Tor Upton | Operations Engineer

LINKEDIN GITHUB

Current State

StudioWaypoint

Role: Operations Engineer
Building: Linux infrastructure
Type: Self-directed studio

Building & shipping continuously

Based in: Gold Coast · Australia-wide & remote
Replies: Within 24 hours
Focus: Linux (RHEL) & infrastructure automation

Who Am I?

BASED IN: Gold Coast, AU
FOCUS: RHEL & Automation
OPEN TO: Ops · DevOps · Sysadmin

I'm Tor Upton. I build, automate, and secure Linux infrastructure.

Most of what I know comes from running my own homelab a single server (a Proxmox host) split into many separate virtual machines, divided into isolated networks (VLANs) behind their own firewall, running the kinds of services most people pay a provider to host. I break things on purpose and automate everything I can, so a problem never has to be solved twice.

My focus is Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) the version of Linux most large Australian businesses and government departments run so I'm working toward the official certifications to formally prove it. On the side I'm building Waypoint, a startup putting tap-to-share (NFC) digital business cards into Apple and Google Wallet, backed by a Postgres database.

I'm ready to bring this to an infrastructure team and contribute from day one.

Path into Infrastructure

A deliberate move from independent software development into systems and infrastructure via applying a builder's delivery mindset to how systems are provisioned, secured and kept running.

2022

2022 – 2025

Independent Software Development

Designed, built and shipped solo software projects end to end from intial concept and design through implementation, debugging. Self-taught the full delivery lifecycle and the disciplined, ship-it mindset that now underpins my infrastructure work.

2026

2026 — PRESENT

Pivot to Operations & Infrastructure

Deliberately specialised into Linux operations. Built and operate a production-standard homelab and automation with Ansible, container orchestration, and monitoring with an emphasis on the repeatable, documented process that modern ops teams run on.

2026

2026 — PRESENT

Waypoint Lab Environment

Designed and maintain Waypoint, a self-built lab where I deploy, secure and stress-test infrastructure end to end, learning how production systems behave under load, failure and recovery.

IN PROGRESS

Formalising the Knowledge

Working toward recognised industry certifications to validate hands-on experience against established standards via starting with the Red Hat ladder (RHCSA now, RHCE as the goal) alongside cloud platforms.

Security Posture & Compliance

ELIGIBILITY

CITIZENSHIP: Australian Citizen
CLEARANCE: Eligible for Baseline / NV1
LOCATION: Gold Coast, QLD
OPEN TO: Brisbane · Canberra · Remote

FRAMEWORKS

ACSC Essential Eight | the government's 8 baseline security measures
ISM | Information Security Manual
PSPF | Protective Security Policy Framework
ITIL v4 | IT service management best practice

Full résumé and contact details are sent to your email on request — not published here.

Essential Eight Alignment

The Essential Eight is the Australian Government's baseline set of eight security measures. I run my homelab against them as a practical exercise and test each measure below is something I've set up and tested in my own environment to show the controls I work to. It's a personal lab demonstration, not an official, accredited security assessment.

Application Control

[ HANDS-ON ]

Repo-based allow-listing with SELinux in enforcing mode; evaluating fapolicyd.

Patch Applications

[ HANDS-ON ]

Automated package updates orchestrated with Ansible and dnf-automatic.

Patch Operating Systems

[ HANDS-ON ]

Scheduled kernel and OS updates, staged in the lab before rollout.

Restrict Admin Privileges

[ HANDS-ON ]

Least-privilege sudo, separate admin accounts, no shared root login.

Multi-Factor Authentication

[ HANDS-ON ]

MFA on remote access and the management plane (SSH keys + TOTP).

User Application Hardening

[ HANDS-ON ]

Service and browser hardening against CIS-guided baselines; unused features disabled.

Regular Backups

[ HANDS-ON ]

Automated backups with routinely tested restores and offsite copies.

Restrict Office Macros

[ WORKING KNOWLEDGE ]

Not applicable to Linux workloads; aware of the control for Windows fleets.

Relevant Work

Centralised Identity Dashboard

RHEL 10

AWS EC2/EBS

Bash

Centralised identity and access management on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10, running on AWS EC2 with EBS-backed storage and provisioned end-to-end through Bash scripting.

view source & playbooks

User Directory Portal

RHEL 10

Azure

Python

A self-service user directory portal on RHEL 10, deployed to Azure with a Python service layer handling directory lookups and account management.

view source & playbooks

Waypoint

Postgres

Apple Wallet

Google Wallet

NFC

A startup building NFC-enabled digital business cards. A single tap provisions a contact pass straight into Apple Wallet or Google Wallet, backed by a Postgres data layer with authenticated profile management.