Kamal CHERIYATH

Experienced Technologist for Developer Platforms & Cloud

 

I am a technology evangelist and senior leader for Cloud, Infrastructure and Developer Platforms with first-hand experience of Engineering, Architecture and Product Management.

 

I deliver scalable, secure, and resilient multi-cloud frameworks, with a focus on developer experience for discovery, automation, and on boarding. I champion DevSecOps, Central Ops, Cost and Value optimisation, sustainability, and engineering health with a unified view of cloud platforms and engineering. I have a successful record of accomplishment for building and leading high performance engineering teams for Cloud and Digital first initiatives.

 

SKILLS

Cloud Strategy and Architecture

 

  • Create and deliver Platform strategy
  • Evangelise a platform focused delivery approach to Senior Leadership and to the wider organisation.
  • Architecture for Multi-Cloud/Poly-Cloud based on Cloud Well Architected Frameworks.
  • Optimise Costs and Right-size Cloud infrastructure.
  • Deliver Sustainable solutions for Cloud.
  • Build Scalable multi-region, multi-cloud storage solutions and databases with identity and network security.

DevOps and Engineering

 

  • Deliver Cloud Native Platforms focussed on Security, Scalability, Developer Experience and Value.
  • Operate Cloud Native compute on Kubernetes, App Services and Container Apps.
  • Deliver DevOps and Site Reliability.
  • Integrated platform and Devops pipelines with security and change tracking.
  • Deliver Internal Developer Platforms and developer portals for Engineering.
  • Deliver on-demand and scalable backup strategies for Cloud platforms.
  • Drive observability and operations for the platforms.

 

Leadership and Management

 

  • Build and maintain strong relationships with key stakeholders, ensuring alignment and collaboration across departments for core infrastructure and app modernisation initiatives.
  • Manage large teams, and line manage product and engineering roles across multiple geographies.
  • Certified SAFe 5 Agilist with experience leading large AGILE Scrum teams.
  • Deliver with distributed global and remote teams.
  • Supplier relationship owner for cloud and infrastructure partners/vendors.
  • Mentor engineers and managers, fostering a culture of continuous learning and professional growth.
  • Strong decision-making abilities, ensuring logical and strategic choices that benefit the organisation.

Experience

APR 2022 CURRENT

HEAD OF CLOUD PLATFORM ENGINEERING, [LARGE UK RETAILER]

 

  • Managed strategy and engineering for Cloud9, the core platforms, frameworks, and scaffolding underpinning over 20mil annual spend on Cloud.
  • Built and nurtured global multi-vendor and high-performance engineering teams delivering Cloud native strategy.
  • Drive adoption and cloud-first/cloud-only practices across the organisation through automation and autonomy.
  • Delivered the blueprint and implementation for a highly scalable multi-region, multi-cloud framework grounded on cloud native landing zones for the 24x7 global business.
  • Integrated secure by design cloud infrastructure with cloud native policies, zero trust and privileged identity management, network, and data security.
  • Onboard and manage strategic solution vendors for Cloud Infrastructure tooling.
  • Conceptualised and delivered Muziris, the Internal Developer Platform for Engineering for Discovery, Automation and Service egistry.
  • Delivering DevSecOps frameworks through central ops as engineering teams, and Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) for Platforms.
  • Implemented Engineering health metrics, success criteria and score cards.
  • Driving engineering value through on-demand and design-time cost optimisation and health insights.
  • Working on optimising sustainability and carbon footprint for Cloud consumption.
  • Single pane of glass view of observability and operations by integrating observability platforms, operational platforms, and Internal Developer platforms (IDP)s.
  • Technology evaluations, onboarding Opensource frameworks.

 

JAN 2018 - FEB 2022

PRODUCT MANAGER, CLOUD FOUNDATION & INTEGRATION FRAMEWORKS, [LARGE UK RETAILER]

 

  • Delivered enterprise roadmap and backlog for Cloud Foundation, Systems Integration and B2B Frameworks.
  • Delivered matured onboarding platforms for Cloud compute (Kubernetes and Serverless) and Integration.
  • Delivered API, Events, and Integration Frameworks for cloud migration from On-premise Data centres.
  • Rated 4+ on a scale of 5 compared against industry benchmark of 2+ for Integration maturity, putting the organisation at the top bracket for highly mature architecture and engineering practices.

 

OCT 2012 DEC 2017

LEAD ARCHITECT, APPLICATION INTEGRATION, [LARGE UK RETAILER]

 

  • Defined core application integration architecture, topology, and patterns.
  • Defined Integration design principles and patterns for on-premises and cloud solutions for Messaging, APIs, and Data transformation.
  • Design Authority for Integration Architects.

  • Architectural guidance and support for enterprise initiatives.

 

DEC 2001 SEP 2012

ENGINEER/TECH LEAD & ARCHITECT, [GLOBAL TECH PROVIDER]

 

  • Engineering roles in Finance and Retail sector with customers including Merrill Lynch, BlackRock, ABN-Amro.
  • Managed centres of excellence for engineering.
  • re-Sales and Consultancy support for Global teams.

  • Architectural guidance and support for enterprise initiatives.

CONTACT

Reach out to me at
https://uk.linkedin.com/in/kamalcheriyath