ANTONIO NERI

Sr Technical Architect | Kubernetes &
Cloud Architecture Specialist

ABOUT
ME

I'm a Senior Technical Architect specializing in Kubernetes and cloud architecture (OpenShift, AKS, EKS, GKE, Upstream Kubernetes), with 8+ years designing and delivering complex, multi-tiered software deployments across cloud, on-premises, and hybrid environments.

EU citizen who recently relocated to the Amsterdam Area, Netherlands from Milan, Italy, and is open to new opportunities. Trilingual (Italian, Greek, English) with strong cross-functional collaboration and technical leadership experience.

EXPERIENCE

SAS Institute

Sr Technical Architect

Milan, Italy

Jul 2018 - Present

Sr Technical Architect | EMEA Consulting Technology Delivery Practice

Jan 2026 - Present · Remote

Hand-picked by the incoming EMEA practice lead - based on direct feedback and visibility from prior large-scale customer deployments - to join a newly formed elite EMEA architecture team, with an expanded remit covering customers and geographies across the region.

Expanded Scope: Moved from primarily Italy-based engagements to an official EMEA-wide remit, collaborating with a team of senior architects across the region on the most complex SAS Viya-on-Kubernetes engagements.
Trusted Technical Advisor: Recognized by customers and colleagues as a reliable, go-to voice on architecture design calls, contributing technical direction on high-stakes deployments.
Elevated Engagement Complexity: Engage on some of the largest and most technically demanding projects in EMEA, building on the deployment expertise and customer trust established during the 2022–2025 period.

Sr Technical Architect | Kubernetes Pioneer, Italy Team

2022 - 2025 · Remote

One of the first architects in the Italian team to lead the transition of SAS Viya deployments to Kubernetes following the SAS Viya 4 release, subsequently specializing exclusively in Kubernetes-based delivery. Engaged on projects beyond Italy (~80% of workload in Italy) based on demonstrated expertise, deploying and operating Kubernetes clusters across Europe, the US, LATAM, Africa, and the UAE on Red Hat OpenShift, AKS, and EKS.

Delivered production-grade deployments ranging from small-scale to mission-critical, including multi-namespace environments (8+ SAS Viya namespaces for a single customer) supporting a real-time, zero-downtime decisioning service for a major European bank, with backup and disaster recovery architectures in place.
Worked across regulated and high-availability sectors including banking, insurance (EIOPA-regulated capital management), government tax/customs administration, telecom, automotive finance, pharmaceuticals, and healthcare - for clients including national government agencies, global banks, and Fortune 500 industrials.
Architected for varied resilience requirements - from high-availability, DR-backed clusters supporting always-on services, to lower-tolerance deployments - tailored to each customer's operational needs, using autoscaling, node pools/machine sets, and platform-specific HA patterns.
Infrastructure as Code: Provisioned underlying cluster and cloud infrastructure as code (IaC) using Terraform - primarily on Azure and AWS - enabling repeatable, version-controlled deployment of SAS Viya environments.

Sr Technical Architect

Jul 2018 - 2022 · Hybrid

Designed and delivered SAS Viya deployment architectures on traditional VM-based, microservices infrastructure across cloud, on-premises, and hybrid environments.

Amazon Italy (Alexa / Lab126)

Data Collection Engineer / Support Technician II

Milan & Rome, Italy

Aug 2017 - Jul 2018

Sole technical resource on a 5-person field team (4 linguists + 1 technician) for a 1-year Alexa data collection program, working with minimal direction to support the Italian language model.

Field Equipment Ownership: Set up, maintained, and troubleshot unreleased Alexa prototype devices and recording/networking equipment across field locations in Milan and Rome.
Device Management & Firmware Updates: Performed ADB flashing to deploy firmware updates, keeping prototype hardware current and operational throughout the engagement.
Data Integrity & Upload: Owned data tracking, integrity, and regular uploads for the project, documenting best practices and providing daily reports to the program team.
Cross-Team Technical Support: Served as the primary point of contact for internal US teams on technical troubleshooting, applying knowledge of wireless, networking, and mobile device technologies to ensure quality assurance.

Acted with a high level of professionalism, integrity, and discretion in handling confidential information and pre-release hardware, per strict NDA agreements.

OMTRA Srl

IT Manager

Milan, Italy

Sep 2016 - Aug 2017

IT Infrastructure Oversight: Oversaw the company's comprehensive IT infrastructure, including system administration, domain management, and Microsoft Exchange.
Network Architecture & Optimization: Designed and optimized network architecture and implemented backup and disaster recovery strategies.
Warehouse Inventory Digitalization: Led digitalization of warehouse inventory, improving tracking accuracy and operational efficiency.

Camicissima - Fenicia SpA

IT Systems Administrator

Milan, Italy

Sep 2015 - Sep 2016

Specialization in user account and email administration, managing help desk services, and implementing retail technology solutions to support efficient store operations and real-time analytics.

User Account & Help Desk: Managed user account and email administration and led help desk support for headquarters and global retail locations.
International Implementation: Implemented the company's proprietary Shop Control System at new retail sites through international travel.
Retail Technology Setup: Set up retail technology including people counters, IP cameras, and store IT systems.

Sidel SpA (Tetra Laval)

IT Field Service Engineer

Parma, Italy

Apr 2014 - Nov 2014

Large-Scale Migration: Planning and execution of migrating 1,200 users from Windows XP to Windows 7 and Office 2013.
VPN Token Coordination: Coordinated VPN token assignments and delivered local/remote Help Desk support during the migration.
Data Backup & Restoration: Executed data backup and restoration procedures, preserving data integrity throughout the transition.

Hellenic Armed Forces in Cyprus (EL.DY.K.)

Staff Sergeant, J1 Staff Office Assistant & Unit IT Engineer

Nicosia, Cyprus

Jan 2013 - Oct 2013

Managed confidential materials and led office automation initiatives while developing efficient personnel permit programs.

Managed CONFIDENTIAL materials and documents as a J1 staff office assistant.
Led office automation and computerization and developed permit programs for all personnel.
Oversaw security of the unit's information systems and network.

SKILLS

Red Hat OpenShift | OCP

Microsoft Azure | AKS

AWS | EKS

GCP | GKE

Upstream Kubernetes

CI/CD (GitOps)

Terraform / Ansible

Linux

Windows (Server / Client)

Networking

EDUCATION

LANGUAGES

Greek Apolytirion

Information Technology & Electronics

2nd Lykeio of Corfu, Greece

Sep 2009 - Jul 2012

Italian
Greek
English

ItalianNative / Bilingual GreekNative / Bilingual EnglishFull Professional | C2 University of Michigan
Certificate of Proficiency in English
May 2010

Native / Bilingual
Native / Bilingual
Full Professional | C2

University of Michigan
Certificate of Proficiency in English
May 2010

REFERENCES

References available upon email request