London, England, United Kingdom
My role has been to develop global high-performance engineering teams. I am a driven manager and leader, ensuring teams deliver the strongest possible solutions within budget and on time. I define clear structure and direction, as well as having an interest in other people’s views and ideas that aid continual improvements. I have embraced Smart Working changes to empower teams to improve, use time more effectively, as well as develop increased resilience and trust. The solutions my teams provide are driven from business requirements, delivering well-structured, approved and considered designs. This includes finding ways to improve new and incumbent infrastructure solutions, that where possible, are automated, sustainable and provide value. My key leadership strengths include thinking beyond my scope of responsibility, people leadership, thought leadership, adapting to new organisational structures quickly, driving change and managing across service areas, with traits such as, adaptability, curiosity, empathy, enthusiasm and conviction. Beyond leadership and management I have broad technical experience and understanding, especially in the security realm, infrastructure, cloud and development languages, Through my career, in each role I have taken on, I have always been promoted to higher positions. I have gained extensive knowledge of IT across the Banking and Insurance sectors, including on how to deliver solutions in rapid and collaborative manner, that includes, at a minimum, the key stakeholders. Since September 2017 I have been leading the Global Engineering Services Team at AXA XL. The organisation has gone through major change with Integration and Security Remediation, as well as Currency, Workplace and ‘Move to the Cloud’ programmes. I have been focused on building a holistic Engineering function that provides all aspects of Engineering excellence, including high performance teams, finding talented SMEs, defining process, structure, release processes, high quality documentation libraries, mentoring, governance and general direction I have experience in security architecture, platform security, infrastructure, development, quality assurance, stakeholder management, governance (executive and technical) and L3/L4 support management, working within ITIL, change management etc, that has allowed me to build up a holistic understanding of how IT services function.
Responsibilities • Building and evolving the Global Engineering Services Team • Management areas include- Line manager, hiring manager, managing engineering budget, managing engineering resource budget within a $40m programme budget • People and Team development – High-Performance Teams, P&D, mentoring, defining team goals, smart working processes and defining IR35 models and processes for contractors • Contracts, SoWs, POs, Invoicing, 3rd party engagements etc • Worked directly with C-Level, Head of Procurement, CTO, DPO, Head of Operations etc • Managed the design and implementation of Engineering solutions, added a front door to the book of work, as well as defining and evolving processes including a ToM • Ensuring approved high-quality designs that are fit for purpose, across a number of programmes.
Managing Engineering Service areas including- Security (on-Prem and Cloud), Directory (AD/AAD, EDS etc), Identity (SSO, ADFS PUAM/PIM etc), Global Networks (SD-WAN, Integration, business solutions, etc), Video and Voice (MS-Teams, Poly etc), EUC, SCCM/Intune, builds, Citrix Desktops etc)
Managing Engineering and Design of Infrastructure Services including: - Networks - Identity and Directory Services - Security Services - Voice Services - Video Services
Infrastructure Security Engineering - Designed CyberArk Solution taking legacy implementations and providing the design for the new solution - Designed the new Two tier PKI solution, CP & CPS as well as creating the Certificate Templates - Wrote Security Standards including, File System Security Standard, Certificate Standards, SharePoint Security Standards etc - Wrote review of Auditing Solutions and provided rationale for direction for te product selection - Wrote paper on Password Complexity, and resets and provided the PoC for the new solution
Providing architectural HLD, LLD working with a Sabsa methodology
Responsibilities • Managed Infrastructure, Security, Development, Engineering, L3 Support and QA Teams (18 Headcount, inc 3 Team Leaders) • Oversaw platform security, Service Delivery, Release, Change Management. ITIL Expert i.e. Foundation + 4 Capability exams + MALC exam + Expert Accreditation). • Led the bank’s Security Advisory Board and acted as the advisor to security managers including CISO’s globally. Distinction for Masters Degree in IS/IT Security + CISSP. • Defined platform security, including baselines, and provided architectural designs for solutions. • Managed the provision of infrastructure tools, through both outsourced and in-house development. Qualifications and experience in development languages. • Project management of multiple projects simultaneously. Prince2 Practitioner Key Achievements • Developed high performance teams through mentoring, collaboration, and clear direction • Improved service design efficiency successfully moving from a Waterfall methodology to an Agile methodology • Developed Global business and IT relationships to provide Stakeholder input into Continued Service Improvements
Responsibilities • Managed Infrastructure, SCCM 2003 development and third level support teams (26 Headcount, inc 3 Team Leaders) • Chaired bank’s global change management board and led incident and problem management globally for the platform. • Acted as advisor to security managers globally including chairing monthly global consistency meetings. • Provided architectural designs through to product release for platform and components. • Delivered tools for Windows XP, Active Directory and the integrated infrastructure. Key Achievements • Managed teams in Paris and London, improving communication and collaborative team working • Improved the processes used within the Infrastructure teams through the development lifecycle • Successfully implemented a new global Change Management process, replacing a failing process
Responsibilities • Senior IT security architect specialising in Microsoft solutions and managed all security aspects of key migration from NT environment to Win2K / Win2K3 Active Directory. • Wrote all Windows (including Active Directory) security standards, guidelines and procedures for use globally. • Provided security guidance for business, architecture, production and security. • Implemented many new technologies that aided the accuracy, efficiency and profile of the IT security departments globally, including architectural solutions, distributed processing, Active Directory design logic, and thin client to desktop. • Achieved global security consistency between AMER, APAC, EURO, and MEAA through conferences. • Conducted full assessment of bank’s security standards and introduced effective security policies. Key Achievements • Created a global Security Standards and Operations review board including Asia Pacific and the Americas to ensure the Security Standards and Policies were consistently applied globally taking in local requirements including legislation • Introduced technologies and systems, to mitigate identified risk, that include Full Disk encryption, End Point Security, and Active Directory security auditing.
• Led the forensic team, using forensic tools, such as Encase, to look for evidence in a controlled environment. • Provided security analysis, leading cases that resulted in successful prosecutions. • Developed ability to analyse and understand complex systems within short timeframes.