DevOps, Linux & Cloud Engineer in Riyadh
I’m Muhammad Irfan Aslam, a Senior Systems & Cloud Engineer based in Riyadh. I help Saudi businesses run reliable Linux servers and cloud platforms, keep data in the Kingdom where it needs to be, and harden systems against the controls their auditors check.
Why work with a Riyadh-based engineer
- Same time zone (UTC+3) and the same Sunday–Thursday working week, so problems get fixed during your business hours.
- Experience with the Saudi side of infrastructure: in-Kingdom cloud regions, data residency questions and NCA-style security baselines.
- Over nine years across telecom, government and enterprise systems, plus 217+ independent projects for clients worldwide.
- You deal directly with the engineer doing the work, with a clear scope before anything starts.
What Saudi businesses usually need
Hosting in Saudi cloud regions
Moving websites, apps and databases to a provider with a live Saudi region — such as Google Cloud Dammam or Oracle Jeddah and Riyadh — and designing networks, backups and failover there.
Data residency for PDPL
Mapping where personal data is stored, replicated and backed up, and keeping it in-Kingdom where your legal team says it must stay under the Personal Data Protection Law.
NCA ECC technical hardening
Server and SSH hardening, least-privilege access, patching, logging, monitoring and tested backups — the technical evidence behind the NCA Essential Cybersecurity Controls (ECC-2:2024).
Business email that reaches the inbox
SPF, DKIM and DMARC for your Saudi domain, Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace migrations, and fixing mail that lands in spam.
Linux and server support
Ongoing management for VPS, Plesk and cloud servers: performance, security updates, SSL renewals and incident response.
DevOps and CI/CD
Automated build, test and deploy pipelines with Docker and GitHub Actions so your team can release safely and often.
Cloud regions inside Saudi Arabia
If personal or regulated data must stay in the Kingdom, the first step is choosing a provider with a region here. As of October 2026, Google Cloud (Dammam), Oracle Cloud (Jeddah and Riyadh), Alibaba Cloud (Riyadh, operated by SCCC) and Huawei Cloud (Riyadh) operate Saudi regions, and AWS and Microsoft Azure have announced Saudi regions for 2026. Not every service is available in every region, so check the specific database, Kubernetes or AI service you need before committing.
PDPL and NCA: where engineering fits
Saudi Arabia’s Personal Data Protection Law (PDPL), overseen by SDAIA, sets rules for collecting, storing and transferring personal data, including transfers outside the Kingdom. The National Cybersecurity Authority’s ECC is the national cybersecurity baseline — mandatory for government entities and critical national infrastructure, and widely used as a benchmark by private companies. Sector regulators such as SAMA can add their own requirements.
My role is the engineering: building infrastructure that meets the requirements your legal and compliance teams set, and producing the configurations, logs and documentation that show it. This page is general information, not legal advice.
Proof from real projects
- Email deliverability fix: SPF, DKIM and DMARC for a Postfix server
- AWS infrastructure architecture: EC2, S3, RDS Aurora and VPC
- Three years of ongoing Linux, MySQL, Plesk, WordPress and AWS support
- CI/CD pipeline with Docker and GitHub Actions
Frequently asked questions
Can our data stay inside Saudi Arabia?
Yes. Google Cloud (Dammam), Oracle Cloud (Jeddah and Riyadh), Alibaba Cloud (Riyadh, operated by SCCC) and Huawei Cloud (Riyadh) run regions in the Kingdom today, and AWS and Microsoft Azure have announced Saudi regions. I can design your hosting, databases and backups so personal data stays in-Kingdom. Whether you are legally required to keep it there depends on your sector and data, so confirm that with your legal or compliance team.
Do you help with NCA Essential Cybersecurity Controls?
I implement the technical side: server and SSH hardening, access control, patching, logging and monitoring, backups and disaster recovery, and documentation your auditors can review. I am an engineer, not an auditor, so formal assessments and sign-off stay with your compliance team or assessor.
Which cloud provider should a Saudi business choose?
It depends on where your data must live, which managed services you need, your budget and your existing skills. If in-Kingdom hosting is required, start with providers that have a live Saudi region and check the exact services available there, since regions do not always offer every service.
Do you work with companies outside Riyadh?
Yes. Most work is done remotely and securely, so I support businesses across Saudi Arabia, including Jeddah, Dammam and Khobar, as well as clients abroad.
What time zone and working days do you follow?
I am in Riyadh on Arabia Standard Time (UTC+3) and work to the Saudi Sunday to Thursday week, so we can talk during your business hours.
Based in Riyadh. Ready to help.
Tell me about your setup, where your data needs to live and what you need to achieve. I’ll reply with focused questions and a clear next step.
Discuss your project