Sameer Prabhakar
Head of IT Infrastructure
Pune
Summary
Strong leader and problem-solver dedicated to streamlining operations to decrease costs and promote organizational efficiency. Uses independent decision-making skills, long term strategy and sound judgment to positively impact company success.
Overview
27
27
years of professional experience
Work History
Program Manager - Head of IT Infrastructure
Principal Global Services (GCC)
05.2021 - Current
- Heading the IT Infrastructure team responsible for Global Infrastructure during non - US working hours
- In house team size of 100+ multi geography team of engineers in India, Philippines & SEA
- Responsibilities include enabling AWS/Multi Cloud Journey, On Prem Operations/Modernization
- Managing 7 Scrum Teams
- Datacenter - Compute, Containerization, Pipelining, Virtualization, Storage & Networks
- ITAM/Capacity Planning, Cloud FinOPS Budgeting (~$25 Mil), Cost ownership - Instrumental in CAPEX savings of over USD 1 Million+ in less than 2 years, OPEX savings of USD 4 Million+ every four years
- Enterprise Service Center, Workspace Services
- Contract Management across geographies excluding US
- Introduced CSR employability (6 Engineers)
Independent Consultant
Adeft IT
02.2017 - 04.2021
- Have been working as a freelance IT consultant (mainly in the areas of IT Infrastructure, strategy, optimization, Remote support & Cloud adaptation (AWS/MS Azure/Google Cloud)
- Major Projects: Britishvolt, UK - Played a lead role in setting up one of largest greenfield Li-On battery manufacturing plants in the UK
- Responsible for overall Digital and IT Strategy, Cloud First/Hybrid Data Center IT Infrastructure, MES & ERP design, and rollout planning
- Have been exploring & learning about Social enterprises, Sustainable living, Natural farming, and Animal welfare
- Also took this time to solo travel mostly by road.
Head - Infrastructure and Production IT
Volkswagen India
08.2014 - 09.2016
- Key Responsibilities: IT Strategy, Planning and Budgeting (~€5.3 Mil)
- Overall IT Infrastructure & Production IT management for Region India (€ 400K Revenue)
- Leading multiple teams in various Infrastructure Domains (80+ direct & indirect team members)
- Service Operations and Service Management Lead Service Transitioning initiatives
- Budget and Cost Management
- Setup a robust Change management process
- Part of the APAC IT Infrastructure leadership team Mentoring & succession planning
- Business Continuity planning sponsor
Head - Production IT
Volkswagen India, Pune
04.2013 - 07.2014
- Key Responsibilities: Leading the team responsible for managing day to day operations and Production applications
- Incident, Change, Problem & Release management Overall Governance SLA Management Key business interface for Production requirement analysis and execution Supporting 3 shifts – 24 x 6
Head - IT
Magma HDI General Insurance Ltd.
07.2012 - 12.2012
- Key Responsibilities: As part of the Core Management Leadership Team, responsible for IT strategy, technology decisions and plans
- Facilitating the Core Application development/support for Policy Servicing, CRM, Internet Portal, BI and MIS
- Leading the integration of Core policy administrative application with legacy systems
- Infrastructure planning, architecture and implementation for the Core and Support Applications
- Evaluation of modern technologies and new initiatives
- Responsible for budget forecasts, scope, analysis and allocation
Manager IT Infrastructure
Volkswagen India, Pune
06.2010 - 07.2012
- Key Responsibilities: Managing and Mentoring an internal team of 5-7 team members along with 40+ contractual employees to maintain SLA/OLA's
- Part of the Worldwide rollout team for IT Security Program Managing 3 separate contracts with outsourced vendors and driving monthly SLA reviews
- Managing the local IT Service Desk/Data Center Support operation for approximately 2500 users
- Responsible for Budget/License planning for the IT infrastructure vertical
Systems Manager
Bajaj Allianz General Insurance, Pune
06.2007 - 05.2010
- Key Responsibilities: Datacenter Management – Part of the core team managing/monitoring datacenter operations, administration for more than 500 Servers/SAN/NAS/Appliances which included a mix of IBM/HP Blade servers, IBM P series servers, IBM/NetApp storage Monitoring/Reviewing a team of 20+ FM engineers/administrators
- Support Manager for PAN India – liaison with various vendors for on-site support
- Key member of the DR/BCP Planning Team Vendor Management/Negotiations – RFP/RFI Preparation
Systems Administrator
Canada India Institute Industry Linkage Project, Pune
05.2002 - 03.2005
- 45 satellite Locations | LAN | WAN | Mail | Server | Overall IT Management.
Systems Engineer/Manager
Duotronix (P) Ltd, Pune
06.1997 - 04.2002
- Founded and Headed the Computers sales and support wing
Education
Bachelor of Commerce -
Skills
IT Infrastructure Management
Change & Governance
Datacenter & IT Operations/Management
Adoption of Cloud/Multi/Hybrid Computing
Cloud FinOPS
Program/Portfolio/Project Management
Policy, Process, Compliance Design and Management
Business Continuity
Risk Management
Virtualization/Storage Technologies
Personal Information
Nationality: Indian
Timeline
Program Manager - Head of IT Infrastructure - Principal Global Services (GCC)
05.2021 - Current
Independent Consultant - Adeft IT
02.2017 - 04.2021
Head - Infrastructure and Production IT - Volkswagen India
08.2014 - 09.2016
Head - Production IT - Volkswagen India, Pune
04.2013 - 07.2014
Head - IT - Magma HDI General Insurance Ltd.
07.2012 - 12.2012
Manager IT Infrastructure - Volkswagen India, Pune
06.2010 - 07.2012
Systems Manager - Bajaj Allianz General Insurance, Pune
06.2007 - 05.2010
Systems Administrator - Canada India Institute Industry Linkage Project, Pune
05.2002 - 03.2005
Systems Engineer/Manager - Duotronix (P) Ltd, Pune
06.1997 - 04.2002
Ranchi University - Bachelor of Commerce,