Keeping things online
Websites and apps that stay up, even when traffic spikes or something breaks.
Available for remote · full-time · contract
Hi, I'm
Saif Riaz
DevOps & Site Reliability Engineer
I keep websites and apps fast, secure and always online.
I run the cloud infrastructure behind enterprise HR and AI platforms — including software used by Mubadala in the UAE. Day to day: making sure they never go down, updates ship safely, and nobody overpays for the cloud.
99.9%of the time, the services I run are online
availability SLO< 10 minto safely release an update — it used to take hours
ci/cd lead time33%cut from the monthly cloud bill
rightsizing · finops37projects built and shipped, from production to research
git log --oneline
all systems operational
uptime99.9%
deploy< 10 min
cloudsazure · aws
locationlahore · remote
01 // about me
The person behind the uptime
I'm a DevOps & Site Reliability Engineer at Aslase in Lahore. I built the company's cloud platform from scratch on a $50,000 Microsoft Azure startup grant, and today I look after the systems behind Takafo (an HR platform for Mubadala, UAE), the humentra.ai hiring products and a family of AI tools.
My job, in plain words: keep everything online, make releases boring and safe, lock the doors attackers look for, and stop money leaking out of the cloud bill. I studied Computer Science at ITU Lahore, and I came to DevOps through machine learning and full-stack development — so I understand the apps I run, not just the servers.
- experience
- 1.5+ years in production
- degree
- BS Computer Science, ITU
- works
- Remote, any time zone
- open to
- Full-time · contract · relocation
02 // what i do
How I help teams
Moving to the cloud
Careful moves between Amazon and Microsoft clouds, with nothing lost along the way.
Faster, safer releases
Automated checks so new features go live in minutes, not hours.
Protecting data
Locked-down networks, private databases and short-lived access instead of open doors.
Lower cloud costs
Paying only for what's needed, found by measuring real usage.
Spotting problems early
Dashboards and alerts that flag issues before customers notice them.
03 // how devops works
From a line of code to a healthy live system
Every change I ship goes round the same loop — automatically. What we learn from monitoring flows straight back into planning, so the product keeps getting better and safer.
- 01PlanAgree what to build and track the work
- 02CodeEvery change is versioned and reviewed
- 03BuildPackage the app into a container
- 04TestAutomated tests catch bugs early
- 05SecureScan code, images and infra for risks
- 06ReleaseApproved builds are versioned and ready
- 07DeployRoll out with zero downtime
- 08OperateRun, scale and patch in the cloud
- 09MonitorWatch health, alert the team, feed back into planning
04 // tech & tools
The DevOps toolbox
96 tools across the whole DevOps landscape. 51 highlighted ones I've used hands-on in my own projects; the rest I know my way around.
Cloud platforms
9Where apps live
- Microsoft Azure
- AWS
Cloudflare
Google Cloud
DigitalOcean
Heroku
Vercel
Netlify
OpenStack
Containers & orchestration
10Packaging and running apps
- Docker
- Kubernetes
Helm
OpenShift
Podman
Rancher
K3s
Istio
Envoy
Traefik
Infrastructure as code
10Servers & networks defined in code
- Terraform
OpenTofu
Ansible
Pulumi
Packer
Vagrant
Chef
Puppet
Salt
Consul
CI/CD & GitOps
12Automated build, test & release
- GitHub Actions
GitLab CI- Jenkins
Tekton
Azure DevOps
Argo CD
Flux
CircleCI
Travis CI
Maven
Gradle- npm
Security & DevSecOps
6Finding risks before attackers do
- OWASP ZAP
- Trivy
Let's Encrypt
Vault
Snyk
SonarQube
Monitoring & logging
9Seeing problems early
- Prometheus
- Grafana
Sentry
OpenTelemetry
Elasticsearch
Kibana
Logstash
Datadog
New Relic
Databases & messaging
9Storing and moving data
PostgreSQL
MySQL
Redis
MongoDB
Kafka
RabbitMQ
SQL Server
DynamoDB
Cosmos DB
OS & web servers
5The foundation
Linux
Ubuntu
Nginx
Apache
Bash
Languages & frameworks
10Writing the code
Python
TypeScript
JavaScript
Node.js
React
FastAPI
Flask
Express
C++
Go
AI & data
8Smart features
PyTorch
TensorFlow
OpenCV
Jupyter
Streamlit
LangChain
Claude
GitHub Copilot
Collaboration
8Working as a team
- Git
- GitHub
- Jira
- VS Code
Postman
Bitbucket
Confluence
Slack
05 // projects
37 things I've built
From production platforms for enterprise clients to security tools, AI experiments and university projects. The icons on each card show the stack behind it.
Production
Zero-trust just-in-time access broker
Closed exposed SSH and database ports with a broker that opens single-IP firewall access for 1–8 hours after an Entra ID sign-in, then shuts it automatically — no more static jump hosts.
Production
Company-wide observability (LGTM stack)
Metrics, logs and uptime probes for every service and VM, with RED/USE alerts routed straight to Microsoft Teams — faster fixes, fewer surprises.
Production
Takafo — recruiting platform for Mubadala (UAE)
Layered Azure defences for an enterprise hiring platform: Front Door WAF, Application Gateway, isolated subnets, Key Vault and high-availability PostgreSQL. 99.9% uptime.
Production
Cloud FinOps — $50k grant, −33% bill
Won $50,000 in Microsoft Azure for Startups funding, then cut the monthly cloud bill from $1,500 to $1,000 by rightsizing from real usage data.
Production
Zero-downtime database migration
Moved multi-GB production PostgreSQL behind private endpoints with no data loss or dropped connections, and replaced stored passwords with managed identities.
Production
Humentra — AI talent platform & multi-tenant SSO
Frontend on Azure Static Web Apps with single sign-on for corporate clients, plus containerised grading services running on Redis queues.
Production
AslasChat & HelpIQ — conversational AI
Containerised AI support agents and knowledge engines, with 65% smaller images, automated DNS and certificate renewals, and Grafana dashboards.
Production
RestHero — e-commerce store builder
Scalable store-builder infrastructure on AWS with automatic deployments and rolling updates — no downtime during promotional traffic spikes.
Production
MomoDairy — supply-chain backend
Production setup for a dairy and logistics platform: systemd-managed services, Nginx with auto-renewing SSL, and nightly database backups.
Production
Industrial flange management system
Staging and production for an industrial joint-inspection system, with health checks, auto-restart, role-based access and audit logs.
Flagship
TIXE — AI freelancing marketplace
Escrow payments, real-time messaging and a RAG support chatbot. React on S3/CloudFront, Node.js on Azure Container Apps, every build scanned with OWASP ZAP.
Flagship
Blood donation finder
Find nearby donors on a map while keeping homes private with 2 km location fuzzing, plus blood-type matching and WhatsApp OTP sign-in.
Flagship
CloakRoom — AI virtual fitting room
Removes photo backgrounds and fits clothing realistically onto a person's silhouette, served as containerised AI microservices.
reportgen — CVE mitigation report generator
Command-line tool that turns YAML vulnerability records into executive-ready PDF mitigation reports, with strict schema validation.
Accounts microservice — IBM DevOps capstone
REST microservice with 95%+ test coverage and a hardened container, shipped through Tekton pipelines onto OpenShift (Kubernetes).
Secure Azure infrastructure as code
A full Azure network and compute setup written in Terraform — isolated subnets, firewall rules and locked remote state, with zero manual clicks.
Three-tier web architecture on Azure
Web, app and database tiers in separate subnets; the database is never reachable from the internet.
Multi-site hosting via Cloudflare Tunnels
Several websites served from one Linux server without opening a single inbound port, using outbound-only encrypted tunnels.
Nginx reverse proxy with automated TLS
Multiple apps behind one public IP, with HTTP/2, WebSocket support and auto-renewing Let's Encrypt certificates.
Multi-container app with Docker Compose
Frontend, backend, database and cache wired together with private networks, health-checked startup order and persistent volumes.
AWS EC2 provisioning with Terraform
Servers, VPC subnets, gateways and least-privilege security groups created from code, with S3 remote state and locking.
Ansible server configuration
Idempotent playbooks that install packages, create users, harden SSH and deploy a web server across many Linux machines.
Jenkins CI/CD pipeline
Declarative Jenkinsfile that builds and tests every commit inside throwaway Docker containers, then deploys on success.
Threat modelling with OWASP Threat Dragon
Data-flow diagrams and STRIDE threat analysis with concrete mitigations for the highest-risk trust boundaries.
SkillSpector — security scanner for AI agent skills
Scans AI agent skills, scripts and MCP servers for dangerous commands, leaked credentials and prompt-injection tricks before they're installed.
Search engine with inverted indexing
Full-text search over thousands of news articles, built from scratch with stemming, an inverted index and TF-IDF ranking.
Cold-email generator for B2B outreach
Reads a company's job posts, finds matching portfolio work in a vector database and drafts a personalised outreach email.
Emotion & sentiment analysis app
Flask app that scores the emotional tone of any text in under 100 ms, with a rule-based fallback and full unit tests.
Chess piece image classifier
A convolutional neural network that recognises chess pieces from photos, trained with data augmentation.
TDD & BDD test architecture
Test-first development with PyTest and plain-English acceptance tests written in Gherkin (Behave).
University campus management portal
Role-based portal for students, faculty and admins — course registration, grading and saved records — in object-oriented C++.
Ludo game engine
A complete 4-player Ludo game with full rules, captures, safe zones and win detection.
Shipping cost calculation engine
Reusable service that works out shipping prices, parcel weights, surcharges and regional taxes.
Restaurant ordering app on Azure
Responsive ordering and reservations site, deployed to Azure App Service straight from Git.
Coffee shop online store
Product catalogue, live cart and saved checkout in pure JavaScript, fast on mobile.
Airbnb-style booking interface
Responsive rental listings with reusable React components and live filtering.
saifriaz.tech — this website
Framework-free, fast static site with light/dark themes, structured data for search engines, served from GitHub Pages on a custom domain.
06 // experience
Where I've worked
– Present
DevOps & Site Reliability Engineer
Aslase Pvt. Ltd. · Lahore
- Built the company's cloud platform from scratch, backed by a $50,000 Microsoft Azure startup grant.
- Look after Takafo, an HR platform for Mubadala (UAE), the humentra.ai hiring products, CoreHCM and AI assessment tools.
- Moved aslase.com from Amazon's cloud to Microsoft's with zero data lost, cutting costs by 22%.
- Cut release time from hours to under 10 minutes, and the monthly cloud bill by 33%.
- Replaced always-open server access with a tool that grants access for a few hours, then closes it automatically.
- Set up company-wide monitoring, so problems are caught and fixed quickly — 99.9% uptime.
–
DevOps Engineering Intern
Aslase Pvt. Ltd. · Lahore
- Set up the cloud hosting and automatic updates for RestHero, an online-store builder.
- Helped secure the network for the Takafo enterprise portal.
07 // education
Degree & certificates
- BS Computer ScienceInformation Technology University, Lahore · 2026 · GPA 3.7+ · capstone Grade A
- AWS Certified Cloud PractitionerAmazon Web Services
- DevOps & Software EngineeringIBM Professional Certificate
- AWS VPC Networking In-DepthCloud networking course
- Aspire Leaders Program Fellow2025 · founded by Harvard faculty
08 // faq
Quick answers
Who is Saif Riaz?
Saif Riaz is a DevOps & Site Reliability Engineer based in Lahore, Pakistan. He works at Aslase Pvt. Ltd., where he built the company's cloud platform on Microsoft Azure and runs the infrastructure behind enterprise HR and AI products, including Takafo for Mubadala (UAE) and humentra.ai. He holds a BS in Computer Science from Information Technology University, Lahore.
What does a DevOps & Site Reliability Engineer do?
A DevOps & Site Reliability Engineer makes sure software stays online, secure and fast. That means automating how updates are tested and released, setting up cloud servers and networks as code, watching systems with dashboards and alerts, and fixing problems before customers notice them.
Which cloud platforms does Saif work with?
Mainly Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services (AWS), using Terraform, Docker, Kubernetes, GitHub Actions, Jenkins, Prometheus and Grafana. He has migrated a production company platform from AWS to Azure with zero data loss.
Is Saif available for work?
Yes — open to full-time, contract and remote roles with teams worldwide, with flexible time-zone overlap, and open to relocation.
How can I contact Saif?
Email saifriaz1234@gmail.com or message him on LinkedIn.
09 // contact
Let's work together
Looking for someone to keep your systems reliable, secure and affordable? I'd love to hear from you.