Amara Ahidara
Chesterfield
Summary
Senior IT professional with 15+ years of enterprise experience designing, operating, and governing mission‑critical systems in regulated environments. Currently serving as a Software Systems Engineer with strong architecture influence across hybrid cloud platforms, security governance, and production operations. Proven ability to collaborate with enterprise architects, platform teams, and governance groups to ensure solutions are secure, scalable, observable, resilient, and production‑ready.
Microsoft Azure Certified (AZ‑900) with AZ‑104 in progress, actively formalizing deep infrastructure and operational expertise into modern cloud‑native architecture standards and patterns.
Overview
18
18
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work History
Software Systems Engineer
Dominion Energy
Richmond, VA
03.2021 - Current
- Serve as a senior technical contributor supporting the design, operation, and evolution of enterprise hybrid infrastructure spanning on‑premises platforms and Microsoft Azure.
- Provide architecture input and technical guidance to ensure platform designs meet security, availability, reliability, and performance objectives.
- Collaborate with platform teams, solution architects, and governance groups to align implementations with enterprise architecture standards and IT policies.
- Support feasibility analysis and proof‑of‑concept initiatives for cloud and infrastructure technologies, evaluating scalability, operational impact, and supportability.
- Implement and manage identity and access controls, emphasizing least‑privilege RBAC and secure administrative practices.
- Lead and support security remediation and vulnerability response efforts, ensuring alignment with regulatory and enterprise risk requirements.
- Design and maintain monitoring, alerting, and operational health workflows, ensuring systems are observable and production‑ready.
- Support patching and lifecycle management strategies across hybrid environments to maintain compliance and platform stability.
- Automate administrative and reporting processes using PowerShell and Azure management tools, reducing manual effort and improving reliability.
- Provide after‑hours support for critical platform changes to minimize downtime and maintain service continuity.
Platform Engineer
VCU Health
Richmond, VA
12.2019 - 02.2021
- Managed enterprise virtualized and cloud environments (VMware, Hyper‑V, AWS).
- Designed and administered storage, backup, and disaster recovery solutions.
- Supported SCCM for OS deployment, patching, and configuration management.
- Implemented network designs and monitored platform performance and capacity.
- Contributed to infrastructure standards supporting healthcare and regulatory requirements.
System Administrator III
VCUHS / Virginia Premier Health Plan
Richmond, VA
03.2014 - 12.2019
- Architected and operated high‑availability virtualization platforms.
- Designed and maintained backup and disaster recovery strategies.
- Supported identity services, security patching, and compliance‑driven operations.
- Administered Cisco networking and firewall platforms
Network Administrator | Security System Specialist
Prince George County, Virginia
Prince George, VA
02.2013 - 03.2014
- Develop and maintains all systems, applications, security, and network
- configurations LAN, WAN and 802.11b wireless infrastructure Configure
- Monitor VPN, ACL, EIGRP, OSPF, VLAN, STP, NAT, Routing and Switching.
- Set up and Administrate DNS, DHCP, Email, HTTP, SSL, OSI Model, and TCP/IP protocols and applications.
- Firewall CISCO ASA 5500 Series Administration.
Setup VoIP Network, Windows Server Update Services (WSUS). - Web Cache Communication Protocol Administration.
Troubleshoot network performance issues and create and maintain a disaster recovery plan. - Troubleshoot Security System, Administrate Network Security.
Recommend upgrades, patches, and new applications and equipment.
Security System Specialist
G4S Secure Solution Security
Richmond, VA
10.2008 - 02.2013
- Sets up, configure, and support internal and/or external networks.
- Install, Setup and deploy Microsoft product and transfer user data.
- Maintains all systems, applications, security, and network configurations.
- Troubleshoot network performance issues and create and maintain a disaster recovery plan.
- Troubleshoot Security System, Administrate Network Security and Active Directory.
- Control Fire System (ONYXWORKS), Radio Logs (Acces98) and Pro-Watch Security Management.
- Supports, monitors, tests, and troubleshoots hardware and software problems pertaining to LAN.
- Provides end users support for all LAN- based applications.
Education
Master of Science - Management Network Data Communication
University of Maryland Global Campus
Hyattsville, MD05-2015
Bachelor of Science - Information Technology
Virginia Commonwealth University
Richmond, VA12-2012
Skills
- Microsoft Azure (VMs, VNets, NSGs, Storage Accounts, Azure Monitor, Log Analytics, RBAC)
- Azure Arc (Hybrid Server Governance)
- AWS EC2 (Enterprise‑integrated workloads)
- VMware vSphere, Hyper‑V
- Hybrid and cloud‑native architecture patterns
- Platform resiliency, availability, and disaster recovery
- Secure system integration and migration planning
- Architecture standards and reusable platform patterns
- Identity & Access Management (Azure Entra ID, Active Directory)
- Least‑privilege access control (RBAC)
- Vulnerability remediation and security hardening
Cloud & Hybrid Platforms
Architecture & Design
Security & Governance
- Change management, audit readiness, and compliance alignment
- PowerShell automation
- Azure CLI administration
- Infrastructure‑as‑Code concepts (ARM awareness)
- CI/CD and GitOps architectural alignment
- Monitoring, logging, metrics, alerting
- Windows Server 2003–2022
- SCCM / MECM enterprise administration
- DNS, DHCP, VPN, routing, firewalls
- Backup & DR: EMC Avamar
- LAN/WAN performance and capacity planning
Automation, DevOps & Observability
Systems & Networking
Certification
· Microsoft Certified: Azure Fundamentals (AZ‑900)
· Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate (AZ‑104) — In Progress
· Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA)
· EMC Avamar Management
· Configuring and Administering Hyper‑V (Windows Server)
· Lean Six Sigma Green Belt
· Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt
· Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Configuration (70‑662)
Languages
English
Full Professional
French
Native or Bilingual
Timeline
Software Systems Engineer
Dominion Energy
03.2021 - Current
Platform Engineer
VCU Health
12.2019 - 02.2021
System Administrator III
VCUHS / Virginia Premier Health Plan
03.2014 - 12.2019
Network Administrator | Security System Specialist
Prince George County, Virginia
02.2013 - 03.2014
Security System Specialist
G4S Secure Solution Security
10.2008 - 02.2013
Master of Science - Management Network Data Communication
University of Maryland Global Campus
Bachelor of Science - Information Technology
Virginia Commonwealth University