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Ayodele Ajayi

Principal Engineer · Home Office

Summary

Principal Engineer based in Kent, UK, working on security governance and cloud architecture at national scale at the Home Office. Over ten years in engineering across information security, cloud, DevSecOps, platform engineering, and AI, building secure, reliable systems that serve millions of people and mentoring the teams that run them.

Skills

Cloud & Infrastructure

AWS · Azure · GCP · Kubernetes · Docker · ECS · EKS · AKS · Terraform · CDK

Security & Governance

ISO 27001 · NIST · SOC 2 · Zero Trust · IAM · OWASP · TFSec · Snyk · Trivy

DevOps & Automation

Jenkins · GitLab CI · GitHub Actions · ArgoCD · Ansible · Helm · Flux · Pulumi

Languages & Frameworks

Python · TypeScript · Go · Bash · React · Next.js · Node.js · PostgreSQL

Platform & SRE

Backstage · Prometheus · Grafana · ELK · Datadog · OpenTelemetry · Chaos Engineering

AI & Data

GenAI · LLMs · MLOps · RAG · Prompt Engineering · Data Pipelines · ETL

Areas of Practice

Security & Governance

ISO 27001, NIST, Zero Trust, and compliance frameworks at national scale.

Cloud Architecture

Multi-cloud solutions across AWS, Azure, and GCP with IaC best practices.

DevSecOps

Shift-left security in CI/CD pipelines, SAST/DAST automation, and container scanning.

Platform Engineering

Internal developer platforms, Kubernetes, Backstage, and SRE practices.

AI & Emerging Tech

GenAI adoption, MLOps pipelines, LLMOps, and responsible AI governance.

Technical Leadership

Mentoring teams, shaping engineering culture, and driving SDLC transformation.

Experience

Principal Engineer · Solirius Reply

November 2023 - Present

  • Leading technology strategy and governance at the Home Office, establishing security frameworks and compliance standards that achieved 100% audit compliance
  • Architecting end-to-end solutions spanning infrastructure, security, and application layers, implementing best practices across the full software development lifecycle
  • Establishing security governance aligned with government standards, implementing zero-trust architecture and comprehensive access control policies
  • Spearheading DevSecOps transformation, integrating security into CI/CD pipelines and achieving 90% reduction in vulnerabilities through shift-left practices
  • Mentoring engineering teams on software architecture, security best practices, and emerging technologies whilst fostering a culture of continuous learning

Senior DevSecOps Engineer · Vault Platform

July 2022 - December 2023

  • Designed secure cloud architectures on AWS with focus on data protection and compliance, achieving SOC 2 readiness
  • Architected Kubernetes-based platforms with security-first approach, achieving 99.9% uptime and 100% compliance
  • Implemented comprehensive security policies and governance frameworks, including IAM strategies and least-privilege access controls

Senior DevOps Consultant · ContainerCode Club

July 2019 - Present

  • Providing strategic technology consultancy covering cloud architecture, security, governance, and digital transformation
  • Designing and implementing end-to-end solutions from architecture through deployment, following SDLC best practices

Lead DevOps Engineer · eConsult Health

October 2021 - June 2022

  • Led Linux-based AWS application hosting, improving system performance by 20%
  • Set up ECS using CDK and CloudFormation, managed PaaS and serverless functions

Senior DevOps Engineer · Doctor Care Anywhere

March 2021 - December 2021

  • Managed and optimised Azure Kubernetes platforms, implementing security best practices to achieve a 99.95% compliance rate
  • Developed and maintained CI/CD pipelines for Azure and AWS, reducing deployment time by 30%

Site Reliability Engineer · Rank Group

March 2020 - March 2021

  • Implemented CI/CD pipelines and automated testing, boosting deployment frequency and reliability
  • Managed Jenkins pipeline deployments into Docker Swarm clusters within secure AWS environments

DevOps Engineer · Adjoint Inc.

August 2019 - March 2020

  • Orchestrated CI/CD processes using GKE, Docker, and GitOps, streamlining deployment workflows

Customer Support Engineer · OpenAsset

January 2018 - August 2019

  • Resolved complex IT and digital asset management issues, providing high-quality customer support

System Analyst · Indivior PLC

March 2016 - January 2018

  • Managed Windows applications, MDM, and OS deployment, ensuring seamless operation and user support

IT Analyst · SC Johnson Ltd.

August 2015 - February 2016

  • Managed Windows applications, Mobile Device Management, and OS deployment

Certifications

  • Azure Solutions Architect Expert · Microsoft2024
  • DevOps Engineer Expert · Microsoft2024
  • Azure Administrator Associate · Microsoft2024
  • Solutions Architect - Associate · Amazon Web Services2023
  • Terraform Associate · HashiCorp2022
  • Azure AI Fundamentals · Microsoft2022

Selected Work

Courses platform

19 hands-on courses across 5 learning paths, taking readers from working knowledge to production competence in cloud, security, and platform engineering.

Engineering blog

55+ in-depth articles on cloud architecture, DevSecOps, platform engineering, and AI, written from production experience.

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