About Me
I’m Tristan – a technical team lead and platform engineer with 19+ years of experience across the public and private sectors.
Taking a holistic view of IT
I build and lead DevOps teams that deliver reliable, automated infrastructure. My career spans defence, cloud infrastructure, telecommunications, biotechnology, and higher education – and throughout all of it, my focus has been on enabling teams to deliver with confidence through automation, strong processes, and clear technical direction.
In 2023 I completed the People Leadership Programme with Multiverse, earning a Distinction in People Leadership from the Chartered Management Institute. I’ve been a practising manager since 2022, most recently leading a team of four DevOps engineers at SiXworks, delivering automation-first platform services across multiple classified environments in the UK defence sector.
In 2024 I relocated to Belgium, where I joined the Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie (VIB) as an Automation Engineer and Change Manager. While the move was a personal decision, the role has given me the opportunity to apply my leadership experience in a new context – chairing the Change Advisory Board, coordinating Major Incidents, coaching team members, and driving the adoption of NIS2 and ISO27001 standards across critical research infrastructure.
What I bring#
My technical foundation is in Linux systems administration, infrastructure automation (Ansible, Terraform), and platform engineering. I combine this with hands-on experience in ITIL process design – having authored and implemented Change Management and Major Incident Management processes from scratch – and a genuine commitment to developing the people around me.
I believe the best infrastructure teams are built on trust, clear ownership, and a culture where automation is the default, not the exception.
Beyond the day job#
Outside of work, I’m a photographer and filmmaker with credits on several independent productions (IMDB). I run a homelab that doubles as a testing ground for the tools I use professionally, and I write about what I learn in my blog.
I’m also into motorcycling, martial arts, skiing, travel, photography, and coffee.