Ikram Khan — Software Engineer

I’m a Software Engineer / DevOps & Platform Engineer with hands-on experience designing, building, and operating production-grade cloud platforms across Azure and AWS, with a strong focus on Kubernetes, automation, and cost-efficient infrastructure. At Zones LLC, I work on the core platform that powers multiple internal and client-facing services. My responsibilities span infrastructure architecture, CI/CD, Kubernetes operations, observability, and multicloud enablement. What I currently work on: Designing and evolving Azure-based platforms using Terraform, including networking, security, AKS, storage, and shared services. Operating and optimizing AKS clusters, implementing autoscaling, workload-aware node pools, and cost optimization strategies (up to 45% AKS savings). Building reusable Helm chart frameworks and standardizing service deployments across 50+ applications. Implementing CI/CD automation using Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions, ArgoCD, and Backstage to reduce onboarding time and deployment friction. Deploying and managing a production-grade Elastic Stack (ECK) for centralized logging, APM, and Kubernetes observability. Contributing to Zones’ multicloud initiative by extending the Azure platform to AWS, provisioning VPCs, IAM, and EKS, and standardizing deployments across AKS and EKS using shared Helm and Git workflows. Background: Before fully moving into devops, I worked as a backend and frontend engineer, building systems with NestJS, GraphQL, TypeORM, React, and TypeScript. This helps me design platforms that actually work for developers, not against them. I’m a Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA), an active tech blogger on Medium, and a contributor to the cloud-native community, including organizing Pakistan’s first Kubernetes Community Days. 📌 Interests: Platform Engineering, Kubernetes at scale, Cloud Cost Optimization, Multicloud Architectures 📫 Contact: ikramkhan951@gmail.com 🔗 GitHub: github.com/ikram554 ✍️ Medium: medium.com/@ikramkhan951

Stackforce AI infers this person is a Cloud Infrastructure and DevOps specialist with a focus on multicloud architectures.

Location: Islāmābād, Pakistan

Experience: 3 yrs 9 mos

Skills

Kubernetes
Devops
Ci/cd
Full-stack Development
Infrastructure As Code
Machine Learning

Career Highlights

Achieved 45% cost reduction on AKS.
Designed CI/CD platforms improving developer onboarding.
Contributed to multicloud initiatives across Azure and AWS.

Work Experience

Zones, LLC

Software Engineer (2 yrs 2 mos)

Senior Associate Engineer (5 mos)

Associate Engineer (4 mos)

Career Launchpad

Fellow (3 mos)

Freelance

Full-stack Developer (10 mos)

Medium

Tech Blogger (4 mos)

GitHub Contributor

Open Source (1 yr)

Web Solutions Plus (SMC-PVT) LTD

Machine Learning Intern (7 mos)

Rizq

Volunteer (2 yrs 7 mos)

Education

Bachelor's degree at National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences

Ikram Khan

Software Engineer

Islāmābād, Pakistan3 yrs 9 mos experience

Most Likely To Switch

Key Highlights

Achieved 45% cost reduction on AKS.
Designed CI/CD platforms improving developer onboarding.
Contributed to multicloud initiatives across Azure and AWS.

Stackforce AI infers this person is a Cloud Infrastructure and DevOps specialist with a focus on multicloud architectures.

Contact

Skills

Core Skills

KubernetesDevopsCi/cdFull-stack DevelopmentInfrastructure As CodeMachine Learning

Other Skills

DockerAzure Kubernetes Service (AKS)Amazon Web Services (AWS)TerraformElastic Stack (ELK)Software InfrastructureCost OptimizationAzureAzure DevOps ServicesGitHub ActionsArgoCDNode.jsNestJSTypeORMGraphQL

About

Experience

3 yrs 9 mos

Total Experience

1 yr 4 mos

Average Tenure

2 yrs 11 mos

Current Experience

Zones, llc

3 roles

Software Engineer

Promoted

Apr 2024 – Present · 2 yrs 2 mos

Contributed to the DevOps and platform roadmap, improving automation, scalability, security, and cost efficiency across production systems.
Operate and optimize AKS at scale, achieving up to 45% cost reduction using VPA, workload-aware node pools, and platform tuning.
Standardized Kubernetes deployments by building a reusable Helm master-chart template library, reducing duplication across 50+ services.
Designed and maintained CI/CD platforms using Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions, ArgoCD, and Backstage, significantly improving developer onboarding and release consistency.
Implemented a production-grade Elastic Stack (ECK) on AKS for centralized logging, APM, and Kubernetes observability.
Led migration to a hub-and-spoke network architecture, centralizing shared services and strengthening security boundaries.
Contributed to Zones’ multicloud initiative by extending the Azure platform to AWS, provisioning VPCs, IAM, and EKS, and standardizing deployments across AKS and EKS.
Delivered secure ingress, networking, and storage using Application Gateway (WAF/AGIC) and Azure NetApp Files.
Built internal automation platforms integrating Microsoft Teams, Power Automate, SharePoint, AKS, and Azure DevOps to streamline DevOps support and operations.
Provided production support, incident response, and platform tooling to enable developer productivity.

DockerAzure Kubernetes Service (AKS)KubernetesAmazon Web Services (AWS)TerraformElastic Stack (ELK)+2

Senior Associate Engineer

Promoted

Nov 2023 – Apr 2024 · 5 mos

Designed and maintained backend services using NestJS, GraphQL, and TypeORM in a microservice-based architecture.
Developed frontend applications using TypeScript and Material UI, collaborating closely with product and UX teams.
Integrated Cypress end-to-end testing into CI/CD pipelines to automate regression testing.
Worked cross-functionally to align application development with deployment and infrastructure workflows.
Built a Level 3 Kubernetes Operator to improve infrastructure automation and modularity.

Node.jsNestJSTypeORMGraphQLMaterial-UIReact.js+4

Associate Engineer

Jul 2023 – Nov 2023 · 4 mos

DevOps
Led the creation of Zones' production infrastructure on Azure using Terraform, including subnets, storage accounts, key vaults, AKS, identities, bastion host, data factory, databricks and more.
Deployed/managed frontend and backend applications on AKS.
Templatized CI/CD pipelines in Azure DevOps.
Developed Helm charts and bashscripts scripts for custom PostgreSQL deployment.
Integrated ArgoCD for continuous delivery.
Magento
Integrated Zones ZDP app with the Magento 2 framework deployed on global portals.
Developed a one-click deployment script for Magento on Zones AKS.

DevOpsDockerAnsibleLinuxAzure DevOps ServicesKubernetes+8

Career launchpad

Fellow

Feb 2023 – May 2023 · 3 mos · Islāmābād, Pakistan · On-site

◦ Career Launchpad is a three-month program offered at the National Incubation Center by Teamup.
◦ As a participant in this flagship program, I honed my skills and gained valuable experience in areas such as communication, leadership, and entrepreneurial skills.
◦ The program is designed to help university graduates and young professionals bridge the skills gap in the job market and cultivate entrepreneurial skills in order to excel in their careers.

Leadership DevelopmentCommunicationEntrepreneurship

Freelance

Full-stack Developer

Sep 2022 – Jul 2023 · 10 mos

◦ Projects: Developed full-stack social media application and front-end of health care application.
◦ Front-end: Developed front-end using React.js.
◦ Back-end: Implemented some server-side logic using Node.js and Express.js, and integrated it with MongoDB.
◦ Version Control: Utilized Git for version control and project management.

Express.jsMongoDBReact.jsJavaScriptFront-End DevelopmentHTML+2

Medium

Tech Blogger

Sep 2022 – Jan 2023 · 4 mos

◦ Wrote blogs that cover DevOps tools like Kaniko and Service-mesh, reaching a large audience of thousands.
◦ Profile link: medium.com/@ikramkhan951

DevOpsDockerWritingKanikoContinuous Integration and Continuous Delivery (CI/CD)

Github contributor

Open Source

Jun 2022 – Jun 2023 · 1 yr

◦ Stock Price Forecasting Flask Web App: Streamlined development for a Flask web app using DevOps
principles by creating a Github Actions .yml file, Docker file, and Jenkins pipeline, and updating requirements.txt
for necessary libraries and versions.
◦ AV-HuBERT (Audio-Visual Hidden Unit BERT): Adapted AV-HuBERT for Raspberry Pi, streamlined
development process with GitHub Actions and Jenkins pipeline, ensured seamless project execution with supported library versions and replaced deprecated modules with updated ones.

DevOpsDockerGithub ActionsOpen SourceJenkinsContinuous Integration and Continuous Delivery (CI/CD)

Web solutions plus (smc-pvt) ltd

Machine Learning Intern

Feb 2022 – Sep 2022 · 7 mos · Islāmābād, Pakistan

◦ Data preprocessing: Conducted data preprocessing, cleaning and feature engineering using Pandas and Numpy.
◦ Model training and evaluation: Developed ML algorithms using Python and TensorFlow.
◦ Model Optimization: Utilized DL techniques such as CNN to enhance model performance.

Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN)TensorFlowPyTorchDeep LearningNumPyPandas (Software)+2