UK-based infrastructure operator
Simon Oakes Senior Linux, DevOps & Platform Engineer
I help turn complex infrastructure into platforms that are easier to operate, easier to recover, and easier for teams to trust.
Profile
I build infrastructure that keeps its promises.
Senior Linux, DevOps and Platform Engineer with 25+ years of experience building, fixing, automating and improving production systems across ISP, media, cloud, virtualisation, networking, storage and CI/CD environments.
My work sits where infrastructure, automation, networking, storage, security and pragmatic software engineering meet: the systems, tooling and workflows that keep real platforms alive.
I am especially interested in the layer between operations and software: Go and Python tools, CI/CD workflows, Ansible roles, Terraform plans, AI-assisted reporting and small internal services that turn repeated human effort into reliable platform behaviour.
Stabilise
Understand the platform, find real failure modes and reduce operational noise without adding ceremony.
Automate
Replace fragile manual steps with readable code, pipelines, checks and repeatable workflows.
Modernise
Move systems forward while keeping reliability, recovery and the people operating the platform in view.
Operate
Build tools and processes that fit shells, CI jobs, cron, systemd timers, Ansible runs and incident response.
Signals
Where I tend to make the biggest difference.
Automation-first delivery
Introduced repeatable Ivanti, PowerShell, Ansible, Packer and Terraform workflows to remove manual operational work.
Build and developer platforms
Maintained and improved CI/CD, Nexus, SonarQube and Jenkins-backed platforms across development, staging and production estates.
Hybrid infrastructure modernisation
Helped move ageing virtualisation platforms toward Nutanix, golden images, clearer workflows and more predictable operations.
AI-assisted operations
Built practical reporting and summarisation workflows with Python, Flask, APIs and Azure OpenAI to reduce manual reporting effort.
Core toolbox
Infrastructure, automation, platforms and operational tooling.
Automation & IaC
CI/CD & Platforms
Containers & Virtualisation
Linux & Systems
Networking & Services
Operations
Experience
Production systems, build platforms, automation and infrastructure delivery.
Senior Infrastructure Engineer
Bridgehampton LTD · London, United Kingdom
- Partnered with the End User Technology team to design and deploy optimised Windows 11 Citrix VDI images for the initial production rollout.
- Introduced Ivanti Automation workflows for approximately 65 application deployments, replacing manual installation steps with repeatable, standardised automation.
- Developed PowerShell automation to retrieve, package and install software using public APIs where available, with controlled web scraping for vendors without usable APIs.
- Built a Python Flask web application with a responsive Bootstrap UI to extract Harvest timesheet data and produce weekly staff reporting summaries.
- Integrated Azure OpenAI into the reporting workflow to generate leadership-ready summaries from Harvest timesheet data, reducing manual reporting effort.
- Worked across teams to gather requirements, identify application needs and support adoption of the VDI and automation platform.
Senior Systems Engineer
DAZN · London, United Kingdom
- Maintained and improved build and development platforms across Dev, Stage and Prod environments, acting as an escalation point for complex CI/CD, infrastructure and platform issues.
- Supported BAU incidents, mentored junior and mid-level engineers and helped raise operational standards across the systems engineering function.
- Managed and automated infrastructure across an Ansible-controlled estate of approximately 2,500 VMs.
- Worked with engineering team leads to improve reliability, availability and usability of internal build systems and supporting infrastructure.
- Helped establish a Nutanix-based hybrid cloud platform to replace the ageing XenServer estate and improve platform scalability.
- Created Ubuntu 22.04 golden image workflows with Packer and Terraform, standardising image generation for the new Nutanix platform and reducing manual build effort.
Systems Engineer
Perform · London, United Kingdom
- Operated business-critical systems infrastructure including DNS, domain management, SSL certificate ordering and vendor coordination.
- Worked with systems engineering leadership and internal stakeholders to plan and deliver improvements to the development platform.
- Architected and built a replacement Docker-based build platform using custom Docker images and Ansible-controlled administration across Dev, Stage and Prod workflows.
- Reduced manual platform maintenance by moving build services toward repeatable configuration and automation-led operations.
Earlier infrastructure and ISP experience
System Engineer
Zerg Data s.r.o · Bratislava, Slovakia
- Helped establish new network and server infrastructure, including rDNS administration, IPv4/IPv6 planning, zone management for approximately 300 domains and hardware provisioning.
- Led Linux-based solutions across XenServer, Hyper-V, cPanel, DNS, Seafile, PHPIPAM and in-house systems.
- Produced the initial Mikrotik image for standardised firewalling and routing across VPN and physical network links.
- Collaborated with Windows engineers to support a mixed Linux and Windows estate.
Systems Administrator
Peerpoint Internet Limited · London, United Kingdom
- Planned, deployed, troubleshot and improved network and service infrastructure in close collaboration with the development team.
- Helped architect high-availability mail, VoIP and payment gateway services.
- Established Puppet automation infrastructure, including a failover Puppet design and 40+ Puppet modules for Linux service management.
- Administered VoIP, VPN, web, email and backup platforms across Linux-based production services.
Contractor
Stealth Telecom · London, United Kingdom
- Architected and deployed a VoIP and payment gateway solution using MySQL, Apache, Asterisk and a2billing.
- Integrated IAX trunks with VoIP wholesale providers to reduce call costs and improve call quality.
- Established Least Cost Routing rules to automatically route calls through the most cost-effective provider.
Support Engineer
PGL IT Limited · Milton Keynes, United Kingdom
- Helped architect, establish and maintain an ISP offering hosting and connectivity services, including ADSL broadband.
- Maintained RADIUS authentication services and database backends while providing technical consultation to leadership.
- Carried out day-to-day systems administration and networking across Debian Unix infrastructure.
Technical Manager
LondonLink · London, United Kingdom
- Managed day-to-day operations and maintenance of core servers supporting ISP services, reporting directly to the company director.
- Delivered third-line telephone support and administered business customer packages, including on-site support where required.
- Acted as systems administrator and network engineer for approximately twenty Linux and Windows servers.
2nd Line Technical Support Supervisor
Mistral Internet Group · Brighton, United Kingdom
- Provided second-line technical support for business and residential customers while supervising a team of first-line engineers.
- Supported internet connectivity technologies including modems, ISDN, broadband and ADSL.
- Acted as Postmaster and Hostmaster, managing customer email and DNS services including records, domain registrations and mailbox administration.
Selected public work
Practical, operator-facing tools built around real production needs.
blackhole-threats
Go-based RTBH daemon that turns threat feeds into controlled BGP blackhole announcements.
s3ctl
S3 provisioning CLI for bucket creation, scoped IAM credentials and batch operations across object-storage estates.
s3mirror
Production-ready utility for mirroring S3-compatible buckets with parallel transfers and automation-friendly logging.
telegram-message-exporter
Offline recovery and export tool for Telegram on macOS, producing HTML, Markdown and CSV from local databases.
quotai
Small CLI for checking quota usage and reset windows as a daily developer and operator utility.
Operating principles
Calm production is a design choice.
Calm Production
Infrastructure that is boring for users and clear for operators.
Useful Automation
Manual runbooks replaced with tested automation and readable code.
Operator Tooling
CLIs and services that fit cron, systemd, CI/CD and Ansible.
Platform Clarity
Storage, networking, routing and services made easier to reason about.
Developer Velocity
Build platforms improved so engineers can ship without fighting machinery.
Team Lift
Mentoring, documentation and operational standards raised across teams.
Automate the repeatable. Document the surprising. Design for recovery. Keep production calm. Make the next fix easier than the last one.
Private details protected
Full CV available on request
This public profile deliberately omits direct phone and private contact details. Recruiters and hiring teams can request the full unredacted CV for a relevant role or conversation.