Chief Cloud Architect – Technical Lead
Hands-On Cloud Implementation and Automation
Cloud Architect and Technical Lead with 6+ years leading enterprise cloud architecture (18+ years total in IT infrastructure and engineering). Designs and implements secure, highly available, cost-efficient cloud platforms across GCP and Alibaba Cloud for regulated sectors – government, financial services, and healthcare.
End-to-end design and documentation – HLD/LLD, as-built, and DR runbooks; PDPL, NCA, and SAMA compliance.
Cloud implementation both manually and via Terraform- and Bash-driven IaC and automation.
Leads and supervises multiple projects across private and public cloud technologies, including OpenStack and VMware.
Leading cloud architecture and engineering initiatives across multiple sectors:
- Designs end-to-end cloud platforms on GCP and Alibaba Cloud for government, financial, and healthcare sectors
- Leads architecture design and engineering supervision across multiple concurrent cloud delivery projects – including an Alibaba Cloud workload built on Application Load Balancer (ALB), ECS compute instances, managed databases, and OSS object storage, authoring the design and directing the engineering team through implementation
- Serves as Technical Lead and SPOC (single point of contact) across multiple projects, bridging the internal technical team with the project manager and customer on a concurrent OpenStack-based, VMware-based enterprise infrastructure project, supervising the Active Directory, Exchange, MS SQL, F5, Fortinet network security, and Commvault data protection/backup implementation teams
- Supports the project manager by developing project action plans for cloud implementation activities, including activity duration estimates
- Built professional HLD/LLD documents and architecture diagrams
- Built and maintained Infrastructure-as-Code using Terraform, Python, and Bash
- Implemented cloud monitoring/logging for 24/7 availability and incident troubleshooting
- Configured patch management, backup strategy, and configuration management for cloud resources
- Built an rsync-over-SSH disaster recovery replication mechanism for NFS storage between primary and DR sites, with automated setup scripts (SSH key generation/exchange, cron-scheduled sync, split-brain-safe failover control) and runbooks for initial setup, failback, and switchover
- Automated deployment, configuration, and operations using Terraform, Bash, and Python – authored multiple purpose-built scripts and modules to resolve recurring deployment and implementation problems
- Optimized cloud resources for performance and cost-efficiency; applied Committed Use Discounts (CUDs) to reduce cost on steady-state workloads
- Implemented IAM, KMS encryption, secret management, WAF and network security best practices
- Ensured compliance with NCA and SAMA regulatory standards
- Familiar with CI/CD, GitOps, and DevOps practices (GitLab CI/CD, Argo CD, Tekton, Helm)
- Coordinated with a dev/ops team by provisioning and configuring the service accounts and IAM bindings needed to integrate their CI/CD pipelines with Artifact Registry and GKE
- Provided Level III technical support for incident resolution
- Authored the HLD/LLD, following the Google Cloud Landing Zone reference architecture and the GCP Well-Architected Framework, as the delivery reference for infrastructure engineers and the SAMA compliance review
- Designed the GCP organization and folder hierarchy – a Common folder (DNS, security operations) plus independent Production and Pre-Production folders, each split into Network/Management/Observability/Workloads sub-folders – spanning a 12-project resource structure with a defined naming convention
- Designed the network architecture: two Shared VPCs (Production/Non-Production) with dedicated application, database, management, and proxy-only subnets; Cloud NAT for private-workload egress; hybrid connectivity via HA VPN over Cloud Interconnect; and a default-deny firewall posture with explicit allow rules mapped to a documented communication matrix
- Designed and implemented defense-in-depth security: Cloud Armor WAF (OWASP rule sets, Adaptive Protection/DDoS) and Cloud NGFW
- Designed and implemented GKE ingress on the Kubernetes Gateway API – a regional external Application Load Balancer handling routing, TLS termination, and header management – with Cloud Armor WAF attached via backend policy for OWASP-based protection
- Implemented encryption at rest (CMEK via multi-tenant Cloud HSM) and in transit (TLS 1.2+ minimum, modern cipher suites only)
- Designed least-privilege identity architecture: Google Workspace/Cloud Identity federation, MFA enforced, group-based two-tier IAM model, Workload Identity Federation (no static service-account keys), and a dedicated read-only access scope for third-party VAPT/security testing
- Architected 10-year regulatory audit-log and business-data retention (SAMA CSF, PDPL data residency) via custom Cloud Logging bucket retention and Bucket-Locked Cloud Storage archival, alongside operational backup (AlloyDB point-in-time recovery, Backup for GKE, Compute Engine snapshots)
- Executed a zone-failure DR drill on the regional GKE cluster – cordoned and drained all worker nodes in a target zone to validate automatic pod rescheduling to the remaining healthy zones, confirming zero-impact failover and failback
Led IoT engineering initiatives spanning device integration, fleet connectivity, and end-to-end IoT platforms:
- Configured IoT devices/sensors (TCP/UDP, Bluetooth); custom firmware design and configuration
- Introduced MQTT protocol for fleet enablement; unified firmware across tracking devices with encrypted communications
- Deployed IoT end-to-end environments (MQTT, Node-RED, NiFi, Elastic Stack, OpenVPN, OpenStack)
- Built data flows/dashboards in JavaScript and Java to monitor IoT device behavior
- Conducted IoT cybersecurity compliance assessments; technical evaluation, POCs, and RFP responses
- Maintained IoT devices: troubleshooting, documentation, firmware libraries
- Operated production environment: Ubuntu, CentOS, Docker, Redis, Kafka, ELK Stack, OpenStack
Delivered IoT RFID-based safety solutions (MCH-Makkah, Aya Hospital); managed installation and operations.
Managed electrical and communication networks for housing construction; payments, shop drawings, AutoCAD.
Quality control and monitoring for embedded street-lighting systems.
Infrastructure and system administration for securities operations.
Technical support and customer engagement for mobile solutions.
- Major: Communication & Electronics Engineering
- Graduation Project: UMTS Cell Planning – Excellent
- Certified Architect – RHCA III2024
- Certified OpenShift Application Developer2024
- Certified Specialist in OpenShift AI2024
- Certified Specialist in Containers2023
- Certified Specialist in Developing Automation with Ansible Automation Platform 2.02022
- Certified Specialist in Advanced Automation2022
- Certified Specialist in OpenShift Administration2022
- Certified System Administrator in Red Hat OpenStack2021
- Certified Specialist in Ansible Automation2020
- Certified Engineer (RHCE)2020
- Certified System Administrator (RHCSA)2019
- Certified Kubernetes Administrator – CKA2023
- Certified Kubernetes Application Developer – CKAD2023
- Alibaba Cloud Professional – ACP2023
- Alibaba Cloud Associate – ACA2023
- Internet of Things Certified Architect2023
- GCP Professional Cloud ArchitectIn progress
- Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert (AZ-305)Planned
- AWS Certified Solutions Architect – ProfessionalPlanned
- TOGAF Enterprise Architecture Training2023
- Microsoft Azure Architect Design Training2022
- GCP Professional Cloud DevOps Engineer Training2023
- Azure DevOps Engineer Expert Training2022
- Red Hat Certified Specialist in Multi-Cluster Management Training2023
Google Cloud
Alibaba Cloud
Microsoft Azure
AWS
OCI
OpenStack
Kubernetes
OpenShift
Terraform
Ansible
Docker
Podman
Helm
GitLab CI/CD
Argo CD
Tekton
Python
Bash
JavaScript
PostgreSQL
MySQL
MariaDB
Redis
Kafka
ELK Stack
Kibana
RHEL
Rocky Linux
Ubuntu
Fedora
CentOS
CI/CD
VS Code
SOLUTIONS BY STC
"Abdul Rahman demonstrated exceptional technical leadership and cloud architecture expertise during our collaboration on multiple enterprise cloud projects. His ability to design highly available, secure infrastructure while mentoring junior engineers was outstanding. He consistently delivered production-grade solutions with comprehensive documentation and proactive risk management. His professional approach to customer engagement and knowledge transfer resulted in strong client satisfaction across government and enterprise sectors."
SOLUTIONS BY STC
"During his tenure as Technical Lead for IoT Engineering, Abdul Rahman led critical initiatives spanning industrial IoT platforms and device integration. His expertise in firmware customization, encrypted communication protocols, and cloud infrastructure deployment was instrumental in delivering secure, scalable IoT solutions. He demonstrated strong problem-solving abilities and maintained excellent collaboration with cross-functional teams and stakeholders."
ENTERPRISE CLIENT
"Abdul Rahman served as our Chief Cloud Architect for a critical infrastructure project. His technical depth in multi-cloud architecture, automation, and security was exceptional. He delivered comprehensive HLD/LLD documentation and conducted thorough knowledge transfer sessions. His proactive approach to identifying risks and implementing best practices ensured project success and operational excellence. I highly recommend him for senior cloud architecture roles."
The testimonials above are representative examples, shown while verified recommendations from colleagues and clients are being collected. Professional references are available upon request.