Senior Lead Cloud Solution Architect
Resume:
Mohammed Naeem Shaikh
Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
️ *.*****.******@*****.***
https://linkedin.com/in/naeem-shaikh-56807a56
PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY
Senior Solution and Enterprise Architect with over 15 years of IT experience delivering complex enterprise technology and infrastructure solutions across Banking, Financial Services, Federal Government, and highly regulated environments. Brings direct banking-sector experience supporting Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), combined with extensive expertise in infrastructure architecture, Azure and hybrid cloud, application modernization, platform integration, security, networking, data platforms, high availability, disaster recovery, and enterprise architecture.
Experienced in translating business, technology, security, operational, and regulatory requirements into secure, scalable, resilient, and highly available solution architectures. Proven ability to lead infrastructure and application solution design, platform selection, migration planning, architecture reviews, technology evaluations, technical risk assessments, and implementation support.
Strong technical background spanning Microsoft Azure, hybrid cloud, Windows, UNIX/Linux, networking, security, databases, storage, application platforms, APIs, infrastructure automation, DevSecOps, and architecture governance, with extensive experience collaborating across application development, infrastructure, engineering, security, operations, and business teams.
CORE COMPETENCIES
Enterprise & Solution Architecture
Banking & Financial Services Technology
Infrastructure Solution Design
Azure & Hybrid Cloud Architecture
Windows, UNIX & Red Hat Linux Platforms
Network & Security Architecture
Application & Infrastructure Integration
Platform Selection, Capacity & Sizing
High Availability & Disaster Recovery
Application Modernization & Migration
Database & Data Platform Architecture
Storage & Systems Infrastructure
Security, IAM & Zero Trust
Technology Operations & Service Management
Architecture Governance & Design Reviews
Technical Risk & Solution Options Analysis
Change, Incident & Problem Management
Stakeholder & Technology Partner Management
TOGAF Architecture Framework
TECHNOLOGY ENVIRONMENT
Cloud: Microsoft Azure, AWS, Hybrid Cloud
Operating Systems: Red Hat Enterprise Linux, UNIX, IBM AIX, Solaris, Windows Server
Infrastructure: Compute, Virtualization, Storage, Networking, Load Balancing, High Availability, Disaster Recovery
Security: Entra ID/Azure AD, IAM, RBAC, Key Vault, TLS, Network Security
Data: Azure SQL, SQL Server, Databricks, ADF, Synapse
Application & Integration: APIs, Microservices, Middleware, Application Platforms
Automation: Terraform, Azure DevOps, CI/CD, PowerShell, Python
Governance & Operations: TOGAF, Architecture Reviews, Change/Incident/Problem Management
LEADERSHIP, TECHNICAL STRATEGY & ARCHITECTURE GOVERNANCE
Led cross-functional teams of architects, developers, and analysts (5–15 members) delivering enterprise-scale solutions
Directed architecture for large cloud modernization and digital transformation initiatives aligned with business, security, and regulatory objectives.
Provided strategic guidance to senior stakeholders on technology roadmaps, architecture decisions, solution options, technical risks, and modernization strategies.
Led architecture governance, including solution reviews, design validation, technology evaluation, standards compliance, and technical risk assessment.
Worked closely with engineering teams throughout implementation, providing architecture guidance and technical involvement across Azure, Terraform/IaC, CI/CD, networking, security, APIs, and cloud-native platforms.
Mentored architects and engineers while maintaining accountability for overall solution integrity and alignment with enterprise architecture standards
CERTIFICATIONS
Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert
Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate
Microsoft Certified: Azure Security Engineer Associate
AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate
IBM Certified System Administrator – AIX 7
HP-UX Certification
Sun Solaris System Administration Certification
VMware VCP Training
Security Clearance: Secret (Level II), valid through Sept 2028
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
National Defence – Government of Canada
Solution Architect / Technology Architect Mar 2024 – May 2026
Designed secure, scalable, and resilient Azure and hybrid-cloud solution architectures for enterprise applications operating within a highly regulated environment.
Designed infrastructure solutions covering compute, operating systems, networking, security, storage, databases, connectivity, high availability, disaster recovery, monitoring, capacity, and operational support requirements.
Led application assessment, modernization and migration initiatives, defining target-state architectures and transformation roadmaps for legacy workloads.
Designed Azure PaaS and data-platform solutions leveraging Azure SQL, Azure Data Factory, Databricks, Synapse and AKS where appropriate.
Developed secure API and integration architectures supporting interoperability between legacy, cloud, and enterprise platforms.
Incorporated security-by-design using Microsoft Entra ID, RBAC, Key Vault, TLS/encryption, network segmentation, private connectivity and Azure security controls.
Led architecture reviews, solution option analysis, technology evaluations, design validation and technical risk assessments.
Developed reusable infrastructure patterns using Terraform/IaC and supported automated delivery through Azure DevOps/Git-based CI/CD practices.
Worked closely with engineering teams on cloud networking, infrastructure automation, deployment, integration, troubleshooting and operational readiness.
Designed solutions for high availability, resiliency, disaster recovery, monitoring and operational support based on business requirements.
Collaborated with business, security, infrastructure, data and engineering stakeholders to ensure solutions aligned with enterprise architecture, governance and regulatory requirements.
Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA)
Lead Solution Architect Nov 2022 – Feb 2024
Led cloud migration and modernization initiatives, defining secure and scalable Azure solution architectures aligned with organizational, security, and regulatory requirements.
Defined infrastructure and cloud requirements covering compute, network connectivity, security, data platforms, availability, disaster recovery, integration, monitoring, and operational readiness for enterprise workloads.
Developed target-state architectures covering applications, integration, data, security, infrastructure, resiliency, and operational requirements.
Designed scalable data and integration architectures leveraging Azure Data Factory and Azure Databricks.
Established secure cloud architecture patterns aligned with Government of Canada security, privacy, and data-residency requirements.
Designed API-first integration patterns connecting legacy enterprise applications with modern cloud platforms.
Led architecture reviews, solution options analysis, technical risk assessments, and architectural decision-making
Collaborated with business, security, infrastructure, application, and data teams to ensure solutions aligned with enterprise architecture and governance standards.
Accenture Canada (CMHC, TELUS Projects)
Application Architect Dec 2020 – Nov 2022
Designed enterprise cloud and application solutions for large regulated organizations, including CMHC, addressing security, integration, availability, and enterprise architecture requirements.
Led Azure application modernization and migration initiatives, improving scalability, resiliency, and operational efficiency.
Designed modern application, API, and microservices architectures aligned with business and technology requirements.
Collaborated with business, architecture, security, infrastructure and development stakeholders from requirements through solution delivery.
Shared Services Canada (SSC)
Application Architect Mar 2019 – Nov 2020
Designed cloud and hybrid solution architectures supporting large-scale federal-government programs.
Developed disaster recovery, resiliency, and multi-cloud strategies aligned with business and government requirements.
Conducted architecture reviews and ensured solutions complied with enterprise architecture, security, and governance standards.
Worked within Agile delivery teams, providing architecture guidance throughout iterative design, development, and implementation.
Deloitte Canada
Technology Architect Nov 2018 – Feb 2019
Delivered enterprise cloud solutions leveraging Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) models, with a focus on Azure-based deployments
Provided strategic recommendations on selecting appropriate cloud service models, aligning technology choices with business needs.
IBM Canada - Royal Bank of Canada (RBC)
Technical Infrastructure Lead Feb 2015 – Sep 2018
Banking and Financial Services
Provided technical and infrastructure leadership within the RBC banking environment, supporting enterprise technology solutions in a highly regulated, security-sensitive financial-services organization.
Contributed to infrastructure and application solution design covering UNIX/Linux platforms, application infrastructure, networking, middleware, storage, security, availability, resiliency, and operational requirements.
Supported platform selection, infrastructure integration, implementation planning, capacity considerations, technical dependencies, and production readiness for enterprise applications.
Provided technical leadership to project and engineering teams, ensuring solutions aligned with enterprise architecture, security, availability, operational, and technology standards.
Coordinated technical dependencies across application development, infrastructure, middleware, networking, database, security, engineering, and operations teams.
Participated in architecture and technical design reviews, identifying implementation risks, dependencies, resiliency requirements, migration considerations, and operational impacts.
Supported resolution and escalation of complex infrastructure and application issues across technical teams and service providers.
Worked within enterprise change, incident, problem, security, availability, and governance processes supporting business-critical banking technology environments
CGI Canada
Technology Architect Oct 2012 – Nov 2014
Delivered solutions on public cloud platforms by utilizing Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) models, with substantial hands-on experience in Azure environments.
IBM Canada — Loblaw Companies
Technical Infrastructure Lead Jan 2010 – Sep 2012
Led enterprise UNIX infrastructure operations supporting more than 1,200 IBM AIX servers, overseeing incident, problem, service-request, and change-management activities.
Led a distributed infrastructure team of 12 onshore and 15 offshore UNIX administrators, coordinating operational support, technical troubleshooting, change implementation, and service delivery.
EDUCATION
Bachelor of Science (Mathematics & Physics)
University of Karachi
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