Hello, I'm

Ilyass Kaouam.

Senior DevOps & Cloud Architect

I design, secure and operate large-scale cloud and Kubernetes platforms. 12+ years of experience across finance, retail, and high-traffic systems, with a strong focus on reliability, security, and cost optimization.

Resume

About Me

DevOps & SysOps engineer with over 12 years of experience in cloud, virtualization and distributed systems.

Strong expertise in AWS, GCP, Kubernetes and on-prem infrastructures (vSphere, Proxmox, Ceph), with a solid background in security, databases and high availability architectures.

I have led and contributed to large-scale platforms serving millions of requests per day, focusing on stability, scalability and operational excellence.

  • Kubernetes (GKE, EKS, RKE)
  • Terraform & Infrastructure as Code
  • AWS & GCP
  • Proxmox, vSphere, Ceph
  • Observability (Prometheus, Grafana, ELK)
  • Security & Networking

Experience

Senior DevOps / SysOps Engineer - Cyllene
Sep 2021 – Dec 2025

Managed and secured Kubernetes and cloud infrastructures for more than 10 clients.

  • Kubernetes security lead (Trivy, Gatekeeper, best practices)
  • GCP architecture design (HA, DRP, cost optimization)
  • GitOps with ArgoCD, Helm and Terraform
  • Migration of Paylib platform from OpenShift to Kubernetes resulting in ~300k€/year cost reduction
SysOps / Cloud Engineer - Decathlon
Jan 2020 – Jul 2021

Contributed to the design and operation of a large-scale, multi-cloud API platform handling more than 1 billion API calls per week.

  • Designed and deployed a new GCP point of service to offload AWS and improve global availability.
  • Implemented Infrastructure as Code using Terraform and shell scripts to provision cloud resources.
  • Ensured high availability and resilience across AWS and GCP environments.
  • Designed and improved monitoring and alerting to enhance scalability and operational visibility.
  • Migrated Elasticsearch architecture (30+ TB across 3 continents) to SaaS (Aiven), improving reliability and reducing operational overhead.
  • Participated in the migration of API Management (Gravitee) from VM-based infrastructure to Kubernetes.
  • Improved DRP strategy across multiple clusters and cloud providers.
System & Network Engineer - Pictime Groupe
Feb 2019 – Jan 2020

Contributed to the design, deployment and operation of infrastructure platforms for large enterprise clients in retail, banking and finance sectors.

  • Designed and deployed new production platforms for high-profile clients (Auchan, Société Générale, Boulanger).
  • Administered Linux systems and databases (MySQL, MSSQL) in production environments.
  • Participated in capacity planning and identification of infrastructure evolution needs for a business with ~300M€ annual revenue.
  • Implemented and maintained HA architectures using load balancers (HAProxy, F5) and clustered storage solutions (GlusterFS, Galera).
  • Coordinated technical operations and project tasks while respecting delivery deadlines.
  • Improved operational processes, documentation and client knowledge transfer.
  • Provided advanced support and incident resolution in production environments.
System Administrator / Infrastructure Engineer - INFORISK
Oct 2012 – Jan 2018

Led the redesign and implementation of the INFORISK platform infrastructure with a strong focus on availability, scalability, security, and cost reduction.

  • Designed a new highly available architecture (PRA / PCA) improving service reliability and scalability.
  • Migrated physical infrastructure to virtualized environments using vSphere and Proxmox.
  • Implemented a Proxmox cluster with Ceph for secure and replicated distributed storage.
  • Introduced Infrastructure as Code principles, automating VM provisioning and configuration using Ansible.
  • Centralized logs using Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kibana, Redis and Rsyslog for better observability and incident response.
  • Implemented WAF (ModSecurity) integrated with ELK to enhance application security.
  • Designed database replication for PostgreSQL using RepMgr and PgPool.
  • Built backup and restore strategies using Bacula and multi-site NFS storage.
  • Defined and maintained security controls (firewalls, VPN, IAM, IDS, access management).

Education

2016 – 2017
Master 2 (Bac+5) – Information Systems & IT Project Management
CESASUP
European Master degree (Bac+5 equivalent). Focus on information systems, system & network engineering, and IT project management.
2008 – 2010
Specialized Technician – Computer Networks
ISIM
Specialized Technician – Computer Networks
2007 – 2009
Specialized Technician – Software Development
PIGIER
Software development fundamentals and applied programming.

Projects

Success Stories
Kubernetes, RKE2 GitOps ArgoCD Helm Security Ansible
Success Stories
Context: Regulated fintech payment platform with strong availability and compliance constraints. Problem: Legacy OpenShift setup with high operational complexity and rising platform costs. Solution: Migrated workloads to Kubernetes with GitOps (ArgoCD), Helm, and Terraform; improved cluster security posture and deployment workflows. Impact: ~300k€/year cost reduction, faster delivery cycles, and a simpler, more standardized Kubernetes operating model.
Demo
Multi-Cloud API Platform for Decathlon
AWS GCP Terraform SRE HA/DR Observability
Multi-Cloud API Platform for Decathlon
Context: High-traffic API platform operating across AWS and GCP at global scale. Problem: Need to improve global availability and reduce dependency on a single cloud zone/provider while keeping operations consistent. Solution: Designed and deployed a new GCP point of service to offload AWS; standardized provisioning with Terraform; improved monitoring/alerting and resilience patterns. Impact: Better availability and multi-region resilience; platform operated at **1B+ API calls/week** with improved observability and operational confidence.
Demo
On-Prem to Cloud Virtualization with Proxmox & Ceph
Hugo Bootstrap Javascript
On-Prem to Cloud Virtualization with Proxmox & Ceph
Context: On-prem infrastructure modernization with strong uptime and cost-efficiency requirements. Problem: Physical infrastructure limited scalability and made HA/DR and maintenance costly and risky. Solution: Migrated to virtualized environments (vSphere/Proxmox) and implemented a **Proxmox cluster with Ceph** for replicated distributed storage; automated provisioning with Ansible. Impact: Higher resilience, faster provisioning, simpler scaling, and improved storage reliability through replication and cluster operations.
Demo V2
Large-scale Elasticsearch Migration to SaaS
Elasticsearch Aiven Migration Observability Reliability
Large-scale Elasticsearch Migration to SaaS
Context: Global Elasticsearch footprint with large data volumes and operational load. Problem: Operating and upgrading clusters at scale (30+ TB across multiple regions/continents) increased risk and consumed significant engineering time. Solution: Migrated Elasticsearch to a managed SaaS offering (Aiven), redesigned ingestion/retention considerations, and improved monitoring around the new service boundaries. Impact: Improved reliability and reduced operational overhead, freeing time for higher-value platform work.
Demo V2

Certifications & Professional Training

Google Cloud – Professional Cloud Architect
Advanced certification covering cloud architecture design, security, scalability and reliability.
Google Cloud – Associate Cloud Engineer
Hands-on certification validating deployment, monitoring and operation of GCP workloads.
AWS – Cloud Practitioner
Foundational certification covering AWS services, security and cloud fundamentals.

Get in Touch

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