Solomon Williams
Glen Burnie
Summary
Dynamic Cloud DevOps Engineer with a proven track record at GridIron, specializing in multi-cluster Kubernetes orchestration and DevSecOps automation. Achieved a 25% reduction in deployment times through CI/CD pipeline optimization. Adept at leveraging Terraform and Ansible while fostering collaboration across teams to enhance operational efficiency and security.
Overview
17
17
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work History
Cloud DevOps Engineer
GridIron
El Segundo
12.2022 - Current
- Automated security scans using GitLab SAST/DAST, SonarQube, and OWASP ZAP
- Applied CIS Benchmarks, RBAC, and robust networking configurations
- Implemented enterprise security best practices in Azure AKS, RHEL 9, and Entra ID
- Engineered resilient, multi-cloud Kubernetes clusters using Spectro Cloud Palette across AWS, Azure, vSphere
- Configured GitLab CI workflows automating build, test, and deployment processes
- Automated CI/CD pipelines using Jenkins with Python and Bash, reducing deployment times by 25%
- Integrated Ansible with CI/CD pipelines enabling seamless deployment across cloud and on-prem
- Deployed and optimized AWS EKS, Tanzu Kubernetes, Rancher, VMware, Azure AKS for scalable container orchestration using Terraform modules
- Configured Prometheus and Grafana for proactive system health tracking
- Architected fault-tolerant environments using multi-node RHEL Ansible Automation Platform and Azure AKS
- Designed and deployed scalable, secure Kubernetes clusters using Terraform, implementing modular code for VPCs, subnets, and security groups ensuring high availability
- Automated provisioning of Amazon EKS clusters, node groups, and infrastructure achieving consistent deployments
- Developed Helm charts for 15+ large-scale applications across AWS, streamlining release processes
- Automated infrastructure provisioning using Terraform, Terragrunt, and Ansible
- Deployed multi-node Tableau cluster on EKS with AWS ALB Ingress Controller and WAF
- Supported full-stack Kubernetes platform using IaC with Terraform
- Migrated on-premises applications to EKS cloud environments
- Configured Prometheus, Grafana, Alertmanager for monitoring and ELK Stack for log management
- Established CD workflows using ArgoCD with Helm for application deployment
- Managed cluster upgrades, patching, and secrets with Sealed Secrets
- Deployed, configured, and administered RHEL, Amazon Linux, and Ubuntu to support application hosting and Kubernetes worker nodes
- Launched and supported application workloads by preparing OS environments, managing packages, services, users, and system dependencies
- Hardened Linux systems using STIGS, CIS Benchmarks, secure SSH configurations, firewall rules, SELinux/AppArmor, patching, and access controls
- Automated Golden Image creation using Packer and AWS EC2 Image Builder, producing standardized, hardened AMIs for consistent, repeatable deployments
- Automated OS provisioning, configuration, and compliance enforcement using Ansible, ensuring consistency across cloud and on-prem environments
- Centralized governance of 50+ Kubernetes clusters with integrated policy, security, and lifecycle automation
- Provisioned GPU-accelerated clusters for AI/ML workloads using NVIDIA GPU Operator and Kubeflow
- Secured container distribution using Harbor as private registry with RBAC and CVE scanning via Trivy
- Space Force
- Tools: Linux, AWS CLI, Spectro Cloud, Rancher, Terraform, Ansible, GitLab CI, GitHub, Docker, Kubernetes, Helm
DevOps Kubernetes Engineer
ActioNet
Washington
08.2019 - 12.2022
- Orchestrated OpenShift on Airgap on-premises clusters using Dell iDRAC servers
- Administered Domino platform for Data Science analytics
- Managed Data Scientists' workspace provisioning with tools like Hadoop, Python
- Implemented RBAC with Okta and AD
- Integrated Azure Entra ID with Jira/Atlassian enabling secure SSO
- Automated Azure networking, AKS clusters, and infrastructure using Terraform
- Created Azure VNets, subnets, NSGs, and private endpoints for secure communication
- Architected production-grade EKS and RKE2 clusters using Crossplane
- Managed AWS infrastructure (VPCs, subnets, EC2, IAM, S3, RDS) via Crossplane
- Designed reusable XRDs standardizing Kubernetes deployment across teams
- Integrated Crossplane with Git-based CI/CD for Kubernetes-native lifecycle management
- Secured pod traffic through network policies and enabled threat detection with GuardDuty
- Implemented image scanning in CI/CD using Trivy
- Worked with ISSO/ISSE implementing NIST and RMF controls
- Led deployment of VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) integrating vSphere, vSAN, NSX, vCenter
- Administered VMware Cloud Director (VCD) for multi-tenant environments
- Implemented NSX-T Data Center networking with segmentation, security policies, load balancing
- U.S. Courts
- Tools: Linux, Terraform, Crossplane, Ansible, Jenkins, Docker, Kubernetes, Helm, Harbor, ECR, Bamboo
DevOps Kubernetes Engineer
SASSI
Laurel
09.2019 - 07.2020
- Integrated Apache NiFi for real-time data ingestion and transformation
- Developed scalable microservices architecture using Docker
- Containerized microservices reducing delivery times from days to hours
- Architected and deployed Kubernetes clusters using RKE2 and Rancher
- Automated infrastructure provisioning with Terraform for AWS services
- Configured Ansible playbooks for system configurations and security patches
- Streamlined CI/CD using GitLab CI adhering to DevOps best practices
- Configured Terraform remote state using Azure Storage Account
- Implemented end-to-end CI/CD with GitHub Actions for automated deployments
- Utilized Jira for tracking DevOps initiatives and sprint planning
- Implemented infrastructure monitoring with Prometheus, Grafana, and custom dashboards
- Implemented ELK stack improving system observability and troubleshooting
- Managed RHEL Satellite Server for centralized patch management and compliance
- Automated Linux lifecycle management including subscription and package distribution
- DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory
- Tools: Linux, Terraform, Terragrunt, Ansible, GitLab CI, Jenkins, Docker, Kubernetes, Helm, Harbor, ECR
- Secured containerized environments with Harbor for image scanning and vulnerability management
- Integrated HashiCorp Vault for centralized secrets management
- Implemented RBAC, PodSecurityPolicies, and encrypted secrets in Kubernetes
- Designed secure AWS architectures with IAM policies, VPC configurations, and encryption
Linux DevOps Engineer
IIA Web
Alexandria
07.2011 - 08.2017
- Automated Red Hat OpenShift clusters using Ansible Playbooks
- Built OpenStack environment launching and configuring instances
- Implemented network configurations and storage integrations for various workloads
- Mentored teams on advanced Kubernetes DevOps practices
- Implemented CIS benchmarks for system hardening
- Adhered to NIST security guidelines
- Supported integrations with Active Directory and CyberArk for secure authentication
- Automated Dell PowerEdge server setup with iDRAC and kickstart with CIS baselines
- Leveraged LVM tools managing SAN and local storage
- Integrated EMC, NetApp, and SIMs storage solutions for fault-tolerant services
- Designed Kubernetes clusters in private VPC with AWS NAT Gateways for enhanced security
- Managed complex infrastructure of 20,000+ hosts including RHEL, Unix, HP-UX, Solaris, VMware ESXi, AWS GovCloud
- Oversaw Production, Test, Development environments ensuring high availability
- Designed automation strategies enhancing efficiency and reducing manual interventions
- Developed Puppet modules maintaining infrastructure and leveraging Jenkins for CI/CD
- Migrated 3,500+ servers from RHEL Satellite 5.8 to 6.0 using Ansible Tower and Git
- Designed complex Oracle RAC Databases on RHEL with Oracle ASM on multipath disks
- Created multi-node Hadoop clusters in AWS using Hortonworks and Spark processing terabytes of data
- USPTO
Linux Administrator
Future Electronics
Bolton
12.2008 - 06.2011
- Implemented system hardening, password security, and policy enforcement
- Wrote UNIX shell scripts automating routine tasks
- Managed VERITAS Backup implementing backup and recovery environment
- Administered Volume Management using Veritas Volume Manager
- Integrated UNIX File Systems using ZFS/VxFS/SVM for Oracle Databases
- Implemented proactive monitoring using Zabbix and Nagios
- Maintained Jira, Confluence, and Bamboo servers
- Developed comprehensive technical documentation and SOPs
- Created Ansible scripts configuring Tableau, JBoss, NGINX, HTTP applications
- Performed installation and administration of Solaris 8/9 on SPARC using custom Jumpstart
- Managed multi-OS platforms including Solaris 8/9 and Red Hat Linux 3/4 servers
- Tracked and resolved tickets, performed day-to-day maintenance of Linux servers
- Managed Hortonworks Hadoop and Spark clusters in AWS processing terabytes in HDFS
- Designed and maintained CISCO UCS server profiles, RHEV, VMware ESXi 5/6, OpenStack 8/9
- Developed and supported JBoss highly available clustering applications
- Managed Oracle databases and scheduled backups for Oracle and MSSQL servers
- Performed live/offline migration of 3,000+ Linux VMs and storage
- Tools: OpenStack, RHEV, Puppet, Ansible, Foreman, RHEL Satellite, AWS, Jenkins, CyberArk, Git, GitHub
- Installed and maintained security packages using pkgadd tool
Education
B.Sc. - Cyber Security
University of Maryland University College (UMUC)
01.2022
Skills
- Multi-cluster Kubernetes orchestration
- Infrastructure as Code
- DevSecOps automation
- NIST/RMF compliance
- AI/ML platform engineering
- Kubernetes
- Docker
- OpenShift
- EKS
- AKS
- GKE
- RKE2
- Rancher
- Spectro Cloud
- Helm
- AWS GovCloud
- Azure
- GCP
- VMware (VCF/VCD)
- RHEV
- OpenStack
- RHEL Linux (v2-v9)
- Ubuntu
- CentOS
- Unix
- Solaris
- AIX
- Windows
- Terraform
- Crossplane
- Ansible
- CloudFormation
- Puppet
- RHEL Satellite
- GitLab CI
- GitHub Actions
- Jenkins
- CircleCI
- ArgoCD
- Bamboo
- Python
- Go
- Bash
- Java
- CIS Benchmarks
- DISA STIG
- NIST RMF
- HashiCorp Vault
- Trivy
- SonarQube
- Prometheus
- Grafana
- ELK Stack
- Splunk
- Nagios
- Zabbix
- PagerDuty
- MySQL
- PostgreSQL
- Oracle RAC
- DB2
- MariaDB
- Couchbase
- AWS VPC
- VPN
- Transit Gateway
- NAT
- WAF
- CNI
- DNS
- SSL/TLS (Cert-Manager)
- Azure Entra ID
- Keycloak
- Okta
- DEX (OIDC)
- AD/LDAP
- AWS ECR
- ACR
- Harbor
- Artifactory
- GitLab Registry
- Docker Hub
Security Clearance
Active Top Secret
Certification
- AWS Certified Security Specialty
- AWS Certified Developer Associate
- Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA)
- Docker Certified Associate
- Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE)
- Red Hat Certified System Administrator (RHCSA)
- CompTIA Security+
- Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH)
- Oracle Solaris Certified Associate (OCA)
- Information Technology Infrastructure Library Certified (ITIL v3)
Strategic Achievements
- Infrastructure as Code & Platform Engineering, Architected provider-agnostic IaC using Terraform and Crossplane for production-grade EKS and RKE2 clusters.
- DevSecOps & Compliance, Automated NIST 800-53 and RMF controls ensuring 100% compliance for AWS GovCloud and Airgap environments.
- Enterprise Observability & Logging, Deployed full-stack observability (Prometheus, Grafana, ELK, Dynatrace) transitioning from reactive to proactive management.
- AI/ML Operations, Enabled data science acceleration provisioning GPU-optimized clusters using NVIDIA GPU Operator and Kubeflow.
Personal Information
Citizenship: U.S. Citizen
Timeline
Cloud DevOps Engineer
GridIron
12.2022 - Current
DevOps Kubernetes Engineer
SASSI
09.2019 - 07.2020
DevOps Kubernetes Engineer
ActioNet
08.2019 - 12.2022
Linux DevOps Engineer
IIA Web
07.2011 - 08.2017
Linux Administrator
Future Electronics
12.2008 - 06.2011
B.Sc. - Cyber Security
University of Maryland University College (UMUC)