Gareth Ekin

Experience

• 

  Britannia Building Society

  Nov 2004 - Nov 2006

  Unix / PReS Developer

  Mainly working with Summit, Collect and Clientwise, I was responsible for overnight Unix batch schedules as well as batch design and fault fixing. This job is heavily Unix reliant and required strong analytical skills and the ability to pinpoint and fix problems. I also used SQL as part of this job to analyse test data as well as maintain software. Other utilities used include:o UniQo SCCSo Datastage Administratoro Datastage Directoro UltraComp Redboxo Oracle Enterprise Managero SQL Worksheeto PVCS Version Managero PVCS Tracker As part of a small PReS team also, I was responsible for the development and coding of new as well as existing PReS scripts to produce correspondence for the business including, mortgage and investment statements, marketing literature and general correspondence. Fully conversant the CThree I was one of the two administrators of this system and I had been able to build on the system as well develop our own scripts on this platform due to it's mixture of Unix, PReS and SQL. I was also the Unix administrator for a small Sparcstation on which we ran TPO! in tandem with PReS. I was responsible for writing day to day Unix scripts as well as crontab scripts to maintain the box. I was also part of the overnight contact plan for both the Unix and PReS platforms Show less

• 

  The Co-operative Bank plc

  Nov 2006 - Jul 2013

  Working with many different platforms, hardware and software applications, I am responsible for the design of new solutions or re-design of the existing legacy estate. Working alongside the various IT teams, I produce low level “end-to-end” infrastructure detailed design documents used as blue-prints for build, whether small budget projects or £1million plus spend in compliance with various regulations including ITIL, FSA and PCI industry standards. As well as ensuring systems will be fit for purpose, I also facilitate the transition into the production arena with the support and service management teams.Recent Projects I have been Technical Design Lead on:o Lead designer on the Life & Savings and General Insurance separation and sale.o Britannia & Co-Operative infrastructure collaboration and merger.o Core systems replacement.o Banking Transformation Programme.o Rebuild and upgrade of the document archive and scanning facility. Moving to virtual server technology, provisioning disaster recovery and failover.o Replacement of hardware security modules used for payment card encryption.o Design of automated and manual customer correspondence flows within the whole estate.o Design of infrastructure to facilitate third part virtual adviser software.o Designing of a platform to support customer service review software across the whole branch estateThis role entails out of hours working on occasion to support necessary project deadlines. Show less Oracle Database Administrator responsible for over 100 production and test databases.Working with many different software applications, I was responsible for over 100 production and test databases, their availability, backup and performance on various Oracle versions stretching from 8i to 11g on Solaris platforms. Oracle Database Experience:o Backup and Recovery (using RMAN, Data Domain and LogMiner)o High availability (Oracle DataGuard)o Database level performance tuning (statspack and tkprof)o Oracle Server installation and patchingo Database creation , patching and migrationo Replication (snapshots)o Bulk loads and data migrationso Application Express development and administrationo Unix shell scripting (korn shell) This role also entails out of hours support ensuring availability for the business critical systems. Show less

  • Technical Design Lead

    Nov 2010 - Jul 2013

  • Oracle Database Administrator

    Nov 2006 - Nov 2010
• 

  Lloyds Banking Group

  Jul 2013 - Oct 2017

  Technical Architect

  Responsible for the solution design of multiple complex system upgrades through all route to Live environments. Working on key currency remediation projects within the bank, predominantly involving technologies including:- AIX- Linux- Oracle- Middleware (IBM Websphere Application Server (WAS), IBM Message Queue (MQ) and IBM Message Broker)- Data-centre movement- Cloud technologyIn addition to solution design, I also help provide analysis of technical data throughout the discovery process and support team engagement (using SQL and Unix shell commands). I am also responsible for identifying delivery quick-wins and/or logical packages of work. Show less

• 

  IBM

  Oct 2017 - Apr 2018

  Enterprise Cloud Technical Architect

  Technical Architect - AIX, Red Hat Enterprise Linux & Oracle Database Cloud Migration for a major UK Financial Services CustomerResponsible for assisting with estate discovery of a major IT estate, as well as designing the re-platform services to a private cloud offering.Responsibilities included:- Review architectural patterns- Review and approve cloud migration designs- Assist with discovery and design of complex systems- Identify and resolve complex migration issues that affect multiple applications Show less

• 

  ECS

  Apr 2018 - Jan 2021

  Enterprise Cloud Technical Architect

  Technical Architect - Cloud Migration for a major UK Financial Services CustomerResponsible for designing the migration and transformation of a major platform to a number of private cloud offerings and assisting with estate discovery. Both a mixture of direct migrations and application re-platforms from one operating system, database and middleware stack to another.Technologies in scope are:- Oracle Cloud- AIX- Red Hat Enterprise Linux- Microsoft Windows Server- Oracle Database- DB2 Enterprise- SQL Server- IBM MQResponsibilities include:- Discovery and design of complex systems- Review architectural patterns- Member of the central review committee approving cloud migration designs- Identify and resolve complex migration issues that affect multiple applications Show less

• 

  GlobalLogic UK&I

  Jan 2021 - Mar 2024

  Principal Consultant

  Lead architect on a major Oracle Gen 1 migration to X7 and upgrade project to 19c on Oracle Cloud for a leading financial services company within the U.K.Assisting in the design and implementation of on-premise X7 cloud infrastructure into company data centres and setup of migration pipeline from 11g/12c on traditional IT as well as implementation of internal patterns and standards.In addition, assisting with SQL/Database performance tuning during migrations and usage of new Oracle features.Lead architect on implementation of Oracle Cloud Gen 2 X9 to replace Gen 1 and setup of migration pipeline to move between generations. Show less

• 

  TSB Bank

  Mar 2024 - now

  Technical Architect