Director of Engineering · Zopa Bank

Building teams
that deliver at
pace

Technology leader with 25+ years of experience across automotive, e-commerce, retail, media, and financial services. I empower engineering teams to succeed through servant leadership, coaching, and a relentless focus on delivery.

01

About

With over 25 years in the technology industry, I've built and led high-performing teams across a wide range of sectors. Having worked in multiple countries, I bring direct experience of the benefits of diverse teams and how they can effectively tackle any business challenge.

My approach centres on servant leadership, coaching, and mentoring. I foster environments that empower technology teams to deliver at a rapid pace while balancing technical quality with the need to ship features and drive growth for stakeholders and customers.

At Zopa Bank, I lead engineering across contact centre technology, AI platform architecture, and engineering operations. Previously, I spent over four years at Moonpig where I built the Manchester engineering hub, oversaw a complete technology re-platforming, supported a £1.2bn IPO, and led the migration of Greetz onto the new platform.

🏍 Volunteer Blood Biker — Greater Manchester Blood Bikes
25+
Years in Technology
6
Sectors Covered
IPO
Experience
2x
Re-platformings Led
02

Latest Writing

Articles

Why Re-platforming Is a Leadership Problem, Not a Technical One

After leading two major re-platforming initiatives, I've learned that the hardest challenges aren't in the code — they're in the conversations.

Notes

TIL: Amazon Connect CTR Segments Can Double-Count

A subtle gotcha with Contact Trace Records that caused our volume metrics to diverge from reality.

Talks

Navigating the Re-platforming Journey

Conference talk on overcoming legacy code challenges for scale-ups, based on lessons from two major re-platforming initiatives.

03

Expertise

AI Platform Architecture

Designing AI-powered platforms for regulated financial services, from multi-agent orchestration on Amazon Bedrock to intelligent customer servicing systems.

Contact Centre Technology

Deep expertise in Amazon Connect ecosystems, voice AI, workforce management integration, and real-time operational diagnostics tooling.

Platform Re-architecture

Led two major re-platforming initiatives, navigating legacy code challenges, microservices migration, and international platform consolidation at scale.

Scaling Engineering Teams

Building high-performing, diverse engineering teams across multiple locations and countries. Passionate about strong engineering culture, TDD, and pair programming.

Agile & Delivery

Agile transformation, development process improvement, and balancing technical quality with rapid delivery for stakeholders and customers.

E-commerce & Personalisation

Large-scale retail platforms at Sainsbury's (£1.3bn+ revenue), data-driven personalisation at Moonpig and Greetz, and SaaS e-commerce product development.

04

Experience

OCT 2023 — PRESENT
Director of Engineering
Zopa Bank · London
Leading contact centre technology, AI platform architecture, and engineering operations. Driving the Intelligent Servicing Platform and shaping the bank's AI strategy across fraud, collections, complaints, and customer service.
MAY 2023 — SEP 2023
VP of Engineering
Passion.io · Manchester
Vice President of Engineering, leading the technical organisation and engineering strategy.
OCT 2018 — MAY 2023
Head of Engineering → Director of Engineering
Moonpig & Greetz · London & Amsterdam
Built the Manchester engineering hub from scratch and oversaw a complete technology re-platforming. Supported the £1.2bn London Stock Exchange IPO and orchestrated the migration of Greetz onto the new platform. Also served as Engineering Director for Greetz (2020-2022).
AUG 2017 — SEP 2018
Head of Engineering
Nested.com · London
Engineering leadership at the property technology company, driving development practices and technical direction.
APR 2015 — AUG 2017
Software Engineering Manager → Senior SEM
Sainsbury's · London
Managed development of the e-commerce platform with over £1.3bn in revenue. Led agile transformation, scaled the team to 200+ developers, and drove migration to a cloud-based infrastructure platform.
MAY 2014 — APR 2015
CTO
Motilo.com · London
Drove technology strategy, managed the software development team, development processes, and infrastructure.
MAR 2009 — MAY 2014
Web Developer → Team Lead → Engineering Manager
IPC Media · London
Progressive career spanning over 5 years, from hands-on development through to managing multiple teams of developers. Drove development process improvements, prototyped emerging technologies, and re-architected major e-commerce offerings.
FEB 2004 — FEB 2009
Technical Team Lead
Actinic Software · Surrey
Led development of the SaaS e-commerce solution "Actinic Express" through a 2-year build and 3-year production cycle. Built subscription billing systems, multi-server deployment platforms, and lead-tracking tools.
2002 — 2004
Technical Manager & Head of IT
Sitetel B.V. (Netherlands) · Sniff Media (Spain) · Telnetspain (Spain)
International roles spanning VoIP infrastructure, CRM development, network deployment, and customer support systems across the Netherlands and Spain.
SEP 1996 — SEP 2002
IT Manager
Autologic Data Systems · Hampshire
First technology role. Built data management systems, managed Y2K infrastructure upgrades, and worked alongside Siemens and the DVLA to design and deploy automotive MOT data to 25,000 stations across the UK. Part of the team that achieved ISO 9000 compliance.
05

Speaking & Writing

Enterprise Agility Conference

Navigating the Re-platforming Journey

Overcoming legacy code challenges for scale-ups, drawing on lessons from leading two major re-platforming initiatives.

Tact Talks Podcast

Leadership, Remote Culture & Decision Fatigue

Discussing the challenges of remote working culture, joining new teams as a leader, and the importance of time blocking.

Oliver Bernard CTO Roundtable

Technology Leadership Discussion

Leading roundtable discussions on engineering leadership and technology strategy with senior technology leaders.

Publication

PHP 5 and MySQL E-commerce: From Novice to Professional

Published technical book on building e-commerce applications with PHP and MySQL.

06

Education & Skills

Education

BSc (Hons) Computing & IT and Business
The Open University
2011 — 2018
Certificate in Business Studies
The Open University
2011 — 2013
Certificate in Computing & IT
The Open University
2011

Core Skills

Architecture
Microservices · Cloud Infrastructure · AI Platforms
Methodology
Agile Methodologies · TDD · Pair Programming
Leadership
Servant Leadership · Coaching · Team Scaling
Exploring
Elixir · Phoenix · Go · Erlang
07

Contact

Let's connect

Whether you're looking to discuss engineering leadership, AI platform strategy, re-platforming challenges, or potential collaboration, I'd welcome the conversation.