Elshaday Gelaye
Addis Ababa,,Ethiopia
Summary
Visionary IT leader with over 12 years of progressive experience in infrastructure operations, network architecture, and enterprise IT service delivery. Proven ability to lead technical teams, modernize infrastructure, and deliver secure, scalable platforms aligned with business objectives. Demonstrated success in network transformation, data center architecture, vendor management, and IT governance within banking and multinational technology environments.
Overview
12
12
years of professional experience
23
23
Certifications
Work History
Founder and General Manager
eTop IT Solutions
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
04.2025 - Current
- Developed and implemented strategic business plans to guide the startup from conception to operational success.
- Built and led cross-functional teams, overseeing recruitment, training, and development of staff across departments.
- Created and managed the company's financial budgeting, forecasting, and reporting systems.
- Established and maintained strategic partnerships with key industry players to enhance business growth and development.
- Implemented scalable processes and systems to support business operations and facilitate efficient growth.
- Developed strategic initiatives to increase market share and revenue growth.
- Conducted comprehensive market research to identify unmet needs and opportunities for new business ventures.
- Negotiated and closed deals with suppliers, clients, and other key stakeholders to optimize operational efficiency.
- Evaluated new technologies for potential application in the organization's processes.
- Actively participated in industry events, conferences, and networking opportunities to enhance brand visibility and business growth.
Network Architect
NXP Semiconductors
Hamburg, Germany
01.2024 - 04.2025
- Lead multi-site network design and deployment using Cisco ACI, SDN, and WAN technologies.
- Provide technical leadership and oversight for infrastructure projects and system integrations. Architect scalable, secure, and resilient infrastructure across on-premises, cloud, and hybrid environments.
- Drive infrastructure automation using tools like Terraform, Ansible, and CI/CD pipelines.
- Mentor and upskill engineering team members through guidance, code reviews, and training.
- Establish and enforce infrastructure standards, configuration baselines, and best practices.
- Collaborate with security teams to implement zero-trust architecture, and ensure compliance.
- Implement monitoring and observability tools to optimize performance and resolve incidents.
- Evaluate and pilot emerging technologies to enhance infrastructure capabilities and efficiency.
- Communicate infrastructure strategy, risks, and progress to technical and business stakeholders.
Technical Consulting Engineer – Data Center ACI
Cisco Systems
Lisbon, Portugal
10.2022 - 01.2024
- Provide expert-level technical support for Cisco ACI, Nexus switching platforms, and related data center technologies.
- Troubleshoot complex customer issues involving ACI fabric, policy model, contracts, L3Outs, and multi-site configurations.
- Collaborate directly with global enterprise customers to drive the resolution of high-impact data center incidents.
- Reproduce customer-reported problems in lab environments to validate bugs, design gaps, or misconfigurations.
- Interface with Cisco engineering, TAC, and product teams to escalate and resolve critical product issues.
- Deliver proactive consultations, health checks, and best practice recommendations to optimize ACI deployments.
- Assist customers with design validation, deployment planning, and post-deployment tuning for ACI environments.
- Create and maintain technical documentation, runbooks, and knowledge base articles to support issue prevention.
- Participate in beta testing, solution validation, and field feedback loops for ACI software releases and features.
- Conduct technical workshops, training sessions, and webinars to educate customers and partners on ACI architecture and operations.
Technical Manager – Network Management
Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE)
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
01.2021 - 09.2022
- Managed a team of over 12 technical staff, overseeing the end-to-end network and security infrastructure across two interconnected data centers, supporting 1,800+ branch locations.
- Planned and led strategic infrastructure initiatives, including SD-WAN rollout and security modernization across the enterprise.
- Directed network performance optimization, capacity expansion, and proactive risk mitigation in collaboration with business stakeholders.
- Oversaw the development and management of technical RFPs, and the full lifecycle of key network and security infrastructure systems.
- Conducted capacity planning and performance analysis to ensure optimal utilization of network resources.
- Defined and enforced network architecture standards, policies, and configuration baselines to ensure operational consistency.
- Led technical delivery and cross-functional coordination for high-impact projects, ensuring compliance with security and regulatory standards.
- Acted as Scrum Master for Agile teams, enhancing core banking and card banking services—facilitating sprint planning, reviews, and retrospectives.
- Worked closely with product owners and developers to align technical delivery with business priorities in regulated environments.
- Coached team members on Agile best practices, tracked delivery metrics, and drove continuous improvement across both infrastructure and application teams.
Lead Network Engineer – Infrastructure Management
Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE)
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
04.2020 - 12.2021
- Led the network engineering team in designing and implementing complex WAN and LAN infrastructures across multiple sites.
- Served as the primary escalation point for complex network issues, providing expert technical guidance and leadership to the engineering staff.
- Directed major infrastructure projects, including disaster recovery planning, and enhancements to secure connectivity.
- Conducted capacity planning and developed roadmaps for next-generation network services, aligned with business goals.
- Mentored and coached engineers, ensuring strict adherence to standard operating procedures (SOPs), and alignment with organizational policies.
- Troubleshot and resolved advanced network problems involving routing protocols, switching, and other critical network components.
- Designed scalable, secure network solutions that met customer requirements while following industry best practices.
- Researched and evaluated emerging networking technologies to maintain up-to-date expertise, and recommend improvements.
- Ensured network infrastructure compliance with industry standards and regulations, including PCI DSS.
Principal Infrastructure Administrator
Cooperative Bank of Oromia
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
06.2018 - 03.2020
- Lead the administration and maintenance of enterprise-wide infrastructure, including servers, storage, virtualization, and network components.
- Design, implement, and optimize highly available and scalable infrastructure solutions, supporting critical business applications.
- Develop and enforce infrastructure standards, configuration management, and security policies to ensure compliance and operational consistency.
- Oversee backup, disaster recovery, and business continuity strategies to safeguard data, and minimize downtime.
- Automate routine infrastructure tasks and deployments using scripting and configuration management tools (e.g., PowerShell, Ansible).
- Monitor system performance and capacity, proactively addressing bottlenecks, and planning for future growth.
- Collaborate with cross-functional teams to plan and execute infrastructure upgrades, migrations, and cloud integration projects.
- Provide advanced troubleshooting and root cause analysis for complex infrastructure issues, escalating as necessary.
- Mentor and guide junior administrators, promoting best practices and technical development.
- Maintain detailed documentation of infrastructure architecture, procedures, and change management activities.
Network Engineer & Support Roles
Commercial Bank of Ethiopia
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
01.2012 - 01.2018
- Maintained and supported the bank’s enterprise network infrastructure, ensuring reliable connectivity across all branches and data centers.
- Installed, configured, and troubleshot LAN, WAN, VPN, and wireless network components to meet operational requirements.
- Monitored network performance, analyzed traffic patterns, and resolved bottlenecks to optimize throughput and reduce latency.
- Provided Tier 2/3 support for network incidents, escalating complex issues, and collaborating with vendors for timely resolution.
- Implemented and enforced network security measures, including firewall rules, access controls, and intrusion detection/prevention systems.
- Assisted in the deployment of network upgrades, expansions, and technology refresh projects to support business growth.
- Conducted regular network health checks, capacity planning, and vulnerability assessments aligned with regulatory standards.
- Created and maintained technical documentation, network diagrams, and incident reports to support audit and compliance requirements.
- Collaborated with cross-functional teams to support core banking applications, and ensure network readiness for business-critical services.
- Participated in disaster recovery planning and testing to ensure business continuity and minimal service disruption.
Education
BSc - Computer Engineering
Adama Science and Technology University
Skills
- IT strategy development
- Agile methodologies
- IT governance
- Digital transformation
- Enterprise architecture
- IT operations management
- Business continuity planning
- Disaster recovery
- IT service delivery
- IT project portfolio management
- IT performance metrics
- IT compliance
- IT capacity planning
- IT stakeholder management
- Team leadership
- Cross-functional collaboration
Certification
- 3×CCNP (Data Center, Enterprise, Security) – Cisco
- CCNA Cyber Ops – Cisco
- PMP – PMI | PSM I – Scrum.org
- ITIL-F v3| HCIA & HCIP – Huawei
- CCSA & CCSE – Check Point
- 35+ certifications for training accomplishments from multiple vendors
Affiliations
- Founder, eTop IT Solutions PLC
- Member, Ethiopian ICT Professionals Association
- Contributor, Cisco Global Annual Presentation, 2023, Netherlands
Selected Projects And Achievements
- Designed and deployed a Cisco ACI multi-pod data center solution.
- Led strategic initiatives, including preparing tender documents for a secure SD-WAN project.
- Implemented efficient traffic engineering for enterprise WAN infrastructure using DMVPN over iBGP.
- Deployed and upgraded campus network and security solutions across 5+ major projects.
Languages
Amharic
First Language
English
Proficient (C2)
C2
References
- Mr. Seyoum Damtew, SeyoumDamtew@cbe.com.et
- Mr. Nick Scheutjens, nickscheutjen@nxp.com
- Mr. Bruno Ferreira, brferrei@cisco.com
- Mr. Teferi Assefa, teferia@coopbankoromia.com.et
Timeline
Founder and General Manager
eTop IT Solutions
04.2025 - Current
Network Architect
NXP Semiconductors
01.2024 - 04.2025
Technical Consulting Engineer – Data Center ACI
Cisco Systems
10.2022 - 01.2024
Technical Manager – Network Management
Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE)
01.2021 - 09.2022
Lead Network Engineer – Infrastructure Management
Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE)
04.2020 - 12.2021
Principal Infrastructure Administrator
Cooperative Bank of Oromia
06.2018 - 03.2020
Network Engineer & Support Roles
Commercial Bank of Ethiopia
01.2012 - 01.2018
BSc - Computer Engineering
Adama Science and Technology University
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