Spotting waste
I took 30% off a $140K cloud and software budget by asking why we were paying for things. The answer was usually “nobody knows”.
Systems that work, cost less, and do not depend on one person.
I am Alex Graham, a cloud and platform engineer. For ten years I ran the platform behind a software business. Now I help other organisations find what is wrong, fix it, and leave it working.
Available for contract and freelance work, and open to the right permanent role.
What I am good at (without the jargon)
Making things reliable
Systems that recover when they break, backups that have actually been tested, and changes that go out the same way every time.
Keeping things safe
I have taken a company through ISO 27001 and worked with penetration testers. I know the boring habits that stop most problems.
Making sense of data
Moving it, cleaning it, and getting it into reports people can use, including the awkward legal side of what you must delete.
Using AI sensibly
I build with AI and check everything it does. It makes me faster and keeps your cost down, and I know enough underneath to fix what it gets wrong.
What's your problem?
Pick the closest. It opens an email with the subject filled in.
How we work together
Check it over
I look at one area that worries you, such as your AWS account. You get a short written note: what I found, what to fix first, what it should cost, and the saving where there is one. The first call is free.
Fix it
I make the changes you choose, test them with your team, and leave a plain handover note. I quote a fixed price before I start, and anything outside the agreed list is priced separately first.
Keep it running (optional)
A monthly check, small changes, and a quarterly review so it does not drift back.
Recent work
Timesheets that fit what a charity already had
Beyond The Horizon, a Birmingham children's bereavement charity, needed hours logged for HMRC. I built it in Excel, SharePoint, Power Apps and Teams, with no new software and live reporting.
Case management for a bereavement charity
For Beyond The Horizon I built a case management web application with reporting exports, as pro bono support.
Cadence
A running app built with Claude Code and the Claude API that tunes workouts to your own heart rate data.
Hiring? Here is the short version
I am looking for hands-on cloud, platform or DevOps work, contract or permanent, remote or hybrid from Birmingham.
- •Ten years as the accountable owner of a platform, its budget and its security.
- •A move from private servers to AWS, with access, deployment and recovery sorted properly.
- •Hands-on in code and infrastructure, and comfortable with the board.
- •AWS Certified Solutions Architect.
About
I have written code since the 1990s and run a company's platform for ten years. I like finding the real problem, fixing it properly, and explaining it to the person who has to pay for it. I work from Birmingham, with clients across the UK.
Contact
Tell me about the system that annoys you most. If I can help, I will say so.
I also set aside time for charities and purpose-led organisations. See the Charities and CICs page.