Neil Cummings
Northumberland,UK
Summary
Accomplished professional with extensive expertise in operational leadership and business transformation. Proven track record in SaaS and cloud operations, organisational scaling, and change management. Adept at executive stakeholder engagement, commercial strategy, and revenue growth. Skilled in product engineering and delivery, agile transformation, and customer retention enhancement. Demonstrated success in cross-functional leadership, talent development, culture building, mergers and acquisitions integration, strategic planning, and portfolio management. Committed to driving business success through innovative strategies and effective leadership.
Overview
28
28
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work history
Technical Author
Department for Work and Pensions
2004.01
- Developed and implemented customer-facing operational documentation and service improvements.
Senior Director, Product Management & Engineering – Sage 50
Sage
2022.01 - 2026.05
- Executive leader responsible for strategy, operational delivery, engineering leadership, and commercial performance across the Sage 50 portfolio, supporting a revenue base exceeding £500m ARR.
- Key Achievements
- Led end-to-end operational and product strategy across the Sage 50 portfolio, aligning engineering, product, customer, and commercial priorities to support sustained growth and market leadership.
- Directed large multidisciplinary teams across Product Management, Engineering, QA, and UX functions, building a high-performance culture focused on accountability, innovation, and customer outcomes.
- Delivered major platform modernisation and cloud integration initiatives that improved customer retention by 5% and increased NPS by 10 points year-on-year.
- Led operational transformation initiatives that reduced time-to-market by 20% while significantly improving delivery predictability and execution quality.
- Partnered closely with Sales, Customer Success, Marketing, and executive stakeholders to align product and operational priorities with evolving customer and market demands, contributing to double-digit revenue growth.
- Championed AI and data-driven operational decision-making to improve customer experience, streamline workflows, and strengthen delivery effectiveness.
- Represented the Sage 50 portfolio in executive briefings, strategic customer engagements, and leadership forums.
Senior Director of Product Engineering
Sage
2018.01 - 2022.01
- Executive operational leader accountable for Product Engineering and delivery operations across Sage UK & Ireland Payroll and HR solutions, supporting approximately £130m ARR and servicing more than 100,000 businesses and 8 million users.
- Key Achievements
- Led organisational and operational delivery across multiple UK and Ireland locations, managing approximately 70 colleagues through periods of transformation and strategic growth.
- Core member of the UK Small Business Leadership Team, contributing to strategic planning, operational governance, and commercial decision-making across the wider UK business.
- Drove the successful transformation of the UK&I Payroll engineering organisation, significantly improving delivery consistency, quality performance, operational effectiveness, and customer outcomes.
- Led cloud adoption and operational modernisation initiatives that accelerated SaaS transformation and strengthened scalability across the Sage Business Cloud portfolio.
- Oversaw year-on-year growth of Sage 50cloud Payroll, helping establish the product as one of the largest commercial assets within Sage globally.
- Established and led transformation initiatives focused on People, Quality, and Technical Capability, delivering measurable cultural and operational improvements across the organisation.
- Played a key leadership role in the acquisition and integration of CakeHR into the Sage organisation.
- Led innovation initiatives across UK&I and collaborated with external technology networks and regional technology communities.
Development Manager, Product Engineering
Sage
2015.01 - 2018.01
- Led engineering and operational delivery functions across the Sage UK&I Payroll portfolio and globally utilised shared services platforms.
- Key Achievements
- Successfully transformed traditional desktop delivery teams into agile, cloud-enabled delivery organisations.
- Led delivery of major cloud services and customer-facing digital platforms supporting millions of users across the UK and Ireland.
- Delivered strategic operational improvements that enhanced delivery speed, customer experience, and product scalability.
- Successfully delivered rapid innovation initiatives including AI-enabled customer support capability and cloud-based compliance services.
- Led major product rationalisation and customer migration initiatives within the Ireland business.
- Actively led wellbeing and people development initiatives across UK&I functions.
Test Team Lead – Sage 50 People
Sage
2013.01 - 2015.01
- Led quality, release, and delivery operations across Sage 50 Payroll and HR product lines during a significant period of organisational and delivery transformation.
- Key Achievements
- Implemented operational and quality improvements that significantly reduced live production issues and improved delivery performance.
- Led the successful transition from waterfall to agile delivery methodologies across cross-functional teams.
- Played a key role in delivery of commercially critical payroll and auto-enrolment releases, contributing to significant revenue growth.
- Integrated distributed UK and Ireland teams into a unified operational structure.
User Acceptance Test Manager
Sage
2010.01 - 2013.01
- Led operational transformation and quality improvement initiatives across concurrent cloud and desktop delivery programmes.
Senior Test Technician
Sage
2007.01 - 2010.01
- Provided leadership and mentoring across quality assurance and delivery functions within the Sage 50 People portfolio.
Test Analyst
Department for Work and Pensions
2004.01 - 2007.01
- Worked on major transformation programmes within the Pensions Transformation Programme, including leadership responsibilities across testing and operational delivery.
Area Relief Manager / Unit Manager
Scottish & Newcastle Retail
1998.01 - 2002.01
- Managed multi-site retail operations, people leadership, training, and business performance across the North East.
Education
BA (Hons.) - English Studies
Northumbria University
City & Guilds NVQ Level 3 - Catering & Hospitality
Skills
- Operational leadership and business transformation
- SaaS and cloud operations
- Organizational scaling and change management
- Executive stakeholder engagement
- Commercial strategy and revenue growth
- Product engineering and delivery
- Agile transformation and improvement
- Customer retention and experience enhancement
- Cross-functional leadership
- Talent development and culture building
- Mergers and acquisitions integration
- Strategic planning and portfolio management
Certification
- CPD Certified Product Manager
- Certified Tarigo Product Management Specialist
- Certified Scrum Master (CSM)
- ISTQB Advanced Level – Test Analyst
- ISEB Intermediate Certificate in Software Testing
- ISEB Foundation Certificate in Software Testing
References
Available on request.
References
References available upon request.
Timeline
Senior Director, Product Management & Engineering – Sage 50
Sage
2022.01 - 2026.05
Senior Director of Product Engineering
Sage
2018.01 - 2022.01
Development Manager, Product Engineering
Sage
2015.01 - 2018.01
Test Team Lead – Sage 50 People
Sage
2013.01 - 2015.01
User Acceptance Test Manager
Sage
2010.01 - 2013.01
Senior Test Technician
Sage
2007.01 - 2010.01
Technical Author
Department for Work and Pensions
2004.01
Test Analyst
Department for Work and Pensions
2004.01 - 2007.01
Area Relief Manager / Unit Manager
Scottish & Newcastle Retail
1998.01 - 2002.01
BA (Hons.) - English Studies
Northumbria University