Blake Ridgway
Site Reliability Engineer — Cloud • Network • Linux • Security
Enid, Oklahoma — US/Central — Remote
blakearidgway@gmail.com
linkedin.com/in/blakearidgway
ridgwaysystems.org/hire
Summary
Results-driven Cloud and Network Engineer with a strong background in designing, implementing, and automating secure, scalable, and highly available infrastructure across on-premises and multi-cloud environments (AWS, Azure). Proven expertise in Infrastructure-as-Code, policy-as-code security frameworks, and comprehensive monitoring for proactive incident prevention. Adept at translating complex business requirements into resilient technical solutions with a focus on network performance, cloud resource optimization, and overall security posture.
Experience
Site Reliability Engineer
Sep 2025 – Present
Advanced Metrics
— Remote
- Provision, deploy, and manage virtual machines, servers, and scalable storage in Azure, optimizing for performance and cost.
- Configure and maintain complex virtual networks including VNet peering, VPN Gateways, ExpressRoute connections, and NSGs for secure, efficient connectivity.
- Implement security measures including firewalls and access controls across cloud infrastructure.
- Use Terraform, Azure DevOps, and ARM templates for IaC and CI/CD pipeline automation.
- Utilize Azure Monitor for performance monitoring, log analysis, and alerting.
Systems Administrator
Jul 2023 – Sep 2025
Triangle Insurance Company
— Enid, OK
- Designed and automated infrastructure deployments using IaC, achieving a 20% performance improvement and a 15% reduction in deployment time.
- Architected a policy-as-code firewall framework with geo-location blocking and automated rule updates, strengthening security posture while minimizing manual errors.
- Developed and automated comprehensive disaster recovery validation, reducing RTO by 30% and ensuring business continuity.
- Designed and implemented ISP network speed monitoring using Prometheus and Grafana, providing real-time WAN visibility.
- Deployed full-stack monitoring with Nagios and automated alerting, cutting time-to-detect (TTD) by 40% and time-to-resolve (TTR) by 20%.
Sr. Platform Engineer
Mar 2022 – Jul 2023
Prime Trust
— Remote
- Engineered Azure and AWS cloud infrastructure using IaC, improving scalability, consistency, and reducing manual intervention.
- Partnered with stakeholders to translate product requirements into secure, scalable infrastructure specifications aligned with business goals.
- Designed and supported Argo CD workload management for continuous delivery, improving release velocity and reducing deployment errors.
- Authored and maintained comprehensive documentation, runbooks, and standards for recurring issues, accelerating incident response.
- Performed deep root cause analysis on incidents, implementing preventative measures to improve long-term system stability.
Education
B.S. Computer Science
Jun 2021 – Present
Southern New Hampshire University
Information Technology Program
2013
Autry Technology Center
Certifications
- FCF Cybersecurity
- FCA Cybersecurity
- CompTIA Network+
- CompTIA Security+
- Cisco CCNA
- RHCA
Technical Skills
- Cloud
- AWS, Azure (VNet, NSG, ExpressRoute, VPN Gateway, ARM Templates, Azure Monitor, CloudWatch)
- Networking
- TCP/IP, DNS, DHCP, BGP, OSPF, VLANs, VPN, pf, iptables, IDS/IPS, NAC, Zero Trust
- Automation
- Terraform, Ansible, Azure DevOps, Bash, Python, PowerShell, Ruby
- Monitoring
- Prometheus, Grafana, Nagios, Splunk, ELK Stack, SIEM integration, Azure Monitor
- Platforms
- Linux, OpenBSD, VMware, Hyper-V, Proxmox, Citrix, Docker, Kubernetes, Argo CD