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{\Huge\bfseries\color{accent} Nigel Gibbs}

{\large\color{accentlight} Forward Deployed Engineer}

\small \href{mailto:nigel@gibbsoft.com}{nigel@gibbsoft.com} \quad\textbar\quad +44 (0) 777 197 4018 \quad\textbar\quad South Tyneside, UK \quad\textbar\quad \href{https://github.com/gibbsoft}{github.com/gibbsoft} \quad\textbar\quad \href{https://linkedin.com/in/NigelGibbs}{in/NigelGibbs}
\normalsize

\section*{Professional Summary}
Engineer who builds, deploys, and supports software directly in customer environments. Full-stack across the stack — Go, Flutter, Terraform, Kubernetes, LLMs — from greenfields design to production operations. Delivered mission-critical platforms for UK government, built a modular SaaS framework from scratch, and shipped cross-platform mobile apps to app stores. Comfortable working directly with stakeholders, solving ambiguous problems, and iterating fast in production.


\section*{Professional Experience}
\Needspace{14\baselineskip}
\subsection*{Founder / Principal Platform Engineer\hfill\scriptsize\textbf{PERMANENT}}
\textbf{\textit{Gibbsoft Ltd, South Tyneside, UK}} \hfill \textbf{\textit{(January 2024 - Present)}}

Building platform software, developer tooling, and customer-facing applications end to end.

\begin{itemize}[leftmargin=*,nosep]
  \item Designed and built \textbf{GoatKit}, a modular SaaS framework with YAML-based dynamic routing, plugin architecture (WASM + gRPC), auth, DB abstraction, and hot-reload — powering multiple customer-facing products from a single codebase. Built 10+ extension modules (billing, payments, subscriptions, LLM integration, notifications, maps, media) for a future commercial Enterprise version.
  \item Built and shipped \textbf{GoatFlow}, a multi-tenant helpdesk platform on top of GoatKit with multi-queue ticketing, customer portal, SLA management, dynamic reporting, and MCP integration.
  \item Shipped \textbf{Radiophonia}, a cross-platform streaming radio app in Flutter (Linux, macOS, Windows, Android, iOS) with Firebase sync, song history/timeline, and music recognition.
  \item Built \textbf{ORAC}, a self-hosted TTS/STT voice pipeline with custom synthesis and transcription API endpoints.
  \item Designed and deployed a \textbf{2-node DGX Spark cluster} with 400 Gbps RDMA interconnect running vLLM, Ollama, and custom inference pipelines for LLM-powered features across multiple products.
  \item Built and operated \textbf{self-hosted infrastructure} including Gitea, n8n workflow automation, Cloudflare tunnels, Docker Compose stacks, and CI/CD runners across Linux, Windows and Mac.
\end{itemize}

\Needspace{8\baselineskip}
\subsection*{Forward Deployed Engineer\hfill\scriptsize\textbf{CONTRACT}}
\textbf{\textit{(UK government client), (hybrid / remote)}} \hfill \textbf{\textit{(April 2024 - April 2026)}}

\begin{itemize}[leftmargin=*,nosep]
  \item Designed, developed, shipped and supported \textbf{2 specialised cloud-based systems} for a UK government client on AWS using Terragrunt, OpenTofu, Python and Docker.
\end{itemize}

\Needspace{8\baselineskip}
\subsection*{Forward Deployed Engineer\hfill\scriptsize\textbf{PERMANENT}}
\textbf{\textit{(UK government client), (hybrid / remote)}} \hfill \textbf{\textit{(June 2023 - December 2023)}}

\begin{itemize}[leftmargin=*,nosep]
  \item Led the design and development of a cloud-based solution for a UK government client using \textbf{Terraform, BASH, Docker and Kubernetes}.
\end{itemize}

\Needspace{8\baselineskip}
\subsection*{Senior Site Reliability Engineer\hfill\scriptsize\textbf{PERMANENT}}
\textbf{\textit{(UK government client), (remote)}} \hfill \textbf{\textit{(January 2021 - June 2023)}}

\begin{itemize}[leftmargin=*,nosep]
  \item Designed and built a \textbf{Kubernetes-native PaaS} that enabled self-service application deployment via GitOps workflows (ArgoCD + Helm). Delivered an integrated stack including:
    \begin{itemize}[leftmargin=1.6em,nosep,label=\textbullet]
      \item Kubernetes cluster provisioning and administration
      \item GitOps deployment pipeline with automated sync, drift detection, and rollback
      \item Centralised monitoring (Prometheus/Grafana) and logging (Loki/Elastic)
      \item Secrets management with automated rotation
      \item Helm chart repository and standardised application templates
      \item Developer self-service via ArgoCD UI — teams manage their apps entirely through git
    \end{itemize}
\end{itemize}

\Needspace{8\baselineskip}
\subsection*{DevOps Lead Engineer\hfill\scriptsize\textbf{CONTRACT}}
\textbf{\textit{UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), Swindon}} \hfill \textbf{\textit{(October 2019 - January 2021)}}

Working with UKRI to \textbf{architect, build and maintain secure infrastructure on public cloud (AWS)}.  Regularly using Terraform, Ansible and Kubernetes/OpenShift.


\Needspace{8\baselineskip}
\subsection*{Lead DevOps Engineer\hfill\scriptsize\textbf{CONTRACT}}
\textbf{\textit{Innovate UK, Swindon}} \hfill \textbf{\textit{(April 2018 - September 2019)}}

Working with Innovate UK to \textbf{define, implement, manage and maintain Cloud infrastructure}.  Working with suppliers and other Stakeholders to ensure fit for service architecture/processes are implemented.  Built and configured new server platforms and infrastructure using Terraform, Ansible and Kubernetes/OpenShift on AWS.


\Needspace{8\baselineskip}
\subsection*{Digital Head of Technology Operations\hfill\scriptsize\textbf{CONTRACT}}
\textbf{\textit{Department of Work and Pensions, GOV.UK (DWP), Newcastle Upon Tyne}} \hfill \textbf{\textit{(December 2017 - April 2018)}}

Building cloud infrastructure on AWS using Terraform and Puppet to host various public facing pension services such as \textbf{Check Your State Pension} and \textbf{Get Your State Pension}.


\Needspace{8\baselineskip}
\subsection*{DevOps Lead Engineer\hfill\scriptsize\textbf{CONTRACT}}
\textbf{\textit{Innovate UK (via M4 Managed Services), Swindon}} \hfill \textbf{\textit{(November 2016 - December 2017)}}

\textbf{Define, implement, manage and maintain Cloud infrastructure.}  Built and configured new server platforms and infrastructure using Terraform, Ansible and Kubernetes/OpenShift on AWS.  Identification and development of resources to establish a sustainable internal capability for long term DevOps and hosting needs.


\Needspace{8\baselineskip}
\subsection*{Senior WebOps Engineer\hfill\scriptsize\textbf{CONTRACT}}
\textbf{\textit{GOV.UK PAY, GDS, London}} \hfill \textbf{\textit{(August 2016 - November 2016)}}

Part of Government-as-a-Platform (GaaP): helped \textbf{build an enterprise-class payments platform using Terraform, Chef and Ansible with Docker around Jenkins on AWS}.


\Needspace{8\baselineskip}
\subsection*{DevOps Consultant\hfill\scriptsize\textbf{CONTRACT}}
\textbf{\textit{NHSBSA (via IndigoBlue), Newcastle Upon Tyne}} \hfill \textbf{\textit{(January 2016 - July 2016)}}

Formed a scrum team from previously siloed resources and led them through the design and implementation of a \textbf{greenfields CI/CD system based around GitLab-CI, Terraform and Ansible in the Skyscape vCloud.}


\Needspace{8\baselineskip}
\subsection*{Puppet SME\hfill\scriptsize\textbf{CONTRACT}}
\textbf{\textit{UCAS, Cheltenham}} \hfill \textbf{\textit{(April 2015 - October 2015)}}

Devised scalable masterless implementation on AWS. Extensive remediation work on estate of over 100 Puppet modules. \textbf{Wrote a Windows Webfarm custom type/provider in Ruby and Powershell.}


\Needspace{8\baselineskip}
\subsection*{Cloud Architect\hfill\scriptsize\textbf{CONTRACT}}
\textbf{\textit{Symantec.cloud, Gloucester}} \hfill \textbf{\textit{(February 2014 - April 2015)}}

Implemented configuration management using \textbf{Python}, and later \textbf{masterless Puppet} in very constrained environments.


\Needspace{13\baselineskip}
\subsection*{Senior Linux Engineer, DevOps\hfill\scriptsize\textbf{PERMANENT}}
\textbf{\textit{NTT Com Security AG, Theale, Reading, Berkshire, UK}} \hfill \textbf{\textit{(March 2012 - January 2014)}}

NTT is the 5th largest IT Services Company in the world.

\begin{itemize}[leftmargin=*,nosep]
  \item \textbf{Writing Puppet modules and manifests}, both in PE and Puppet open-source.
  \item \textbf{Writing automation scripts} in BASH, PERL, Ruby and Python.
  \item \textbf{Linux build and configuration management} using RedHat/CentOS with Cobbler and Puppet.
  \item \textbf{Provided a consistent and stable platform for NTT Com Sec's market leading Managed Security Service.}
  \item \textbf{Project Manager and Technical Lead for a data centre migration with a budget of £1M.} Led the design and implementation of a security focused scalable enterprise class physical and virtual infrastructure.
\end{itemize}

\Needspace{13\baselineskip}
\subsection*{DevOps Engineer\hfill\scriptsize\textbf{PERMANENT}}
\textbf{\textit{Moreover Technologies Inc, Dayton, Ohio, USA}} \hfill \textbf{\textit{(June 2009 - February 2012)}}

Moreover harvest over 2.5 million articles and posts per day for the award-winning Newsdesk product.


\begin{itemize}[leftmargin=*,nosep]
  \item \textbf{Headed up the Infrastructure team, building and managing 400+ physical and virtual Linux servers} across the USA, UK and Amazon AWS/EC2.
  \item \textbf{Designed and implemented a scalable enterprise class VMware vSphere solution with tiered Equallogic SAN storage}, achieving a p2v ratio of 25:1.
  \item \textbf{Planned, managed and led the migration of Moreover's New Jersey data centre to Dayton Ohio} without significant downtime.
  \item \textbf{Standardised VM builds on RHEL/CentOS 64-bit using Kickstart scripts over PXE} (Cobbler).
  \item \textbf{Worked closely with the development team in an Agile environment} supporting Linux, SQL, Java, PERL, Apache, Nagios, Cacti.
\end{itemize}

\section*{Earlier Career}
\Needspace{10\baselineskip}
\subsection*{Founder\hfill\scriptsize\textbf{CONTRACT}}
\textbf{\textit{Gibbsoft Ltd}} \hfill \textbf{\textit{(March 2008 - June 2009)}}

Independent IT contractor.

\begin{itemize}[leftmargin=*,nosep]
  \item \textbf{VMware ESX, SANs and Linux/Windows Server deployments} on behalf of PCI Services Ltd.
  \item \textbf{RHEL5 Clustering/SAN implementations} and support on behalf of NCS PLC \& Moreover Technologies.
  \item \textbf{Business Continuity Planning consultations} to the NHS and various service and manufacturing organisations.
\end{itemize}

\Needspace{14\baselineskip}
\subsection*{Data Centre Manager\hfill\scriptsize\textbf{PERMANENT}}
\textbf{\textit{IT Professional Services Ltd}} \hfill \textbf{\textit{(January 2003 - February 2008)}}

ITPS is a leading North East IT VAR/solutions house with 75 staff and \textasciitilde{}£8.5M turnover.


\begin{itemize}[leftmargin=*,nosep]
  \item \textbf{Developed the Data Centre architecture almost from scratch} to a respected tier-2 (TIA-942) facility across 3 locations, housing 200+ servers for 50+ customers with 5 engineers.
  \item \textbf{Designed and deployed significant solutions architecture} for ITPS and their clients.
  \item \textbf{Greatly improved uptime and service levels} by facilitating 24-hour support and introducing automated monitoring and alerting systems.
  \item \textbf{Managed substantial consultancy projects} end-to-end on schedule and to budget (GAC Shipping, NHS, Swissport).
  \item \textbf{Built a formidable 3rd line support team} by training and mentoring junior staff.
  \item \textbf{Introduced HRM} company-wide, holding the HR Manager role for the latter 2 years.
\end{itemize}

\Needspace{10\baselineskip}
\subsection*{Engineering Production Manager\hfill\scriptsize\textbf{PERMANENT}}
\textbf{\textit{VeriSign Inc}} \hfill \textbf{\textit{(March 2001 - June 2002)}}

VeriSign had a \textasciitilde{}\$8B market cap, 4000+ employees across 15 countries — market leader in Internet security, DNS and e-commerce.


\begin{itemize}[leftmargin=*,nosep]
  \item \textbf{Increased VeriSign's commercial presence} by leading the Production Team through the full SDLC for internationalisation and roll-out of pan-European Internet storefronts.
  \item \textbf{Achieved 99.99\% SLA uptime} by designing, implementing and operating 24-hour monitoring of business-critical systems.
  \item \textbf{Secured revenue streams} by installing, maintaining and ensuring constant operational and security states of all customer-facing Internet systems.
\end{itemize}

\Needspace{9\baselineskip}
\subsection*{Projects Manager\hfill\scriptsize\textbf{PERMANENT}}
\textbf{\textit{Domainnames.com}} \hfill \textbf{\textit{(Oct 2000 - March 2001)}}

Managed IT projects to completion on time and to budget.

\begin{itemize}[leftmargin=*,nosep]
  \item \textbf{Managed domain registration and web hosting infrastructure projects} for enterprise clients, delivering on time and to budget.
  \item \textbf{Coordinated cross-functional teams} including developers, sysadmins and account managers to ensure smooth project delivery.
\end{itemize}

\Needspace{9\baselineskip}
\subsection*{Senior IT Consultant/Trainer\hfill\scriptsize\textbf{PERMANENT}}
\textbf{\textit{MTC Computer Training \& Consultancy}} \hfill \textbf{\textit{(1992 - 2000)}}

Delivered official curriculum courses targeted at System Managers and IT Professionals in corporate IT departments.

\begin{itemize}[leftmargin=*,nosep]
  \item \textbf{Delivered training across the Microsoft and Novell curriculum} to IT professionals in corporate environments across the UK.
  \item \textbf{Developed custom courseware} for advanced system administration topics beyond standard vendor materials.
\end{itemize}

\Needspace{9\baselineskip}
\subsection*{Software Training Officer\hfill\scriptsize\textbf{PERMANENT}}
\textbf{\textit{MARI}} \hfill \textbf{\textit{(1986 - 1992)}}

Developed and delivered training courses in SDLC management, C, PASCAL and Unix Shell Scripts.

\begin{itemize}[leftmargin=*,nosep]
  \item \textbf{Developed and delivered training in C, PASCAL, Unix Shell Scripts and SDLC management} to software engineers across the organisation.
  \item \textbf{Authored technical training manuals and course materials} used company-wide for software development process education.
\end{itemize}


\section*{Education}
\subsection*{University of Sunderland}
\textit{Sunderland, UK}

\begin{tabularx}{\textwidth}{X>{\raggedleft\arraybackslash}p{2cm}}
  Post Graduate Diploma in Human Resource Management & 2008 \\
  Post Graduate Diploma in Information Technology Management & 2004 \\
  Post Graduate Certificate in Management of Information Technology & 2000 \\
  Bachelor of Arts in Information Technology & 1997 \\
  BTEC HNC (transferred to BAIT) in Information Technology & 1992 \\
\end{tabularx}

\section*{Expertise}
\begin{tabularx}{\textwidth}{l>{\raggedleft\arraybackslash}X}
  Infrastructure as Code & \PercentBar{95} \\
  Cloud Architecture (AWS) & \PercentBar{85} \\
  Kubernetes / Container Orchestration & \PercentBar{90} \\
  Platform Engineering \& SaaS Frameworks & \PercentBar{90} \\
  CI/CD \& Developer Tooling & \PercentBar{90} \\
  LLM Integration / MCP & \PercentBar{85} \\
\end{tabularx}

\section*{Programming \& Tooling Skills}
\begin{tabularx}{\textwidth}{l>{\raggedleft\arraybackslash}X}
  Full-Stack Software Engineering & \PercentBar{85} \\
  Terraform / Ansible / BASH / Puppet / Docker & \PercentBar{95} \\
  Python & \PercentBar{85} \\
  Go / Dart/Flutter / Ruby & \PercentBar{75} \\
  SQL & \PercentBar{70} \\
  JavaScript / TypeScript / C / PERL / PowerShell & \PercentBar{50} \\
\end{tabularx}

\section*{Personal Projects}
\begin{itemize}[leftmargin=*,nosep]
  \item \textbf{GoatKit} — Modular SaaS framework with YAML routing, plugin platform (WASM + gRPC), auth, DB abstraction, and hot-reload. Forms the platform for GoatFlow and will be released separately at a later date.
  \item \textbf{GoatFlow} — Full helpdesk platform with multi-queue ticketing, customer portal, SLA management, dynamic reporting, MCP integration, and plugin ecosystem. Ships as GoatKit extensions. \\ \href{https://github.com/goatkit/goatflow}{github.com/goatkit/goatflow}
  \item \textbf{GoatKit Extension Modules} — 10+ modules — billing, invoicing, payments, subscriptions, LLM, TTS, notifications, devices, content feeds, maps, media — as containerised microservices.
  \item \textbf{DGX Spark Cluster} — Two-node cluster with 400 Gbps RDMA interconnect running vLLM, Ollama, and custom inference pipelines for LLM deployment.
  \item \textbf{Radiophonia} — Cross-platform Flutter app (Android, iOS, macOS, Windows) with Firebase sync, song history/timeline, music recognition. Published to app stores. \\ \href{https://radiophonia.app}{radiophonia.app}
  \item \textbf{Quotes Clock} — IoT project using a 7.5" 4-colour e-ink display. Displays a unique curated quotation for each minute of the day on a rotating schedule. \\ \href{https://github.com/gibbsoft/quotes-clock}{github.com/gibbsoft/quotes-clock}
\end{itemize}

\section*{Certifications \& Awards}
\begin{tabularx}{\textwidth}{l>{\raggedleft\arraybackslash}X}
  Hashicorp Certified Terraform Associate & 2022 \\
  Microsoft Azure Fundamentals & 2022 \\
  AWS Solutions Architect Associate & 2020 \\
  CISMP (Certificate in Information Management Principals) & 2020 \\
  PPC (Puppet Certified Professional) & 2017 \\
  CSM (Certified Scrum Master) & 2014 \\
  VCP5.5 (VMware Certified Professional) & 2014 \\
  VCP3 (VMware Certified Professional) & 2008 \\
  CITP (Chartered IT Professional) & 2008 \\
  Member of IET & 2007 \\
  Member of BCS & 2007 \\
  ITIL Foundation & 2007 \\
  PRINCE2 Foundation & 2004 \\
  Microsoft MCSD & 1999 \\
  Microsoft MCSE4 & 1996 \\
\end{tabularx}

\section*{Languages}
\textbf{English} — Native \\
\section*{Interests}
I build things. When I'm not building software, I'm building labs — DGX clusters, self-hosted infrastructure, IoT projects, retro computers. I ship open-source and commercial software (eg. GoatFlow, Quotes-Clock, Radiophonia) and contribute to community projects. Outside tech, I enjoy movies, exploring the outdoors, and spending time with family and friends.


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