How do you typically engage with clients?

I offer flexible engagement models tailored to your stage of growth and the problem you need solved. Day-rate work suits intensive, time-boxed delivery such as discovery sprints, architecture reviews, MVP builds and AI proof-of-concepts, and smaller pieces of work can be billed by the hour. Fractional retainers give you ongoing strategic support at roughly two days a week, ideal for product leadership, go-to-market and ongoing platform or AI guidance without a full-time hire. Interim roles embed me inside your team for 3-6 months to lead delivery, transformation, or new product introduction. For shorter needs I run fixed-scope discovery engagements and workshops. Most engagements start with discovery, and the model is shaped around the outcome you need rather than a one-size-fits-all package.

Do you work remotely or on-site?

Both. I'm based in Devon, UK, and work primarily remotely with clients across the UK and internationally. For certain engagements, on-site time can be valuable, particularly for workshops, kick-offs, or intensive discovery phases.

What's your typical engagement length?

It varies. Discovery sprints might be 2-4 weeks. Fractional engagements often run 6-12 months. Interim roles can be 3-6 months. I'm flexible and focus on delivering outcomes rather than filling time.

What makes your approach different?

I combine strategic product thinking with hands-on delivery experience and technical depth across cloud and AI infrastructure, platforms and new product introduction. I have built and launched products, not only advised on them, and every service page links to the portfolio work that shows it.

Do you build products or just advise?

I can do both. For discovery and validation work, I often build prototypes and MVPs. For established products, I might embed with your teams to guide delivery. For strategic work, I provide frameworks, roadmaps, and operating models.

Rates depend on the role, seniority, and engagement model. Day rates (outside IR35) range from £400 for business analysis up to £950 for Head of Product, with senior and AI product roles at £600 and architect roles at £650. I also cover work down to the hour, from £69 an hour, so pricing stays flexible. Hourly work is billed in one-hour blocks, with shorter time added together and rounded up to the nearest hour. A working day is 9am to 5pm with an hour's break. Fractional retainers start from £3,000 per month at roughly two days a week. See my Pricing page for the full rate table, or get in touch for a tailored quote.

Do you offer fixed-price projects?

Yes. A structured discovery assessment is always fixed-price, with deliverables you own whether or not we go further, and it is what makes the work that follows fix-priceable. Ongoing strategic support works better as a retainer, because priorities change as we learn.

How do we get started?

Reach out via my contact page. I'll arrange an initial call to understand your situation, challenges, and objectives. If there's a good fit, I'll propose an engagement approach tailored to your needs.

Yes, I'm happy to sign mutual NDAs. I treat all client information as confidential by default.

Product profile Architect profile

Gary

Enterprise & Solution Architect · Presales Architect

Cloud · AI & GPU Infrastructure · VMware VCF · Hybrid & Multi-Cloud · Platform & API

info@cloudio.co.uk UK-based · Available worldwide (remote or expenses-paid travel) LinkedIn Credly

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Full-spectrum practice

Cloudio Consulting: solution architecture across cloud, platform and AI infrastructure

Solution, enterprise and presales architecture across private cloud, hybrid and multi-cloud, and AI infrastructure. From discovery and reference architecture through to the commercial model, statement of work and a clean handover into delivery.

Solution & enterprise architecture Presales & technical advisory VMware VCF & private cloud AI & GPU infrastructure Hybrid & multi-cloud

Profile

Summary

Enterprise and Solution Architect with 15 years designing and delivering cloud, hybrid, AI infrastructure and platform architectures across Fortune 100 enterprise, managed services and SaaS environments. Experienced in presales, technical advisory and client-facing architecture across VMware, AWS, Azure, NVIDIA and Microsoft, turning complex technical requirements into commercially viable solutions, reference architectures and go-to-market propositions.

My last three roles were technical product management, where I owned the architecture as well as the roadmap. That means I design with the commercial model, the customer and the people who have to run it in mind, not just the technology.

Comfortable designing at every level, from data centre GPU infrastructure and zero-trust security through to API-first platform design, multi-cloud connectivity and AI agent architecture. Just as at home in a whiteboard session with engineers as in a strategy conversation with the board. Currently studying for VCP-VCF Architect against VCF 9, with VMware Private AI Foundation with NVIDIA alongside it.

Impact at a glance

Quantified outcomes across architecture, presales and platform engagements.

$300M

ELA revenue supported

Hybrid multi-cloud GTM framework across two UK banks

99.999%

Availability

Dual data centre private cloud past 1,000 VMs

£500k → £16.6M

Platform revenue growth

Within 18 months, on a reference architecture I designed

£19M

Bookings

From a consumption-based infrastructure service taken from concept to market

2 wks → mins

Solution pricing

Reference architecture and pricing model, 100% accurate against final designs

$368k

Licensing savings

Per resilient HGX deployment, open-source alternative to NVIDIA AI Enterprise

£1.1M

Cost savings

Router estate rationalisation in the first year

£850k

Cost savings

Dell OEM negotiation, licensing and platform optimisation

160+

vSphere environments

Designed, installed and upgraded across compute, SAN and networking

Platform modules

Service contracts and integration interfaces defined in 4 months

171

Platform NFRs

Security, performance, scalability, resilience and accessibility

40+

FTE led by influence

Across engineering, presales, delivery and operations

Experience

Jul 2026 – Present (part time)

Founder & Product Consultant/Architect

Cloudio Consulting (part of Cloudio Limited)

Working as a freelance architect and consultant between roles while looking for a permanent Solution, Enterprise or Presales Architect role. Currently focused on AI infrastructure, agentic AI architecture and AI-enabled products.

AI infrastructure design and agentic AI architecture, shaping AI-ready platforms that scale with the business.

Prototyping LLM-backed solutions with Claude, Replit and Base44.

Built Cloudio Learning solo by directing an AI development agent, a training platform for AI and its associated technologies, pre-loaded with 382 AI courses and 62 AI podcasts, personalised learning paths and intelligent course discovery.

Designed and shipped consulting.cloudio.co.uk from scratch.

Building an AI evaluation practice with Arize.

Studying VCF 9 and 9.1 and VMware Private AI Foundation with NVIDIA.

Nov 2025 – Jun 2026

Lead Product Manager – Platform

Rail & transport technology SaaS (confidential)

0→1 · Built from scratch

Technical lead for the shared services platform underpinning three enterprise rail SaaS products: the integration layer between the core platform and the application layer. Accountable for platform vision, service architecture and the operating model, working as Product Owner across discovery and definition.

Designed an API-first, federated platform architecture covering multi-tenant identity and access management, microservices delivery and secure separation between customer accounts.

Defined service contracts and integration interfaces for every shared platform module, so all three SaaS products consumed them the same way.

Defined 21 core platform modules in four months, from identity and access through to workflow, search and reporting, producing 47 delivery artefacts and bringing the initiative forward by two months. Rationalised them to 14 when budget and delivery constraints changed.

Mapped service dependencies and led the definition and cross-functional sign-off of 171 platform-wide NFRs covering security, performance, scalability, compliance, resilience and accessibility.

Set clear ownership for every shared service, so product teams could build on the platform without waiting on each other.

Brought three product squads and executive stakeholders behind one platform vision, turning long-term transformation goals into a prioritised roadmap ready for funding.

Defined UI and UX requirements for user-facing modules, working alongside Product Design.

Used AI tooling to speed up discovery, requirements and technical specification, shortening the path from first concept to delivery-ready documentation.

Feb 2025 – Nov 2025

Head of Product – Growth & New Products

Regional broadband altnet (via Cloudio Consulting)

0→1 · Built from scratch

Contracted through Cloudio Consulting. Joined as Product Lead and promoted to Interim Head of Product after four months. Owned product strategy and the technical design of connectivity solutions spanning SoGEA, FTTP, 4G/5G, VOIP and cyber security, working directly with wholesale access vendors.

Architected the technical solution behind switching the router estate from Nokia to TP-Link, halving the per-unit cost on new connections, giving support unified cloud management and unlocking Openreach SoGEA, FTTP and 5G capability.

Designed the API integrations that automated order to live service, from UPRN address checking in the sales journey through Salesforce to API-driven router ordering and registration, replacing a manual per-customer process. Added automated router recovery for orders that never went live.

Introduced Openreach SoGEA and FTTP alongside 4G, reaching customers the on-net network could not and driving 30% growth in new connectivity revenue.

Defined technical requirements across the connectivity, cyber security and VOIP portfolio.

Launched 5 products in 8 months, more than the 3 launched in the previous 15 years: a consumer cyber security offer, Openreach SoGEA and FTTP, a 4G service relaunched in two weeks and a new router platform.

Built the New Product Introduction framework from scratch, moving the business from sales-led to product-led, with an 18-month roadmap across broadband, 4G/5G, cyber security, VOIP, B2B and value-added services.

Lifted ARPU through value-added services on existing connections, and surfaced consumer VOIP leakage where departed customers' supplier services and rented equipment were still being paid for.

Jul 2023 – Jan 2025

Technical Product Manager – Hybrid Cloud

Global enterprise IT & storage vendor

0→1 · Built from scratch

Technical PM and solution architect for Converged Infrastructure as a Service (CIaaS) within the XaaS portfolio, owning the reference architecture, GPU compute model, consumption framework, roadmap and partner go-to-market. Several initiatives below were self-initiated beyond the core role.

Designed the CIaaS reference architecture: GPU-accelerated compute on NVIDIA HGX, enterprise SAN, WekaIO parallel file systems, Canonical MaaS bare metal provisioning and a VCF virtualisation layer.

Led the research and co-led the implementation of Canonical MaaS bare metal provisioning into the platform management plane, delivered as a billable customer feature in the next release.

Built a technical matrix mapping NVIDIA AI Enterprise components to open-source equivalents, identifying $368k in licensing savings per resilient HGX deployment, and presented it to AI leadership.

Self-initiated: designed and presented a zero-trust remote support architecture using the NetFoundry SDK to remove customer VPN dependency, a gap across the whole portfolio, though it was not taken forward.

Designed the Next Generation Storage-as-a-Service and Extreme Tier propositions, targeting Edge AI and high-throughput workloads requiring parallel storage, with the PRD validated internally and design in progress at departure.

Rationalised hundreds of configurations into five t-shirt sizes with use case specifications, documented end to end in a 38-page PRD with supporting technical writing.

Developed and launched an 18-month roadmap, evolving converged infrastructure into a layered portfolio of professional services, managed services, subscription-based cloud and virtualisation, and NVIDIA GPU-powered Edge AI.

Scoped and implemented pricing, margin and discount models for a new quote-to-cash partner portal, and a deprecation tracker across compute, networking and storage to stop unsupported hardware being sold.

Owned the full product lifecycle for a new consumption-based managed services offering, with bookings converting to revenue at 50%.

Proposed an AI managed services offering to the services lead and the AI go-to-market team, extending the infrastructure and professional services proposition into recurring revenue.

Sep 2021 – May 2023

Consulting Solutions Architect

Global technology solutions integrator

Trusted advisor and consulting solutions architect for Enterprise and Fortune 100+ accounts across the UK, EMEA and APAC, designing hybrid and multi-cloud architectures for data-intensive, AI and ML workloads and engaging up to CxO level. In-region VMware ambassador.

Designed hybrid and multi-cloud architectures spanning AWS, Azure, VMware and on-premises for data-intensive, AI and machine learning workloads.

Built the joint VMware hybrid multi-cloud GTM framework with VMware account directors, supporting over $300M in ELA, professional services and operations revenue across two UK banks.

Reframed a stalled bank data centre exit by separating migration from modernisation. Workloads landed unchanged on Azure VMware Solution and VMware Cloud on AWS using HCX live migration, then modernised. The framework was reused across the enterprise base.

Built discovery-led migration tooling with vRealize Network Insight, producing application groupings, migration waves and per-application disposition from real network flows.

Designed and presented VeloCloud SD-WAN, SASE and SSE propositions to Fortune 100 clients.

Owned technical account strategy for Fortune 100+ accounts across Retail, Life Sciences, Manufacturing, Healthcare, Utilities, Oil/Gas and Financial Services.

Served as in-region VMware ambassador, mentoring internal teams and cultivating partnerships with Cisco, Dell, Palo Alto, HPE, F5 and NetApp to drive new business.

Authored Statements of Work, Bills of Materials and professional services scoping for complex enterprise engagements.

Apr 2017 – Aug 2021

Head of Cloud / Principal Solutions Manager

Global enterprise contact-centre software & services

0→1 · Built from scratch

Reported to the CPO and indirectly to the CTO. Designed and built the cloud platform and CCaaS architecture underpinning OnDemand CX, on Avaya Aura across VMware private cloud, AWS, Azure and GCP, with Cisco networking and pfSense firewalling throughout. Co-led the enterprise cloud GTM, presales and cloud service development.

Designed the enterprise cloud reference architecture behind OnDemand CX, with three deployment models: private cloud, public cloud and hybrid.

Replaced deal-by-deal infrastructure scoping with a standard reference architecture and integrated pricing model sales could run themselves, cutting scoping and pricing from two weeks to minutes in front of the customer, at 100% accuracy against final designs.

Designed and proved the zero-trust network and security layer across the VMware private cloud platform using pfSense firewalling and Cisco networking.

Held 99.999% availability across a dual data centre private cloud past 1,000 VMs.

Secured substantial cost savings through the Dell OEM partnership, vendor negotiations and partner tier upgrades, roughly halving the original server footprint and cost with higher spec vSAN Ready Nodes.

Brought enterprise Avaya Aura onto the hosted platform, where the business had only sold it to customers running it on premise, taking it from zero to more than half of the platform live customers.

Co-led OnDemand CX as a product from ideation through launch, including reference architecture, pricing, marketing content and partner engagement, growing platform revenue by over 3,200% within 18 months.

Designed DR as a Service and Backup as a Service as part of the proposition, though neither was taken forward as a launched product.

Led 40+ FTE by influence across product, engineering, professional services, marketing, legal, finance, support and managed services, with no direct line management authority.

Jan 2014 – Mar 2017

Technical Presales & Datacentre Manager (ISO27001)

UK comms & datacentre services provider

Led technical presales across a portfolio of managed network, connectivity, cloud and infrastructure services for SME and enterprise customers. Line-managed 6 FTE engineers and consultants, and co-led ISO27001 audits of the data centre.

Led technical presales across data centre infrastructure, from compute, storage and networking through to connectivity, security and managed services.

Designed and sold network services spanning MPLS, SD-WAN, Managed LAN, SASE, LAN/WAN and security platforms across Cisco, Cisco Meraki and Smoothwall.

Designed virtualisation, cloud and disaster recovery solutions using VMware vSphere, Microsoft Hyper-V clustering and Veeam for SMB and mid-market customers.

Self-initiated a Managed LAN service proposition presented to leadership, designing the service model, pricing structure and operational framework from scratch.

Enrolled the business onto the Microsoft MSP Programme, improving partner status and unlocking a new route to market.

Jan 2010 – Dec 2013

Managed Service Engineer & VMware Consultant

Channel Islands managed services & IT provider

Second and third line managed services across around 85 customer environments, designing, building and supporting infrastructure, storage and virtualisation, and acting as virtualisation consultant for the sales team.

Designed, installed and upgraded 160+ VMware vSphere environments across HPE, Oracle, IBM and Dell compute, SAN storage and networking.

Certified across HP P2000, P4000, EVA and 3PAR storage, with Dell EqualLogic, Dell Compellent and IBM storage alongside.

Implemented Veeam Backup & Replication from vSphere 4, building backup and DR capability across the customer base.

Supported the sales team with technical presales as the virtualisation and storage specialist.

My architecture training plan

One certification in progress and the rest planned, building towards VMware Private AI and NVIDIA AI infrastructure work:

VMware Cloud Foundation: In progress: VCP-VCF Architect (2V0-13.25), designing VCF 9 private cloud at enterprise scale.

AI Infrastructure & Operations: Planned: NVIDIA NCA-AIIO, covering GPU infrastructure, AI workloads and operations.

AI Enterprise: Planned: NVIDIA NCP-AIE, deploying and running NVIDIA AI Enterprise in production.

AI Business Professional: Planned: Microsoft AB-730, AI return on investment and responsible adoption.

AI Transformation Leader: Planned: Microsoft AB-731, governing AI transformation across the enterprise.

Core skills

Cloud & Virtualisation

VMware VCF, vSphere, vSAN, NSX, TanzuVMware HCX live migrationVMware Aria Automation & SDDC ManagerAWSMicrosoft AzureHybrid & multi-cloud architecture

AI & GPU Infrastructure

NVIDIA HGX, vGPU, MIG & GPU passthroughVMware Private AI Foundation with NVIDIAWekaIO parallel file systemsEnterprise storage (Hitachi SAN, Pure, VAST Data, NetApp)Canonical MaaS bare metal provisioningAI agent architecture (Copilot Studio, Claude)

Networking & Security

SD-WAN, SASE, SSE, MPLS & LANZero-trust architectureNSX micro-segmentationCisco, Meraki, Fortinet, Palo Alto, F5pfSense, Smoothwall, Alcatel

Platform & API Architecture

API-first, microservices & multi-tenant designKubernetes (VKS), Docker, Helm, HarborService dependency mapping & NFR definitionAvaya Aura & CCaaS platform design

Presales & Commercial

Solution design & reference architectureSOW, BOM & commercial frameworksVendor & OEM partner managementCxO-level client engagementGTM strategy & technical positioning

Technical Product Management

Platform & technical product managementRoadmapping & business casesPricing & consumption modelsStakeholder management & executive alignment

Certifications & learning

Cloud, Infrastructure & AI

Broadcom VMware: Expert (vSphere), Proven Pro (vSAN, VCF, Tanzu)
VMware HCI Specialist & VMC on AWS Master Specialist
Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect Expert (AZ-305)
AWS Solutions Architect – Associate
NVIDIA AI Technologies & AI Workflows
Veeam Technical Sales Professional (v11 and later)

Platform & Delivery

IBM Cloud Native, Microservices, Containers & DevOps
API Development & Architecture Specialisation – Coursera
ITIL Foundation
Scrum Master PSM I – Scrum.org
Scrum Product Owner PSPO I – Scrum.org

References available on request.

Partner & ecosystem experience

Extensive experience operating within partner-led technology ecosystems, including a global integrator's strategic partners and vendors spanning cloud, infrastructure, security and AI.

NVIDIAVMware by BroadcomCiscoDell TechnologiesHPENetAppF5IntelMicrosoftPalo Alto NetworksAWSGoogle CloudRed HatCanonicalNetFoundryVeeamZertoNutanixVAST DataPure StorageSupermicroGiacomNokiaTP-LinkF-SecureSophos

Working principles

Outcome-focused and delivery-led

Comfortable operating in ambiguity

Collaborative across technical and commercial teams

Pragmatic, transparent, and value-driven

Let's work together

Interested in exploring how Cloudio Consulting can support your organisation?