Matthew Pollock - Resume

Cloud & IT Infrastructure Lead: AX Ltd (Dec 2024 to Present)

• Cloud Operations: Manage and optimize Azure and AWS environments, ensuring secure, scalable, and cost-efficient infrastructure to support business operations.
• Identity & Security: Maintain secure identity systems with Azure AD, including MFA, Conditional Access Policies, and Privileged Identity Management, while enhancing endpoint protection using Microsoft Defender for Endpoint and Intune.
• Governance & Compliance: Establish and enforce governance policies with Azure Policy, Group Policy, and Defender for Cloud, ensuring regulatory compliance and secure configurations.
• Infrastructure Oversight: Oversee critical systems like Active Directory, DNS, and SSL administration, ensuring high availability and operational reliability.
• Monitoring & Performance: Use tools such as Azure Monitor, AWS CloudWatch, and PRTG Monitoring for proactive performance management and issue resolution.
• Strategic Planning: Drive innovation by identifying opportunities for technology adoption, cloud optimization, and application modernization. Support organizational efficiency by integrating DevOps practices, including CI/CD pipelines using Azure DevOps and GitHub Actions, to streamline deployments and improve workflows.
• Collaboration & Mentorship: Partner with teams across the organization to align IT strategy with business goals and provide mentorship to enhance team expertise and innovation.

IT Infrastructure Manager: AX Ltd (Jan 2017 to Dec 2024)

• Directed a full-scale cloud migration to Microsoft Azure, decommissioning primary and secondary data centres, significantly reducing physical IT infrastructure, and lowering operational costs.
• Managed and mentored a team of five infrastructure engineers, delivering key projects, including SD-WAN deployment, network modernization, virtualization platform refreshes, and datacentre relocations, improving cost efficiency, resilience, and performance.
• Designed and implemented infrastructure for new remote depot sites, reducing deployment times while ensuring seamless integration with existing systems.
• Optimized vendor relationships and licensing agreements, reducing annual costs while maintaining compliance and service quality.

Senior IT Infrastructure Engineer: AX Ltd (Nov 2011 to Dec 2024)

• Designed and executed multiple Microsoft Exchange migrations and domain controller refreshes, achieving improved performance, reliability, and a reduction in hardware requirements.
• Implemented and optimized Azure AD services, including MFA, Conditional Access policies, and Privileged Identity Management, ensuring secure identity management across hybrid environments.
• Deployed Microsoft Intune and the Defender suite, enhancing endpoint security and streamlining device management to support a mobile-first workforce.
• Spearheaded security enhancements, introducing email hygiene solutions, refining Active Directory Group Policies, and improving governance to strengthen the organization's overall security posture.
• Delivered advanced infrastructure monitoring and troubleshooting processes, leveraging automation to reduce incident resolution times and improving system reliability.

• Microsoft Azure: Migration, design, and management of solutions, including Azure AD, Intune, PIM, Azure Security Center, Azure Sentinel, Azure Monitor, Azure Automation, Azure Backup, Azure Site Recovery, Azure Key Vault, Azure Policy, Azure Arc, and Azure Bastion.
• Azure Applications: Expertise in Azure Application Gateway, Azure Load Balancer, Azure WAF, Azure App Service, and configuration of Azure Application Proxy for secure remote access to core business applications.
• AWS: Proficient in AWS IAM, EC2, S3, Route53, VPCs, VPNs, AWS App Gateway, AWS DynamoDB, AWS Lambda, CloudFormation, AWS CloudTrail, and load balancers for secure and scalable infrastructure.
• Collaboration Platforms: Administration of Microsoft 365, including Exchange Online, Teams, and SharePoint Online, ensuring seamless integration with Azure AD.
• Windows Server: Extensive experience with installation, configuration, and administration of Windows Server 2003/2008/2012/2019/2022.
• Microsoft Exchange: Skilled in Exchange 2010/2013/2019/Online, including on-premises and hybrid migrations, server optimization, and improving email system performance.
• Mimecast: Administration and configuration for enhanced email security and compliance.
• Windows IIS: Configuration and management of IIS for hosting web applications.
• Microsoft Security Suite: Expertise in Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, Defender for Identity, Defender for Cloud, and email hygiene solutions.
• Identity & Access Management: Advanced knowledge of Azure AD (Entra ID), MFA, SSPR, Group Policy, Conditional Access Policies, and AWS IAM.
• Cato SASE Admin: Configuration and management of secure access service edge (SASE) solutions for enhanced network security.
• Privileged Access Management (PAM): Experience with secure access configurations for hybrid and cloud environments.
• Cloud Networking: Advanced configuration of DNS, firewalls, VPNs, Azure WAF, Azure Load Balancer, Cato SD-WAN, and network peering to ensure secure connectivity across hybrid environments.
• Infrastructure Optimization: Expertise in Active Directory streamlining, domain controller refreshes, DHCP management, SSL administration, and high-availability server environment implementations.
• IoT Platforms: Experience with AWS IoT and Azure IoT for proof-of-concept deployments.
• Infrastructure as Code (IaC): Hands-on experience with Terraform, CloudFormation, Bicep, and ARM templates for infrastructure automation.
• Scripting & Automation: Proficient in PowerShell, Azure CLI, and Python for automating tasks and optimizing workflows.
• DevOps Practices: Familiar with Azure DevOps CI/CD pipelines, AWS CodePipeline, GitHub, and containerization technologies like Docker, Kubernetes, and Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS).
• Azure Functions: Exposure to serverless computing for task automation.
• Web Development & Hosting: Experience with website creation, hosting, and management of web servers such as Windows IIS, Apache, and Nginx, including secure integrations with cloud resources.
• Strategic Cloud Initiatives: Led Azure cloud adoption strategies aligned with organizational goals, enabling cost-effective and scalable solutions.
• Team Development: Provided mentorship to IT staff, enhancing their expertise in cloud technologies and fostering a collaborative work environment.
• Monitoring & Troubleshooting: Expertise in real-time monitoring using Azure Monitor, AWS CloudWatch, Azure Log Analytics, and PRTG Monitoring for proactive issue resolution.
• Documentation & Training: Developed comprehensive technical documentation covering processes, best practices, and security protocols.
• Training: Conducted training sessions on cloud technologies, Windows Server, and cybersecurity for technical teams and end-users.

Cloud Technologies

• Microsoft Certified: Azure DevOps Engineer Expert (AZ-400)
• Microsoft Certified: Azure Security Engineer Associate (AZ-500)
• Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert (AZ-305)
• Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate (AZ-104)
• AWS Certified: Solutions Architect Associate (SAA-C02)
• Microsoft Certified: Azure Fundamentals (AZ-900)
• AWS Certified: Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C01)

Microsoft Server Technologies - MCP, MCSA, MCSE, MCTS, MCITP

• Microsoft Windows Server 2003/2008/2012
• Microsoft Exchange 2010/2013