Eric Germán Burgueño

As Technical Lead at SiteHost, I provided both people and technical leadership as a subject matter expert within the Operations team. My role involved overseeing the on-premise infrastructure of the organization, while working closely with the Product and Automation team to bridge the gap between development and operations.

I was responsible for fostering good systems engineering practices within my team, managing projects, engaging with customers and providing support, monitoring the environment and troubleshooting issues, and extensive use of modern tooling including Docker, Ansible, Grafana stack, and version control tools such as Git and GitLab.

• Implemented HashiCorp Vault to generate SSH certificates following good security practices.
• Created a Python-based dynamic inventory for use with Ansible.
• Created and implemented a Web Application Firewall (WAF) with NGINX to impose rate limits on suspicious inbound traffic.
• Contributed to the onboarding and upskilling of new team members.

As the leader of a dedicated team of Research Software Engineers and Linux Engineers, I was accountable for the governance, service delivery strategy, and systems solutions architecture of the in-house High Performance Computing cluster, with a focus on reducing “time to science” and optimising operations. My team and I were responsible for the daily operations of the physical and virtual infrastructure supporting the platform, as well as the research IT services we provided to the organisation. As a passionate advocate for user engagement, learning and development, I was instrumental in fostering the adoption of best practices in Data Management and Reproducible Research, and sustaining a thriving community of practice.

• Established and led the HPC Services team.
• Implemented “powerPlant Augment,” a multi-year programme of work that aimed to modernize the user and admin experience.
• Participated in multiple Advisory Groups, Steering Committees, and Governance Groups, including being a member of the Ethics Advisory Panel to the Senior Leadership Team, the powerPlant Research Operations Group, and the Version Control Steering Group.
• Contributed to several scientific publications, and participated in multiple conferences.
• Organized yearly user conferences and regular training workshops.
• Received the 2018 Chairman’s Award for the development of a novel spatial analysis framework to explore the impact of climate change on New Zealand crops.

As a Systems Engineer, I was responsible for managing and maintaining the company’s Linux-based environment and Scale-out Storage services. Over the years, my role evolved from Junior Systems Engineer to Lead Systems Engineer, and I was eventually promoted to a management position.

One of my proudest accomplishments was creating the “powerPlant” High-Performance Computing cluster. The goal of this project was to provide the PFR research community with easy access to IT resources. By promoting its use and encouraging adoption, I drove an over 20x fold increase in the active user base.

• Implemented numerous policies and standards to the organization, including “Linux Security and Privileged Access Control,” “Domain Names Management Framework,” and a “Server Configuration and Patching” regime.
• Designed and implemented IT services in various domains, such as centralized Identity and Access Management (FreeIPA), infrastructure provisioning and monitoring (Kickstart/Spacewalk/Zabbix), Network Attached Storage (Dell EMC Isilon), configuration management and IaC (Ansible/Git), containerization (Docker, Singularity/Apptainer), and CI/CD (GitHub Actions).
• Supported over 900 users with reliable and efficient services.
• Mentored and coached members within and outside my team.

As a Unix System Administrator, I specialized in IBM’s AIX operating system, as well as various other Linux distributions and services. My primary responsibilities included working with PowerVM, HACMP, and LVM technologies, troubleshooting technical issues, and conducting root cause analysis. I also had the opportunity to further develop my skills by completing IBM’s internal training courses, Q1314 (AU14) and Q1316 (AU16), focused on AIX administration and problem determination. I also utilized my skills in scripting and automation using Korn shell and TCL/expect.

I started my career at EDS (which was later acquired by Hewlett-Packard) as a UNIX Information Systems Security Analyst, where I focused on identity and access management. My role eventually expanded to encompass server security hardening, compliance, scripting, and automation. Additionally, I took on leadership responsibilities as the Second in Command of my team.

First as a volunteer Board member, then as Chairperson of the Board, I utilised my professional knowledge and diverse skills to support the success of the Centre’s operations, with a focus on empowering children’s development, staff well-being, and community engagement. I also contributed to a review of the Centre’s vision, mission, philosophy, and policies.

Through my role, I developed my skills in governance and gained a deeper understanding of employment relations from a legal and regulatory perspective. I was challenged to apply this knowledge in a complex situation that required coordination across multiple stakeholders, including legal and HR professionals, organizational leadership, staff, regulatory agencies, and key community members. My background in Law was critical in navigating the situation and achieving a resolution that was in the best interests of all parties involved.