Thulani Shabalala

I am an ICT professional with 21 years of experience in South African public higher education, including nine years at senior operational level as Systems Administrator at the Central University of Technology. I lead IT infrastructure, governance and project delivery, including a six domain controller upgrade and the migration of roughly 23,000 licensed users from Exchange 2010 to Exchange Online and SharePoint Online. I also serve as a voting member of a formal Technical Change Advisory Committee, evaluating institutional changes against risk, compliance and readiness before approval. Two things I am proud of: leading that infrastructure and migration work through to completion while keeping services running for staff and students throughout, and completing an MBA with a dissertation examining change management in IT transformation at a higher education institution, while working full time. I have also mentored student assistants who have gone on to permanent employment, and I regularly support colleagues and classmates with academic research. I am looking for a senior remote role in IT management, project management or change management, where I can apply the same discipline I have built in infrastructure and governance to a new environment. I am comfortable working async-first and have handled complex technical projects independently, coordinating vendors and stakeholders through my institutional work. I am also open to roles in academic administration, lecturing or consulting, drawing on my postgraduate research background alongside my ICT experience.