Azure Heroes User Group

Hi, I’m Maik van der Gaag – a technology leader, community builder, and passionate advocate for the Microsoft Cloud. I’m currently the Head of Technology - Microsoft @ Databalance, where I help organizations succeed with modern cloud adoption and digital transformation. With more than 20 years of experience in architecture, software development, and DevOps, I specialize in bridging strategy with hands-on technology. Over the years, I’ve been fortunate to work on a wide range of projects, from designing secure and scalable Azure environments to implementing Infrastructure as Code with Bicep and advancing DevOps practices.

I’m a technology leader and hands-on engineer with 16+ years of experience designing, building, and operating data and cloud platforms at scale. My expertise spans SQL Server, Azure Data Factory, Microsoft Fabric, cloud architecture, platform engineering, and mission-critical environments. I focus on defining technical direction, simplifying complexity, and turning challenging problems into reliable, scalable solutions. As founder of Azure Heroes, I bring people together around Microsoft Azure through events, speaking, and community-driven knowledge sharing.

As a Mission Critical Engineer at Schuberg Philis I design, build, and manage mission-critical solutions with a strong focus on Azure technologies. My expertise spans solution architecture, infrastructure as code, security, networking and multiple automation tools and languages like Bicep and Terraform enabling me to deliver robust and efficient automation first cloud-based infrastructures. In addition to my technical contributions I help organize Azure community events as part of Azure Heroes.

I’m a cloud security professional specializing in Microsoft Azure and Entra ID security research. With years of experience in offensive security, I focus on identifying privilege escalation paths, misconfigured identity controls, and attack vectors in cloud environments. My work centers on the intersection of identity security and cloud infrastructure, helping organizations understand their real-world attack surface before adversaries do.