nigel@gibbsoft: ~/cv ◐ light
nigel@gibbsoft:~$ whoami && cat summary.txt
Forward Deployed Engineer
loc: South Tyneside, UK mail: nigel@gibbsoft.com web: gibbsoft.com tel: +44 (0) 777 197 4018 git: @gibbsoft in: NigelGibbs x: @gibbsoft dl: cv.pdf dl: cv.docx dl: cv.tex

summary.md

Engineer who builds, deploys, and supports software directly in customer environments. Full-stack across the stack — Go, Flutter, Terraform, Kubernetes, LLMs — from greenfields design to production operations. Delivered mission-critical platforms for UK government, built a modular SaaS framework from scratch, and shipped cross-platform mobile apps to app stores. Comfortable working directly with stakeholders, solving ambiguous problems, and iterating fast in production.

skills --list --proficiency

Infrastructure as Code95%
Cloud Architecture (AWS)85%
Kubernetes / Container Orchestration90%
Platform Engineering & SaaS Frameworks90%
CI/CD & Developer Tooling90%
LLM Integration / MCP85%
Full-Stack Software Engineering85%
Terraform / Ansible / BASH / Puppet / Docker95%
Python85%
Go / Dart/Flutter / Ruby75%
SQL70%
JavaScript / TypeScript / C / PERL / PowerShell50%

git log --work-history

Founder / Principal Platform EngineerPERMANENT Gibbsoft Ltd South Tyneside, UK (January 2024 - Present)
Building platform software, developer tooling, and customer-facing applications end to end.
  • Designed and built GoatKit, a modular SaaS framework with YAML-based dynamic routing, plugin architecture (WASM + gRPC), auth, DB abstraction, and hot-reload — powering multiple customer-facing products from a single codebase. Built 10+ extension modules (billing, payments, subscriptions, LLM integration, notifications, maps, media) for a future commercial Enterprise version.
  • Built and shipped GoatFlow, a multi-tenant helpdesk platform on top of GoatKit with multi-queue ticketing, customer portal, SLA management, dynamic reporting, and MCP integration.
  • Shipped Radiophonia, a cross-platform streaming radio app in Flutter (Linux, macOS, Windows, Android, iOS) with Firebase sync, song history/timeline, and music recognition.
  • Built ORAC, a self-hosted TTS/STT voice pipeline with custom synthesis and transcription API endpoints.
  • Designed and deployed a 2-node DGX Spark cluster with 400 Gbps RDMA interconnect running vLLM, Ollama, and custom inference pipelines for LLM-powered features across multiple products.
  • Built and operated self-hosted infrastructure including Gitea, n8n workflow automation, Cloudflare tunnels, Docker Compose stacks, and CI/CD runners across Linux, Windows and Mac.
Forward Deployed EngineerCONTRACT (UK government client) (hybrid / remote) (April 2024 - April 2026)
  • Designed, developed, shipped and supported 2 specialised cloud-based systems for a UK government client on AWS using Terragrunt, OpenTofu, Python and Docker.
Forward Deployed EngineerPERMANENT (UK government client) (onsite) (June 2023 - December 2023)
  • Led the design and development of a cloud-based solution for a UK government client using Terraform, BASH, Docker and Kubernetes.
Senior Site Reliability EngineerPERMANENT (UK government client) (remote) (January 2021 - June 2023)

  • Designed and built a Kubernetes-native PaaS that enabled self-service application deployment via GitOps workflows (ArgoCD + Helm). Delivered an integrated stack including:

    • Kubernetes cluster provisioning and administration
    • GitOps deployment pipeline with automated sync, drift detection, and rollback
    • Centralised monitoring (Prometheus/Grafana) and logging (Loki/Elastic)
    • Secrets management with automated rotation
    • Helm chart repository and standardised application templates
    • Developer self-service via ArgoCD UI — teams manage their apps entirely through git
DevOps Lead EngineerCONTRACT UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Swindon (October 2019 - January 2021)
Working with UKRI to architect, build and maintain secure infrastructure on public cloud (AWS). Regularly using Terraform, Ansible and Kubernetes/OpenShift.
Lead DevOps EngineerCONTRACT Innovate UK Swindon (April 2018 - September 2019)
Working with Innovate UK to define, implement, manage and maintain Cloud infrastructure. Working with suppliers and other Stakeholders to ensure fit for service architecture/processes are implemented. Built and configured new server platforms and infrastructure using Terraform, Ansible and Kubernetes/OpenShift on AWS.
Digital Head of Technology OperationsCONTRACT Department of Work and Pensions, GOV.UK (DWP) Newcastle Upon Tyne (December 2017 - April 2018)
Building cloud infrastructure on AWS using Terraform and Puppet to host various public facing pension services such as Check Your State Pension and Get Your State Pension.
DevOps Lead EngineerCONTRACT Innovate UK (via M4 Managed Services) Swindon (November 2016 - December 2017)
Define, implement, manage and maintain Cloud infrastructure. Built and configured new server platforms and infrastructure using Terraform, Ansible and Kubernetes/OpenShift on AWS. Identification and development of resources to establish a sustainable internal capability for long term DevOps and hosting needs.
Senior WebOps EngineerCONTRACT GOV.UK PAY, GDS London (August 2016 - November 2016)
Part of Government-as-a-Platform (GaaP): helped build an enterprise-class payments platform using Terraform, Chef and Ansible with Docker around Jenkins on AWS.
DevOps ConsultantCONTRACT NHSBSA (via IndigoBlue) Newcastle Upon Tyne (January 2016 - July 2016)
Formed a scrum team from previously siloed resources and led them through the design and implementation of a greenfields CI/CD system based around GitLab-CI, Terraform and Ansible in the Skyscape vCloud.
Puppet SMECONTRACT UCAS Cheltenham (April 2015 - October 2015)
Devised scalable masterless implementation on AWS. Extensive remediation work on estate of over 100 Puppet modules. Wrote a Windows Webfarm custom type/provider in Ruby and Powershell.
Cloud ArchitectCONTRACT Symantec.cloud Gloucester (February 2014 - April 2015)
Implemented configuration management using Python, and later masterless Puppet in very constrained environments.
Senior Linux Engineer, DevOpsPERMANENT NTT Com Security AG Theale, Reading, Berkshire, UK (March 2012 - January 2014)
NTT is the 5th largest IT Services Company in the world.
  • Writing Puppet modules and manifests, both in PE and Puppet open-source.
  • Writing automation scripts in BASH, PERL, Ruby and Python.
  • Linux build and configuration management using RedHat/CentOS with Cobbler and Puppet.
  • Provided a consistent and stable platform for NTT Com Sec’s market leading Managed Security Service.
  • Project Manager and Technical Lead for a data centre migration with a budget of £1M. Led the design and implementation of a security focused scalable enterprise class physical and virtual infrastructure.
DevOps EngineerPERMANENT Moreover Technologies Inc Dayton, Ohio, USA (June 2009 - February 2012)
Moreover harvest over 2.5 million articles and posts per day for the award-winning Newsdesk product.
  • Headed up the Infrastructure team, building and managing 400+ physical and virtual Linux servers across the USA, UK and Amazon AWS/EC2.
  • Designed and implemented a scalable enterprise class VMware vSphere solution with tiered Equallogic SAN storage, achieving a p2v ratio of 25:1.
  • Planned, managed and led the migration of Moreover’s New Jersey data centre to Dayton Ohio without significant downtime.
  • Standardised VM builds on RHEL/CentOS 64-bit using Kickstart scripts over PXE (Cobbler).
  • Worked closely with the development team in an Agile environment supporting Linux, SQL, Java, PERL, Apache, Nagios, Cacti.
📁 Earlier Career (1986–2009)
FounderCONTRACT Gibbsoft Ltd Various (March 2008 - June 2009)
Independent IT contractor.
  • VMware ESX, SANs and Linux/Windows Server deployments on behalf of PCI Services Ltd.
  • RHEL5 Clustering/SAN implementations and support on behalf of NCS PLC & Moreover Technologies.
  • Business Continuity Planning consultations to the NHS and various service and manufacturing organisations.
Data Centre ManagerPERMANENT IT Professional Services Ltd Gateshead, Tyne & Wear, UK (January 2003 - February 2008)
ITPS is a leading North East IT VAR/solutions house with 75 staff and ~£8.5M turnover.
  • Developed the Data Centre architecture almost from scratch to a respected tier-2 (TIA-942) facility across 3 locations, housing 200+ servers for 50+ customers with 5 engineers.
  • Designed and deployed significant solutions architecture for ITPS and their clients.
  • Greatly improved uptime and service levels by facilitating 24-hour support and introducing automated monitoring and alerting systems.
  • Managed substantial consultancy projects end-to-end on schedule and to budget (GAC Shipping, NHS, Swissport).
  • Built a formidable 3rd line support team by training and mentoring junior staff.
  • Introduced HRM company-wide, holding the HR Manager role for the latter 2 years.
Engineering Production ManagerPERMANENT VeriSign Inc Sunderland, UK (March 2001 - June 2002)
VeriSign had a ~$8B market cap, 4000+ employees across 15 countries — market leader in Internet security, DNS and e-commerce.
  • Increased VeriSign’s commercial presence by leading the Production Team through the full SDLC for internationalisation and roll-out of pan-European Internet storefronts.
  • Achieved 99.99% SLA uptime by designing, implementing and operating 24-hour monitoring of business-critical systems.
  • Secured revenue streams by installing, maintaining and ensuring constant operational and security states of all customer-facing Internet systems.
Projects ManagerPERMANENT Domainnames.com Sunderland, UK (Oct 2000 - March 2001)
Managed IT projects to completion on time and to budget.
  • Managed domain registration and web hosting infrastructure projects for enterprise clients, delivering on time and to budget.
  • Coordinated cross-functional teams including developers, sysadmins and account managers to ensure smooth project delivery.
Senior IT Consultant/TrainerPERMANENT MTC Computer Training & Consultancy Sunderland, UK (1992 - 2000)
Delivered official curriculum courses targeted at System Managers and IT Professionals in corporate IT departments.
  • Delivered training across the Microsoft and Novell curriculum to IT professionals in corporate environments across the UK.
  • Developed custom courseware for advanced system administration topics beyond standard vendor materials.
Software Training OfficerPERMANENT MARI Sunderland, UK (1986 - 1992)
Developed and delivered training courses in SDLC management, C, PASCAL and Unix Shell Scripts.
  • Developed and delivered training in C, PASCAL, Unix Shell Scripts and SDLC management to software engineers across the organisation.
  • Authored technical training manuals and course materials used company-wide for software development process education.

ls education/

University of Sunderland
Sunderland, UK
Post Graduate Diploma in Human Resource Management
2008
Post Graduate Diploma in Information Technology Management
2004
Post Graduate Certificate in Management of Information Technology
2000
Bachelor of Arts in Information Technology
1997
BTEC HNC (transferred to BAIT) in Information Technology
1992

ls personal-projects/

GoatKit
Modular SaaS framework with YAML routing, plugin platform (WASM + gRPC), auth, DB abstraction, and hot-reload. Forms the platform for GoatFlow and will be released separately at a later date.
GoatFlow
Full helpdesk platform with multi-queue ticketing, customer portal, SLA management, dynamic reporting, MCP integration, and plugin ecosystem. Ships as GoatKit extensions.
↗github.com
GoatKit Extension Modules
10+ modules — billing, invoicing, payments, subscriptions, LLM, TTS, notifications, devices, content feeds, maps, media — as containerised microservices.
DGX Spark Cluster
Two-node cluster with 400 Gbps RDMA interconnect running vLLM, Ollama, and custom inference pipelines for LLM deployment.
Radiophonia
Cross-platform Flutter app (Android, iOS, macOS, Windows) with Firebase sync, song history/timeline, music recognition. Published to app stores.
↗radiophonia.app
Quotes Clock
IoT project using a 7.5" 4-colour e-ink display. Displays a unique curated quotation for each minute of the day on a rotating schedule.
↗github.com

cat certifications.txt

▸ Hashicorp Certified Terraform Associate '22 ▸ Microsoft Azure Fundamentals '22 ▸ AWS Solutions Architect Associate '20 ▸ CISMP (Certificate in Information Management Principals) '20 ▸ PPC (Puppet Certified Professional) '17 ▸ CSM (Certified Scrum Master) '14 ▸ VCP5.5 (VMware Certified Professional) '14 ▸ VCP3 (VMware Certified Professional) '08 ▸ CITP (Chartered IT Professional) '08 ▸ Member of IET '07 ▸ Member of BCS '07 ▸ ITIL Foundation '07 ▸ PRINCE2 Foundation '04 ▸ Microsoft MCSD '99 ▸ Microsoft MCSE4 '96

cat hobbies.txt

I build things. When I'm not building software, I'm building labs — DGX clusters, self-hosted infrastructure, IoT projects, retro computers. I ship open-source and commercial software (eg. GoatFlow, Quotes-Clock, Radiophonia) and contribute to community projects. Outside tech, I enjoy movies, exploring the outdoors, and spending time with family and friends.