Summary
Overview
Work History
Skills
Certification
Timeline
Generic

Michael Layzell

Project Manager & Scrum Master
Leighton Buzzard

Summary

Experienced Project Manager with a proven track record of successfully managing IT projects from start to finish. Skilled in leading teams to deliver projects on time and within scope, resulting in improved operational efficiency. Proficient in project planning and risk management, ensuring smooth execution and stakeholder satisfaction.


Professional Scrum Master with expertise in Agile frameworks, emphasizing team collaboration and impactful results. Known for adaptability to evolving project requirements, proficiency in Agile methodologies, stakeholder engagement, and continuous improvement. Recognized for effective communication and leadership skills.

Overview

16
16
years of professional experience
4
4
Certifications

Work History

Scrum Master/Delivery Manager

Cadent Gas
Coventry
01.2023 - Current
  • Company Overview: Cadent Gas manages the main gas pipes that supply the North West, West Midlands, East Midlands, South Yorkshire, East of England, and North London, as well as the smaller pipes branching off from them that bring gas to your home or business. Cadent also manages the National Gas Emergency Service on behalf of the gas industry.
  • Delivered a new website platform, with a refreshed website.
  • Delivered a new SaaS map technology to improve functionality, performance, and security.
  • Managed an Agile team of 12
  • Managed product backlog effectively, prioritizing high-value items for faster completion.
  • Facilitated Scrum framework – sprint planning, backlog grooming, daily scrums, sprint reviews, and sprint retrospectives.
  • Collaborated with Product Owners to refine requirements and ensure alignment with business goals.
  • Coached teams in Agile practices and provided necessary training to create positive mindset to Agile methodologies.
  • Planned Agile best practices and encouraged team cohesion, overcoming impediments, and hurdles to productivity.

Senior Project Manager – Infrastructure

Wesleyan
Birmingham
01.2021 - 12.2022
  • Company Overview: Wesleyan is a finance mutual, specializing in providing financial advice on savings and investments, pensions and retirement, mortgages, and insurances to medical and teaching professionals.
  • Delivered multiple simultaneous IT projects while maintaining financial control, ensuring stakeholder involvement, and governance adherence, with budgets of up to £500k.
  • Worked with the data analysis team and the data warehouse to provide new and improved analytics to enable more focused targeting of promotions, leading to higher success rates.
  • Selection of Security Projects Delivered: Updated EndPoint (InTune), and managed BAU adoption into support. Changes to cheque software to allow the use of UCN cheque format for better security.
  • Selection of End User Projects Delivered: Rollout of 300 new laptops to financial advisors.
  • Selection of infrastructure projects delivered: upgrade of solar winds and improved ROI by increasing business utilization. Upgrade of network infrastructure, including head office Wi-Fi. SQL upgrades. Server operating system upgrades.
  • Maintained schedules to meet key milestones at every project phase.
  • Adapted quickly to unexpected challenges or obstacles encountered during project execution, devising creative solutions without compromising objectives.
  • Mentored junior project managers and team members to enhance their skills and career growth.

Senior Project Manager – Infrastructure

iPSL
06.2019 - 03.2020
  • Company Overview: IPSL is a banking sector business formed as a joint venture between Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, and Unisys.
  • Invited back for six months (extended) to project-manage infrastructure and security projects, and certificate replacement/renewal activities.
  • Delivered multiple simultaneous projects with varying budgets. Managed stakeholders of all levels, budgets, and governance.
  • Data analysis and modeling for Business Analytics, data importing, and implemented automated processes.
  • Worked closely with the PMO to generate new governance processes, which improved project control.
  • Selection of Security Projects Delivered: Implemented Password Manager Pro, SharePoint DLP through ForcePoint, removal of kiosk mode PCs, and implementation of a standardized solution, certificate solution replacement.
  • Selection of End User Projects Delivered: Document scanner firmware updates.
  • Selection of Infrastructure Projects Delivered: Implemented live Business Analytics data replication from read-only secondary servers into Power BI, migration to SharePoint Online, and decommissioning of SharePoint on-premise; implemented a new two-factor authentication solution.
  • Developed comprehensive project plans, identifying risks and mitigation strategies for timely completion.
  • Evaluated vendor proposals, selecting those that provided the best value for cost, quality, and timeliness.

Programme Manager – Infrastructure

Direct Line Group
11.2018 - 06.2019
  • Company Overview: Direct Line Group PLC is an insurance company formed by a divestment of the RBS insurance division, including the Direct Line, Churchill, and Green Flag subsidiaries.
  • Hired for an initial 3 months (extended) to manage a third-party team delivering core IT infrastructure projects.
  • Managed a third-party team of project managers, architects, and engineers to deliver multiple IT infrastructure projects as part of a £10 million program.
  • Maintained project focus and control via regular project status meetings, plan reviews, and RAID reviews.
  • Planned and implemented remediation activities to maintain the project time scales.
  • Delivered a complex set of work streams against end-of-life/support dates.
  • Infrastructure Projects Managed: Active Directory Upgrade 2008 to 2016, SQL Upgrade and Database Migration, Exchange Upgrade to Exchange Online, IPAM Implementation, IronPort (ESA) Replacement, OneDrive Implementation, Intune Adoption, Remote Access Upgrade.
  • Managed and motivated employees to be productive and engaged in work.

Project Manager – Infrastructure

iPSL
03.2017 - 11.2018
  • Company Overview: IPSL is a banking sector business formed as a joint venture between Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, and Unisys.
  • Hired for 6 months (extended) to project-manage numerous infrastructure and security projects, including server upgrades and migrations, process investigation and change, reviews and updates, and software refreshes.
  • Delivered multiple simultaneous projects with budgets varying between £10k and £1.8M, maintaining financial control and governance adherence.
  • Requirements elicitation and evaluation for projects and management through to delivery, with significant stakeholder and budgetary responsibility.
  • Responsible for onboarding new Project Managers, mentoring, and acting as an escalation point and initial decision-making authority.
  • Building business cases using POPIT and BAM analysis.
  • Selection of Security Projects Delivered: Adopted Active Directory password filter, strategic EUC hardening via USB access controls, created vulnerability scanning service using Nessus and Security Centre, and AirWatch to Intune MDM migration.
  • Selection of End User Projects Delivered: End user device upgrade - Windows 7 laptops upgraded to Windows 10. Windows phones updated from Win8 to Win10.
  • Selection of Infrastructure Projects Delivered: Migrated email system to Exchange Online (O365), 1,300 mailboxes, Sierra pre-production environment creation, SQL database upgrade and migration, CTRL-M upgrade, NetBackup upgrade, CRI backup and recovery process review, CONU supportability analysis and report, BYOD adoption.
  • Successfully managed multiple projects simultaneously by prioritizing tasks according to urgency, resource availability, and alignment with organizational goals.
  • Planned, designed, and scheduled phases for large projects.
  • Collaborated closely with senior management to align project objectives with strategic company initiatives, ensuring that efforts contributed to overall business growth.

Project Manager – Exchange Consolidation/Migration

Alere
08.2016 - 12.2016
  • Company Overview: Alere is a pharmaceutical and diagnostic company that handles confidential customer data and works with public sector customers.
  • Hired to project-manage the delivery of a single project to deliver Exchange consolidation and mailbox centralization across different European countries, sites, and business entities.
  • Exercised effective control to deliver the project under the budget of £700k, and ensure a ROI in under 3 years.
  • Delivered a migration and centralization of 20,000 mailboxes from over 40 independent European entities.
  • Played a key role in delivering a high-profile project during a company acquisition involving sensitive data in legal hold.

Project Manager – End User Compute Refresh

Thales UK
02.2016 - 08.2016
  • Company Overview: Thales is a French military defense contractor, dealing with the MOD and other public sector customers.
  • Hired for six months to project-manage an end-user device refresh, including a change in operating system and a move to O365.
  • Managed and delivered a Windows migration and desktop refresh project to a highly specialized group of users, in an environment designed to allow creativity and freedom.
  • Utilized an application management board to rationalize and reduce application numbers by 50%.
  • Directed and supported OA and UAT testing of over 250 applications, including many small, use, or bespoke tools.
  • Led a team of five diligent implementation engineers, maintaining enthusiasm and customer focus.
  • Monitored project performance to identify areas of improvement and make adjustments.
  • Identified plans and resources required to meet project goals and objectives.

Project Manager – End User Compute Refresh

Whitbread PLC
01.2015 - 12.2015
  • Company Overview: Whitbread is a large hospitality and retail company with hundreds of sites and thousands of employees.
  • Hired to help project-manage a desktop refresh using both waterfall and agile methodologies.
  • Project scope extended to include an Office 365 Yammer pilot, and rollout of an upgrade to the browsers.
  • Worked to deliver a complex migration from Windows XP to Windows 7, including a migration to Exchange from Lotus Notes, and an update of Office from 2007 to 2013.
  • Delivered a mix of laptops, desktops, and Citrix terminals totaling 2,500 devices within the budget allocation of just under £1M.
  • Reduced an application catalog from over 1,000 to 400.
  • Directed OA and UAT testing, and sign-off with users for the 400 applications on the new hardware, operating system, and browser versions.
  • Recruited, trained, and led a team of 10 focused and enthusiastic Technical Architects, Business Analysts, and Deployment Engineers who were internal, contract, and offshore.

Project Manager – End User Compute Refresh

Unisys
01.2010 - 12.2014
  • Company Overview: Unisys is a large IT services company working closely with banking institutions and both private and public sector partners.
  • Engaged in the contract with Unilever as a business analyst and project manager for an end-user device refresh.
  • Delivered a complex £1.2M improvement project to replace 55,000 end-user devices.
  • Shaped working relationships with multiple vendors in multiple regions, including Dell, Lenovo, and HP.
  • Completed a £25k project extension to use OEM capabilities to reduce end-user device build times, and reduce complexity for onsite support.
  • Met project deadlines without sacrificing build quality or workplace safety.
  • Coordinated with cross-functional teams to resolve project issues and mitigate risks.

Skills

Agile delivery & project management

Project management

Scrum methodology

Collaborative stakeholder relations

Coaching and mentoring

Servant leadership

Certification

Certified SAFe Scrum Master, SAFe SSM

Timeline

Scrum Master/Delivery Manager

Cadent Gas
01.2023 - Current

Senior Project Manager – Infrastructure

Wesleyan
01.2021 - 12.2022

Senior Project Manager – Infrastructure

iPSL
06.2019 - 03.2020

Programme Manager – Infrastructure

Direct Line Group
11.2018 - 06.2019

Project Manager – Infrastructure

iPSL
03.2017 - 11.2018

Project Manager – Exchange Consolidation/Migration

Alere
08.2016 - 12.2016

Project Manager – End User Compute Refresh

Thales UK
02.2016 - 08.2016

Project Manager – End User Compute Refresh

Whitbread PLC
01.2015 - 12.2015

Project Manager – End User Compute Refresh

Unisys
01.2010 - 12.2014

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Michael LayzellProject Manager & Scrum Master