Looking for a job

Zain Ahmed

@zain_ahmed

Lead Microsoft 365 and hybrid infrastructure engineer. 16 years across Entra ID, Intune, Windows Server, AD and Exchange. UK remote or hybrid.

United Kingdom

Message

What I'm looking for

Lead or senior in-house role where hybrid Microsoft infrastructure and Microsoft 365 are the core: Windows Server, AD, Exchange, Entra ID, Intune and Defender, with Azure services in support. I want to own the estate end to end, improving security, resilience and automation, and modernising it. Based near Leeds, looking for fully remote UK roles.

I am a Lead / Senior Microsoft 365 and Hybrid Infrastructure Engineer with 16 years in UK technology. My strength is running the whole Microsoft estate, from on-premises Windows Server, Active Directory and Exchange through to Microsoft 365, Entra ID and Intune, and joining the two together safely.

I spent 7 years at Lhasa Limited, a scientific software not-for-profit of around 220 staff. I progressed from Systems Administrator to Lead Cloud and Infrastructure Engineer, owning identity, endpoints, security and infrastructure across the organisation and its subsidiaries in Germany and Brazil. Highlights include:

- Built a fully isolated IT environment from zero for the subsidiary Consult Lhasa, with its own AD DS, file services, VPN and Microsoft 365 tenant, delivered solo to production sign-off with board approval.

- Led the IT integration of an acquired German company, covering the identity merger, tenant to tenant migration, endpoint onboarding, backup and data migration.

- Moved hybrid identity from ADFS to Entra ID managed authentication with passwordless sign-in, with zero downtime or user impact.

- Wrote the Microsoft 365 E5 business case and rolled out Microsoft Defender to 200+ staff, replacing several third-party security and telephony tools with one Microsoft standard.

- Moved 170+ numbers to Microsoft Teams Phone with Operator Connect, cutting annual telephony cost by over 95%.

- Took all 40+ email domains to full DMARC enforcement at p=reject, featured in a published Red Sift customer case study.

- Ran resilient multi-site Active Directory across Leeds, Azure and Poland on a fully virtualised Hyper-V and VMware estate, with FortiGate networking and tested backup and disaster recovery.

Before Lhasa I worked at an IT managed services provider, delivering Microsoft 365, Exchange and Windows Server projects for finance, public sector and NHS transport clients. I also built Azure and private cloud hosting for travel and e-commerce platforms.

I use AI assisted coding to automate PowerShell, Microsoft Graph and Power Automate, and I have built AI guardrails and an evaluation harness for Claude skills. I also mentored a junior engineer from industrial placement to cloud engineer.

I hold a First Class BSc (Hons) in Information and Communication Technology from the University of Bradford. My certifications include CNSS, MCP for Windows Server 2012 R2 and MTA Networking Fundamentals.

I am on a career break, travelling with my family after redundancy in a Lhasa restructure. I am available for Teams interviews and looking for UK remote or hybrid roles where hybrid Microsoft infrastructure and Microsoft 365 are the core of the job. Outside work I enjoy time with my young family, home lab self-hosting, Docker and AI-assisted development.

Experience

Work history, roles, and key accomplishments

Lead Cloud and Infrastructure Engineer

Lhasa Limited

May 2019 - Sep 2026 (7 years 4 months)

Progressed from Systems Administrator to Lead Cloud and Infrastructure Engineer across Lhasa and its subsidiaries. Owned Microsoft 365, Entra ID, Intune, Defender, Windows Server, AD DS, Exchange, Hyper-V, VMware and FortiGate. Moved ADFS to Entra ID with zero downtime, led an acquisition integration, enforced DMARC on 40+ domains, ran multi-site AD and DR.

Lead Cloud and Infrastructure Engineer

Consult Lhasa

Feb 2023 - Feb 2026 (3 years)

Built a fully isolated IT environment from zero for the Lhasa Group's for-profit subsidiary, with its own AD DS, file services, VPN and Microsoft 365 tenant, delivered solo to production sign-off. Migrated the file server to SharePoint Online with zero data loss and wrote cross-tenant access controls across 3 Lhasa Group entities.

Systems Engineer

Cosurica

Aug 2017 - May 2019 (1 year 9 months)

Delivered infrastructure, cloud, and Microsoft 365 projects across a multi-sector client base, including finance, public sector, manufacturing, and transport. Ran Office 365 and Exchange migrations, single sign-on, and hybrid configurations, plus security audits.

Microsoft 365 Office 365 Exchange Azure SharePoint Windows Server Hyper V DrayTek Ubiquiti Azure Backup MSSQL MFA Advanced Threat Protection

IT Engineer

Sultronic Computers

May 2017 - Aug 2017 (3 months)

Delivered contract-based small office infrastructure projects including physical to virtual migrations, legacy Windows Server upgrades, and AD DS environments with Office 365 integration.

Windows Server Active Directory Office 365 Virtualization

Build, Integration and Release Engineer

Zolv

Jun 2014 - May 2017 (2 years 11 months)

Owned internal IT across Hyper-V, AD DS, Group Policy, WSUS, SonicWall firewalls and Office 365 with AD Connect single sign-on, migrating services from Windows Server 2003 to 2012 R2. Also built Azure, AWS and private cloud hosting for client travel and e-commerce platforms, including PCI compliant hosting.

IT and Marketing Lead

SG1 Security

Jan 2012 - Dec 2013 (1 year 11 months)

Managed end-to-end IT operations across network infrastructure, hosting, connectivity, and web services.

Network Infrastructure Hosting Connectivity Web Services

IT Support and Development

LoveTEFL

Jan 2012 - Dec 2013 (1 year 11 months)

Administered cloud and on-premises systems across VPS environments, supporting web and business platforms alongside Windows Server and Microsoft 365 administration.

Windows Server Microsoft 365 Active Directory Domain Services DHCP DNS Group Policy Networking VoIP Backup WordPress SugarCRM Magento Moodle

Systems Administrator

Emirates Security

Jan 2010 - Dec 2012 (2 years 11 months)

Sole IT administrator, owning Windows servers and desktops, LAN, Wi-Fi, firewall, broadband, website, domains, email, and hosting, plus the company database and marketing material.