Daniel Romão

Daniel Romão · EU-based · Working remotely with teams across Europe

Azure Solution Architect FinOps, Landing Zones, Security, Networking & AI Discovery to Production

I design and deliver secure, well-governed Azure platforms, with FinOps built in.

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About

Daniel Romão

I design and deliver Microsoft Azure solutions across infrastructure, DevOps, Data & AI, and security. I'm a FinOps Certified Practitioner.

I have 15 years in IT. I started in systems and networks, moved into private cloud, and have focused on Microsoft Azure since 2018.

Since April 2022 I've been a Solution Architect at Microsoft. I work with large enterprise and government customers, from the first workshop to production, across pre-sales and delivery. Before that, at Nordcloud, I led technical teams on Azure platform and landing zone projects, designed Entra ID identity integration and RBAC models, and contributed target architecture to Azure migrations.

I work remotely with teams across Europe.

  • Azure infrastructure
  • Landing zones
  • Networking
  • Entra ID & RBAC
  • DevOps
  • Data & AI
  • Azure OpenAI
  • Security
  • FinOps

Selected engagements

  • Lead platform architect on Azure for a manufacturing company, including FinOps work: cost analysis, rightsizing and reservations.
  • Architect lead for the rollout of an AI platform in the public sector.
  • Led a key workload in an AWS-to-Azure migration planning engagement for a financial services company.

Services

I join as design authority, advisor or hands-on architect, on a scope we agree around what your organisation needs.

What I take on

  • Landing zones and networking
  • Security and governance: Defender for Cloud, Sentinel, Entra ID PIM/Conditional Access, Azure Policy
  • AI workloads on Azure, including securing Azure OpenAI and Azure ML
  • FinOps: cost analysis, rightsizing, reservations and governance
  • Well-Architected reviews and design authority

How we work together

  • Advisory, design authority or hands-on delivery
  • Part-time or full-time, short or long term
  • One client or several, remote across Europe
  • From discovery to production

Want to discuss scope for your organisation? Get in touch.

Experience

  1. Apr 2022 – Present

    Solution Architect · Microsoft

    Work with large enterprise and government customers, from the first workshop to production, across pre-sales and delivery: infrastructure, DevOps, Data & AI and security.

    Steer designs through customers' architecture review boards and design authorities. Design and implement production networking (private endpoints, VPN/ExpressRoute, Azure Firewall). Put security in place with Defender for Cloud, Sentinel and Entra ID PIM/Conditional Access, and secure Azure OpenAI and Azure ML workloads.

  2. Feb 2018 – Apr 2022

    Nordcloud

    Senior Cloud Architect, Mar 2020 – Apr 2022
    Cloud Architect, Feb 2018 – Mar 2020

    Led technical teams on Azure platform and landing zone projects. Designed Azure AD / Entra ID identity integration and RBAC models. Contributed target architecture and design for Azure migrations. Ran Azure Well-Architected reviews across all five pillars. Set up cost governance with tagging and Azure Policy. Combined hands-on implementation (Azure DevOps pipelines, ARM templates, Azure Automation) with architecture and FinOps work.

  3. May 2017 – Dec 2017

    DevOps Engineer · Nmbrs B.V., Amsterdam

    Operated and improved the continuous delivery pipeline (TeamCity, Octopus Deploy) for a Windows Server, SQL Server and IIS stack, automated with PowerShell. Contributed to the company's early adoption of Microsoft Azure. Scrum Master for the team.

  4. Jan 2013 – Apr 2017

    University of Amsterdam

    SNE Research Group, including SDN/OpenFlow work; Science Faculty Research IT Support.

  5. Jul 2011 – Oct 2012

    Researcher & Software Developer · Caixa Mágica Software, Lisbon

Credentials

Certifications

  • FinOps Certified Practitioner (FOCP) · FinOps Foundation
  • Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert
More certifications
  • Microsoft Certified: Azure DevOps Engineer Expert
  • Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate
  • Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Engineer Associate
  • Microsoft Certified: Azure for SAP Workloads Specialty
  • Microsoft Certified: Azure Developer Associate
  • Microsoft Certified: Azure Network Engineer Associate
  • Data Engineering with Google Cloud Specialization

Education

  • MSc System and Network EngineeringUniversity of Amsterdam · 2013 – 2015
  • BSc Electronics, Telecommunications and Computer EngineeringISEL – Instituto Superior de Engenharia de Lisboa · 2006 – 2012

Get in touch

Need an Azure architect for a review, a design or a delivery? Part-time or full-time, scoped around what you need.

Send a message LinkedIn

hello@danielromao.com · LinkedIn