Secure AWS foundations for production AI.
I build the secure AWS foundations that let funded startups and regulated teams run AI and modern workloads in production, and still pass a security review. Three things I focus on: secure AWS landing zones, FinOps and cloud cost, and AI platform engineering.
AWS Solutions Architect Professional · CKA · PhD · Australian Federal Government
Three Ways In
Equal footing across security, spend, and AI.
For security and compliance
Secure AWS Landing Zones
A production-grade, multi-account AWS foundation delivered as Terraform you own. Control Tower, SCP guardrails, IAM boundaries, KMS, and centralised logging, mapped to your target framework.
View the workFor finance
FinOps and Cloud Cost
A fixed-scope read of your AWS bill showing where spend leaks, ranked by effort. You keep a prioritised savings roadmap your team can action straight away.
View the workFor engineering
AI Platform Engineering
Ship Bedrock, LLM, and RAG workloads into production on AWS with the security, evaluation, and audit controls that keep regulated work compliant.
View the workSydney · Remote worldwide
About Me
Hi, I'm Dr Salek Ali.
I help regulated teams and funded startups run AI and cloud workloads in production securely, without failing an audit.
I hold a PhD from the University of Bologna, Italy, and I work today with the Australian Federal Government, building cloud platforms to the ISM standard. Across more than 8 years in government, enterprise, startups, and other regulated settings, I have built the landing zones, delivery pipelines, and security controls that keep production workloads scalable, reliable, and audit-ready.
Three things sit at the centre of my work, and they carry equal weight. Secure AWS landing zones give teams a compliant foundation by default. FinOps and cloud cost engineering keep spend predictable and tied to value. AI platform engineering puts the pipelines and guardrails in place so models reach production safely. Most engagements draw on all three.
My approach is automation-first. I cut toil with infrastructure as code, so systems are reproducible and secure rather than hand-built and brittle. The result is a cloud estate you can trust under audit and under load.
Why Work With Me
Credentials That Survive an Audit
AWS Solutions Architect Professional, Kubernetes CKA, a PhD from the University of Bologna, and Australian Federal Government delivery to ISM standard. These are the credentials that clear the security reviews your buyers answer to.
A Track Record Across Regulated and High-Growth Work
Cloud and platform delivery spanning the Australian Federal Government, media at Network 10 and Paramount, high-growth e-commerce at RedBalloon and Big Red Group, and AI startups. Built to hold up under scrutiny and scale.
Landing Zones Built Secure on Day One
AWS landing zones designed with guardrails, account structure, and controls from the start. Terraform and AWS CDK make the build repeatable, so every environment stays consistent and review-ready.
Cloud Spend You Can Defend
FinOps practice that ties spend to workloads, removes waste, and gives finance and engineering one shared view. Cost becomes a number you can explain rather than a surprise at month end.
AI Platforms Engineered to Ship and Stay Up
AI platform engineering on CI/CD pipelines and automated deployments, so models and services reach production faster and run with minimal downtime. Reliability is part of the design, not an afterthought.
Architecture Tied to Your Business Goals
Every design maps to your goals and technical constraints, with no bias toward a particular tool or service. The recommendation you get is the one that fits, not the one that is easiest to sell.
// collaboration_network
I’ve had the privilege of collaborating with some of the brightest engineers in Australia.
Most cloud consultants focus on: tools.
I focus on: outcomes.
That means passing the security review, shipping to production without a costly rebuild, and keeping the monthly cloud bill under control.
"Salek was a fantastic resource and powerful team member. His technical capability along with his consultative approach with customers made him a valuable contributor throughout his tenure."
Discovery & Architecture.
Mapping the unmapped. Defining the blueprint for secure scaling.
Build & Handover.
Precision execution. Handing over the keys to an automated engine.
Want to work together?
Let's build something exceptional. Book a call or drop a message below.
Discovery Call
Thirty focused minutes mapping where your cloud is now against the framework your buyers ask for, whether that is SOC 2, HIPAA, or ISM.
You leave with a prioritised next-step roadmap: the gaps that matter, the order to close them, and what each one takes.
Book 30-Minute CallSEND A DETAILED BRIEF
Prefer to write it out first? Tell me your target framework and what is blocking your roadmap, and I will read every word before we talk.