Platform Engineer · SRE · DevOps

Joel Kambella Mutua

8+ years architecting resilient infrastructure and distributed systems across AWS, Kubernetes, and hybrid cloud environments.

☁️ Platform Engineering ⎈ Kubestronaut 🤖 AI/MLOps 📍 Nairobi, Kenya
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JKM

About Me

Cloud and Platform Engineer with 8+ years of experience architecting, deploying, and operating resilient infrastructure and distributed systems across public cloud and hybrid environments.

Deep expertise in cloud architecture (AWS), container orchestration (Kubernetes/EKS/ECS/Fargate), DevOps automation, infrastructure-as-code, CI/CD pipelines, observability, and production reliability.

Proven ability to deliver scalable, secure, and cost-efficient platform solutions for mission-critical systems, including finance and large-scale services. Notable contributor to M-PESA — one of Africa's largest fintech platforms.

Currently expanding into AI/MLOps — building and deploying GenAI and agentic AI applications using LangChain, Ollama, and LLM APIs within Kubernetes-based cloud environments.

8+ Years Experience
200+ Services Managed
5 K8s Certifications
4th Kubestronaut in Kenya

Skills & Technologies

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Cloud Platforms

AWS EKSECSFargate ECRBatchAzure

Containers & Orchestration

KubernetesDockerOpenShift HelmService Mesh
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IaC & DevOps / GitOps

TerraformAnsibleArgoCD JenkinsGitLabGit
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Observability

PrometheusGrafanaOpenTelemetry ELKDynatraceSplunk
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Languages & Scripting

PythonBashJava ShellAutomation
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AI & MLOps

LangChainOllamaLLM APIs Agentic AIStreamlitGenAI
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Systems & Servers

LinuxNGINXApache TomcatHAProxy
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Security & Governance

IAMNetwork PoliciesCompliance CKSSecurity Audits

Professional Experience

Cloud Support Engineer II — Containers

Amazon Web Services
Mar 2023 – Jan 2026
  • Provided Tier 2 & 3 support for AWS container services: EKS, ECS, Fargate, ECR, Batch, X-Ray, App Mesh, and Prometheus.
  • Assisted customers with cloud migrations and service adoption at scale.
  • Collaborated with AWS service teams to test and improve product features.
  • Guided customers on security best practices, policy formation, and compliance.
  • Pioneer engineer for the new Nairobi site — mentored engineers, conducted interviews, and drove engineering culture.
  • Collaborated with product and engineering teams to validate GenAI-enabled tools.

SRE / DevOps Lead — M-PESA / Fintech

Safaricom PLC
Mar 2021 – Feb 2023
  • Led DevOps operations for M-PESA, managing 200+ integrated services.
  • Architected and supported high-availability financial systems.
  • Led deployment of observability stacks: Splunk, ELK, and Dynatrace.
  • Mentored junior engineers and promoted DevOps culture through agile delivery.
  • Supported critical initiatives: M-PESA Fuliza, Safaricom App, and Business App.

Financial Solutions Engineer (SRE)

Safaricom PLC
Jul 2018 – Mar 2021
  • Migrated legacy systems to container platforms (Docker Swarm, Kubernetes).
  • Built automation for health checks, alerts, and dashboards (Python, Grafana, Dynatrace).
  • Reduced infrastructure costs through system optimizations and resource tuning.
  • Delivered key innovations: P2P Reversals, M-PESA 1Tap, and STK Push APIs.
  • Performed capacity planning, incident response, root cause analysis, and postmortems.

Financial Systems Support Engineer (SRE)

Safaricom PLC
Nov 2016 – Jun 2018
  • Provided 24/7 monitoring and support for M-PESA and core enterprise systems.
  • Ensured system uptime and led frequent infrastructure audits and security reviews.

Support Engineer

Cellulant Kenya
Jul 2015 – Oct 2016
  • Monitored services, deployed applications, and ensured SLA compliance.
  • Diagnosed application faults and produced uptime and capacity reports.

Key Projects

API · Security

STK Push API

Enabled secure, PIN-based integrations with 3rd party apps including Google Store, powering M-PESA's developer ecosystem.

APISecurityIntegration
Cloud · Migration

Cloud Migration

Led successful migration of legacy financial systems to Kubernetes and Docker, improving scalability and reducing operational overhead.

KubernetesDockerMigration
AI · Agentic

K8s AI Health Agent

Built an autonomous AI agent using LangChain and Ollama that assesses Kubernetes cluster health via MCP tools — running entirely locally.

LangChainOllamaMCPK8s
Automation · Observability

System Automation

Developed Python scripts for proactive monitoring and alerting, significantly reducing MTTR across M-PESA infrastructure.

PythonPrometheusGrafana
Payments · Innovation

M-PESA 1Tap

Delivered card-based mobile payments integration, enabling seamless payment experiences across the M-PESA ecosystem.

PaymentsIntegrationFintech

Certifications

Solutions Architect Professional

SAP-C02

Solutions Architect Associate

SAA-C03

Kubestronaut

4th in Kenya · CKAD · CKA · CKS · KCNA · KCSA

Azure Fundamentals

AZ-900

Platform Engineering

CNPA · In Progress

Get in Touch

Open to Platform Engineering, SRE, DevOps, and AI/MLOps opportunities.