Summary
Senior technology leader with 30 years of experience in enterprise IT and cloud solutions within regulated banking environments. Led engineering teams in shaping technology strategy and executing transformation programmes encompassing hybrid cloud, data centre consolidation, and secure-by-design engineering. Expertise in stakeholder management, Agile delivery, and cyber risk reduction, fostering high-performing teams from entry-level to senior architects.
Overview
32
32
years of professional experience
Work History
Platform Lead - Hosting Solutions
NatWest Bank
01.2021 - Current
- Delivered a multi-million-pound, two-year hybrid cloud programme implementing Oracle Cloud@Customer for regulated IBS and SOx workloads, while completing an MVP for DB@AWS to support the bank’s multi-cloud strategy.
- Lead Product Engineering function for Hosting Solutions, with accountability for Data Services products spanning the bank’s core storage, backup and database platforms, including SAN, NAS, S3, SQL Server, PostgreSQL and Oracle.
- Piloted Platform-as-a-Product capability using Kratix and Backstage, enhancing developer experience, standardising engineering workflows, and accelerating product delivery.
- Established Infrastructure as Code delivery as the default engineering approach, increasing automation across products and processes while embedding secure-by-design principles and test automation.
- Implemented immutable backup capability aligning retention controls with GDPR requirements and strengthening resilience for critical banking services.
- Introduced AI-assisted engineering practices using GitLab Duo and Atlassian Rovo, boosting delivery productivity, facilitating knowledge discovery, and streamlining engineering workflows.
- Improved engineering controls by addressing vulnerabilities identified through MYTHOS, adapting delivery processes in partnership with business areas to reduce technology risk.
- Transitioned teams from legacy delivery practices to modern SDLC tooling and engineering disciplines, increasing consistency, fostering collaboration, and preparing for continuous delivery.
- Introduced new departmental ways of working aligned to the Scaled Agile Framework, including PI Planning, daily stand-ups, Scrum of Scrums and retrospectives.
Lead Infrastructure Engineer
NatWest Bank
01.2015 - 01.2021
- Secured over £25M funding for Active Directory Transformation programme by contributing to business case, RFI/RFP process and final Statement of Work with Microsoft; supported three-year delivery, removing 80+ legacy domains and associated applications.
- Supported a £20M+ follow-on AD Transformation business case to modernise domains to N-1 Active Directory 2016 and introduce an Enhanced Security Administrative Environment, strengthening privileged access controls against evolving cyber threats.
- Defined enterprise-scale Active Directory, Identity and Access Management, federation, directory synchronisation, virtual directory, x500 LDAP, delegation, governance and operating model standards for a complex banking technology estate.
- Enabled private and public cloud adoption across on-premises, AWS and Azure IaaS platforms, applying secure and scalable infrastructure patterns for enterprise workloads.
- Led the Directory Engineering team, defining product roadmaps, lifecycle plans and technology adoption, including Ping Directory integration for the Open Banking platform.
- Led Complex Application Remediation within Physical to Converged Infrastructure storage and virtualisation programme, resolving application dependencies that blocked migration to strategic converged infrastructure platforms.
- Shaped the future security roadmap for a passwordless environment, enabling capabilities including Password Hash Sync and multi-factor authentication to support modern identity controls.
- Applied a cloud-first approach across Azure-hosted desktops and Microsoft 365 while strengthening Active Directory identity protection through Microsoft Defender for Identity and Azure Password Protection.
- Introduced Agile delivery practices that improved team prioritisation and responsiveness to customer demand, influencing wider departmental adoption of Agile methodologies.
- Led key aspects of the exit from a dedicated test-bed data centre, providing cross-domain guidance across Windows, Unix, storage, configuration items, network and security, while developing CI/CD processes to align development environments more closely with live operations.
Technical Specialist – Product Development
NatWest Bank
01.2005 - 01.2015
- Designed and implemented enterprise management and resilience capabilities across Group Policy, security auditing, monitoring, DHCP, WINS, DNS, DFS and strategic tooling including Quest Change Auditor, GPOAdmin and Forest Recovery.
- Functioned as Technical Design Authority for Windows Server, WINS, and Active Directory platforms, guiding design governance and technical direction for essential enterprise infrastructure services.
- Delivered infrastructure design and architecture expertise for major divestment and separation programmes, including Direct Line Group, Williams & Glyn, and ABN AMRO, facilitating controlled transition planning for business-critical services.
- Designed and delivered innovative “Office in a Box” capability in Beijing for Bank of China-related business, using a standalone VMware solution to host Active Directory, SMS, file and print services; a first-of-its-kind implementation for the bank.
- Supported organisational and data centre convergence by contributing to the GIS platform-team merger, creation of Directory Engineering, and centralisation of file, print and authentication services into Edinburgh to simplify operations and improve resilience.
Technical Analyst – Technical Development
NatWest Bank
01.2002 - 01.2005
- Engineered migration of branch back-office applications and infrastructure from Kegworth and Stone to Edinburgh data centres, ensuring uninterrupted service across domains, WINS, DHCP, SQL, IIS, and application services.
- Executed technical design and integration for NatWest-to-RBS migration programmes, enhancing operations in Retail Branch, Cash Centre, and Call Centre environments.
- Facilitated decommissioning of legacy Kegworth and Stone data centres and participated in RFP and design efforts for VCS private-cloud hosted desktop platform.
Team Leader – Distributed Operational Services
NatWest Bank
01.1995 - 01.2001
- Built and managed a specialist support team for Windows desktop, server, domain, WINS, DHCP, SQL, IIS, print, Tivoli, network, ATM and BOVR services, enhancing overall service delivery.
- Led a 3rd-level support team for the Retail Branch platform, providing 24x7 support across one of Europe’s largest Windows NT banking deployments, covering 35K desktops and 2,000 servers.
- Supported rollout of modern Windows-based ATMs across 9.6K links, ensuring operational readiness through coordinated Millennium Bug checks across Retail Branch application estate.
Education
BSc - Computer Information Systems
01-1994
GPA: Distinction
Skills
- Platform Engineering
- Infrastructure design
- Cloud architecture
- Active Directory management
- Data management
- Agile methodologies
- Problem solving
- Continuous delivery
- Stakeholder engagement
- Automation strategies
- Network configuration
- Enterprise system monitoring
- Cloud services
- Product Engineering
- Technology strategy
- Agile
- SAFe
- Stakeholder management
- Vendor management
- Operating models
- Team leadership
- AWS
- Azure
- Oracle Cloud@Customer
- DB@AWS
- Hybrid cloud
- Private cloud
- Data centre consolidation
- Hosting solutions
- SQL Server
- Oracle
- SAN
- NAS
- S3
- Storage
- Backup solutions
- Recovery
- Data solutions
- IAM
- Active Directory
- MFA
- Privileged access
- Immutable backup
- GDPR
- SOx
- Cyber risk
- Operational resilience
- IaC
- CI/CD
- Automation
- SDLC
- Secure-by-design
- Test automation
- Backstage
- Kratix
- GitLab Duo
- Jira
- Confluence
- Atlassian Rovo
- Cloud computing
- Effective communicator
- Cross-Functional Collaboration
- Regulatory standards
- Issues analysis
- DevOps
- Process automation
- IT infrastructure development
- ITIL framework understanding
- Data recovery
- Technical leadership
- Strategic thinking
- Backup and recovery
- Network security protocols
- Cloud computing knowledge
- Documentation proficiency
- Proactive engagement
Custom
- Accredited Interviewer
- Determined to Lead Bootcamp
- Skills Coaching Mastery
- SAFe
- ITIL
Timeline
Platform Lead - Hosting Solutions - NatWest Bank
01.2021 - Current
Lead Infrastructure Engineer - NatWest Bank
01.2015 - 01.2021
Technical Specialist – Product Development - NatWest Bank
01.2005 - 01.2015
Technical Analyst – Technical Development - NatWest Bank
01.2002 - 01.2005
Team Leader – Distributed Operational Services - NatWest Bank
01.1995 - 01.2001
Glasgow Caledonian University - BSc, Computer Information Systems