Network & Security — Doha, Qatar

Ahmed
Shaheen

Solutions Architect / Network & Security Technical Lead

20+ years in technology and networking — designing, building, and hardening full IP infrastructures for one of the region's largest banking groups — from data-center routing to PCI‑DSS segmentation on-prem and in the cloud.

linkedin.com/in/aashaheen res.shaheen@gmail.com Download résumé

20+

Years in Technology & Networking

12

Countries Led (Data Centers)

100%

DR Simulation Success Rate

8

Vendor Certifications

01

Profile

Who I am

A qualified and dynamic network & security professional with an accomplished record leading the design, implementation, and troubleshooting of full IP network infrastructures — mainly in banking. Comfortable reviewing an RFP one hour and tracing a BGP flap the next; I take the risk, make the call, and stay until the network is stable. Born and raised in the Gulf, I've spent my entire life and career in the region — deep, first-hand fluency in how business gets done here.

Strategic thinker Risk & decision taker Business savvy Analytical Entrepreneurial Strong communicator
02

Specialties

Hands‑on stack

Firewalls & Security

Palo Alto + Panorama FortiGate Cisco ASA Check Point Juniper SRX / SSG Bluecoat Proxy‑SG

Routing & Switching

Cisco Data Center R&S Cisco ACI Arista EOS MPLS EIGRP OSPF BGP

Load Balancing & NAC

F5 LTM / GTM / ASM A10 Networks Pulse Secure NAC Cisco ISE

SD‑WAN & Modern Networking

SD‑WAN Software‑Defined Networking (SDN) VMware NSX Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA)

Monitoring & Diagnostics

HP NNMi Nagios SolarWinds Orion Wireshark

SIEM & Threat Detection

Splunk IBM QRadar IDS/IPS (Snort / Suricata) SOC Operations

Cloud & Virtualization

AWS Microsoft Azure VMware vSphere Hybrid Cloud Networking

Automation & Scripting

Linux Python Bash Ansible Terraform REST APIs

Compliance & Governance

PCI‑DSS Design & Segmentation ISO 27001 NIST CSF ITIL v4 On‑prem + Cloud
03

Experience

Since 2004

Tier‑1 Regional Banking Group — Doha, Qatar

Feb 2011 – Present

Senior Manager, Network Administration

  • Lead local and international network infrastructure across 20+ branches and multiple data centers since 2011, including RFPs, ISP/partner SLAs, audit remediation, and technical oversight of IT coordinators across international branches.
  • Lead complex projects spanning planning, design, configuration, monitoring, troubleshooting, and securing the Group's infrastructure — F5 LTM/GTM, Palo Alto + Panorama, Pulse Secure NAC, and legacy Juniper/Bluecoat/Cisco ACE platforms.
  • 15+ years designing, securing, and troubleshooting enterprise IP networks using Cisco, Juniper, Palo Alto, F5 (LTM/GTM/ASM), and Bluecoat technologies in banking environments.
  • Manage strategic vendor relationships and cross-functional technical teams spanning network, security, and infrastructure disciplines across Qatar and international branches.

Selected achievements

  • Designed and deployed PCI‑DSS segmentation across on‑prem and cloud layers
  • Led the Group's main data-center migration for internet infrastructure
  • Implemented network and security infrastructure for a new regional subsidiary (KSA)
  • Directed full data center builds and migrations, including a greenfield rollout (Iraq) and integrating an acquired regional bank's network into the Group
  • Designed and deployed NAC (Pulse Secure), F5 load balancing/GTM, and Palo Alto firewall/Panorama architectures across tiered environments
  • Delivered 100% successful disaster recovery simulations across local and offshore data centers, safeguarding continuity for critical banking systems

Commercial Bank International (CBI) — Dubai, UAE

Oct 2007 – Jan 2011

Network Engineer — promoted from IT Security Administrator

  • Set and delivered against project timelines, planning and controlling schedules while liaising with staff, suppliers, and contractors.
  • Provided network and security support to core bank operations.

Ingram Micro — Dubai, UAE

Dec 2004 – Nov 2007

Sales, Technical Support & Web/Training Administrator

  • Held various posts across sales, customer service, technical support, and web/training administration — the foundation for the move into network and security engineering.
04

Certifications

Vendor accredited
CERTPalo Alto Accredited Configuration Engineer (ACE7)
CERTBluecoat Certified Proxy Administrator
CERTJuniper Networks Certified Internet Associate (JNCIA‑JUNOS)
CERTCisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP)
CERTCisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA)
CERTCCNA Security
CERTCisco Firewall Security Specialist
CERTMicrosoft Certified Professional (MCSE)

Additional training

  • Management Development Program for talents
  • HP Network Node Manager
  • TippingPoint, NetContinuum, NetScreen & Juniper SRX firewall training
  • Administering BIG‑IP LTM, ASM
  • ITIL Foundation
05

Education

2004

Bachelor of Computer Science and Systems Information — Business Administration

King Marute Academy, Alexandria, Egypt

06

Awards

Recognition
  • GROUPBest Performance for Cybersecurity Projects — 2019
  • GROUPEmployee of the Month, 4 times
  • GROUPExcellent Annual Appraisal, 8 consecutive years
  • CBIEmployee of the Year — 2009
  • CBIC3 Cards Customer Appreciation Award, for project implementation