Declan Singh

Project 1 - Public Sector Client (October 2021 – October 2022)
Worked on a large-scale, secure Microsoft Azure-hosted environment with a diverse technology stack, delivering next-generation tools to ensure service reliability and support operational excellence.

Key Achievements:

• Designed and deployed a secure, production-grade firewall solution using Palo Alto Panorama, integrating dynamic routing and deep packet inspection within Azure. Infrastructure was delivered using Terraform (IaC) and automated via GitHub Actions pipelines.
• Delivered improvements to the platform capable of serving diverse internal and public-facing applications, leveraging deep expertise in AKS, Azure Networking, Virtual Machines, and Storage Accounts.
• Provided critical incident support and platform reliability leadership, ensuring minimal downtime and consistent service levels under pressure.

Project 2 - Public Sector Client (October 2022 to March 2025)

Technical lead on building a ground-up, secure AWS Landing Zone, delivering an enterprise-grade, cloud-native environment for containerized applications on EKS. Drove architecture, infrastructure, and DevSecOps strategy across multiple teams.

Key Achievements:

• Architected and led the delivery of a secure AWS Landing Zone, integrating on-premises connectivity via Transit Gateway, Direct Connect, VPC Endpoints, and Route53, forming a highly available and secure network foundation.
• Designed and implemented a cloud-native microservices platform on EKS, integrating key components from the CNCF ecosystem: Istio, OpenTelemetry, Grafana (Mimir, Tempo, Loki), KEDA, Karpenter and KSM. Emphasis was placed on resilience, observability, and performance.
• Integrated Azure Entra with Istio-Authentik for providing streamlined User-Access, defining flows and setting Authorisation policies for secure L4/L7 access to applications and APIs running on the EKS platform.
• Established IaC and GitOps practices using Terraform, Helm, and Kustomize, enabling consistent, scalable deployments across environments.
• Defined and delivered a robust CI/CD and SDLC framework via Azure DevOps, supporting the build, test, and deployment lifecycle for applications written in TypeScript, Go, and Python. Pipelines included the use of self-hosted agents on EKS and Docker image build-push using Kaniko and AWS ECR, security scanning with Trivy/PNPM, unit testing, and Playwright-based end-to-end testing.
• Acted as a technical mentor and platform SME, influencing architectural decisions, guiding cross-functional teams, and ensuring solutions aligned with long-term strategic goals while deeply embedding myself into the code.

As part of the Cloud Automation team, I was responsible for architecting, delivering, and supporting secure, scalable infrastructure across Azure and AWS. I worked closely with development teams to enable cloud use and adoption, significantly enhancing the operational efficiency, security posture, and usability of the organisation’s cloud environment.

Key Contributions:

• Designed and deployed cloud infrastructure using Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) with ARM templates, PowerShell, Azure CLI, and Python, delivering consistent compute, storage, and networking services
• Improved cloud security and compliance through Azure Policy, AWS Config, and automated remediation pipelines aligned with ISO standards
• Built and maintained CI/CD pipelines with Azure DevOps, enhancing IaC module reuse, artifact management, and multi-stage deployments
• Authored and curated technical documentation, runbooks, and service design materials to support transparency, reuse, and maintainability
• Actively contributed to Agile delivery via bi-weekly sprint planning, backlog refinement, and tracking work in Azure DevOps boards
• Developed a self-service portal using ASP.NET, hosted in Azure App Service, enabling secure, automated provisioning of cloud resources
• Automated operational tasks using Azure Automation Runbooks and AWS Lambda, covering VM right-sizing, auto-shutdowns, and resource optimization
• Supported cloud migration and modernization of sensitive workloads from legacy platforms to secure, production-ready cloud environments
• Implemented a standardized SysOps lifecycle for Windows Server and Red Hat VM deployments using PowerShell DSC with CIS-compliant baselines

Joined a fast-growing startup as part of a small, agile delivery team, supporting the automation and deployment of SaaS/PaaS platforms across Azure, Oracle Ravello, and on-prem infrastructure. This role laid the foundation for my career, building core skills in automation, infrastructure provisioning, and client delivery.

Key Contributions:

• Automated infrastructure deployments using PowerShell and IaC principles across Azure, Ravello, and on-prem environments
• Streamlined Windows Server 2012/2016 VM provisioning and application configuration
• Designed and implemented hybrid networking solutions, including site-to-site VPNs
• Managed code and deployment pipelines using Azure Repos (VSTS)
• Authored and maintained technical documentation.
• Developed RPA workflows with Blue Prism to automate routine IT tasks.
• Supported clients with 1st/2nd line support across infrastructure and application layers.
• Contributed to faster, more reliable platform delivery as the company scaled rapidly