Pieter Berkel

Led a cross-functional DevSecOps team delivering secure cloud infrastructure for high-traffic media platforms serving millions of users.

Technology Environment: AWS, Kubernetes, Docker, Terraform, GitHub Actions, GitHub Copilot, Wiz

• Drove cloud modernisation initiatives across multiple high-traffic digital properties, improving platform scalability while standardising infrastructure and deployment practices.
• Increased engineering productivity by introducing AI-assisted development practices using GitHub Copilot across the team.
• Reduced cloud attack surface by identifying and remediating publicly exposed Kubernetes services using Wiz security tooling.
• Lowered infrastructure costs and improved security posture by reducing end-of-life virtual machine footprint by 25%.
• Established infrastructure-as-code and secure deployment standards to improve consistency and reduce configuration drift.

Led global engineering teams (20–25 engineers) developing and maintaining high-traffic publishing platforms and digital web properties including CBS Sports and CBS News.

Technology Environment: AWS, Docker, Kubernetes, GitHub Actions, PHP, Node.js, React, MySQL, Redis, REST APIs, Fastly CDN

• Managed and mentored distributed engineering teams delivering core publishing systems supporting millions of monthly users across major digital media brands.
• Reduced infrastructure operating costs by 30% by leading migration of the CBS Sports high-traffic platform from on-premises infrastructure to AWS.
• Optimised CI/CD pipelines using GitHub Actions, reducing deployment times and embedding DevSecOps practices to improve code quality and vulnerability detection.
• Led modernisation of legacy web services to improve performance, reliability, and deployment consistency.
• Improved engineering delivery practices through clearer ownership models and streamlined agile development methodology.

Led a team of 15 engineers responsible for designing and delivering a scalable content management system and web framework used across multiple high-traffic digital brands.

• Managed and mentored engineers building core content management system functionality and reusable web services.
• Led system design and implementation of a modular, scalable publishing platform supporting high-traffic media properties.
• Improved development workflows and release consistency through structured development and industry-standard CI/CD practices.
• Delivered a unified content management platform adopted across CNET, ZDNet, TechRepublic, CBS Sports, and CBS News, improving operational efficiency and reducing duplication of effort.

Led software engineering and operations teams in Australia and Singapore supporting regional digital properties.

• Managed and mentored engineers responsible for development and ongoing support of high-traffic web properties.
• Partnered with global engineering teams to align regional systems with international platform standards and release processes.
• Contributed to consolidation of 3 international ZDNet web properties into a single, unified cloud-based platform, delivering the initiative on time and within budget.
• Improved operational stability through structured release management and enhanced monitoring practices.

Led engineering and IT teams responsible for delivery and operational support of Australian digital properties.

• Oversaw end-to-end project delivery from planning through deployment, improving release coordination and cross-team collaboration.
• Reduced datacentre operating costs by over 40% through an optimisation initiative introducing high-density, energy-efficient server infrastructure.
• Directed migration of legacy telephony systems and negotiated new service agreements, improving reliability while lowering operational spend.
• Strengthened operational processes to improve system uptime and production support responsiveness.

Championed technical design and architectural improvements for high-traffic web platforms supporting CNET's digital properties.

• Defined scalable application and infrastructure patterns to support growing traffic demands.
• Provided architectural guidance across multiple projects to improve maintainability and long-term platform stability.