transformation programme. Interim Head of IT duties ran Sep 2013–Feb 2014: 27 staff and a £2.7m operational budget. Designed distributed infrastructure and supported external ISO 27001 recertification.
Jun – Dec 2012
Modernised legacy Windows and Oracle Enterprise Linux services using VMware and warm-standby disaster recovery. An initial three-month review extended into implementation.
Sep 2010 – Dec 2011
Designed and helped implement a three-site VMware, NetApp and Avaya contact-centre platform with capacity for 5,000 agents and up to 500,000 calls per day. These figures describe design capacity.
Apr – Jul 2010
Designed and implemented dual-site infrastructure across Guernsey and Dublin, integrating network failover, virtualisation and replicated storage. Failover was tested and reviewed by external auditors.
Oct 2008 – Feb 2010
Full-time role across IBM Power/AIX, Oracle E-Business Suite and Oracle Student System infrastructure. Designed and implemented federated identity with Kerberos and SAML/Shibboleth. Contributed to two-site active-active VMware infrastructure and implemented application workload migration.
Mar – Jul 2008
Contributed to a global infrastructure transformation spanning large-scale enterprise desktop and server estates.
Aug 2006 – Mar 2008
Worked on dual-site, highly available infrastructure within government security requirements.
Oct 2003 – Feb 2006
Led nine staff with an annual budget exceeding £1m, combining infrastructure delivery with service and commercial management.
Jan – Mar 2003
Enterprise server migration in a financial-services environment.
Oct 1999 – Jul 2002
International infrastructure, networks and security, including work in Scandinavia.
Apr 1997 – Sep 1999
Enterprise infrastructure foundation across Unix and heterogeneous computing environments.
May 2014 – Jan 2022
Volunteer advisory work
Advised the CEO on technology and operating priorities. Improved collaboration, remote access, backup/recovery, security policies and supplier arrangements, supporting financial sustainability.
Azure, AWS, Google Cloud, enterprise application integration, APIs, MCP, identity and access management, SIEM/SOC, Kubernetes, Cilium/eBPF, private inference, AI/ML, observability, QoS/DSCP, multi-vendor networking and firewalls, VMware, IBM Power/AIX, mainframes, Oracle E-Business Suite, DevOps and CI/CD.
Framework experience includes TOGAF, ISO 27001, SOX, ITIL and PRINCE2. Professional training includes internal University of Oxford TOGAF training.
Magdalen College School: 12 GCSEs; A levels including Physics, Further Mathematics, IT and Chemistry.
The Birmingham assignment sits within the independent consulting practice. The Zühlke entry records a separate full-time role. Employment and engagement dates follow the current public career record.