Vinoth Raj

Senior DevOps / Platform Engineer with 18+ years of experience designing, automating, and operating large-scale infrastructure across AWS, Kubernetes, CI/CD, observability, security, and cloud-native platforms. Strong expertise in Terraform, GitLab CI, EKS, Rancher, monitoring, and compliance automation. Proven ability to support mission-critical systems, data platforms, and high-availability environments within enterprise and regulated environments.

Senior DevOps Engineer - Genome Research Limited (Wellcome Sanger Institute) - Cambridge

(2023-03)

• Designed and provisioned Kubernetes clusters using Rancher RKE and AWS EKS via Terraform (IaC).
• Built and managed GitLab CI/CD pipelines for automated build, test, approval, and deployment workflows.
• Implemented centralised logging using EFK and Loki with Ceph S3 storage for Kubernetes workloads.
• Delivered end-to-end observability using Prometheus, Alertmanager, Blackbox Exporter, and Grafana.
• Strengthened AWS security posture using IAM, WAF, Shield, GuardDuty, and governance tooling.
• Developed Python (boto3) scripts to enforce compliance and automate AWS security checks.
• Automated operational and BAU tasks using Ansible playbooks and Python scripts.
• Supported Data Lakehouse ETL workflows using Prefect, Spark, Trino, S3, and DataHub.
• Containerised and deployed Node.js and microservices using Docker and Kubernetes.
• Deployed custom GitLab runners on Kubernetes for scalable CI execution.
• Implemented Helm-based application deployments and environment standardisation.
• Integrated LDAP and Keycloak for authentication and authorisation.
• Applied ITIL processes using JIRA for incident, change, and service management.

Principal Infrastructure Developer - Cognizant Technology Solutions - India

(2018-04 - 2022-11)

• Built AWS EKS platforms using Terraform, supporting large-scale microservices deployments.
• Designed enterprise-grade CI/CD pipelines using Jenkins and Azure DevOps.
• Automated infrastructure and application workflows using Ansible and Chef.
• Orchestrated Kubernetes and Docker Swarm deployments with approval-based release flows.
• Implemented auto-scaling strategies for containerised services.
• Designed serverless architectures using Lambda, Step Functions, and EventBridge.
• Built REST APIs using API Gateway and analysed flows using AWS X-Ray.
• Implemented cloud governance and compliance using CloudTrail and AWS Config.
• Performed JVM monitoring using Dynatrace for production microservices.

Cloud Engineer - Lebara Media Services Pvt Ltd - India / UK

(2016-08 - 2018-04)

• Automated AWS infrastructure provisioning using Terraform.
• Managed EC2, VPC, RDS, S3, CloudFront, Route53, IAM, and security configurations.
• Implemented auto-scaling architectures for high-traffic platforms.
• Managed Linux servers, web servers (Nginx, Apache), and SSL configurations.
• Delivered cost-optimisation strategies and monitoring using CloudWatch and third-party tools.
• Led lift-and-shift migrations from on-premise to AWS.
• Supported Ecommerce (Hybris) and Drupal platforms.
• Performed Linux security patching using Vuls.

Senior Unix Administrator / Assistant Manager / Linux Administrator - Various Organizations

(2004 - 2016)

Earlier Career positions (2004 – 2016)

• Extensive hands-on experience in Linux/Unix system administration across RHEL, Solaris, AIX, and HP-UX environments, supporting mission-critical enterprise applications.
• Designed, deployed, and maintained LAMP stacks (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP/Perl), ensuring performance, scalability, and security for business-critical systems.
• Managed and supported large-scale middleware platforms including WebLogic, JBoss, and Apache Tomcat, hosting high-traffic web and enterprise applications.
• Implemented and maintained monitoring, alerting, and logging solutions using tools such as Nagios, custom scripts, and system-level monitoring utilities to ensure high availability.
• Developed and maintained backup and recovery strategies, including filesystem-level backups, database backups, and disaster recovery procedures.
• Automated routine administrative tasks using shell scripting (Bash, Perl) to improve operational efficiency and reduce manual intervention.
• Led and mentored junior administrators, coordinated on-call rotations, and acted as a primary escalation point for production incidents and outages.
• Performed capacity planning, performance tuning, and patch management, ensuring systems met SLA and compliance requirements.
• Collaborated closely with application, network, and database teams to troubleshoot complex issues and support 24x7 production environments.
• Played a key role in maintaining high-availability and failover setups, minimizing downtime and ensuring business continuity.

Bachelor of Engineering - Computer Science - Bharathidasan University (2000 - 2004)