Skills on Tristan Findleyhttps://tfindley.co.uk/about/skills/Recent content in Skills on Tristan FindleyHugo -- gohugo.ioentfindley@outlook.com (Tristan Findley)tfindley@outlook.com (Tristan Findley)© 2026 Tristan FindleyLeadership Governance & Business Skillshttps://tfindley.co.uk/about/skills/business/Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000tfindley@outlook.com (Tristan Findley)https://tfindley.co.uk/about/skills/business/<p>I&rsquo;m targeting hands-on senior DevOps / platform / SRE work — so think of these not as a pivot to management, but as <strong>proof of seniority and breadth</strong>: a senior engineer who can also lead, govern, and engage the business. Each is backed by real evidence, because a list of soft skills means little without it.</p> <hr> <h3 class="relative group">Leadership &amp; People <div id="leadership--people" class="anchor"></div> <span class="absolute top-0 w-6 transition-opacity opacity-0 -start-6 not-prose group-hover:opacity-100 select-none"> <a class="text-primary-300 dark:text-neutral-700 !no-underline" href="#leadership--people" aria-label="Anchor">#</a> </span> </h3> <ul> <li><strong>Built and led a team from scratch</strong> — assembled and developed 4 DevOps engineers <em>(SiXworks)</em></li> <li><strong>Line / pastoral management</strong> — pastoral manager for 4 staff; wellbeing, Personal Development Plans, career progression <em>(UKCloud)</em></li> <li><strong>Coaching &amp; mentoring</strong> — coaching engineers in Linux, automation, and IT best practice <em>(VIB, SiXworks, UKCloud)</em>; developing people through directed, stretching work</li> <li><strong>People-first 1-2-1s &amp; PDPs</strong> — informal, wellbeing-focused 1-2-1s; interest-aligned development plans <em>(SiXworks, UKCloud)</em></li> <li><strong>Crisis leadership</strong> — protected and re-homed the whole team during company administration <em>(UKCloud)</em></li> <li><strong>Mental Health First Aider</strong> (MHFA England, 2022) — qualified to recognise and support wellbeing</li> </ul> <h3 class="relative group">Governance, Risk &amp; Compliance <div id="governance-risk--compliance" class="anchor"></div> <span class="absolute top-0 w-6 transition-opacity opacity-0 -start-6 not-prose group-hover:opacity-100 select-none"> <a class="text-primary-300 dark:text-neutral-700 !no-underline" href="#governance-risk--compliance" aria-label="Anchor">#</a> </span> </h3> <ul> <li><strong>Process &amp; policy authorship</strong> — authored Change, Incident, Major Incident, Risk, Patch, Document Control, and User Activity Investigation policies/processes <em>from scratch</em> <em>(VIB)</em></li> <li><strong>FitSM Process Owner — Change Management</strong> — formal, organisation-wide accountability <em>(VIB)</em></li> <li><strong>Change Advisory Board (CAB) Chair</strong> <em>(VIB)</em></li> <li><strong>Major Incident Coordinator</strong> — led live incident response, including a precautionary emergency Compute shutdown <em>(VIB)</em></li> <li><strong>Frameworks:</strong> <strong>ITIL</strong> (practitioner → author) · <strong>FitSM</strong> (Foundation, Process Owner) · <strong>ISO27001</strong> (applied as the methodology for <strong>NIS2</strong> compliance)</li> <li><strong>Change management arc</strong> — from first working within a peer-reviewed process <em>(Surrey)</em>, to formal ITIL change control where the instincts formed <em>(UKCloud)</em>, to authoring and chairing <em>(VIB)</em>: <em>practitioner → advocate → author</em></li> <li>Audit, documentation, risk analysis, and security investigation</li> </ul> <h3 class="relative group">Delivery &amp; Project Management <div id="delivery--project-management" class="anchor"></div> <span class="absolute top-0 w-6 transition-opacity opacity-0 -start-6 not-prose group-hover:opacity-100 select-none"> <a class="text-primary-300 dark:text-neutral-700 !no-underline" href="#delivery--project-management" aria-label="Anchor">#</a> </span> </h3> <ul> <li><strong>Agile / Scrum</strong> — Scrum Master; two-weekly sprint delivery; MVP-first iterative delivery <em>(SiXworks, UKCloud)</em></li> <li><strong>Technical project leadership</strong> — led delivery as a non-contributing lead (the difference between technical contribution and technical leadership)</li> <li><strong>Board-level advocacy</strong> — made and won the case for automation-first to the board of directors <em>(SiXworks)</em></li> <li><strong>Cross-team delivery</strong> — merged standups and shared goals with adjacent teams <em>(SiXworks, VIB)</em></li> </ul> <h3 class="relative group">Business &amp; Stakeholder <div id="business--stakeholder" class="anchor"></div> <span class="absolute top-0 w-6 transition-opacity opacity-0 -start-6 not-prose group-hover:opacity-100 select-none"> <a class="text-primary-300 dark:text-neutral-700 !no-underline" href="#business--stakeholder" aria-label="Anchor">#</a> </span> </h3> <ul> <li><strong>Solution architecture</strong> — design → delivery → support across infrastructure and client solutions <em>(TFindley, Larch, all roles)</em></li> <li><strong>Client / SME consulting</strong> — running an independent IT &amp; networking practice for real clients <em>(TFindley)</em></li> <li><strong>Requirements capture &amp; stakeholder engagement</strong> — consulting academics, researchers, and business stakeholders to shape services <em>(Surrey, RHUL, VIB)</em></li> <li><strong>Procurement &amp; vendor management</strong> — hardware lifecycle, specification, supplier sourcing <em>(RHUL, Larch)</em></li> <li><strong>Service mindset</strong> — a trusted-partner approach to platform and research teams; researcher onboarding <em>(VIB, SiXworks)</em></li> </ul> <h3 class="relative group">Communication &amp; Enablement <div id="communication--enablement" class="anchor"></div> <span class="absolute top-0 w-6 transition-opacity opacity-0 -start-6 not-prose group-hover:opacity-100 select-none"> <a class="text-primary-300 dark:text-neutral-700 !no-underline" href="#communication--enablement" aria-label="Anchor">#</a> </span> </h3> <ul> <li><strong>Teaching &amp; training</strong> — wrote and delivered an &ldquo;Introduction to Linux&rdquo; course; taught MSc Information Security lab elements <em>(RHUL)</em>; user training <em>(TFindley, RHUL)</em></li> <li><strong>Technical authority / SME</strong> — code review, risk analysis, technical decision-making <em>(VIB)</em></li> <li><strong>Documentation &amp; knowledge management</strong> — procedures, runbooks, knowledge base <em>(all roles)</em></li> </ul> <h3 class="relative group">Credentials <div id="credentials" class="anchor"></div> <span class="absolute top-0 w-6 transition-opacity opacity-0 -start-6 not-prose group-hover:opacity-100 select-none"> <a class="text-primary-300 dark:text-neutral-700 !no-underline" href="#credentials" aria-label="Anchor">#</a> </span> </h3> <ul> <li><strong>CMgr (Chartered Manager)</strong> — Chartered Management Institute</li> <li><strong>CMI People Leadership</strong> — <strong>Distinction</strong> (Level 3)</li> <li><strong>FitSM Foundation</strong> (APMG, 2026)</li> <li><strong>ITIL 2011 Foundation</strong> (AXELOS, 2016)</li> <li><strong>Mental Health First Aid</strong> (MHFA England, 2022)</li> </ul>I’m targeting hands-on senior DevOps / platform / SRE work — so think of these not as a pivot to management, but as proof of seniority and breadth: a senior engineer who can also lead, govern, and engage the business. Each is backed by real evidence, because a list of soft skills means little without it.

Leadership & People
#

  • Built and led a team from scratch — assembled and developed 4 DevOps engineers (SiXworks)
  • Line / pastoral management — pastoral manager for 4 staff; wellbeing, Personal Development Plans, career progression (UKCloud)
  • Coaching & mentoring — coaching engineers in Linux, automation, and IT best practice (VIB, SiXworks, UKCloud); developing people through directed, stretching work
  • People-first 1-2-1s & PDPs — informal, wellbeing-focused 1-2-1s; interest-aligned development plans (SiXworks, UKCloud)
  • Crisis leadership — protected and re-homed the whole team during company administration (UKCloud)
  • Mental Health First Aider (MHFA England, 2022) — qualified to recognise and support wellbeing

Governance, Risk & Compliance
#

  • Process & policy authorship — authored Change, Incident, Major Incident, Risk, Patch, Document Control, and User Activity Investigation policies/processes from scratch (VIB)
  • FitSM Process Owner — Change Management — formal, organisation-wide accountability (VIB)
  • Change Advisory Board (CAB) Chair (VIB)
  • Major Incident Coordinator — led live incident response, including a precautionary emergency Compute shutdown (VIB)
  • Frameworks: ITIL (practitioner → author) · FitSM (Foundation, Process Owner) · ISO27001 (applied as the methodology for NIS2 compliance)
  • Change management arc — from first working within a peer-reviewed process (Surrey), to formal ITIL change control where the instincts formed (UKCloud), to authoring and chairing (VIB): practitioner → advocate → author
  • Audit, documentation, risk analysis, and security investigation

Delivery & Project Management
#

  • Agile / Scrum — Scrum Master; two-weekly sprint delivery; MVP-first iterative delivery (SiXworks, UKCloud)
  • Technical project leadership — led delivery as a non-contributing lead (the difference between technical contribution and technical leadership)
  • Board-level advocacy — made and won the case for automation-first to the board of directors (SiXworks)
  • Cross-team delivery — merged standups and shared goals with adjacent teams (SiXworks, VIB)

Business & Stakeholder
#

  • Solution architecture — design → delivery → support across infrastructure and client solutions (TFindley, Larch, all roles)
  • Client / SME consulting — running an independent IT & networking practice for real clients (TFindley)
  • Requirements capture & stakeholder engagement — consulting academics, researchers, and business stakeholders to shape services (Surrey, RHUL, VIB)
  • Procurement & vendor management — hardware lifecycle, specification, supplier sourcing (RHUL, Larch)
  • Service mindset — a trusted-partner approach to platform and research teams; researcher onboarding (VIB, SiXworks)

Communication & Enablement
#

  • Teaching & training — wrote and delivered an “Introduction to Linux” course; taught MSc Information Security lab elements (RHUL); user training (TFindley, RHUL)
  • Technical authority / SME — code review, risk analysis, technical decision-making (VIB)
  • Documentation & knowledge management — procedures, runbooks, knowledge base (all roles)

Credentials
#

  • CMgr (Chartered Manager) — Chartered Management Institute
  • CMI People Leadership — Distinction (Level 3)
  • FitSM Foundation (APMG, 2026)
  • ITIL 2011 Foundation (AXELOS, 2016)
  • Mental Health First Aid (MHFA England, 2022)
]]>Technology Stack Experiencehttps://tfindley.co.uk/about/skills/technology/Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000tfindley@outlook.com (Tristan Findley)https://tfindley.co.uk/about/skills/technology/<blockquote><p><strong>Tiers (usage-based — what&rsquo;s central to MY practice, NOT a mastery/complexity rating):</strong></p> <ul> <li>⭐ Core (central to how I work; I reach for it regularly, in production)</li> <li>● Proficient (used to deliver real work; independent) · ◐ Familiar (projects / homelab / exposure)</li> <li>○ Learning. <em>This rates centrality, not expertise — &ldquo;Terraform is core to my work&rdquo; is a fact, not a boast.</em></li> </ul> </blockquote><hr> <p><strong>⭐ Core strengths:</strong> Ansible · Terraform · Linux · HashiCorp Vault · Docker · VMware · Git · Bash · sovereign / secure &amp; air-gapped infrastructure</p>

Tiers (usage-based — what’s central to MY practice, NOT a mastery/complexity rating):

  • ⭐ Core (central to how I work; I reach for it regularly, in production)
  • ● Proficient (used to deliver real work; independent) · ◐ Familiar (projects / homelab / exposure)
  • ○ Learning. This rates centrality, not expertise — “Terraform is core to my work” is a fact, not a boast.

⭐ Core strengths: Ansible · Terraform · Linux · HashiCorp Vault · Docker · VMware · Git · Bash · sovereign / secure & air-gapped infrastructure

Automation & Infrastructure as Code (signature area)
#

  • ⭐ Core: Ansible · Terraform · Vault (internal PKI/CA, ACME, secrets, HSM integration) · Git (GitLab/GitHub/Gitea/Bitbucket)
  • ● Proficient: Packer · Rundeck · Semaphore (automation delivery) · PXE/Kickstart · Chef (dated — Surrey)
  • ◐ Familiar: CI/CD (GitLab pipelines) · Molecule · Consul (light/dated)

Containers & Orchestration
#

  • ⭐ Core: Docker
  • ● Proficient: Docker Swarm · Traefik
  • ◐ Familiar: Podman · OpenShift (exposure)
  • ○ Learning: Kubernetes (active priority)

Cloud & Virtualisation
#

  • ⭐ Core: VMware (vCloud Director, vSphere, ESXi) · Private / Sovereign cloud
  • ● Proficient: Proxmox
  • ◐ Familiar: KVM · Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) · AWS

Operating Systems
#

  • ⭐ Core: Linux — RHEL, Debian, Ubuntu, CentOS, SUSE (primary, ~20 years)
  • ● Proficient: Windows Server (& Desktop) · macOS

Security & Compliance
#

  • Frameworks & standards: FitSM (Foundation; Process Owner – Change Mgmt) · ISO27001 · NIS2 · ITIL · Cyber Essentials
  • ⭐ Core: OS hardening · PKI / certificates (Vault internal CA, ACME, HSM integration) · classification-aware & air-gapped deployment
    • (Vault open-source: Core. Vault Enterprise features: less familiar.)
  • ● Proficient: SIEM (Wazuh, Graylog, OpenSearch/Elasticsearch) · firewalls (iptables, firewalld, UFW) · penetration-test remediation · DevSecOps · Zero Trust
  • ◐ Familiar: OPNsense · pfSense

Monitoring & Observability
#

  • ● Proficient: Zabbix · OpsView (Nagios) · Graylog · Uptime Kuma
  • ◐ Familiar: Prometheus · Grafana

Networking
#

  • ● Proficient: Ubiquiti UniFi (multi-site live deployments) · HAProxy · KeepAliveD · DNS (BIND/named, FreeIPA) · structured cabling, rack/patch
  • ◐ Familiar: HP ProCurve / Aruba (dated) · Mikrotik · OPNsense / pfSense · Netbird (mesh) · AdGuard Home

Storage & Backup
#

  • ● Proficient: Quantum StorNext (~1 PB migration — Surrey) · MinIO (S3) · SAN administration
  • ◐ Familiar: Dell EMC · Dell FluidFS · OnStor (all dated — Surrey/RHUL)

Databases (operational, not DBA-level)
#

  • ◐ Familiar: PostgreSQL · MongoDB · MariaDB (Galera, MaxScale) · MySQL

Identity & Directory
#

  • ● Proficient: LDAP / Active Directory · FreeIPA · Samba
  • ◐ Familiar: Kanidm (SSO) · Kerberos · Open Directory

Web, Mail & Services
#

  • ● Proficient: Apache · nginx
  • ◐ Familiar: Traefik (see Containers) · Postfix · Dovecot · Sendmail · Nextcloud · Immich

Asset & Service Management
#

  • ● Proficient: NetBox · Device42 (CMDB) · Ivanti Service Manager · Confluence / Jira
  • ◐ Familiar: osTicket · GLPI · InfoBlox

Languages & Scripting
#

  • ⭐ Core: Bash
  • ● Proficient: Python
  • ◐ Familiar: PowerShell · Batch · Make

Practices & Methodologies
#

  • ⭐ Core: Infrastructure as Code · immutable infrastructure (“flock of sheep, not pets”)
  • ● Proficient: DevSecOps · Agile / Scrum · ITIL & FitSM change/incident management
  • ◐ Familiar: CI/CD · TDD
  • ○ Learning: GitOps
]]>