Residence: ****, Al-Razooqi Residence, Al Qusais,

Dubai, UAE

Mobile: +971-**-***-****

E-mail: ad429y@r.postjobfree.com

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/FaiqAhmedZafar

Faiq Ahmed Zafar

Information Technology Professional with extensive experience in IT Project Management, Service Delivery/ Management, and Operations. IT leader, proficient in both delivering projects and leading operations team, creating IT strategies, planning budgets, delivery of IT services, design and implementation of IT Service Desk and Technology Organizations, ITIL Service Management processes.

Poised to contribute unique blend of technical project-management and exemplary customer-facing skills for a progressive and professional organization.

Work Experience

IT Program Manager July 2020 – To date First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) is the largest bank in the United Arab Emirates. Being part of Technology Projects Portfolio, successfully delivering projects in Infrastructure, technology modernization, cloud migration and Information security, also taking care of international portfolio.

Major Achievements:

• Responsible for International portfolio projects delivery including cloud migration for FAB UK workloads.

• Delivered FAB UK DR data center relocation project including all infrastructure services. Scope included the build of new DR data center, relocate services from old location and decommissioning of old location.

• Successfully migrated UK Avaya telephony system to MS Teams voice solution.

• Delivered JIRA and Confluence Data Center editions implementation/ upgrade projects for the bank.

• Delivered enterprise-wide vulnerability assessment and patching process improvement project.

• Managing Risk Based Vulnerability Management (RBVM) project bank wide to improve security and risk management process.

• Implementing service monitoring for FAB International locations for Infra, Network/ Security devices and business applications

IT Infrastructure Project Manager May 2013 – July 2018 Sep 2019 – May 2020

Shell EP International Dubai

seconded to BGC

Basrah Gas Company (BGC) is a Shell joint venture in Iraq and considered as the World’s largest flare reduction project. This has been the most challenging role in my career as there were no IT systems in place with limited resources. Immediately, post commencement of operation, the expectations in terms of IT requirements were high to support businesses at multiple locations (production/ office/ accommodations) and equipping company with IT systems was pivotal to the organization’s success. During my role in BGC, I have led multiple important IT projects, involving business and support functions and was able to deliver successfully within agreed schedule and budget. Also, assisted setting up Operations and Service Management organization for the company. Major Achievements:

• Managed number of capital ($ multi-million value) projects

• Worked with Contracting and Procurement department to streamline projects contracting and sourcing process. Setup call-off contracts to handle urgent requirements in the dynamic environment.

• Successfully delivered national connectivity of major BGC sites in South of Basrah spread over 3500 square kilometre (35 sites) using microwave and fiber technology.

• Implemented IT Service Management Processes and policies in compliance to ITIL standards to remove inefficiencies in IT support organization. Embedded Service Lifecycle management concepts defining SLA’s, KPI’s and Continuous Improvement process.

• Prior to commencement of operation, successfully delivered project to equip accommodation camps to host Shell Secondees. Project included the basic IT connectivity (GI & Open Internet), Managed Printing, IP Telephony, IPTV, IP Surveillance, ACS (Access Control System), etc. with VSAT, fiber technology along with primary and secondary data center build.

• Rolled out Shell proprietary computing platform, GI infrastructure for 1500 employees in BGC. GI include laptops/ desktops with all business applications and network connectivity. Page 2 of 3

• Implemented Content Management (CMS) and digital display project for the company. Project included customized solution for management communication at mass level for 5500 employees within organization.

• Delivered projects for business applications including HR and Lab Management Systems.

• Delivered projects for Compressor Stations (CSs) for real-time process data monitoring and controlling.

• Network Operations Center (NOC) setup. Project included state of the art monitoring facilities for network traffic and put in place the controls for efficient utilization of network resources.

• Implemented Crisis Rooms for the organizations. Successfully delivered the project with 4 Crisis rooms in BGC for crisis team to be able to respond to any situation when conventional communications means are down. IT Project Manager Aug 2011 – April 2013 Shell EP International Dubai While based in Shell Dubai office, successfully delivered IT projects in MENA region in the areas of system integration, infrastructure, business applications, and telecommunication. Focal point for all regional projects financial control reporting.

Major Achievements:

• SRAK Office Relocation – Relocation of SRAK office with complete IT facilities/ services in Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia for 200+ users.

• Dubai Office Consolidation – Refurbishment and IT services provisioning on 4 floors in Convention Towers, Dubai for 500+ users. Scope included IT services provisioning on 4 floors of Convention Towers and consolidation of Shell Markets Middle East (SMME) office with Shell EP International Limited (SEPIL) with physical users move.

• MENA Crisis Infrastructure – Implementation of crisis communication infrastructure in MENA region (13 countries) using satellite technology. Scope included provisioning of voice and data services to be used in times of crisis.

• Ras-Laffan Network Expansion and main office at AL Mirqab, Doha Refurbishment in Qatar – Defined requirements with review of current scenario, provided implementation proposal.

• IT service provisioning for Shell Secondees in Oman, Egypt & Abu Dhabi – Provisioning of IT services through VPN for Seconded staff in joint ventures using mobile connect application. Country Site Services Manager Jan 2009 – Jul 2011 Shell Pakistan Limited Responsible for country wide IT services provisioning, governance and compliance. Led transitioning of local IT infrastructure to Shell global standards with AT&T, T-Systems and HP as global service providers. Translating business requirement/ demand into technology solutions. Ensured that the infrastructure meets and is managed in accordance with Global Shell IT standards and policies. Managed regular communication process in place with all country business stakeholders and IT staff. Worked with global teams to develop and analyze financial and performance benchmarks. Major Achievements:

• Led transitioning of country IT infrastructure to global Shell computing standard with ISP (International Sourcing Program) model. Worked with AT&T, T-Systems and HP for the migration of local IT services to centralized managed services.

• Established end to end Service Levels between country stakeholders and global suppliers, AT&T (Infrastructure/ Networks), T-Systems (Hosting) and HP (End User Computing) without zero major incident.

• Delivered Infrastructure and application model upgrades and refresh within budget and planned timelines

• Led country implementation of GSIP (Global Strategic Infrastructure Planning). Scope included site preparation for GSAP (Global SAP) deployment including infrastructure readiness. Analysis of existing network equipment at 35 sites and identification of gaps to meet requirement for SAP deployment.

• Country wide site remediation project successfully completed. Scope included data network and power setup upgrade to meet the requirement for SAP deployment.

• Led projects of site relocation with all IT infrastructures with minimum downtime at Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Multan, Mehmoodkot sites and CSC (Customer Service Center) department in Karachi.

• Led the project of DRP site with data center build in Karachi with all IT/ Telecom hosting facilities/ provisioning in Karachi.

• Successfully delivered project for CSC (Customer Service Center) setup in Karachi. Project included the data network setup with IP Telephony and CSC specific applications. Page 3 of 3

Head PC Support & Manager Network Nov 2001 – Dec 2008 Clariant Pakistan Limited Clariant is a specialty chemical multinational firm with its headquarters in Switzerland. Responsible for country wide IT service provisioning, management and monitoring of 200+ nodes corporate data & voice network. Review, update and test the IT-BCP (Business Continuity Plan) and DRP (Disaster Recovery Plan) of the corporation. Provided IT support in 9 countries of Clariant world in client computing domain (member CCSC, Clariant). Conducted training and awareness sessions for user base. Major Achievements:

• Delivered transition project from local IT setup to Clariant group standards and with global suppliers

• Delivered project for country wide implementation of Clariant Computing Platform, CCP3.0 project. CCP is a customized IS environment for Clariant. CCP included SMS2003, also this project covers IT Service Management, ITSM and IT Asset Management ITAM.

• Removed inefficiencies in organization and processes by re-designing operations and planning departments in compliance with ITIL standards

• Migrated the country wide environment from Windows NT 4.0 domain to Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Forest.

• Successful implementation of IT facilities at four remote sites (Faisalabad, Multan, Sialkot, Kasur) of the company. Scope of the task included analysis, and provisioning of structured cabling, voice and data network and Internet/Email via SSL VPN connectivity through DSL, Leased lines.

• Project Management, Design, Implementation and Supervision of 3 major sites (Karachi, Jamshoro, and Lahore) connectivity project. Scope included the migration from VSAT connectivity to Frame Relay over Fiber and Radio.

• Authoring of the IT Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity procedures. Created BCP scenarios to measure and improve the reaction time of the DR team.

• Analysis and management of ISO audit documentation on intranet web site. Educational Profile

Academic

• MS Electronic Engineering (Telecommunication)

• BS Computer Engineering

Certification

• Project Management Professional – PMP

• Scrum Fundamental Certified – SFC

• Information Technology Infrastructure Library – ITIL V3 Foundation Training

• Training Workshop on Implementing Information Security & Achieving ISO 27001 Certification

• Generative AI Overview for Project Managers

Skills

Business Partnering & Value

Stakeholder Engagements, Requirements Gathering & Analysis, Technology roadmaps, IT Innovation People Management

Staff management, Competency development, Training, Coaching & mentoring Project Management

Command over Project Management processes, vast experience in delivering mission critical projects Investment Proposal, Planning & Budgeting

Data analysis, Technical Consulting, Investment proposals, Budgeting and Financial planning, translation of business strategy into IT demand and budget proposal IT Service Delivery & Management

Strong knowledge of creating business specific IT services with modern technology IT Architect

Solution Architect, Risk analysis, Risk responses, Architecture Framework, Process Innovations IT Operations

Experience of maintaining and running IT Operations in new and mature organizations

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