Timur Alymbai
Irvine,CA
Summary
Innovative DevOps leader with a strong background in cloud architecture and infrastructure automation. Expertise in developing secure, scalable environments and optimizing CI/CD processes, driving efficiency and fostering high-performance team dynamics.
Overview
2
2
Languages
1
1
Certification
15
15
years of professional experience
Work History
Lead DevOps Engineer
Finfare
Irvine, CA
09.2023 - Current
- Own and lead the DevOps and cloud engineering function, combining hands-on execution with strategic leadership across architecture, reliability, security, delivery, and cost optimization; directly manage and mentor the DevOps team.
- Own and optimize CI/CD pipelines, standardizing Infrastructure as Code across AWS CDK and Terraform with reusable modules, coding standards, and compliance reviews; improved release safety and availability through blue-green ECS deployments.
- Designed and implemented a secure AWS multi-account architecture using Control Tower, enabling environment isolation and governance at scale.
- Led cloud cost optimization initiatives through Savings Plans, Reserved Instances, and proactive resource decommissioning, resulting in significant budget efficiencies.
- Enabled secure, scalable data analytics and AI workloads by integrating Databricks and Snowflake with AWS, supporting AI product development with compliant, production-ready infrastructure.
- Strengthened observability and operational resilience using Datadog and standardized SOPS/runbooks; enhanced security posture through container hardening, WAF management, VPN/IP whitelisting, and migrated to Arctic Wolf for improved incident detection.
- Managed AWS networking and DNS, including Route53, Transit Gateway, and environment-level route isolation to ensure reliable connectivity and resource access.
- Developed Python automation to streamline financial settlement workflows, reducing processing time and human error.
Senior Cloud Infrastructure Architect, Team Lead
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Irvine, CA
06.2020 - 09.2023
- Led architecture design and delivery for enterprise customers including Takeda, VSP, Hilton, and Shutterfly.
- Designed and implemented large-scale, production-grade AWS architectures that addressed complex business and industry requirements.
- Deployed AWS Control Tower and landing zones to establish secure, scalable multi-account AWS environments.
- Planned and executed enterprise migrations from on-premises data centers to AWS, facilitating smooth transitions as part of DC exit initiatives.
- Designed, built, and scaled Kubernetes-based cloud platforms (EKS and self-managed), including microservices, CI/CD automation, and operational best practices.
- Selected as an AWS Infrastructure as Code (IaC) SME, specializing in Terraform and AWS CDK; mentored consultants and reviewed customer architectures.
- Designed proactive monitoring and alerting solutions to reduce unplanned outages.
- Implemented centralized security findings aggregation across AWS accounts.
- Automated security incident response using Amazon EventBridge, Step Functions, Lambda, EC2 Run Command, and SNS.
- Optimized AWS costs through resource cleanup and adoption of Spot Instances, enabling efficient resource utilization and automated non-prod scheduling.
Systems Engineer II
Expedia Group
Chicago, IL
01.2016 - 06.2020
- Led the migration from on-premises infrastructure to AWS, defining target architectures, migration strategy, and execution plans to enable cloud-native workloads with minimal service disruption.
- Owned and led AWS cloud infrastructure across a multi-account environment, including VPC networking, IAM, and shared platform services, ensuring security, scalability, and operational excellence.
- Designed and governed a multi-account AWS architecture, implementing account isolation, centralized networking, shared services, and security controls to support multiple teams and brands.
- Established Infrastructure as Code standards using Terraform, Helm, and Kubernetes to enable repeatable environments, streamlining deployment processes and reinforcing reliability.
- Provided technical leadership for container platforms and CI/CD, supporting Docker, ECS, EKS, and Jenkins pipelines while guiding teams on best practices for platform adoption and integration.
- Implemented Prometheus-based Kubernetes cluster monitoring to standardize metrics collection and alerting across environments, enhancing visibility and response times.
- Managed and scaled time-series database platforms using the TICK stack (Telegraf, InfluxDB, Chronograf, Kapacitor) and MetricTank, supporting high-volume metrics ingestion and long-term retention.
- Automated operational workflows with Python to improve NOC efficiency, alerting quality, and incident response.
Linux System Administrator II
Orbitz Worldwide
Chicago, IL
10.2014 - 01.2016
- Ensured uptime and reliability of 24x7 production environments as SOC administrator, resolving incidents promptly using ServiceNow and JIRA.
- Automated system configuration, deployments, and monitoring using Chef, Ansible, and Jenkins; maintained internal automation tools.
- Managed monitoring and alerting systems with Zenoss and Seyren, supporting over 100 production applications across multiple teams to maintain operational continuity.
- Administered VMware and PPV infrastructure effectively using vSphere/WebSphere clients to support organizational needs.
- Configured and maintained NFS/Automount services, VIPs via Netscaler
Linux/VMware System Administrator
Kohl's
Milwaukee, WI
03.2012 - 07.2014
- Managed VMware ESX environments, including VM provisioning and cloning, and executed backups with IBM Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM) to safeguard data integrity.
- Administered and maintained RHEL/CentOS servers, automated configuration with Puppet, applied patches via YUM, and resolved OS, application, and network issues to ensure system reliability.
- Monitored system performance, administered CRON jobs, configured NFS/Automount, and synchronized data across data centers using rsync to enhance data availability.
Education
Bachelor of Arts - Mass Communication
Istanbul University
Istanbul, Turkiye06-2008
Skills
- DevOps and solution architecture
- CI/CD automation
- Infrastructure as code
- AWS CDK and CloudFormation
- Container orchestration
- GitHub Actions integration
- Version control with Git
- Python and Bash scripting
- Linux system administration
- Configuration management
- Cloud data solutions
- Machine learning deployment
- Data integration solutions
- Consulting
Certification
AWS Certified Solutions Architect, AWS Certified Developer Associate, AWS Certified SysOps Administrator Associate, RedHat Certified Systems Administrator
Languages
Russian
Professional
Turkish
Professional
Timeline
Lead DevOps Engineer
Finfare
09.2023 - Current
Senior Cloud Infrastructure Architect, Team Lead
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
06.2020 - 09.2023
Systems Engineer II
Expedia Group
01.2016 - 06.2020
Linux System Administrator II
Orbitz Worldwide
10.2014 - 01.2016
Linux/VMware System Administrator
Kohl's
03.2012 - 07.2014
Bachelor of Arts - Mass Communication
Istanbul University