United Kingdom
An experienced technology professional with a proven track record of delivering successful technology led business transformation. 20+ years of building and leading high performing cross functional teams across business critical domains. Full hands on software life cycle experience through a number of technical software development roles. Driven and loyal with a proactive approach, who adapts and learns quickly whilst handling pressure. A self motivated team player with a can do attitude and an excellent understanding of latest technologies in both software and hardware. Ability to continuously evaluate and seek improvement upon best practice and communicate learning points. Experience in managing people on both a project and line management level. Able to communicate at all levels with an ability to discuss complex solutions with a non-technical audience as well as in depth technical knowledge allowing discussion and understanding at a granular level.
Hired to lead a redesign of the entire Technology organisation and current working practices to increase efficiency, streamline decision making and deliver more value to the business. Matured ways of working, improved visibility and clarified roles and responsibilities to enable OVO to be more agile in aligning its capacity to its goals. Established new team structures that empowered teams, reduced dependencies and ensured clear ownership of all systems and services. Shaped OVO's overall technology and architectural strategy aligned to OVO's vision and strategic objectives. Responsible for the overall technology portfolio encompassing 900 technologists with an overall budget of £200m. Successfully delivered the transition of retail customers and technology from SSE plc following acquisition.
Overall accountability for News UK’s Product and Technology group comprising of around 550 team members with an annual budget in excess of £80 million Globally distributed team with key locations in the UK, India, Bulgaria and the US Responsible for all aspects of Technology leadership from strategy through to operations
Overall responsibility for News' Technology Platforms which support both consumers and internal business users Leading a cross functional team of over 230 technology professionals across three locations. Defined and executed against a technology transformation strategy aligned to business outcomes. Large scale software development teams Leading strategy through to day to day operations ~£26m annually of operating and investment budget Full end to end ownership and responsibility across a number of business critical domains including digital and print content creation, management and distribution; consumer products, data warehousing, access/identity management, ecommerce and subscriptions, monetisation and sales, marketing and customer services.
Overall governance responsibility for the Technology portfolio – £80m opex and capex budget Managed the Delivery function consisting of Project/Programme Managers and Business Analysts Designed the organisational structure and operating model for the Technology team approx. 500 people Established and ran the Business operations team consisting of PMO, procurement and vendor mgt Identified, established and led two new locations for software development teams now in excess of 300 people
Leading a multi-disciplinary team of ~65 to deliver the FT's next generation IAM, subscription and billing platforms. Business transformation programme with multi-million pound budget responsibility. Operational responsibility for legacy and future platforms through transition.
Leading a cross-functional software delivery team of 21, including design, business analysis, software engineering and QA disciplines Responsible for ensuring a smooth predictable delivery across the software lifecycle from requirements gathering through to live release and support using agile methodologies. Ensuring best practice approaches are adopted and maintained in both the delivery and engineering processes. Responsible for the architecture, enhancement and maintenance of a business critical enterprise software solution with a global user base of 12,000 users. Built on Sharepoint 2010 with bespoke C# .net development. All project management and line management responsibilities undertaken Reporting into the Programme director as part of a £10 million initiative for BBC Journalism.
Leading the relocation of a Future Media team of 165 from London and Manchester to new premises in Salford – MediaCityUK Ensuring business continuity during the transition, mitigating risks and resolving issues Budget responsibility for transition funds Leading large scale recruitment across the numerous digital product teams moving north. Ensuring that technology allows moving teams to perform at full efficiency Creation and management of ‘people plans’ and migration strategies as appropriate. Ensuring plans are consistent with headcount forecasts, migration plans and budgets for the area. Stakeholder management within FM&T and in the editorial content groups Working with BBC Academy and line managers for identification of key training and development needs of new joiners. Working with the General Manager, to build a high performance product management driven organisation which best aligns strategy, structure, process and skills.
Successful delivery of all projects within the FM&T Journalism group (circa 160 people, £14 million budget) Delivered the BBC’s digital ambitions for 2010 World Cup, General Election, BBC Weather relaunch, BBC News refresh and Democracy Live. Developed and implemented strategies to deliver a complex product portfolio in a resource constrained environment Led a 14 strong team of Agile Project Managers and Senior Project Managers. Coached and mentored team members in Scrum, Kanban and assisted with their professional development by carrying out performance reviews, annual appraisals and planning on the job learning. Kept up to date with emerging project management methodologies with a focus on continual improvement. Created and ensured project standards (documentation, risk/dependency management, budget tracking, reporting, and governance) were maintained and consistent across the department and met the needs of FM&T Journalism, the editorial teams and the wider FM&T group. Worked strategically with the Head of Product Management to understand the requirements for future projects, maximising opportunities to develop world class products and services. Ensured that risks and dependencies across the FM&T Journalism portfolio were managed effectively, and were appropriately escalated to senior management.