May 2025 – Present · 1 yr · Toronto, ON · On-site

• Founded and developed HaqNow.com, a global transparency platform dedicated to collecting, organizing, and providing open access to documents that expose corruption worldwide.
• Built features enabling anonymous uploads in 60+ languages with instant English translation, ensuring broad accessibility and prioritizing user privacy and safety.
• Designed and implemented an AI-powered Q&A tool allowing users to ask natural language questions and receive answers with clickable sources and confidence scores, facilitating quick, reliable insights.

Jan 2025 – Dec 2025 · 11 mos · New York, United States · Remote

• Contributed to a $20M project with projected expansion to $30–40M annually by 2026/2027.
• Drove rapid prototyping initiatives—leveraged AI development and “vibe coding” to accelerate major project delivery.
• Led a multidisciplinary data team in designing a 500TB+ scalable geospatial mobile-ping analytics solution; built dashboards (Jupyter, Pandas, QuickSight) and AWS Glue–based PySpark pipelines.
• Developed geospatial products: visualized citizen movement patterns, built a web-based online tool for managing 100s of TBs of location data, and created an AI-powered GIS tool using Sentinel-2 imagery to measure urban greenspace.
• Implemented enterprise-grade cloud security: MFA, key rotation, GitHub OIDC, branch protection, VPN-secured database access, blue/green deployments, and automated code security reviews.
• Centralized and automated security services (Config, Inspector, Security Hub, GuardDuty, Macie, WAF) with log retention, anomaly detection, and CloudWatch dashboards for visibility and compliance.
• Designed and automated infrastructure with IaC best practices—GitHub Actions, Terraform Cloud, AWS API, and HCP—for secure, repeatable deployments.
• Directed DevOps strategy: built CI/CD pipelines, containerized platforms, enforced compliance controls, and optimized AWS service management.
• Built automation workflows (NodeJS/NextJS/Groq-based LLMs) for chatbot and data pipeline solutions.
• Advanced compliance frameworks with automated tagging, monitoring, and CloudWatch agent deployments.
• Championed Agile leadership: ran daily standups, biweekly sprints/retrospectives, and fostered cross-functional collaboration between development, security, and compliance teams.
• Role Breakdown: Architecture 20%, Design 20%, Deployment 30%, Development/Testing 20%, Troubleshooting 10%

Oct 2023 – Oct 2024 · 1 yr · Ottawa, Ontario, Canada · Remote

• Designed and deployed secure cloud architectures, enhancing infrastructure security for Government of Canada’s (GC) centralized and standardized cloud offering, designed to host workloads for all 44+ GC departments.
• Managed AWS Secure Environment Accelerator (ASEA) to ensure Government of Canada cloud environment stays secure and Canadian Centre for Cybersecurity (CCCS) and ITSG-33 compliant.
• Architected new ground to cloud secure perimeter using Transit Gateways (TGW), Direct Connect (DX), VPCs, and other related AWS services.
• Managed and configured Fortinet FortiGate firewalls for secure cloud to Internet and cloud to ground perimeter.
• Automated cloud management tasks with Crossplane, with ArgoCD, on EKS improving efficiency and consistency across DEV and Prod environments.
• Implemented firewalls, EC2 instances, SCPs, Roles, Users, Policies, Lambda functions, Systems Manager and numerous other services using automation via Crossplane.
• Implemented infrastructure as code using Terraform and CloudFormation to streamline operations, and standardization.
• Participated in cloud security assessments based on CCCS guidelines, identifying potential risks, and documenting them using automated features from AWS Audit Manager.
• Developed and implemented mitigation strategies to address security vulnerabilities.
• Collaborated with cross-functional teams to ensure adherence to security best practices.
• Developed and maintained security policies and procedures, ensuring compliance with regulatory standards.
• Provided expert guidance on cloud security matters, supporting decision-making processes.
• Contributed to team using Agile methodology, with biweekly sprints, retrospectives, daily standups and a dedicated Scrum master
• Role Breakdown: Architecture 30%, Design 20%, Deployment 20%, Development/Testing 20%, Troubleshooting 10%

Apr 2016 – Jul 2022 · 6 yrs 3 mos · Toronto

• Lead network architecture and design (with key focus on security, compute/virtualization, and storage) while conducting requirements gathering, proof-of-concept, RFQ, implementation and troubleshooting activities for:
• $89 million EDC Borden Enterprise Establishment project, which extended SSC’s private cloud offering to the fourth SSC end-state data center, building core infrastructure for data center designed to scale to 100,000s of systems. (2020-2022)
• $67 million DND WLM project, migrating workloads consisting of 3,000+ systems, along with LAN, WAN, security, storage, and compute infrastructure from five legacy data centers in Ottawa to EDC Borden, SSC’s private cloud (2020-2022)
• $322 million EDC Borden data center build and migration project, which consisted of migrating 12,000+ mission critical DND systems from legacy data center to end-state data center consisting of x86 (VMware, Bare Metal), P-Series, Linux/Unix, zBX, storage, security appliances, backup, and a large variety of other workloads. (2017-2018)
• Presenting end-state private-cloud solutions, architecture and design to federal department customers (DND and DND sub-departments, PSPC, NRCAN, Health Canada, IRCC), ranging from executives to subject matter experts, to groups ranging from 5-100 attendees.
• Leading network and security architecture and design discussions for some of the largest and most complex federal IT projects, consisting of establishing new SSC private-cloud offering across four end-state data centers.
• Collaborating closely with DND security assessors, Defence Information Management Security (DIMSecur) and SSC security assessors, Security Management Group (SMG) to review and validate designed solutions, and provide proof of implementation of security controls, to meet ITSG (ITSG-33, ITSG-22), CSE, CCCS, and NIST guidelines, frameworks, and requirements.
• Role Breakdown: Architecture 30%, Design 20%, Network Deployment 20%, Development/Testing 20%, Troubleshooting 10%

Jul 2012 – Mar 2016 · 3 yrs 8 mos · Toronto

• Designing, testing and implementing numerous platforms such as Cisco ACI, Nexus 9000, 6000, 7000, 5000, 6500 VSS, F5 BIG-IP, LTM, Brocade VDX 6700, etc.
• Lead implementation of $79 million EDC Barrie Establishment project, building network, security and storage infrastructure for SSC’s second private-cloud / enterprise data center, servicing more than 20 federal departments / customers (2015-2016)
• Authored numerous Technical Architecture Documents (TAD), High Level Design (HLD), Detailed Design Specification (DDS), Request For Change (RFC), Request For Quotes (RFQ) and other related documentation required for security assessment.
• Created Proof-of-Concept labs for SSC’s private cloud offering, consisting of IaaS, SDN and VDI solutions including: Cisco ACI, VMware NSX, OpenStack, VMware Horizon.
• Reviewing, critiquing and providing feedback to upper management on Request for Proposals (RFPs) for data center networking and software-defined-networking (SDN) solutions from multiple vendors.
• Pioneering use of automation solutions in the department, based on Ansible as well as in-house Python scripting.
• Designing, testing and deploying WAN optimization with Riverbed Steelheads (7070, 7050, 6050) and Interceptors (9600, 9350).
• Designing and testing secure multi-tenant network and SAN solutions, utilizing VDCs, FCOE, VRFs, VMware NSX, and Cisco ACI and Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE).
• Designing, testing and deploying DCI solutions over dark-fiber and DWDM solutions utilizing OTV, MP-BGP and VXLAN.
• Researching, testing and implementing network monitoring solutions from CA, OPNet, Intermapper, and IBM Tivoli.
• Troubleshooting performance issues utilizing CA Spectrum and OPNet ARX. Discovered and resolved numerous chronic issues.
• Proposed and designed a new cabling infrastructure utilizing modern fiber patch panels and physically redundant cabling layout.

Jul 2022 – Oct 2023 · 1 yr 3 mos · Toronto, Ontario, Canada · Remote

• Accelerated AWS adoption within the partner community and National Security market by shaping and delivering strategies.
• Acted as an ambassador for AWS Landing Zone Accelerator (formerly AWS Secure Environment Accelerator) via public events, webinars, presentations and testing.
• Empowered defence customers and partners on AWS through defining technical enablement strategies.
• Achieved team goals by collaborating with senior stakeholders within defence partners and AWS.
• Strategized about business, product, and technical challenges with a forward-thinking approach.
• Advised partners as the technical expert, working closely with their technical leadership teams
• Provided architectural guidance and recommendations for successful partner engagements, including POCs, SOWs, and RFPs.
• Innovated industry and vertical partner solutions, showcasing vision, creativity, business acumen, and deep AWS knowledge.
• Championed AWS partners across the community, collaborating with AWS Training, Professional Services, and Account teams.
• Evangelized AWS services and solutions to the partner community through participating in external events.
• Contributed partner and customer feedback to internal product management and engineering teams to drive improvements.
• Role Breakdown: Presentation 50%, Architecture 30%, Development/Testing 20%

Jan 2011 – Jun 2012 · 1 yr 5 mos · Toronto

• Configured and maintained routing and switching at two data centers consisting of 6500 VSS, Nexus 1000v, 3750s and 2900s.
• Performed level 3 troubleshooting on business critical Cisco based LAN/WAN and Cisco UC infrastructure supporting 900+ lawyers and 600+ staff in 10 offices worldwide.
• Redesigned WAN infrastructure to follow current industry best practices (including MPLS, EIGRP, QoS, dual-WAN, VPN etc.)
• Configured network components for Cisco UCS roll-out including UCS 5100 Chassis, B-series blades, Nexus 1000v, and FI 6100.
• Configured two sets of Nexus 1000v switches with vSphere in ~85% virtualized environment with 400+ virtual machines.
• Managed network performance and capacity by performing trend analysis using multiple NMS, reports and packet captures.
• Designed and implemented capacity and availability related upgrades, including virtualized I/O, backup VPN, T1s, FXO, etc.
• Configured/upgraded WAN/MPLS VPN for remote international offices in London, Beijing, Al-Khobar (Saudi Arabia) and Bahrain.
• Deployed Wi-Fi network consisting of 67 access points across nine floors at the Toronto headquarters.
• Configured Multicast across the North American offices for MS SCCM based Windows 7 deployment.
• Implemented Blakes first in-house network and voice infrastructure monitoring using both Solarwinds Orion and Observium NMS. Implemented Solarwind’s VoIP/IPSLA, Netflow, IPAM, NCM, and Virtualization modules.
• Performed in-depth troubleshooting using packet captures via Steelheads, Wireshark, Orion Netflow, and other traffic analysis tools.
• Upgraded, updated and maintained Cisco UC (UCM, Unity, UCCX, UEAC) infrastructure with vendors.
• Technical Environment: Cisco R&S (6500, Nexus, 4500, ASA, MDS 9100), UC (UCM, Unity, UCCX), UCS, EMC, RecoverPoint
• Role Breakdown: Network Design 30%, Network/VoIP Deployment 40%, Troubleshooting 20%, Training 5%, Lead 5%

Jul 2010 – Dec 2010 · 5 mos

• Refreshed Routing and Switching equipment at the Toronto Pearson Airport in a hybrid Enterprise/Service Provider network personally handling over $3 million Cisco equipment over the course of the project.
• Staged and deployed 92 Cisco Catalyst 6500 devices (with 10+ SUP720 10G, 80+ SUP32, 300+ 6148 line cards) and 12 Catalyst 3750s.
• Tested and implemented redundancy and high availability using GLBP, HSRP, VSS, VCP, MEC and OSPF & EIGRP tuning.
• Trained in design, configuration, and deployment of Nexus 1000v and Nexus 7000 platforms with VMware/Cisco UCS integration.
• Participated in 8-week Cisco Enterprise, Data Center and Service Provider technologies training.
• Provided technical training, supervision and support to new members of the project deployment team.
• Prepared migration plan for 12 devices from CatOS to IOS - including design, validation, and implementation.
• Assisted in deployment of ONS 15454, MDS 9500 and Catalyst 3640.
• Prepared Method of Procedure (MOP), Migration Strategy, Requirements, and various reports.
• Assisted Project Manager (PM) with scheduling, organization, logistics of 800+ devices, and other administrative tasks.
• Worked in a multi-vendor environment including teams from Cisco, IBM, GTAA (Greater Toronto Airport Authority) and others.
• Technical Environment: Cisco IOS, CatOS, Fibre, Optical, Voice/VOIP, Enterprise, Service Provider
• Role Breakdown: Systems Staging 35%, Systems Deployment 40%, Network Design 15%, Administration/Organization 10%

Jan 2010 – Present · 16 yrs 4 mos

• Authored the Ace The Interview ebook to assist IT professionals with interview best practices.
• Mentored over 500 professionals over a decade on resume best practices, interview preparation and career planning
• Download the ebook for free at https://linktr.ee/acetheinterview

Nov 2009 – May 2010 · 6 mos

• Prioritized and delegated NOC team's daily tasks and projects which supports 11,000+ VoIP and Internet/Data users.
• Provided hands-on Tier 2 and Tier 3 support for Cisco 2600, 3500, 6500, 7200 and 12000 series devices.
• Lead the NOC team through emergencies and time-sensitive incidents relating to VoIP systems requiring high availability.
• Analyzed SIP call traces (from Call Agent) and packet captures for jitter, latency, packet-drops, max delta and other anomalies.
• Worked directly with Level 2 and Level 3 support at Bell, Primus, AT&T, COX, and Paetec on various SIP trunk and PRI issues.
• Troubleshot WAN issues with Cogent, AT&T, Allstream, Qwest and Navigata on Fiber, DS1, DS3, MPLS, and Layer 2 connections.
• Deployed and managed ESXi 3.5 and Virtual Center 2.5 across two collocation facilities in Toronto and Vancouver.
• Implemented new VMs (Windows and Linux) and migrated physical machines to VM using P2V Converter (VC and standalone).
• Worked with CTO and VP Finance to implement Six Sigma and ITIL based process improvements.
• Provided NOC status 'snapshots' to stakeholders by reporting data collected through the ticketing/incident tracking, network monitoring, and project management systems.
• Worked with VP Operations & Project Managers to align NOC activities with project and support goals
• Technical Environment: UNIX, Windows Server 2003/2008, Linux, Cisco IOS, Layer 2/3 circuits, WAN, T1/DS1, T3/DS3, MPLS
• Role Breakdown: Systems Support 35%, Network Design/Support 35%, End-user support 15%, Management 10%, Reporting 5%

Mar 2009 – Nov 2009 · 8 mos

• Upgraded, configured, and performed troubleshooting on Cisco 2600, 3500, 7200 and 6500 series devices for new projects.
• Troubleshot hardware issues with T1, T3, Switchblades, and Supervisor modules on Cisco devices including 2600, 7200, & 6500.
• Implemented use of standard configuration templates for Cisco devices to increase efficiency and decrease incidents.
• Provided Tier 2 support for network (Cisco), VoIP (Broadsoft, AudioCodes, Cisco), and other systems (Windows, Linux, Unix).
• Worked on UNIX based Call Agents to perform SIP call tracing, log tailing, troubleshooting, maintenaince and backup.
• Implemented backup and redundancy on UNIX, Linux, Windows Server platforms and Cisco IOS.
• Implemented open source phpMyFAQ Knowledge Base (Linux) to create efficiencies in various NOC processes.
• Implemented Logisense engageIP ticketing/incident management system (Windows Server 2003), and customized it to automatically prioritize tickets defined by the SLA.
• Technical Environment: Open-source Linux (Ubuntu), DNS, VMware, IP addressing, TCP/IP, OSPF, EIGRP, BGP, Layer 2/3
• Role Breakdown: Systems Support 40%, Network Design/Support 30%, End-user support 20%, Reporting 5%, Research 5%

Jul 2008 – Jan 2009 · 6 mos

• Provided 24/7 on-site and remote support for outages and other emergencies relating to VoIP systems.
• Performed hands-on network design, installation, configuration and troubleshooting on Cisco 2600, 3500 series devices.
• Configured and provisioned 100+ MGCP and SIP based AudioCodes, Nortel, 3COM and Linksys gateways and analog adapters.
• Ensured smooth operation of Epik Networks staff computing needs by attending to connectivity, printing & shared resources issues, along with managing inventory and licenses (Windows Server 2003).
• Continued to maintain and update various servers (Linux and Windows) that were a critical component of the help.
• Technical Environment: Solarwinds NPM, Nagios, Cacti, FreeRADIUS, Dell, IBM Blade, Remote Backup, NAS, SAN, HP, Java
• Role Breakdown: End-user support 60%, Systems Support 30%, Network Support 10%

Nov 2007 – Jul 2008 · 8 mos

• Pioneerd use of, and implemented web-based open source ticketing/incident management system (Request Tracker - Linux) to manage and complete 25+ daily tickets/incidents.
• Installed, maintained and backed up various Window and Linux based servers
• Developed expert level knowledge of Java/UNIX based Broadsoft M6 VoIP Switch administration used to maintain changes, additions and deletions of over 3000 business VoIP customers.
• Set up Epik Networks' first multi-staff Help Desk with staff across three cities in North America.
• Developed procedures which streamlined the handling of requests based on urgency and priority.
• Set up a call queuing mechanism to distribute incoming support calls across the three branches.
• Technical Environment: MS Exchange 2003, MS AD/DC/DNS Server, DNS, LAN, Spanning tree, Layer 2/3, Java
• Role Breakdown: End-user support 70%, Systems Support 20%, Research 5%, Implementation 5%

Jan 2009 – Mar 2009 · 2 mos

• Advised IT Administrators across University of Toronto in planning the smooth migration of their respective departments.
• Assisted university staff and faculty directly in migration of email and calendar service.
• Developed training and support documents (FAQs, training videos, & screen-casts) to allow users to complete the migration process.
• Assisted in setup of Blackberry devices to synchronize with MS Exchange 2007 account.
• Technical Environment: MS Exchange 2007, BES, BIS, Outlook 2003/2007, Entourage, Thunderbird, UNIX, VMware, VPN
• Role Breakdown: IT Administrator Advisory 40%, End-user support 40%, Documentation 20%

Dec 2006 – May 2008 · 1 yr 5 mos

• Troubleshooting clients’ email client(s), connectivity, VPN, wireless networking and other issues both in person and over the phone.
• Developed expert level knowledge of MS Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird, Apple/Mac Mail App, Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, and various proprietary wireless connection softwares.
• Helped clients resolve UTORmail (University of Toronto institutional email system) issues.
• Utilized BMC's Remedy Incident Management System, and later transitioned to Request Tracker ticketing/incident management.
• Technical Environment: Windows 98/2000/XP/Vista, Outlook 2003/2007, Remedy, Request Tracker, VPN

Jun 2005 – Dec 2005 · 6 mos

• • After submitting a detailed proposal, completed a 4 month long training video project which would aid in the continuous hiring process that the Call Centre faced. The video, entitled "The UofT Telefund Training Movie", outlined various aspects of employment at the Call Centre and all the policies associated with it in a fun and captivating fashion. The video is viewed by all new employees in complete and clips are shown occasionally at the beginning of the shift to all current employees to aid in the continuous training process.

Oct 2004 – Jan 2006 · 1 yr 3 mos

• Contacted University of Toronto Alumni for UofT Advancement for various fundraising campaigns.
• Often placed in the top 5 performers of the month list amongst the 90 telefundraisers.

Sep 2000 – Jan 2001 · 4 mos

• Developed queries in MS Access for customers using state-of-the-art hardware.
• Developed expert level knowledge of MS Access, MS Excel, MS FrontPage, MS Word and Seagate Crystal Reports.
• Co-developed and updated the Database Marketing Services department’s website.
• Acknowledged by manager as the fastest learning & most rapidly advancing co-op student.
• Co-developed a specialized 400 page information directory using Seagate Crystal Reports for internal use at Nortel Networks. This project required large amounts of data scrubbing, integrating numerous databases, and strategically designing the layout of the directory
• Technical Environment: MS SQL Server, MS Excel, Access, Crystal Reports, Cluster, SAN, Dell Servers