Open To Work
Anish Nandha
Senior Engineer
Wellington,WGN
Summary
Senior Engineer with 15+ years' experience designing, supporting, and stabilising enterprise infrastructure across Windows Server, VMware, and hybrid Azure environments. Proven track record reducing incidents and manual effort through automation, managing large-scale virtualised estates, and delivering platform reliability for enterprise, government, and Defence customers. Working exposure to Azure administration and modern workplace tooling complements a core specialisation in infrastructure engineering.
Overview
10
10
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work History
Senior Engineer
Expert360
03.2026 - Current
- Leading a platform migration project to design and deliver an automated deployment framework for ArcGIS Enterprise 11.5, replacing legacy manual build processes ahead of decommissioning of the legacy environment.
- This work involves architecting a repeatable, configuration-driven deployment model using PowerShell Desired State Configuration (DSC), JSON-based parameterisation, and modularised scripts aligned with client engineering and security standards.
- Conducting extensive, iterative testing of DSC-based deployment pipelines, including validation of node configuration, service dependencies, ArcGIS component installation, federation steps, and post-deployment health checks.
- Testing cycles include scenario-based rebuilds, idempotency checks, rollback behaviour, and alignment with the expected production topology.
- Performing deep research into DSC resource behaviour, ArcGIS Enterprise automation patterns, and JSON configuration structures, including identifying limitations, workarounds, and best-practice approaches for automating multi-tier GIS environments.
- This includes evaluating how ArcGIS 11.5 interacts with DSC during installation, service registration, and configuration drift correction.
- Working closely with the Solutions Designer to ensure the automation aligns with the future-state architecture, including node layout, security zones, service accounts, storage patterns, and network dependencies.
- Maintaining readiness despite external dependencies, with all automation components, test results, and deployment logic prepared for immediate execution once the production environment is built.
- Authoring a comprehensive Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) that documents the entire automation approach, including DSC architecture, JSON configuration schema, deployment workflow, testing methodology, troubleshooting patterns, and operational considerations for ongoing maintenance.
- The SOP is being written to Client documentation standards to support handover, audit, and long-term sustainability.
- Providing technical clarity and risk visibility to stakeholders, highlighting the impact of design dependencies, environment readiness, and sequencing constraints on project timelines.
- Ensuring that the automation work remains aligned with client security, compliance, and operational requirements throughout the project lifecycle.
- Maintained delivery transparency across the team, measured by sprint predictability, by managing Agile workflows in Azure DevOps and prioritising backlog items.
Senior Systems Engineer
Datacom NZ
05.2023 - 02.2026
- Delivered full L3 engineering support across enterprise infrastructure — Windows Servers, VMware/ESXi, Azure, Exchange, M365, and core identity and network services — acting as the primary technical escalation point for complex incidents and platform stability.
- Delivered end-to-end L3 support for Windows Server, Active Directory, Group Policy, DFS/Namespace, DHCP, and DNS, measured by service continuity across core infrastructure services.
- Managed and maintained VMware vSphere/ESXi clusters, measured by platform stability, through provisioning, remediation, performance tuning, and host lifecycle management; supported Azure dev/test workloads covering VM provisioning, access, and policy alignment.
- Provided advanced support for Exchange, M365, DKIM, Valimail, and Cloudflare DNS, measured by secure mail flow and authentication compliance; administered ScienceLogic SL1 monitoring as SME across Windows/VM builds, integrating with AIOps and Linux/Unix teams.
- Gained working exposure to modern endpoint management and virtualisation tooling, including Intune device compliance, SCCM application deployment, Citrix VDI, and Group Policy, alongside core infrastructure administration.
- Liaised with multiple vendors and service providers to coordinate upgrades and resolve platform issues, acting as L2.5/L3 escalation point for privileged tasks beyond Service Desk scope; provided after-hours on-call support for P1/P2 incidents and mentored junior and desktop engineers.
Systems Engineer
Datacom NZ
08.2019 - 04.2023
- Delivered full L3 engineering support across enterprise infrastructure.
- Maintained patch compliance across multiple government and SME environments, measured by compliance audit pass rate, by managing WSUS patching cycles.
- Sustained SLA-aligned service delivery, measured by customer satisfaction scores, by acting as primary technical contact for key accounts.
- Owned end-to-end delivery of infrastructure uplift and migration projects — from scoping and stakeholder sign-off through to go-live — reducing post-deployment incidents through structured technical documentation and handover.
Cloud Capacity Analyst
Datacom NZ
07.2016 - 08.2019
- Improved capacity planning accuracy, measured by forecast-to-actual variance, by analysing compute, storage, network, and backup utilisation trends.
- Supported financial and operational planning, measured by budget forecast accuracy, by producing capacity and performance reports across cloud datacentres.
Education
BA (Hons) - Computer Studies
University of Sunderland
Bachelor of Information Technology - undefined
Charles Sturt University
Skills
- Windows Server
- VMware vSphere/ESX
- HPE 3PAR
- Dell EMC
- Storage & Compute Lifecycle Management
- Linux/Unix
- VLAN Segmentation
- Windows Firewall Configuration
- Azure Administration
- Azure Dev/Test
- Hybrid Identity
- Entra ID
- Exchange Online
- Microsoft 365
- PowerShell
- DSC
- JSON
- Azure DevOps
- Deployment Patterns
- Repeatable Workflows
- Incident Management
- Monitoring
- Root-Cause Analysis
- Patch Management
- Platform Reliability
- Intune
- SCCM
- Citrix VDI
- Group Policy
- ITIL
- Agile
- Scrum
Websites
Certification
- ScienceLogic SL1 Expert, 2025
- ScienceLogic SL1 Professional, 2025
- Dell VxRail Administration, 2024
- HCL BigFix Foundation, 2023
- AWS Partner Accreditations, 2020-2022
- Commvault Foundation
- VMware vSphere Skills for Operators
- AWS Technical Bootcamp – Windows
- ITIL v3 Foundation, 2011
Core Capabilities
Windows Server, VMware vSphere/ESX, HPE 3PAR, Dell EMC, Storage & Compute Lifecycle Management, Linux/Unix (cross-team collaboration), VLAN Segmentation, Windows Firewall Configuration, Azure Administration, Azure Dev/Test, Hybrid Identity, Entra ID, Exchange Online, Microsoft 365, PowerShell, DSC, JSON, Azure DevOps, Deployment Patterns, Repeatable Workflows, Incident Management, Monitoring, Root-Cause Analysis, Patch Management, Platform Reliability, Intune (Device Compliance), SCCM (App Deployment), Citrix VDI, Group Policy, ITIL, Agile, Scrum
Key Career Achievements
- Sustained stability across 1,000+ virtual machines, measured by SLA compliance, supporting enterprise, government, and Defence customers on VMware vSphere and Windows Server.
- Cut manual configuration effort by 30–40%, measured by reduction in deployment drift incidents, by introducing PowerShell-driven deployment patterns and DSC automation.
- Reduced recurring incidents by ~25%, measured by month-on-month incident volume, by building automated remediation workflows and structured root-cause analysis.
- Improved incident response speed by 20%, measured by mean time to resolution, by restructuring triage processes and monitoring thresholds.
- Improved onboarding speed for new engineers, measured by reduced ramp-up time, by modernising runbooks and SOPs into automation-aligned documentation.
Earlier Experience
- Business Analyst, Careers New Zealand, 2015-01-01, 2016-12-31
- ICT Specialist, Careers New Zealand, 2012-01-01, 2015-12-31
- L2 Technical Analyst / Service Desk Team Leader, Fujitsu NZ, 2010-01-01, 2012-12-31
- Technical Analyst L2, Unisys NZ, 2008-01-01, 2010-12-31
- Systems Engineer, Boston Ltd, UK, 2004-01-01, 2006-12-31
- Technical Support & Administration, Kenya, 1997-01-01, 2001-12-31
Work Preference
Work Type
Full TimeLocation Preference
On-SiteRemoteHybridTimeline
Senior Engineer
Expert360
03.2026 - Current
Senior Systems Engineer
Datacom NZ
05.2023 - 02.2026
Systems Engineer
Datacom NZ
08.2019 - 04.2023
Cloud Capacity Analyst
Datacom NZ
07.2016 - 08.2019
BA (Hons) - Computer Studies
University of Sunderland
Bachelor of Information Technology - undefined
Charles Sturt University