Co-founder and organiser of the Northern Azure User Group. A community driven tech user group focused on Microsoft Azure Cloud technologies

Working as a Senior Cloud Platform Engineer within the Coop Cloud Technology function to continue supporting the introduction and migration of services to the Azure Cloud Platform. Key responsibilities:• Leading the development of platform engineering standards, patterns, practices and cost optimisation techniques.• Working within project and product teams in both agile and waterfall delivery models to design and implement Cloud Platform infrastructure to support applications and services for all the Co-op Business portfolio.• Developing and supporting partnerships with key vendors and technical authorities to assure alignment with the market for current and emerging trends within Cloud Platform services and products.• Enabling Team development by providing expert guidance and support to colleagues. Acting as a role model within the team to improve service delivery and help the team learn and develop.• Providing cloud infrastructure guidance, direction and consultation for large/multiple teams and major projects.• Supporting the recruitment strategy and process in a consultative role for the wider engineering community. • Engaging with key stakeholders and customers across the business to build relationships and understand requirements and roadmaps to enable the continued adoption of Cloud Services.

I Worked as part of a new team to lead the design and implementation of Azure Cloud Platform infrastructure and services across the Co-op. Key responsibilities:• Establishing a cloud foundation platform to enable the deployment of new services and products within the Co-op Azure environments including networking, identity management and supporting infrastructure services.• Working alongside project and product teams to design and implement Cloud Platform infrastructure to support applications and services for all the Co-op Business portfolio.• Developing and supporting partnerships with key vendors and technical authorities to assure alignment with the market for current and emerging trends Cloud Platform services and products.• Enabling Team development by providing expert guidance and support to colleagues. Acting as a role model within the team to improve service delivery and help the team learn and develop.• Adopting new tooling and ways of working to improve the delivery of Cloud Platform services including the use of infrastructure as code,ci/cd and configuration management.• Leading and co-ordinating the team to deliver service and project activities both within the Co-op change portfolio to agreed timescales and quality.

I Worked as part of a small team responsible for the Co-operative Group SQL Server estate across a diverse range of businesses, with over 200 physical and virtual servers holding over 2000 databases across all versions from SQL Server 2000 to 2014, using the full SQL Server technology stack. Responsible for all development, test, production and disaster recovery environments with a focus on maximising performance and availability. Key responsibilities:• Working with project teams on the design and implementation of SQL Servers for new applications and systems, ensuring that project requirements are met and delivered on time and to budget.• Maintenance and 3rd line support of the Co-operative Group SQL Server estate including patching, implementation of backup/recovery strategies to support RTO’s and RPO’s.• Database administration across the SQL Server product set (SSIS, SSRS, and SSAS).• Proactive performance tuning, monitoring and optimisations utilising 3rd party and bespoke toolsets.• Documentation of SQL server installations, support procedures and disaster recovery process.• Training and mentoring of team members.• On call services for 24/7 Mission critical systems. • Part of the IT change Management authority for IT changes. • Technical and resource management for team members.

I Worked as part of the Co-operative Group Food Retail IT function and managed the administration of the Food Retail IT SQL Server, Oracle database and middle tier enterprise environments. Services supported included warehouse management, labour scheduling and time capture, central replenishment and Head Office systems as well as branch facing systemsMy role also included technical lead responsibilities for small to medium projects involving IT changes. Key responsibilities:• Backup/recovery configuration and testing, performance monitoring, troubleshooting and tuning.• Administration of all test/development environments.• 24/7 on call services for mission critical systems.• Co-ordination and management of small to medium IT projects through the project lifecycle including resource, testing, implementation and change management.• Responsible for technical implementation and handover to relevant support teams including process documentation and training where required. • Act as mentor to junior team members to contribute to team development and career progression• Contribute to the ongoing development and revision of support processes.• Provide technical expertise in the management and resolution of medium to high level impact support issues.

Technical management,3rd line support and development of Co-op Branch and Head office systems for the retail sector

2nd and 3rd line support for various branch and Head Office systems and applications