Rebel Astronaut

Co-Founder

Featurespace

Principal Site Reliability Engineer

DOPS  DIGITAL

Consulting as the Director of the DXOne program for the London Stock Exchange Group.

- Delivered a Developer Platform (DXOne) that would provide a single experience across the whole Org (12k technologists).
- Ran a program with ~50 engineers, architects and BAs.
- DXOne was the first program to successfully deliver their transformation objectives on time, since the merger with Refinitiv.
- Reduced time from idea to market on average by 67% for Lines of Business.
- Delivered an analytics platform to ensure CIOs and their reports get visibility on their areas.
- Designed and Implemented a new operating model to break down the flow of work across teams.
- Designed a community engagement model that was elevated to become the standard for all developer focused comms.
- Liased with Regulators to ensure that changes were approved to the same level as nuclear power plants. 
- Presented and sold the vision of DXOne to numerous CIOs, Heads of Department and Developers.

Principal Transformation Consultant

- Won the company wide ‘Raising the Bar’ award for innovation. 
- Designed and implemented new operating model in a department of 150 employees, driving a more product focused approach.
- Implemented Agile processes in 5 teams to increase velocity by over 100%.
- Owned and implemented the roadmap for IG’s new platform, based on kubernetes.
- Increased resilience for platform by 50% through repeated testing and iteration.
- Designed engagement model for onboarding new teams to the platform.
- Evangelised new platform and created excitement and momentum around the initiative.

Technical Architect - Platform

Contino

- Provided security assurance for FTSE 250  enterprise.
- Enabled Transformation to go live with a goal to double profit within 2 years.
- Developed a “Security First” Culture within the org. 
- Built in-house security team and empowered them to set their own agenda.
- Compiled a report of recomendations for the C-Suite to empower their transformation.
- Developed the consultancy’s internal security practices.

Principal Consultant

Pearson

- Designed and built a platform to support 600+ developers
- Leading architectural decision making and being the voice of security within the team.
- Leading a team of 20 DevOps engineers, training where needed and ensuring the team’s
velocity steadily improved.
- Decreased application onboarding from 3 months to 1 week.
- Decreased overhead for application teams reducing or removing non business workloads to
enable them to decrease cycle time.
- Designed and deployed an automated detection and remediation system within all Pearson AWS
accounts (~200) reducing risks by up to 80%.
- Worked with stakeholders to define account strategy for whole of Pearson.
- Implemented regular vulnerability scanning and remediation for both containers and AMI’s.
- Spearheaded migration to improved CI infrastructure, reducing run times by over 50% and
increasing stability by 30%.
- Implemented Incident response and reporting precedure and ran weekly drills, resolving
incidents 50% faster than before implemented.
- Redesigned kubernetes control plane to support multi-master and regular deploys.
- Responsible for defining and creating a contract between DevOps teams and application teams
to be able to deliver 99.999% uptime to their applications and reduce friction between teams.
- Decreased cost by 200% within development environments, by utilising automated cleanup,
elastic scaling and simplifying the architecture.

DevSecOps Lead/Architect

UK Home Office

- Leading a team of 20 within to deliver a platform supporting 300+ developers.
- Working within highly secure environment empowering critical national infrastructure.
- Implement Vault/Consul workflow for secrets and certificate management.
- Design/Implement the ability update AMI’s without data loss or downtime.
- Standardise engineering practices to increase stability across the whole environment.
- Educate security teams around the differences between cloud infrastructure and on prem.
- Work with team leads to promote containerisation within the team.
- Built out splunk for security monitoring of environments.

Lead Devops/Security Consultant

PhotoBox

- Responsible for taking a dysfunctional team with no leader and low velocity, motivating them,
clarified working procedure and increased velocity by over 100%.
- Designed new kubernetes cluster based around kops for Photobox to migrate all legacy systems
onto.
- Began work on constructing full feature monitoring and security systems.
- Worked closely with the SOC team to manage the security risks and implementing fixes,
including basic secrets management system, and cloudformation creation pipeline.
- Worked with development teams to enable them to manage their own pipelines securely within
Jenkins framework.
- Took stability from 60% uptime in the first month, over all environments, to 100% uptime in the
last.
- Liased with development leads and managers, to ensure that all goals were aligned.
- Implemented agile, to ensure that the workload was measurable, and changes were data-
driven.
- Descreased cycle time by over 40% development teams, allowing features to get shipped faster
and more frequently.

Lead Devops Consultant

- Built and Managed multiple kubernetes clusters as PAAS’ for all Home Office Digital Projects, ie.
- Consulted on the migration of highly sensitive projects onto kubernetes.
- Audited projects on security and worked with apps that were deemed vulnerable to remediate
those threats.
- Built and managed monitoring platform based on Sysdig running on premise on kubernetes and
monitoring over 200 nodes across 3 different cloud providers.
- Built and extended multiple tools to allow teams to avoid reuse of work and ensure time to
production was as low as possible.
- Worked with Neo4j to spearhead their approach to kubernetes and ensure they were able to
support it.
- Worked to ensure all users of the PAAS were able to utilise its self service offering.
- Built relationships within numerous areas within the Home Office to ensure that getting things
done was as easy as possible.
- Supported teams with running kubernetess on bare metal using PXE-boot technology.
- Interviewed and hired multiple other DevOps engineers to build the team from 5 to 15.
- Main point of contact for developers, evangelising best practices and training, both on and
individual and team level.
- Reduced onboarding time from 1 month to 1 day, through automation.
- Increased the number of development teams utilising the platform from ~10, to ~50 over a 6
month period.
- Implemented chargeback system to ensure that all costs were being allocated to respective
development teams, and ensured they still saw at least a 40% reduction in cost.

Senior Devops Engineer

Style.com

- Designed and built Kubernetes platform on AWS
- Adapted scala application to run in a scalable manner, broke application into microservices.
- Designed ci pipeline to deploy code within 5 mins of git commit.
- Dockerised and redesigned application to run on docker, be fault tolerant and scale limitlessly.
- Worked to design a tolerant solution for running Datomic on kubernetes without losing state on pod restart.

Giles is a co-founder of Rebel Astronaut, a startup that aims to make companies more dynamic, flexible, and profitable by speeding up the time from idea to product release. He is also a principal site reliability engineer at Featurespace, a leading provider of adaptive behavioral analytics and fraud detection solutions. 

With over 8 years of experience in DevOps, security, and cloud computing, he has successfully delivered and implemented multiple transformation projects for various organizations, such as the London Stock Exchange Group, Pearson, and the UK Home Office. He has extensive knowledge and skills in infrastructure as code, Amazon Web Services, and DevSecOps methodologies. He is passionate about helping companies achieve their goals by increasing their security, efficiency, and agility.

Giles Hinchcliff

IEHSoftLabs Ltd. - Software Development

Driving innovation and excellence in food safety and regulatory compliance. Leading engineering teams to deliver cutting-edge lab services and expert consultation.

Principal Solutions Architect

IEEE

•	Conducted in-depth research in the fields of software engineering, control theory, automation, algorithm optimisation, and statistical mathematics.

•	Published research findings in reputable journals and presented at international conferences, contributing to the advancement of knowledge in the field.

•	Engaged in collaborative research projects with industry partners, leveraging academic expertise to solve real-world problems.

Researcher | Academy of Sciences and Arts of Bosnia and Herzegovina | IEEE Member 

Penzle

•	Spearheaded the launch of an innovative content management platform, increasing accessibility for users without formal technology education.

•	Achieved successful completion of an AI-based project sponsored by Microsoft, demonstrating proficiency in cutting-edge technology implementation and project management within a corporate-sponsored environment.

•	Facilitated seamless integration with multiple programming languages, cloud computing services, and applications, enhancing system flexibility and user reach.

•	Played a pivotal role in mediating technology strategy discussions between upper management and development teams, aligning product development with market demands.

Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer (CTO)

Infinity Mesh

•	Directed the formulation of IT policies, setting new benchmarks for operational excellence and strategic planning.

•	Oversaw the delivery of comprehensive technical architecture plans, ensuring robust and scalable system infrastructures.

•	Contributed to management meetings, influencing decision-making processes with forward-thinking IT strategies.

Co-Founder and Global Chief Information Officer

•	Designed visionary technical solutions tackling complex business challenges, resulting in streamlined operations and enhanced service delivery.

•	Led the development and execution of architectural blueprints, fostering innovation in solution design and implementation.

•	Crafted comprehensive technical visions and solution designs to address complex business challenges, driving successful project outcomes.

•	Leveraged expertise in server architecture, ASP.NET, Entity Framework, .NET Core, and Microsoft Azure to develop robust and scalable solutions.

•	Managed solution design, description, and implementation, ensuring alignment with business goals and technical standards.

•	Played a pivotal role in enhancing product offerings, improving efficiency, and driving growth for clients across diverse industries.

Solutions Architect

Univerzitet u Zenici

•	Provided valuable support to students in understanding complex concepts and applying theoretical knowledge to practical projects.

•	Taught courses in control theory, automation, algorithm optimisation, and statistical mathematics, fostering a stimulating learning environment.

•	Assisted professors in curriculum development, exam preparation, and grading, ensuring academic rigor and quality.

Teaching Assistant

Live Tech Games

•	Led critical projects focusing on the development and implementation of enterprise software solutions, elevating customer service standards and optimizing data analysis processes.

Applicita Ltd

•	Documented technical specifications and ensured consistency throughout the production process, optimizing efficiency and quality.

•	Procured technological systems and oversaw their installation, providing technical guidance and support to production staff.

•	Instructed production staff on the use of new technology, facilitating smooth integration and operation within the organisation.

Director Of Technology Operations

•	Engineered server architecture modifications and .NET Core integrations, significantly boosting system reliability and performance.

Head Of Technology

Faculty of Information Technologies, University "Džemal Bijedić"​ in Mostar

In this role, I performed research across several Software Engineering topics including control theory, automation, optimization of algorithms, and statistical mathematics. I also had the opportunity to work on collaborative projects between industry and academia.

Senior Teaching Assistant

Cognisco Ltd

•	Led the design and development of innovative systems, leveraging Microsoft Azure Cloud to deliver scalable and reliable solutions.

•	Collaborated with cross-functional teams to define technical requirements, develop architectural designs, and implement solutions.

•	Played a key role in enhancing product offerings, improving efficiency, and driving growth for clients across diverse industries.

Technical Architect

•	Orchestrated the backend architecture overhaul for Roshambo Live, supporting its growth to over 500,000 concurrent players.

As an accomplished Solution Architect with over a decade of experience, I have consistently led high-impact software engineering projects from conceptualization to deployment. My expertise lies in designing scalable, efficient, and innovative solutions that not only meet technical requirements but also align closely with business objectives. Proficient in server architecture, ASP.NET, Entity Framework, .NET Core, and Microsoft Azure, I am dedicated to driving organizational excellence through the strategic application of technology. With a forward-thinking approach, I foster collaborative environments that encourage innovation and leverage cutting-edge technologies to achieve tangible results. 

Clients and colleagues know me for my exceptional problem-solving skills and ability to mediate between cross-functional teams. I am committed to maintaining open lines of communication and ensuring alignment on project scopes and deliverables. Recognized as a thought leader in the industry, sharing valuable knowledge and insights to foster community engagement and professional development. My passion for technology extends beyond project delivery; I actively contribute to the improvement of architectural standards, processes, and practices, while also mentoring engineering teams to help them reach their full potential. 

Throughout my career, I have achieved notable successes, including spearheading the design and implementation of high-performance systems with low latency, managing teams in the deployment of scalable data center infrastructures, and delivering next-generation software solutions that significantly improve operational efficiency. I am dedicated to ongoing learning and sharing my expertise with the community, contributing to the advancement of Microsoft technologies and best practices.

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Giles Hinchcliff

Admir Mujkić

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