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Sergii Gnidenko
Kyiv, Ukraine | LinkedIn: [open contact info](look above in the "contact info" section) | [open contact info](look above in the "contact info" section) | [open contact info](look above in the "contact info" section)
PROFESSIONAL PROFILE
IT leader combining deep hands-on infrastructure engineering expertise with practical experience in people leadership and IT service management. Experienced in large and globally distributed organizations with 30,000+ employees, including centralized management of approximately 15,000 Windows servers and 8,000 workstations across North America, EMEA and APAC. Strong expertise in Microsoft infrastructure, endpoint and identity platforms, datacenter and cloud transformation, automation, monitoring, cybersecurity, ITSM/CMDB, business continuity and infrastructure cost optimization. Management experience includes leading an infrastructure organization of 20 specialists across 3 teams, a permanent 5-person IT operations team, and international cross-functional project teams of 5-10 members. I combine a business-oriented approach with hands-on technical involvement, translating business requirements into pragmatic, supportable infrastructure solutions while building clear processes, accountability and strong teams.
CORE EXPERTISE
• Leadership & management: team leadership, development and succession planning, organizational design, FTE/workload planning, KPI/SLA management, budgeting, vendor and contract management, stakeholder management.
• Infrastructure engineering: Windows Server, Active Directory / Entra ID, DNS, DHCP, Group Policy, Exchange, Microsoft 365, Intune, SCCM/MECM, SCOM, PowerShell, Hyper-V, file services, backup and Disaster Recovery.
• Cloud, networking & security: datacenter-to-cloud migration, Fortinet/VPN, ACI, MFA, Conditional Access, MAM/MDM, Microsoft Defender, network segmentation, infrastructure security audits, ISO 27001 alignment.
• Transformation & operations: infrastructure architecture, automation, standardization, ITSM, ServiceNow/Jira Service Management, CMDB, service catalog, monitoring, Power BI, Business Continuity, RTO/RPO and cost optimization.
• Business domains: Sales, HR, Finance, Logistics, IT, FMCG, Telecom, WMS.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Head of IT Infrastructure and Service Desk | Gas Supply Company Naftogaz Ukraine
Kyiv, Ukraine | December 2025 - Present | Company size: 400 employees, Ukraine-only operations
Lead a team of 4 internal and outsourced IT professionals responsible for infrastructure and workplace services across the Kyiv headquarters and the call center/back office in Kropyvnytskyi. Accountable for infrastructure operations, Service Desk, contracts, policies and operational procedures.
• Initiated an end-to-end standardization of IT infrastructure and workplace services, starting with a comprehensive assessment of the existing infrastructure, services and operational processes to establish clear service scope, current state, budget requirements and the foundation for the future IT strategy.
• Standardized endpoint management by joining the entire workstation estate to the corporate domain and onboarding devices to centralized management through SCCM and Intune.
• Standardized the corporate software environment and eliminated practices inconsistent with information-security requirements to reduce cybersecurity exposure.
• Modernized secure remote access by migrating to FortiGate VPN integrated with Entra ID and MFA.
• Designed and implemented segmented Wi-Fi infrastructure with separate secure corporate and guest networks.
• Refactored the Service Desk portal and optimized IT asset accounting and management in SAP.
• Built an internal Intranet portal consolidating cross-functional corporate information, improving information accessibility and enabling employees to work more independently on cross-functional projects and operational tasks.
• Established structured IT knowledge bases for both IT specialists and internal end users.

Head of IT Infrastructure and Service Desk | Ukroboronservice, miltech
Kyiv, Ukraine | September 2024 - November 2025 | Company size: 600 employees, Ukraine-only operations
Managed core infrastructure services and Service Desk, combining department leadership with hands-on infrastructure architecture and operational improvement.
• Responsible for people management, succession planning, budgeting, infrastructure and process architecture, contracts, audit/compliance, FTE planning and Service Desk operations.
• Managed datacenter/application monitoring, internal network services, AD/Entra ID, DNS, DHCP, Exchange, Intune, Microsoft 365, Conditional Access, file sharing, collaboration and IaaS services.
• Improved internal IT customer experience by refactoring the Jira Service Management portal and service catalog and strengthening team SLAs and KPI management.
• Improved collaboration and remote work through deeper adoption of Teams, OneDrive and SharePoint Online; migrated company workstations from Windows 10 to Windows 11.
• Increased the Microsoft Defender security score to 92% through Conditional Access, MAM/MDM, Defender for Endpoint and security audits of AD/Entra ID, network and IT assets.
• Improved business continuity and infrastructure economics through datacenter-to-cloud migration, implementation of backup policies/procedures and optimization of application resource consumption.
• Aligned IT controls with ISO 27001 and Ukrainian critical-infrastructure requirements; established secure remote access using Fortinet, Entra ID and MFA.
Head of IT Core Services | Kyivstar GSM
Kyiv, Ukraine | September 2020 - March 2023 | Company size: 4,000 employees, Ukraine-only operations
Managed the infrastructure services organization of Ukraine's largest telecom operator: 20 specialists across 3 teams.
• Led people management, succession planning, budgeting, architecture, contracts, audit/compliance and FTE planning for core infrastructure services.
• Owned datacenter/application monitoring, internal network services, identity, messaging and collaboration platforms: AD/AAD, DNS, DHCP, Exchange, Intune, Microsoft 365 and file services.
• Identified and decommissioned/migrated technical debt without service interruption, reducing TCO and operational support effort.
• Improved security through role-based access and automated access provisioning; implemented the transition toward application-centric networking and network segmentation.
• Refactored file services and CMDB architecture, improving access automation, retention, backup, asset management and monitoring.
• Introduced Power BI for infrastructure visibility and forecasting; improved infrastructure availability and internal customer/management satisfaction.
• Led organizational restructuring and reduced outsourced service costs by transferring appropriate activities to internal teams, delivering USD 300,000 in savings.
• Refactored the department structure by introducing a seniority matrix, skills/objective mapping, role profiles and personal development plans.
Global IT - Core Services / Infrastructure Automation | Solera (Audatex)
Kyiv, Ukraine | March 2018 - September 2020 | Company size: 8,000 employees; global-function role
Joined Global IT to reduce operational costs and standardize infrastructure management following rapid growth through the acquisition of 20 companies across North America, EMEA and APAC.
• Designed and implemented centralized management and monitoring for approximately 15,000 Windows servers and 8,000 workstations in a global multi-domain environment; the highly automated platform was supported by a two-person team.
• Designed and established the global SCCM/CAS architecture for centralized Windows management, application deployment, configuration control and reporting.
• Implemented zero-touch monthly patch management for servers and workstations and automated routine engineering tasks using SCCM and Microsoft Orchestrator.
• Built global SCEP/Windows Defender services and service-specific security policies; implemented corporate SCOM monitoring and automated alerting.
• Established backup strategy, RTO/RPO and Disaster Recovery approach; maintained documentation and operational procedures.
• Created centralized reporting and Power BI dashboards for daily security compliance and global Windows-environment visibility; supported CMDB/ServiceNow.
• Supported transformation toward service-oriented IT and conducted technical discovery, current-state assessment and target-state architecture for M&A integration.
Deputy Head of IT Department | JTI (Japan Tobacco International)
Kyiv, Ukraine | October 2013 - August 2018 | Company size: 800 employees in Ukraine; local and regional responsibilities
Managed IT infrastructure and business-process optimization in Ukraine: 8 regional offices and 13 satellite offices within globally distributed service-delivery teams.
• Managed server, end-user and office infrastructure, virtual infrastructure, vendors/contracts, policies, backup, Business Continuity and information-security strategy.
• Led annual strategic CAPEX/OPEX budgeting with a three-year forecast, IT strategy planning, ITSM/CMDB standardization, global projects and proof-of-concept initiatives.
• Managed a permanent 5-person IT operations team and led international cross-functional project teams of 5-10 members across infrastructure, finance, applications, network, marketing and third-party suppliers.
• Built an IT budgeting and asset-management platform and standardized asset lifecycle/business logic with integration across finance, organizational data, AD and SAP.
• Developed and tested a Business Continuity / Disaster Recovery plan targeting restoration of critical processes by the next business day.
• Delivered infrastructure and business projects including regional datacenter server replacement, fire-suppression implementation, print optimization/UniFlow, electronic document workflow and tax-reporting system integration.
• Reduced corporate IT hardware spending by 70% and outsourced IT services spending by 50%, while improving the IT operations customer satisfaction index.
Technical Support & Infrastructure Analyst | JTI (Japan Tobacco International)
Kyiv, Ukraine | February 2011 - October 2013
• Managed Incident, Problem and Change Management through ServiceNow; adapted global IT standards and automated routine tasks with PowerShell.
• Administered and supported head-office and regional infrastructure (~900 Windows computers, servers, printers and networks), field users and top management; supported office relocations and cross-functional projects.
Service Desk Specialist | URS (TM Beeline, Vimpelcom Group)
Kyiv, Ukraine | August 2010 - February 2011
• Provided L2 workplace support for ~900 Windows XP computers, SCCM-based remote administration, standard OS image engineering, security/software audits, RFC initiation, user onboarding and newcomer mentoring.
System Administrator | UACRR
Kyiv, Ukraine | September 2008 - August 2010
• Administered ~100 Windows workstations and Windows Server infrastructure including AD, DNS, DHCP and Group Policy; provided network administration, L2/L3 troubleshooting and project support.
EDUCATION
National Aviation University, 2005-2010 | Master's degree with honors, Telecommunications and Information Security
SELECTED PROFESSIONAL TRAINING
• Programming in C# (Microsoft 20483)
• Implementation of Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions (Microsoft 20533C)
• Planning, Deploying and Managing Microsoft SCCM 2007 (6451)
• Administering Windows Server 2012 (20411D)
• Server Virtualization with Windows Server Hyper-V and System Center (20409B)
• Project Management (Kepner-Tregoe)
• Manager as Developer (people management)
• Leadership in a Period of Change (people management)
LANGUAGES
Ukrainian - Native/bilingual | English - Advanced | Russian - Native/bilingual | Bulgarian - Elementary