GitHub
BGP / OSPFAnsible · Terraform · PackerLinux kernel & systemdGitHub Actions · GitLab · JenkinsDocker · Kubernetes · ProxmoxPostfix · Dovecot · BindPython · Go · Bash · PowerShellAzure OpenAI · AI-assisted opsHA · DR · Incident escalation2,500+ VM Ansible estatesBGP / OSPFAnsible · Terraform · PackerLinux kernel & systemdGitHub Actions · GitLab · JenkinsDocker · Kubernetes · ProxmoxPostfix · Dovecot · BindPython · Go · Bash · PowerShellAzure OpenAI · AI-assisted opsHA · DR · Incident escalation2,500+ VM Ansible estates
Available - Contract or permanent

I build infrastructure that keeps its promises.

I'm Simon Oakes - UK-based Senior Linux, DevOps and Platform Engineer with 25+ years keeping ISP, media, build, cloud and network platforms calm, automated and recoverable.

Hire meView open-source work
LinuxAnsibleTerraformDockerKubernetesGoPythonGitHub Actions
prod.platform / liveSLO OKAS65534COREROUTING + POLICYedgeBGP stableworkloadsk8s + vdiobservabilityalerts quietdeliveryrunners activeTRAFFIC INSAFE OPSdeploygreenbackupverifiedlatency18msincidents0
Live platform view
25+
Years in production
2,500
VMs under automation
300+
DNS zones managed
40+
Ansible roles authored
01What I bring

Six ways I help engineering teams ship calmer.

Not a job description. The kinds of problems where I tend to do my best work.

01

Stabilise

Understand the platform, find the real failure modes, and reduce operational noise.

02

Automate

Replace fragile manual steps with code, pipelines, checks and repeatable workflows.

03

Modernise

Move systems forward without losing reliability, recovery, or the people operating them.

04

Mentor

Raise the bar across the engineering function - escalation point, reviewer, teacher.

05

Tool

Small Go and Python CLIs that fit shells, CI, cron and systemd. Built for operators.

06

AI-assist

Use AI where it improves clarity - summarisation, reporting and human-in-the-loop ops.

~/operator.sessionlive
simon@oakes:~$
02Experience

A timeline of production.

From mid-2000s ISP build-outs to today's CI/CD, VDI and AI-assisted operations.

  1. 01
    Oct 2024 - Present
    London, United Kingdom
    Remote

    Senior Infrastructure Engineer

    @ Bridgehampton LTD

    • Partnered with the End User Technology team to design and deploy optimised Windows 11 Citrix VDI images for the initial production rollout.
    • Introduced Ivanti Automation workflows for approximately 65 application deployments, replacing manual installation steps with repeatable, standardised automation.
    • Developed PowerShell automation to retrieve, package and install software using public APIs where available, with controlled web scraping for vendors without usable APIs.
    • Built a Python Flask web application with a responsive Bootstrap UI to extract Harvest timesheet data and produce weekly staff reporting summaries.
    • Integrated Azure OpenAI into the reporting workflow to generate leadership-ready summaries from Harvest timesheet data, reducing manual reporting effort.
    • Worked across teams to gather requirements, identify application needs and support adoption of the VDI and automation platform.
    CitrixWindows 11LinuxIvanti AutomationPowerShellPython FlaskBootstrapAzure OpenAIHarvest APIAPI integrationweb scrapingCI/CDGitHub Actions
  2. 02
    Nov 2018 - Oct 2024
    London, United Kingdom
    Remote

    Senior Systems Engineer

    @ DAZN

    • Maintained and improved build and development platforms across Dev, Stage and Prod environments, acting as an escalation point for complex CI/CD, infrastructure and platform issues.
    • Supported BAU incidents, mentored junior and mid-level engineers and helped raise operational standards across the systems engineering function.
    • Managed and automated infrastructure across an Ansible-controlled estate of approximately 2,500 VMs.
    • Worked with engineering team leads to improve reliability, availability and usability of internal build systems and supporting infrastructure.
    • Helped establish a Nutanix-based hybrid cloud platform to replace the ageing XenServer estate and improve platform scalability.
    • Created Ubuntu 22.04 golden image workflows with Packer and Terraform, standardising image generation for the new Nutanix platform and reducing manual build effort.
    LinuxDevOpsJenkinsGitHub ActionsNexusSonarQubeAnsibleNutanixPackerTerraformVMwarePure StorageNimbleNetApp
  3. 03
    Aug 2017 - Nov 2018
    London, United Kingdom
    Hybrid

    Systems Engineer

    @ Perform

    • Operated business-critical systems infrastructure including DNS, domain management, SSL certificate ordering and vendor coordination.
    • Worked with systems engineering leadership and internal stakeholders to plan and deliver improvements to the development platform.
    • Architected and built a replacement Docker-based build platform using custom Docker images and Ansible-controlled administration across Dev, Stage and Prod workflows.
    DNSSSLDockerAnsibleJenkinsNexusSonarQubeVMwareXenServerPure StorageNimble
  4. 04
    Mar 2015 - Jul 2017
    Bratislava, Slovakia
    Contractor, Remote

    System Engineer

    @ Zerg Data s.r.o

    • Helped establish new network and server infrastructure, including rDNS administration, IPv4/IPv6 planning, zone management for approximately 300 domains and hardware provisioning.
    • Led Linux-based solutions across XenServer, Hyper-V, cPanel, DNS, Seafile, PHPIPAM and in-house systems.
    • Produced the initial Mikrotik image for standardised firewalling and routing across VPN and physical network links.
    LinuxDNSIPv4IPv6VPNXenServerHyper-VPuppetMikrotikfirewallsIPAM
  5. 05
    Apr 2011 - Feb 2015
    London, United Kingdom
    Contractor

    Systems Administrator

    @ Peerpoint Internet Limited

    • Planned, deployed, troubleshot and improved network and service infrastructure in close collaboration with the development team.
    • Helped architect high-availability mail, VoIP and payment gateway services.
    • Established Puppet automation infrastructure, including a failover Puppet design and 40+ Puppet modules for Linux service management.
    LinuxPuppetDNSApachePostfixDovecotAmavisVPNFreeSWITCHFreePBXAsteriskKeepalived
  6. 06
    Mar 2009 - Jan 2011
    London, United Kingdom

    Contractor

    @ Stealth Telecom

    • Architected and deployed a VoIP and payment gateway solution using MySQL, Apache, Asterisk and a2billing.
    • Integrated IAX trunks with VoIP wholesale providers to reduce call costs and improve call quality.
    • Established Least Cost Routing rules to automatically route calls through the most cost-effective provider.
    VoIPAsteriskIAXSIPMySQLApachea2billingscriptingthird-line support
  7. 07
    Apr 2004 - Jan 2009
    Milton Keynes, United Kingdom

    Support Engineer

    @ PGL IT Limited

    • Helped architect, establish and maintain an ISP offering hosting and connectivity services, including ADSL broadband.
    • Maintained RADIUS authentication services and database backends while providing technical consultation to leadership.
    • Carried out day-to-day systems administration and networking across Debian Unix infrastructure.
    DebianLinuxRADIUSbroadbandADSLhostingnetworkingHP serversSupermicroPerl
  8. 08
    Aug 2002 - Nov 2003
    London, United Kingdom

    Technical Manager

    @ LondonLink

    • Managed day-to-day operations and maintenance of core servers supporting ISP services, reporting directly to the company director.
    • Delivered third-line telephone support and administered business customer packages, including on-site support where required.
    • Acted as systems administrator and network engineer for approximately twenty Linux and Windows servers.
    LinuxWindowsApacheBindnetworkingserver hardwarerack managementbackupsCiscothird-line support
  9. 09
    Nov 2000 - Aug 2002
    Brighton, United Kingdom

    2nd Line Technical Support Supervisor

    @ Mistral Internet Group

    • Provided second-line technical support for business and residential customers while supervising a team of first-line engineers.
    • Supported internet connectivity technologies including modems, ISDN, broadband and ADSL.
    • Acted as Postmaster and Hostmaster, managing customer email and DNS services including records, domain registrations and mailbox administration.
    DNSdomainshostmasterpostmasteremailWindowsLinuxISDNADSLbroadband
03Selected public work

Tools I built for the problems I actually hit.

A slice of github.com/soakes - operator-facing CLIs and small services, all production-minded.

public
3

blackhole-threats

Go-based RTBH daemon that turns threat feeds into controlled BGP blackhole announcements - production-grade network defence automation.

GoGoBGPLinux
Goopen ->
public
1

s3ctl

Go-based S3 provisioning CLI for bucket creation, scoped IAM credentials, and batch operations across S3-compatible endpoints.

GoAWS S3
Goopen ->
public
7

s3mirror

Production-ready Python utility for mirroring buckets between S3-compatible endpoints - parallel transfers, comprehensive logging, automation-friendly CLI.

PythonAWS S3
Pythonopen ->
public
22

telegram-message-exporter

Offline recovery and export tool for Telegram on macOS. Decrypts local db_sqlite and exports to HTML, Markdown and CSV.

PythonSQLitemacOS
Pythonopen ->
public
1

quotai

A small CLI for showing Z.ai quota usage and exact reset windows - packaged for apt and Homebrew.

PythonDebian
Pythonopen ->
public
0

homebrew-quotai

Homebrew tap for QuotAI - packaging and distribution for macOS users.

RubyHomebrew
Rubyopen ->
All repositories on github.com/soakes ->
04Core toolbox

The stack I reach for, battle-tested.

Every tool here has been used in production - not just in tutorials.

Linux & Systems

DebianUbuntuRed Hat-family systemssystemdWindows ServermacOS

Automation & IaC

AnsibleTerraformPackerPuppetBashPowerShellPythonGo

CI/CD & Platforms

GitLab CIGitHub ActionsJenkinsNexusSonarQubedeveloper platforms

Containers & Virtualisation

DockerKubernetesProxmoxVMwareXenServerKVMNutanix

Networking & Services

DNSBGPOSPFVPNsHAProxyNginxApachePostfixDovecot

Operations

monitoringbackuphigh availabilityincident escalationmentoringAI-assisted reporting
05Engineering style

How I work.

rule 1

Automate the repeatable.

rule 2

Document the surprising.

rule 3

Design for recovery.

rule 4

Keep production calm.

rule 5

Make the next fix easier than the last one.

"I help turn complex infrastructure into platforms that are easier to operate, easier to recover, and easier for teams to trust."

- simon oakes

Senior Linux, DevOps and Platform Engineer with 25+ years of experience building, operating and automating production infrastructure across ISP, media, cloud, virtualisation, networking, storage and CI/CD environments.

Known for stabilising complex platforms, reducing manual operational work, improving build and developer systems, mentoring engineers and creating pragmatic tooling around real production needs.

06Credentials

Verified AI foundations.

Credly-verified Google AI credentials covering practical use across research, communication, data analysis, app building, prompting and responsible AI.

Featured credential / Credly

Google AI Professional Certificate

Issued by Coursera / Google

Practical AI credential covering research, communication, data analysis, workflow automation, app building, prompting and responsible AI use.

AI workflowsPromptingResponsible AI
Verify ->
Credly

Google AI Fundamentals

Coursera / Google

AI ecosystem awareness, model strengths and limitations, prompting, output checking and responsible AI practices.

AI fundamentalsPrompting
verify ->
Credly

Google AI for App Building

Coursera / Google

AI-assisted app building for workflow problems, from opportunity mapping through to working web applications.

App buildingWorkflow tooling
verify ->
Credly

Google AI for Data Analysis

Coursera / Google

AI-supported data cleaning, analysis, visualisation and metric discovery for evidence-based decision making.

Data analysisVisualisation
verify ->
Credly

Google AI for Research and Insights

Coursera / Google

AI-assisted research, source validation, synthesis of multimodal material and concise reporting.

ResearchSource checking
verify ->
Credly

Google AI for Writing and Communicating

Coursera / Google

AI-assisted communication, meeting follow-up, audience adaptation and stakeholder preparation.

CommunicationSummaries
verify ->
Credly

Google AI for Brainstorming and Planning

Coursera / Google

AI-assisted project planning, risk discovery, cost-benefit analysis and structured stakeholder handoff.

PlanningRisk discovery
verify ->
Currently accepting work

Need someone who can keep production calm?

I take on senior Linux, DevOps and platform work - contract or permanent, remote or hybrid across the UK. Fastest path is LinkedIn.

~/contact.shready
$./handoff--route linkedin--request full-cv
candidate signal
linux / devops / platformstrong match
automation / ci / reliabilityprimary lane
contract or permanentavailable
handoff checklist
01Share role context and urgency
02Request the full unredacted CV
03Book a technical conversation
secure public handoff

Full contact details stay off the public site. For relevant Linux, DevOps or platform roles, start on LinkedIn and I will provide the complete CV directly.

Message on LinkedIn ->GitHub