freelance · UK · remote-friendly

Freelance DevOps Consultant UK

I help startups, scale-ups, and engineering teams fix slow deployments, fragile infrastructure, and unclear cloud ownership — without adding another permanent hire.

the problem

Problems I can help with

Deployments are slow and stressful

Releases take hours, require multiple people, and still fail randomly in production.

Nobody fully owns the infrastructure

It grew organically and now nobody understands how it all fits together.

CI/CD is fragile

Pipelines break for unclear reasons and fixing them is a heroic effort every time.

Cloud costs keep climbing

The AWS bill grows each month but nobody can explain the biggest drivers.

Monitoring exists but nobody trusts it

Too many false positives, or production issues are found by customers before your team.

You need senior help, not a permanent hire

The work exists but not enough to justify a full-time infrastructure engineer.

the output

What I deliver

  • Infrastructure audit with written findings, risks, and a 30/60/90-day improvement plan
  • Terraform module architecture and remote state management
  • GitLab CI/CD or GitHub Actions pipeline redesign
  • Kubernetes deployment workflows and Flux GitOps setup
  • Observability baseline — Prometheus, Grafana, structured alerting
  • AWS cost review and rightsizing recommendations
  • Ansible automation for OS-level configuration
  • Runbooks and handover documentation

tooling

Tools I work with

I use these in production — not just on paper. See the homelab for proof.

TerraformAnsibleKubernetesk3sFlux v2GitLab CIAWSPrometheusGrafanaLokiDockerLinuxTraefikLonghorn

engagement models

Typical engagements

Infrastructure Review

1–2 days

A focused audit of your current setup. You get a written report with findings, risks, quick wins, and a prioritised action list — fixed scope, clear output.

Fixed scopefrom £950

Implementation Sprint

2–4 weeks

Pick one or two problems and fix them properly — IaC, CI/CD pipelines, Kubernetes, or observability. Scoped before work begins.

Time & materialsfrom £650 / day

Monthly Advisory Retainer

Ongoing

Strategic oversight, architecture decisions, code reviews, and a regular sync to stay ahead of infrastructure problems.

Retainerfrom £1,250 / month

Emergency Support

Ad hoc

Something's broken and needs fixing now. Available for urgent, time-sensitive troubleshooting with a fast response.

Short noticeContact for rate

credibility

Why work with me

14+ years

Software engineering, cloud, and infrastructure

AWS Certified

Solutions Architect – Associate

Terraform Certified

HashiCorp Associate

Enterprise clients

Waypoint Trading Solutions, Wunderman Thompson, Collinson

Production homelab as proof of work

I run a 6-node k3s cluster on Proxmox with Flux GitOps, BIND9 DNS HA, full Prometheus/Grafana observability (116 panels, 55 alert rules), Longhorn storage, and Terraform/Ansible IaC — not just on a CV, but running 24/7.

See the homelab architecture →

questions

Frequently asked questions

Do you work remotely?

Yes, fully remote. Based in Wirral, UK, and available across GMT. I've worked with distributed teams across Europe and the US.

What industries have you worked in?

Financial services (Waypoint Trading Solutions), retail and e-commerce (Wunderman Thompson), and enterprise SaaS (Collinson, ESW). Projects ranged from 3-person startups to 200+ person engineering organisations.

How long does a typical engagement last?

From a 1-day audit to 6+ month contracts. Most engagements start with a scoped review before expanding into longer implementation work.

Can I start with something small?

Absolutely. An infrastructure review is a low-risk way to get started — fixed scope, clear deliverable, no ongoing commitment required.

Do you also do software engineering?

My background includes software development, but I now focus entirely on infrastructure, cloud architecture, and DevOps. I won't be the right fit for frontend or backend product development.

get in touch

Ready to fix your infrastructure?

Tell me what you're dealing with and I'll get back to you within a business day. No commitment — just a conversation.