Adrian Sonu

Systems Specialist and Senior IT Infrastructure Engineer with 20+ years across infrastructure, cloud, networking, cybersecurity, and business analysis. Delivered through Adriason IT Solutions to a multi-client UK enterprise and public-sector portfolio (HMRC, DWP, Fujitsu, Aviva, Asda, Specsavers, and others), and previously to banking-grade environments at ING Bank and Raiffeisen International. Hands-on across Windows, Linux/UNIX, VMware/Proxmox/Hyper-V, AWS/Azure/GCP, and multi-vendor networking and security stacks. Currently reading BSc (Hons) Computing at Arden University (2022 – 2026). Operates a multi-vendor enterprise home lab to maintain hands-on currency.

Infrastructure & Systems

Windows Server (2003 – 2022); Linux/UNIX (RHEL, AIX, Ubuntu, CentOS, Debian, SUSE, Fedora, Arch, Kali)
Virtualisation: VMware vSphere/ESXi, Proxmox, Hyper-V, KVM, OpenShift, VirtualBox
Active Directory, Group Policy, Exchange, Office 365, Google Workspace
SAN storage, clustering, replication, HA
Backup and BC/DR: Veeam, Acronis, Tivoli, Max Backup, Azure Backup, Azure Site Recovery; RTO / RPO definition, DR runbook authorship, and tested failover ownership

Solution & Enterprise Architecture

High-Level Design (HLD) and Low-Level Design (LLD) authorship across infrastructure, cloud, network, and EUC programmes
Target operating models, current/target-state mapping, capability maps
Architecture diagrams and design documentation in Visio, Lucidchart, and draw.io

Cloud

AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, IBM Cloud, Oracle Cloud — platform-trained and applied in client engagements
Hybrid and full cloud migration design and execution; SaaS delivery and managed cloud services
Legacy modernisation; digital transformation

DevOps, IaC & Containers

Containers and orchestration: Docker, Kubernetes
Infrastructure as Code and configuration management: Terraform, Ansible, Puppet, Chef
CI/CD: Jenkins, GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Azure DevOps

Networking

Multi-vendor LAN/WLAN/WAN/DC: Cisco (Catalyst, Nexus, ISR/ASR, ASA, Meraki), Juniper, Fortinet, Aruba, Zyxel, Dell, Sophos, Palo Alto, Check Point, pfSense, SonicWall
Wireless: controller-based and standalone (Cisco WLC, Aruba Central, UniFi, Meraki); site surveys; 802.1X / WPA Enterprise / RADIUS; guest networks and captive portals
SD-WAN (Cisco Meraki, Fortinet, VMware VeloCloud); site-to-site and remote-access VPN; firewall and segmentation
Greenfield network design and operate-and-maintain

Cybersecurity

Pentest tooling: Kali, Metasploit, Burp Suite, Nmap, Wireshark
EDR: CrowdStrike, SentinelOne, Carbon Black, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
SIEM platform exposure (representative: Microsoft Sentinel, Splunk)
Vulnerability-management tooling exposure (representative: Nessus, Qualys, OpenVAS)
Incident response; security policy, risk assessment, BIA contribution; IAM and privileged access (CyberArk)

Compliance & Governance Frameworks

Experience working under GDPR, ISO 27001, PCI-DSS, SOX, NIST CSF, and Cyber Essentials / Cyber Essentials Plus
Applied controls aligned to these frameworks across client and banking engagements
Supported audits across regulatory and industry-standard programmes

Modern Workplace / Microsoft 365

Tenant administration across local, cloud, and hybrid Microsoft 365 estates
Exchange Online; SharePoint Online; Teams (policies, voice, meeting rooms)
Defender for Office 365 / Defender XDR
Purview / DLP / retention / eDiscovery
Power Platform: Power BI, Power Automate, Power Apps

End-User Computing & Mobile Device Management

Intune (MDM, MAM, Autopilot); SCCM / MECM; Citrix Virtual Apps & Desktops
MDM platforms: Intune, AirWatch / Workspace ONE, MaaS360, Citrix Endpoint Management, Mobi Control, Comodo, Sophos MDM
Cross-platform fleets: Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS

Telephony & Unified Communications

VoIP/SIP PBX (3CX, Elastix, Asterisk, FreePBX); SIP trunking (BT, Twilio); Microsoft Teams Phone, Zoom Phone
IVR, call queues, ring groups, call recording / compliance, HA / failover telephony
IP phones (Avaya, Cisco); video conferencing (Cisco, Tandberg)

Monitoring & Observability

Zabbix, PRTG, SolarWinds, Grafana, Splunk, Nagios, CACTI, NMON

ITSM & Delivery Tooling

ServiceNow, Jira, Confluence, Zendesk, MS Project; HP Quality Center, HP ITSM, Service Desk Express
ITIL v3 — Incident, Change, Problem Management
Service-management depth: SLA, OLA, and underpinning-contract authorship; CAB participation across change cycles; Problem Management ownership including root-cause analysis and known-error record curation
Knowledge-base, runbook, and SOP ownership using Confluence and SharePoint-based platforms

Business Analysis

Requirements gathering, solution design, gap analysis; vendor selection and product evaluation
Functional and technical test case authoring; test cycle coordination
Business process optimisation and digital transformation
Project delivery frameworks: PRINCE2 and PMI (training and applied working knowledge), Agile / Scrum, Waterfall, hybrid, and custom approaches tailored to client constraints

Consulting & Commercial

RFI / RFP / SoW contribution across client engagements
License management and cost optimisation, including FinOps practices (Microsoft EA, VMware, Azure cost management)
Vendor evaluation & selection; vendor escalation and contract negotiation

Software Packaging & Endpoint Engineering

Windows .msi, Android .apk, iOS .ipa packaging; custom firmware, BIOS profiles, gold images (HP)
OS migration (Windows 7 → 10 → 11), domain migration, MSP separation

Middleware, Web & Data

IBM WebSphere MQ, Connect:Direct, WebSphere Application Server; SOAP/XML web services; BizTalk Server; SWIFT payments integration
Apache, nginx, Tomcat; MySQL, MSSQL, Oracle; DNS, domain administration, hosting, CMS

Scripting & Automation

Bash, Python (automation, integrations, data processing); PowerShell (medium proficiency)
AI coding assistants (ChatGPT, GitHub Copilot) integrated into day-to-day delivery

Reporting & Compliance

Crystal Reports; FATCA and CRS regulatory reporting; AML (Norkom); internal and external audit reporting

Systems Specialist

Selected Client Engagement — Field Engineer, Barron McCann | December 2021 – 2022

Independent IT consultancy vehicle. Delivered infrastructure, cloud, networking, security, MDM, and end-user computing engagements to a multi-client UK enterprise and public-sector portfolio including HMRC, DWP, Fujitsu, Dell, Diebold Nixdorf, Herbert, Elecomm, A&O IT Group, DTP Group, AT&T, Cadent, Aviva, Engie, Specsavers, Irwin Mitchell, Roc Technologies, Asda, Aldi, Barron McCann, and others.

Cloud & Digital Transformation

Architected and led full and hybrid cloud migrations across AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, IBM, and Oracle for enterprise-scale client estates, designing middleware to interconnect heterogeneous platforms.

Implemented Single Sign-On and Azure AD identity solutions, consolidating authentication across enterprise environments.

Engineered managed cloud services and custom SaaS across the full delivery lifecycle.

Drove paperless and process-automation initiatives, reducing manual processing overhead in client operations.

DevOps & Infrastructure as Code

Built and maintained Infrastructure-as-Code workflows (Terraform, Ansible) and container platforms (Docker, Kubernetes) for client engagements, standardising provisioning and configuration across multi-environment estates.

Implemented CI/CD pipelines (Jenkins, GitHub Actions, Azure DevOps) to automate build, test, and release flows.

Mobile Device Management

Deployed and administered MDM (Intune, AirWatch / Workspace ONE, MaaS360, Citrix, Mobi Control, Comodo, Sophos) across Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS estates spanning hundreds of endpoints.

Orchestrated enrolment, app deployment, and security-policy rollouts; executed MDM platform migrations with minimal user disruption.

Infrastructure & Networking

Ran VMware clusters, Windows Server estates, and supporting databases for client organisations.

Designed, configured, and hardened multi-vendor networks (Cisco, Juniper, Fortinet, Aruba, Zyxel, Dell, Sophos) — switches, routers, firewalls, APs, and SD-WAN.

Engineered a site-to-site VPN mesh across multiple client offices to secure inter-site connectivity for distributed estates.

Administered Active Directory, Exchange, and Office 365 — users, permissions, groups, mail, and storage.

Software & Endpoint Engineering

Packaged, tested, and shipped software across Windows (.msi), Android (.apk), and iOS (.ipa).

Authored custom firmware, BIOS profiles, and gold images for HP device fleets.

Led fleet-scale Windows 7 → 10 / 11 migration programmes, including domain transitions and separations from legacy MSPs.

Migrated large mailbox estates from on-premises Exchange to Office 365.

Telephony & Communications

Implemented and ran PBX platforms (3CX, Elastix, Asterisk, FreePBX) over SIP and BT lines; largest PBX deployment ~2,500 extensions.

Configured Cisco and Tandberg video conferencing for enterprise clients.

Consultancy & Support

Advised on-site and trained end users across client sites.

Troubleshot hardware and software issues across PC, Mac, Windows, and Linux/UNIX environments.

Authored functional and technical test cases and end-user manuals for delivered solutions.

Covered 5–20 client sites per month with UK-wide reach — hardware installs, decommissions, infrastructure upgrades, and deployment projects.

Executed end-to-end device lifecycle work (install, configure, deinstall) for enterprise IT equipment.

Supported large-scale deployment and upgrade projects to fixed schedules.

Troubleshot hardware and software issues hands-on across diverse client environments.

Field Engineer

PC Callout Ltd | September 2016 – March 2018

Responded to on-call hardware and software requests, diagnosing and resolving issues across diverse client environments.

Trained end users on system usage and best practice.

Volunteer IT Administrator

Non-profit Organisations (Rubik Minds, Deschidem Lumea, others) | January 2015 – March 2019

Built and maintained organisational websites — domains, DNS, hosting on Linux/Windows, AWS, and Azure.

Administered MySQL and MSSQL databases supporting web apps and internal tools.

Hardened web infrastructure (Apache, nginx) including firewalls and endpoint protection.

Administered Office 365 and Google Workspace tenants, accounts, and devices.

Owned project management, internal workflow design, and IT governance.

IT Business Analyst

Centralised Raiffeisen International Services & Payments (CRISP) | February 2012 – February 2016

Application owner for the Norkom AML platform (Java, Tomcat, Oracle), screening ~10M daily transactions combined batch and real-time across 35+ countries with differing regulatory frameworks.

Coordinated cross-functional testing programmes spanning 2–5 testers per country across development, test, and operations.

Administered an estate of ~14 servers — 4 application, 4 Oracle DB, 6 VMware nodes for adjacent applications — across AIX and RHEL, with full DR replication to a secondary site.

Ran WebSphere Application Server, IBM MQ, and Connect:Direct file-transfer pipelines.

Produced FATCA, CRS, and internal/external compliance reporting via Crystal Reports.

Led incident, change, and problem management through HP Quality Center and HP ITSM, ITIL-aligned via Service Desk Express.

Implemented infrastructure monitoring with Nagios, CACTI, and NMON.

Integrated SWIFT messaging, payments software, and reporting via SOAP/XML, MQ, and Connect:Direct.

Administered Lotus Notes and Sametime for internal communications.

Automated operational and reporting tasks with Bash and Python.

Owned backup infrastructure (Acronis, Max Backup, Veeam) including replication and BC/DR planning.

System Support Specialist

ING Bank NV, Amsterdam | January 2010 – February 2012

Application owner for core banking and payments/transactions systems, delivering 2nd and 3rd line support to a customer base of millions.

Ran a WebSphere MQ messaging estate of ~30 queues handling tens of thousands of daily transactions.

Administered CyberArk privileged access; SFTP and BizTalk file processing flows with MSSQL back ends.

Administered Windows Server 2003/2008 across physical and virtual (VMware, VirtualBox) infrastructure.

Migrated and clustered servers on SAN storage; backups via Tivoli, imaging, and Shadow Copy.

Authored functional and technical test cases; orchestrated promotion pipelines from dev through to production.

Applied ITIL for support operations and Agile for development coordination.

Helpdesk Officer

ING Bank NV, Amsterdam | October 2008 – January 2010

ITIL v3 Single Point of Contact for 2,500+ banking users, handling 50–100 tickets per day.

Lifted first-call resolution from ~70% to over 90% through process tightening and knowledge-base development.

Administered Active Directory and Exchange — provisioning, permissions, mailboxes.

Enforced information security and access management policy across the user base.

Administered Avaya and Cisco IP telephony, resolving telephony issues and configurations.

Handled remote and on-site support and escalated complex issues to 2nd/3rd line.

Service Technician

A.T. Impex SRL | October 2007 – October 2008

Programmed, configured, and repaired Electronic Cash Registers, POS systems, and barcode scanners for retail clients.

Authored technical tutorials and setup/troubleshooting documentation.

IT Support Technician

ISP AComputers SRL | August 2007 – March 2008 (concurrent)

Handled remote, phone, and on-site support — hardware/software install, configuration, troubleshooting.

Thermal Transfer Printing Operator

Avery Dennison SRL | April 2007 – November 2007

Operated industrial thermal transfer printing equipment for label and packaging production.

IT Administrator

ISP Sovale SRL | September 2002 – July 2007

Maintained ISP network — switches, routers, servers, and LANs — across hardware and software layers.

Coordinated and dispatched field technicians for installs, repairs, and maintenance.

Owned ISP operations, sustaining uptime and service delivery to subscribers.

IT Technician

IIRUC Service SA | May 2005 – October 2005 (concurrent / part-time)

Handled hardware and software support — warranty triage, component-level diagnostics, and PC assembly.

BSc (Hons) Computing — In Progress

Arden University | 2022 – 2026 (expected)

Management Studies — Complete

Universitatea Spiru Haret (USH), Ploiesti | 2009 – 2012

Automatic Control & Computers — Graduate

Universitatea Petrol-Gaze (UPG), Ploiesti | 2003 – 2006

Telecommunications

Spiru Haret High School, Ploiesti | 1999 – 2003

Planned further study: MSc and PhD in AI / Cybersecurity.

Courses and training completed across vendors and disciplines. Adrian holds no current valid industry certifications and is able to obtain certifications rapidly as required by role.

TOGAF — coursework in enterprise architecture frameworks.
CompTIA — coursework in foundational IT (A+), networking (Network+), security (Security+), Linux administration (Linux+), and advanced enterprise security (CASP).
Cisco — coursework in entry-level networking (CCENT) and broader routing, switching, and security topics.
Microsoft — coursework on Windows 7/8/10, Microsoft and Azure platforms (cloud, identity, endpoint).
Cloud — platform and certification-track coursework on AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform.
Oracle — coursework on database and platform administration.
ITIL — v3 Foundation and Practitioner coursework (Incident, Change, Problem Management).
Security — Penetration Testing and Ethical Hacking coursework.
Professional Skills — Customer Care and Satisfaction; Time Management.
Continuing Education — Ongoing webinars and vendor training across Microsoft, Azure, AWS, Google, Cisco, Oracle, VMware.

Able to obtain industry certifications rapidly as required by role.

Mentored 5–6 junior team members across consultancy and prior roles.
Customer-facing delivery formats: discovery and requirements workshops, formal classroom-style training, 1:1 mentoring, client onsite presentations and readouts, train-the-trainer and handover sessions. Audience size 5–10 per session.
Contributed to vendor selection and product evaluation — research, hands-on testing, and comparative analysis.
Occasional engagement with senior and C-level stakeholders for project and technical updates.

Multi-vendor enterprise lab maintained for hands-on currency across networking, security, virtualisation, telephony, and physical-layer infrastructure:

Rack, power & physical layer: rack-mounted environment with structured cabling, fibre optic interconnects, and network-over-DSL transport across legacy telephone-line cabling. Resilient power: APC network-managed 5 kW UPS and three network-managed PDUs with per-port switching for remote power cycling and load monitoring. Out-of-band access via a 32-port serial console server with dual power supplies and dual LAN uplinks for resilient remote-hands management.
Networking & security: Cisco (switches, routers, firewalls, APs), Cisco Meraki (switches, firewalls, APs), Fortinet (FortiGate firewalls, APs, switches, 5G router), Zyxel (firewalls, switches, APs), Palo Alto, Sophos, Check Point, pfSense, SonicWall.
Virtualisation: multi-hypervisor cluster — VMware, Proxmox, Hyper-V, KVM, OpenShift — running across multiple physical servers.
Storage & NAS: QNAP rack-mounted NAS and custom Linux-built NAS appliances for shared storage, backup targets, and replication testing.
Telephony: Cisco IP phones (analog and digital), SIP IP phones, and IP telephony servers for end-to-end VoIP / unified-communications testing.
Monitoring & logging: centralised syslog server aggregating events from network, security, virtualisation, and storage tiers for fault-finding and audit trail.
In development — AIOps / local AI monitoring: building a self-hosted AI agent over the syslog estate to perform anomaly detection, alert classification, and automated notification via email and WhatsApp; combines homelab observability data with locally-run language models for AI-augmented operations.

Romanian — Native
English — Advanced
French — Intermediate

MBCS — Member, British Computer Society.
Active participant in technology meetups, conferences, and community events.

Nationality: Romanian
Right to Work: United Kingdom
Driving Licence: Full, Clean (UK)