Max Southwood

About Me

Hello, I’m an IT Infrastructure Engineer from Gloucestershire, now settled in Lancaster.

At my current employment I am in a small team responsible for all our IT hardware and software infrastructure, which is proving international services to the eCommerce world. Please see my portfolio page for an in-depth look at my experience!

In my free time I like to tinker with my HomeLab setup, play games and go on the occasional walk!

  • Age27
  • ResidenceLancashire, UK
  • AddressLancaster
  • e-mailcontact@maxsouthwood.co.uk
  • Phone07769583727

What I Do

Hardware

Maintain a cluster of HPE and Dell Hyper-v servers connected with a combination of 10Gbe/1Gbe Cisco switches, all behind a Watchguard firewall.

Internal IT

User-management in AD, Office365, PBX, network connectivity, and most things that use electricity!

Software

Ensure reliability of internationally used eCommerce sites and a crucial POS end-to-end solution service, by working with IIS, MSSQL and docker swarm.

Project Management

Responsible for suggesting new projects, and carrying them out within targets to ensure we are proactive about security and efficiency.

Testimonials

Clients

Fun Facts

VMs

100+

Clients

400+

Coffees consumed

10,000+

Resume

Experience

December 2022 - Current
Citrus Lime Ltd

IT Infrastructure Engineer

As an infrastructure engineer, I fully manage two key infrastructure racks—one in a production datacenter that powers our POS and e-commerce services, and another local rack dedicated to disaster recovery, development, and internal operations. These environments run on HPE and Dell servers with Hyper-V, hosting a combination of Windows and Linux VMs. Our networking backbone relies on Cisco and Netgear switches, with WatchGuard firewalls providing security. For data storage, I utilize HPE MSA SANs to ensure reliability and performance in our production setup.

I manage our web services, which run on the .NET Framework, using IIS for site hosting and MSSQL for databases. As part of our ongoing evolution, we're transitioning many of our services to Docker swarm to take advantage of containerization for scalability and efficiency. Beyond this, I’m responsible for internal IT and networking, which includes managing phone services, Active Directory, Office 365, endpoint devices, and password administration.

Every other week, I’m on-call, ensuring 16/7 uptime across the company. This includes maintaining our critical cloud POS system and supporting over 400 e-commerce sites worldwide. My role requires me to balance day-to-day operations with strategic improvements while maintaining the high availability and performance our business demands.

June 2022 -December
Tech Hub (North West) Ltd

IT Infrastructure Co-ordinator and Technician

In addition to my IT Techician responsiblities, I took on the role of improving Tech-Hub's organisation. This has included so far building a self hosted password manager, and implementing a knowledge base foundation to work on.

April 2022 - June 2022
Tech Hub (North West) Ltd

IT Technician

Working in a team to manage 70+ Schools, corporate, and domestic clients in a fast paced environment.

Site visits to customers’ premises to maintain their IT networks, resolve issues and scope out installation works.

Produce quotations, proposals and placing orders for customers.

2021 - April 2022
Ultimate Link Ltd

IT Support Technician

Responsible for managing over 60 different networks. This includes user administration, backup-recovery, voip phone systems, installing hardware/software, Office365, VPNs, and much more.

2015 - 2021
Tesco

Dot-com

Maintained a high quality control assurance for the end user’s product within a time limit. Accountable for substituting suitable products that did not meet acceptable standards. Liaised with other departments to ensure the smooth running of the store and customer satisfaction.

2012
Gingstone

Junior Web Developer (Work Experience)

Key role in the development process of the website. Responsible for the market research within the company. Budget monitoring role to ensure project is within budget and time.

Education

2022
Studied in own time

3CX Basic Certification

3CX Online Certification

2020
Studied in own time

CompTIA

CompTIA A+

2015
Cirencester College

College

4 – A levels in Computing, Use of Maths, Electronics,
and Engineering

2013
Thomas Keble School

Secondary

11 – GCSEs grades A - C

Vendor Hardware Experience

  • HPE MSA SAN
  • HPE Servers
  • Dell Servers
  • Cisco L2/3 Switches
  • Netgear L2/3 Switches
  • UniFi Eco System
  • Draytek
  • WatchGuard
  • Synology
  • TP Link Switches

Vendor Software/Services Experience

  • Hyper-V
  • Proxmox
  • Windows Server 2008+
  • Ubuntu Server
  • Debian Server
  • Veeam B&R + SureBackups
  • Azure
  • AD
  • InTune
  • EntraID
  • Group Policy Management
  • AWS - Lightsail/EC2
  • IIS
  • MSSQL
  • Pfsense
  • WDS
  • Office365
  • GSuite
  • Windows Server Backup
  • Windows XP+
  • Zabbix
  • PRTG
  • Mac support
  • 3CX
  • WordPress
  • Apple School Manager
  • SIMS/FMS
  • LightSpeed
  • NetSweeper
  • MerakiMDM
  • ZenDesk
  • BackBlaze
  • HelpJuice
  • phpIPAM
  • Home Assistant
  • Dynamics CRM
  • Jira Project Management
  • Action1
  • ESET
  • Sophos Anti-virus
  • Webroot anti-virus

General Skills

  • Hardware Troubleshooting
  • Software Troubleshooting
  • Cyber Security
  • Mobile Device Management
  • Backups/Restores
  • CCTV
  • Cable Installations
  • Screen Installations
  • DBS Checked
  • First Aid Trained

Certificates

CompTIA A+

Career ID: COMP001021573794
November 10, 2020

Portfolio

Bought My First House!

Bought My First House!

All, DIY
Website

Website

All, Web
3CX Phone System

3CX Phone System

All, VOIP

Bits and Bytes

Just a collection of mini projects that I'd like to share!

Services

Welcome to my website, where I offer a variety of services to help businesses establish a strong online presence. As an experienced IT Infrastructure Engineer, I specialise in creating and setting up domain names and emails for businesses of all sizes.

Whether you are just starting out or looking to expand your existing online presence, I am here to help. I can work with you to select the perfect domain name for your business and ensure that it is properly registered and set up. I can also create customized email addresses for your team, so you can communicate with clients and customers using a professional and branded email address.

So if you are ready to take your business to the next level, contact me today at contact@maxsouthwood.co.uk to learn more about how I can help you establish a strong and effective online presence.

I also have a Fiverr page so feel free to check me out there too!


Basic
£40 All costs included
Domain Setup
1 x Outlook Licenses
Free Shared Mailboxes
Standard
£65 All costs included
Domain Setup
5 x Outlook Licenses
Free Shared Mailboxes
Kickstarter
£200 All costs included
Domain Setup
25 x Outlook Licenses
Free Shared Mailboxes

Mail Migration

One time for £5 per mailbox

All packages are flexible as things like domain costs can change, and the type of Office365 subscription.

Contact

Lancaster, UK

07769583727

contact@maxsouthwood.co.uk

Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.