Home / Portfolio / Ankush Panday

Ankush Panday

Portfolio • Architecture • Technical Blog
AP

Ankush Panday

Cloud Specialist @ Rabobank
Designing scalable cloud platforms on AWS — Kubernetes, GitOps, and infrastructure-as-code at enterprise scale.

Cloud Strategy & Team Enablement specialist with 14+ years in enterprise IT and 6+ years focused on AWS. I lead large-scale datacenter migrations, architect production-grade EKS/ECS platforms, and deliver the secure, high-availability infrastructure that empowers engineering teams to ship faster and scale reliably.

Amstelveen, Netherlands
+31 6 17 28 83 79
ankushpandey@hotmail.com
Dutch National
View My Work Read My Technical Blogs
40+
Workloads Migrated
33
Microservices on EKS
Zero
Downtime Migrations
6+
Years on AWS
Open to Opportunities
Available for Cloud Solutions Architect, Cloud Platform Engineering & Cloud Manager roles
ankushpandey@hotmail.com | Amstelveen, Netherlands — open to remote & hybrid
Let's Connect
14+
Years IT Experience
12
Professional Certifications
20
Technical Blogs Published
99.95%
Production Uptime

Summary Description

Experienced Cloud & Solutions Architect with 14+ years in IT, specialising in AWS cloud infrastructure design, DevOps, and Infrastructure as Code. Holding AWS Solutions Architect Associate, AWS Developer Associate, AWS Cloud Practitioner, and Azure Fundamentals certifications, I bring a strong foundation in designing reliable, scalable, and secure cloud solutions across complex, multi-project environments.

Beyond infrastructure delivery, I work closely with cross-functional teams and stakeholders to translate requirements into well-architected cloud solutions. My background spans Kubernetes (EKS/AKS), GitOps with ArgoCD and Helm, Terraform, CI/CD automation, and containerised microservices architectures.

Featured Projects & Impact

Enterprise Cloud & Container Platforms

Rabobank • Amazon EKS, ECS & GitOps

Architected a mission-critical fraud detection platform on EKS and led the migration of legacy apps to ECS. Implemented GitOps with ArgoCD, achieving sub-second latency and automated security compliance.

33
Microservices
<200ms
P99 Latency
Automated
Security Compliance
DORA
Compliant Infrastructure

AWS Infrastructure Migration

WCC Group • Terraform & ECS Fargate

Led the end-to-end migration of 40+ on-prem workloads to AWS using Application Migration Service (MGN). Re-architected legacy systems for ECS Fargate, migrated a distributed Jenkins cluster, and established secure hybrid connectivity via AWS Client VPN.

40+
Workloads Migrated
Zero Downtime
Migration
Full DC
Decommission
Standardized
Infrastructure Patterns

Technical Blogs & Articles

View All 20 Blogs

20 deep-dive articles across AWS networking, security, compute, containers, IaC, observability, FinOps, architecture, and production deep dives — grounded in production systems at Rabobank and WCC Group.

AWS Network Firewall vs SGs vs NACLs
AWS Networking

AWS Network Firewall vs Security Groups vs NACLs

Layered defence-in-depth: when to enforce at the subnet boundary, when at the instance, and when you need stateful deep-packet inspection.

May 6, 2026 • 22 min Networking
AWS Security in Depth
AWS Security

AWS Security in Depth: GuardDuty, Security Hub & WAF

Beyond prevention: continuous monitoring, automated threat response, and application-layer protection using native AWS security services.

May 8, 2026 • 25 min Security
Karpenter vs Cluster Autoscaler on EKS
Containers & Kubernetes

Karpenter vs Cluster Autoscaler: Running Both in Production

Three-tier compute — Cluster Autoscaler for On-Demand baseline, Karpenter for Spot. Terraform, Helm, interruption handling, and the real EKS cost levers.

May 18, 2026 • 30 min EKS
GitOps with ArgoCD Helm on EKS
IaC & GitOps

GitOps with ArgoCD + Helm on EKS: App of Apps & Sync Waves

App of Apps bootstrap, ApplicationSet multi-env deployments, Sync Waves for ordered rollout, multi-cluster RBAC with SSO. Full YAML included.

May 20, 2026 • 32 min GitOps
AWS FinOps Cost Optimisation
FinOps & Cost

AWS FinOps in Practice: Cost Optimisation Strategies

Cost optimisation across EKS, ECS, VPC, and S3 — Spot, Savings Plans, Gateway Endpoints, gp3 migration, and the operating model that prevents cost regression.

May 26, 2026 • 20 min FinOps
Multi-Account AWS Strategy Latest
Advanced Architecture

Multi-Account AWS Strategy: Landing Zones & Control Tower

AWS Organizations and OU design, Service Control Policies, Control Tower Landing Zones, AFT, and centralised networking + security at org scale.

May 28, 2026 • 24 min Architecture
View All 20 Blogs

How I Think About Architecture

Principles that guide every system I design
🛡️
Design for Failure
Assume components will fail. Multi-AZ by default, topology spread constraints, automatic failover — resilience is built in, not bolted on.
⚙️
Automation as the Only Path
If it can be clicked in a console, it must be coded instead. Terraform for every resource. GitOps for every deployment. No manual state.
🔐
Least Privilege by Default
Every IAM role scoped to minimum required permissions. Every network path explicitly allowed. Security is the default, not the exception.
📡
Observe Everything from Day One
CloudWatch Container Insights, distributed tracing, structured logging — instrumented before the first production deployment, not after the first incident.
💰
Cost Awareness at Every Layer
Right-sized instances, Fargate Spot for batch workloads, Karpenter for dynamic provisioning, Gateway Endpoints instead of NAT Gateway for S3. Cost is an architectural concern.
📝
Documentation as Infrastructure
Runbooks written under pressure are the best runbooks. If a new engineer cannot operate the platform from the documentation alone, the documentation is not done.

Employment History

Company Role Duration Status
Rabobank
Utrecht, Netherlands		 Cloud Specialist Oct 2023 - Present Active
Project: Fraud Detection Platform v2.0 (EKS) & v1.0 (ECS)
  • Architected the cloud infrastructure from the ground up for a fraud detection platform comprising 33 microservices on Amazon EKS.
  • Designed and implemented a GitOps-based deployment model using ArgoCD and Helm.
  • Engineered the full Terraform infrastructure codebase, provisioning and managing core platform components.
  • Designed a dynamic cluster autoscaling strategy using Karpenter, significantly improving cost efficiency.
  • Integrated Databricks as the AI/ML platform on AWS.
  • Led the migration of on-premises applications to AWS, leveraging native cloud services.
  • Developed comprehensive technical documentation and engineered infrastructure patterns to ensure full DORA Compliance for the platform.
WCC Group B.V.
Utrecht, Netherlands		 Cloud(Ops) Engineer Oct 2020 - Sept 2023 Completed
  • Orchestrated a large-scale datacenter decommissioning, migrating 40+ on-premises workloads to AWS using Application Migration Service (MGN) with zero-downtime cutovers.
  • Architected and deployed highly available AWS environments from scratch using Terraform, transitioning legacy monoliths to scalable ECS Fargate clusters.
  • Migrated and optimized a distributed Jenkins cluster to AWS, streamlining end-to-end CI/CD pipelines for infrastructure and application delivery.
  • Engineered secure hybrid connectivity by implementing AWS Client VPN, enabling remote engineering teams to securely access internal resources.
  • Developed automated cost-optimization solutions using AWS CloudFormation to manage instance scheduling for EC2 and RDS across non-production environments.
Accenture Netherlands
The Netherlands		 DevOps Automation / CI/CD Engineer Jul 2017 - Sept 2020 Completed
Clients: Rabobank, Liberty Global, Essent
  • Established the Azure DevOps pipeline structure for Automation and Performance Testing.
  • Architected and implemented a robust CI/CD platform for application deployment using Jenkins, Ansible, Nexus, Git.
  • Streamlined quality processes by establishing Ansible Best Practices for automation.
  • Integrated Test Management Tool Zephyr with JIRA.
Accenture India Pvt. Ltd.
India + Netherlands		 Service Virtualisation & Performance Testing Engineer Jul 2011 - Jan 2017 Completed
Clients: Liberty Global, Vodafone, Bank of America
  • Utilised CA LISA tool to create virtual services on multiple protocols and automate application testing.
  • Created performance test scripts using LoadRunner 11.50, Microsoft VSTS, and CA LISA.
  • Virtualised and simulated services for 45 applications using the CA LISA tool.

Skills & Technologies Configuration

Cloud & Infrastructure
Amazon AWS Microsoft Azure Terraform (IaC) Kubernetes (EKS/AKS) Docker Linux Windows
DevOps & GitOps
GitOps ArgoCD Helm CI/CD Azure Pipelines Jenkins Ansible
Scripting & Programming
Bash Groovy PowerShell Java Python SQL / MySQL
Observability & Monitoring
CloudWatch Splunk Instana (IBM) Prometheus Grafana Loki
Leadership, Enablement & Consulting
Team Training & Upskilling

Trained platform and dev teams on AWS, EKS, Helm, ArgoCD, and GitOps workflows at Rabobank. Previously delivered ITKO/CA LISA training across Accenture project teams.

Multi-Client Consulting

6+ enterprise clients across financial services, telecom, and energy — Rabobank, Liberty Global, Essent, Vodafone, Bank of America. Adapted delivery approach to each client's culture and constraints.

Solution Architecture

Translate business requirements into well-architected cloud solutions. Bridge the gap between product teams, security, and infrastructure — from whiteboard to Terraform.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

Works Council member at WCC. Experienced working across development, QA, security, and operations teams. Comfortable presenting to both engineers and C-level stakeholders.

Team Training Knowledge Transfer Stakeholder Management Technical Mentoring Requirements Analysis Solution Design Client Consulting Agile / Scrum (PSM I) Vendor Management

Professional Certifications & Credentials

AWS Certified AI Practitioner
ACTIVE (Oct 2024 - Oct 2027)
AWS SysOps Administrator Associate
ACTIVE (Jul 2023 - Jul 2026)
AWS Developer Associate
EXPIRED (Aug 2024)
AWS Solutions Architect Associate
ACTIVE (Mar 2023 - Mar 2026)
Azure Fundamentals (AZ-900)
ACTIVE (No Expiration)
AWS Cloud Practitioner
EXPIRED (Feb 2020)
Professional Scrum Master 1
ACTIVE (Lifetime)

Knowledge Base (Education)

Jaypee University of Information Technology

Bachelor of Technology in Information Technology
Waknaghat, Solan, India | Jul 2007 - May 2011
Graduated with a 7.2 CGPA

Activities, Hobbies & Languages

Extracurricular Activities

  • Works Council Member @ WCC, Utrecht (Jan 2022 - Sept 2023)
    Participated in organisational restructuring decisions, onboarding new employees, and supported HR initiatives.
  • Food Server Volunteer (BuurtBuik) @ Accenture Netherlands, Amsterdam (Aug 2017 - Apr 2018)
    Prepared and served meals for the homeless and elderly.
  • English Teacher Volunteer @ Accenture India Pvt. Ltd. (Mar 2015 - Apr 2015)
    Delivered educational sessions for underprivileged children.

Hobbies & Interests

Billiards Snooker Squash Running Reading Hiking Travelling

Languages

English (Fluent) Hindi (Native) Dutch (Conversational) German (Basic)