Open to remote part-time cloud security roles · from Jan 2027

Richard Montalvo

Cloud Security Engineer · AWS · DevSecOps

AWS Certified Solutions Architect and Erasmus Mundus MSc scholar with 2+ years of hands-on AWS production experience. I design, secure, and automate serverless cloud infrastructure — and this CV is live proof: everything on this page runs on a security-hardened AWS stack I built, monitored in real time in the telemetry panel below.

AWS Solutions Architect – Associate 2026 AWS Cloud Practitioner 2025 Cisco CCNA 2025 Erasmus Mundus Scholar
🇪🇸 Spanish Native 🇬🇧 English C2 🇫🇷 French B2 🇹🇷 Turkish A2
2+ yrs
AWS production experience
5
certifications — AWS · Cisco · Harvard
13
automated tests gating every deploy
0
static credentials in CI/CD — OIDC only
// about

Profile

I'm a cloud security professional pursuing the Erasmus Mundus MSc in Applied Cybersecurity (CyberMACS — Kadir Has University, SRH University Germany, UKIM North Macedonia), selected among the top 15 applicants for the EU's prestigious Erasmus Mundus scholarship.

I bring 2+ years of hands-on AWS production experience managing live infrastructure, a strong Python automation background, and growing expertise in cloud security architecture — practical work with AWS security services (IAM, CloudTrail, CloudWatch, Security Hub, GuardDuty), infrastructure as code, and security scanning, plus foundational knowledge of GDPR and NIST CSF.

I'm also deeply invested in AI workflows and agents — I build with LLMs daily and believe the future of cloud operations is automation. Having secured my cloud security internship, I'm eager to discuss what's next: remote part-time cloud security roles starting January 2027.

What I work with

  • Least-privilege IAM design & auditing
  • Serverless architecture on AWS
  • IaC with CloudFormation / SAM + Checkov scanning
  • CI/CD pipelines with OIDC — no static credentials
  • Python / boto3 automation & LLM integration
  • GDPR · NIST CSF · ISO 27001 foundations
// experience

Experience

IT Analyst Nov 2023 – May 2025
Elsystec S.A. — Quito, Ecuador
  • Secured and administered AWS cloud infrastructure (EC2, S3, Lambda, RDS, IAM, CloudTrail, CloudWatch), enforcing least-privilege IAM policies and automating compliance checks
  • Built Python automation pipelines integrating LLMs (Claude, GPT) to detect anomalous patterns in accounting and sales data, automating reporting and alert workflows
  • Managed on-premises and cloud infrastructure reliability (99%+ uptime), implementing automated backup and monitoring strategies aligned with ISO 27001 availability principles
  • Administered SAP Business One and Microsoft SQL Server, designing stored procedures and triggers for data-driven decision-making across business units
  • Led IT procurement and vendor management, delivering projects within budget and timeline
IT Assistant Apr 2023 – Sep 2023
CACPE Pastaza — Cooperative of Savings & Credits, Ecuador
  • Developed a cross-platform mobile authentication application (Flutter SDK) implementing secure credential flows, OTP-based password resets, and data protection principles
  • Automated network topology documentation using Python scripting, producing WAN/LAN infrastructure inventories supporting security baseline assessments
  • Deployed and hardened a Moodle LMS instance with access-controlled sub-domain configuration, enabling secure online education for 200+ customers
IT Intern Apr 2022 – Jul 2022
INGELPRO CIA LTDA — Quito, Ecuador
  • Diagnosed and resolved LAN/WAN connectivity issues; performed hardware maintenance improving lab performance
  • Developed a Python (PyQt) GUI application and a prototype Augmented Reality mobile app using Unity and Vuforia SDK
// projects

Featured Work

★ You're looking at it — this site is the project
AWS Cloud Security Resume Challenge Apr 2026 — in progress

A security-hardened, fully serverless platform on AWS — 100% infrastructure as code, continuously tested, security-scanned, and deployed by CI/CD. The live telemetry panel at the top of this page is served by this architecture.

  • Hardened delivery: S3 + CloudFront with Origin Access Control — the bucket is fully private (direct S3 access returns 403), HTTPS/TLS-only
  • Visitor analytics API: API Gateway → Lambda (Python / boto3) → DynamoDB, with unique-visitor deduplication via a 24-hour-TTL IP table — no permanent tracking
  • Live observability: a read-only metrics Lambda merges DynamoDB totals with CloudWatch GetMetricData to power the real-time dashboard in the hero
  • DevSecOps pipeline: GitHub Actions runs 13 pytest/moto tests and a Checkov IaC security scan (SARIF → GitHub Security tab), then auto-deploys — authenticated via OIDC with zero static AWS credentials
  • Least-privilege IAM throughout: per-function scoped roles; the CI deploy role holds IAM rights over only the stack's two named Lambda roles; the full audit is published as SECURITY.md
  • Audit trail: CloudFront access logs shipped to S3 with a 30-day lifecycle; S3 versioning + lifecycle declared as code
AWS SAM / CloudFormation S3 CloudFront + OAC API Gateway Lambda · Python 3.11 DynamoDB CloudWatch GitHub Actions + OIDC Checkov pytest + moto
AdviceGPT — LLM Web Application Oct – Nov 2023
  • Flask / LangChain web app with MySQL authentication, containerised via Docker
  • Implemented token-based session control and input validation as core security controls
// certifications

Certifications

AWS Certified Solutions Architect — Associate
Amazon Web Services · 2026
AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
Amazon Web Services · Apr 2025
Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA)
Cisco Systems · Aug 2025
Cybersecurity Essentials
Cisco · 2022
CS50 — Introduction to Computer Science
Harvard / edX · 2023
// education

Education

MSc Applied Cybersecurity — Erasmus Mundus Joint Degree (EMJM)
CyberMACS — Kadir Has University (TR) · SRH University (DE) · UKIM (MK)
Aug 2025 – Sep 2026

Full Erasmus Mundus scholarship (EU-funded) · Coursework: Network Security, Cryptography, ML for Security, Data Analysis, Penetration Testing

BSc Information Technology Engineering
Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador (PUCE) — Quito
Jan 2019 – Feb 2023

Full academic scholarship · Graduation grade: 92/100 · Thesis: Marketing mobile app "Fe y Alegría" — Flutter, Firestore, Firebase Auth, Scrum/GitLab

// skills

Technical Skills

Cloud Security
AWS Security Hub GuardDuty IAM (least-privilege, SCPs) CloudTrail AWS Config CloudWatch VPC Security Groups S3 Bucket Policies
IaC & DevSecOps
CloudFormation AWS SAM Checkov GitHub Actions CI/CD OIDC auth Git Docker
AWS Services
EC2 S3 Lambda RDS DynamoDB API Gateway CloudFront Route 53 SNS SQS
Python & Automation
Boto3 Pandas NumPy Flask FastAPI LangChain LLM Integration (Claude, GPT) Prompt Engineering
Frameworks & Standards
NIS2 GDPR ISO 27001 NIST CSF OWASP Top 10 SABSA
Networking & Other
CCNA TCP/IP DNS VPN WAN/LAN SQL Server SAP Business One Flutter / Dart JavaScript Time Series Analysis (ML)
// achievements

Honors & Involvement

Full Erasmus Mundus Scholarship
Competitive EU-funded grant covering all tuition, travel, and living expenses for the CyberMACS MSc
GameJam International Finalist — "Ansiedad y Control"
International finalist (Ecuador, Peru, Colombia) for a Unity game published on Google Play addressing anxiety and depression — Toulouse Institute, Peru 2021
AIESEC International Volunteer
5-week community-building exchange programme, Mendoza, Argentina (Jan–Mar 2022)
Full Academic Scholarship — PUCE
Awarded for academic excellence; graduated with a grade of 92/100