Strategic Estimation System: Independently designed and developed a custom plugin to improve project estimation accuracy for high-value engagements, reducing estimation risk by 50% and enabling more confident decision-making on 6-7 figure projects.[#strategy]
Account Retrospectives: Facilitated three account-level retrospectives for high-stakes projects, driving tangible improvements such as enhanced risk tracking and an updated project delivery framework. [#performance]
Fault Slippage Analysis: Introduced a structured analysis process across 8 teams (~60 engineers), holding sprintly reviews of production bugs to identify root causes and implement preventative improvements - a practice that had previously reduced bugs by 80% in a former company. [#performance]
What I did
Launched fault slippage analysis process across 60 engineers.
Challenge
Reocurring bugs are a constant threat for software teams.
Reducing reocurring bugs, particular critical or production incidents, would increase the quality and value of the product they deliver.
My contribution
Brought my experience in incident prevention to a new client.
Put together process with client's director
Mentored teams on effective root cause analysis, combing corrective and preventative actions.
Introduced governance process to ensure slippages were consistantly caught.
Value & impact
Reduce reocurring bugs by 90%.
In one team's case, team went from 120% capacity spent on bugs (ie. 40 hours per teammate + overtime) to <5% of their time.
Mastery Talk Series: Delivered series of 4 talks on the topic of "Mastery", exploring concepts like Anders Ericsson's "Deliberate Practice", expanding on my blog series (1, 2, 3, 4). [#performance]
Zinkworks Way: Orchestrated a company-wide rollout of engineering delivery standards, shaping expectations and practices for 100+ engineers. [#systems]
Project Delivery Lifecycle: Directed the definition and implementation of the end-to-end delivery model—from presales to deployment—saving over €100,000 annually. [#strategy]
AI Masters Program: Designed, facilitated, and launched Zinkworks' AIMasters program to accelerate AI use across 20 engineers. Established two focused pathways: (1) AI/ML models (classification, time series, reinforcement learning, graph-based) and (2) application development with Google Gemini and Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG). [#ai]
What I did
Managed 20 engineers through Machine Learning and Google Gemini application development program.
Challenge
Company required people who had practical knowledge on Machine Learning techniques and Google Gemini application development combined with domain expertise.
My contribution
Brought together 20 engineers interested in both Machine Learning algorithms and Google Gemini application development.
Developed a program for both groups (ML & Gemini) which included practical projects, exercises and competitions.
Value & impact
3 people were taken into AI-specialised projects.
Production-Ready Python: Launched an intensive python upskilling program for 40 developers, moving them from intermediate scripting to production-grade engineering with 90%+ test coverage, modern Python libraries, and industry-standard tooling. [#performance]
Zinkworks.AI: Trained 20 employees on building LLM-integrated applications using OpenAI, kickstarting AI enablement within the company. [#ai]
TelecomMasters: Brought 15 senior and principle engineers through workshops on Telecoms domain expertise. [#performance]
What I did
Brought 15 engineers through a series of 8 real-world case studies in Telecoms domain.
Challenge
Comapny required people who could consult in Telecoms use-cases as Solution Architects.
Many engineers had strong technical skills, but poor domain knowledge due to the level of complexity of the Telecoms domain.
My contribution
Secured 15 engineers to participate in an accelerated program.
Employed the Harvard Case Method and developed 8 case studies to debate on decisions and options a Solution Architect would need to consider.
Brought group together once per month over the course of 8 months.
Facilitated workshops online, employing techniques similar to Harvard Case Method professors (eg. 1:1 debates, open questions, callouts).
Value & impact
5 engineers were employed into real-world projects to consult on various aspects.
1 engineer was brought into presales research and put together a strategic partnership proposal for a Tier-1 cloud company.
FinancMasters: Brought 8 senior and principle engineers through workshops on Financial Services domain expertise. [#performance]
Hackermonth: Spearheaded multiple company-wide hackathons with 30+ participants, resulting in 5 concepts advancing to the business pipeline. [#performance]
Capability Storytelling: Translated internal training outcomes and portfolio achievements into client-facing marketing assets. [#strategy]
Cloud Expertise Showcase: Designed a one-slider highlighting Zinkworks’ Google Cloud strengths, including certification volume and successful GCP project delivery. [#strategy]
Business Alignment: Positioned technical learning initiatives (certifications, communities of practice, and training programs) as evidence of organizational readiness for client engagements. [#strategy]
Foundry Strategy: Established and led a 7-person innovation squad, generating over 100 qualified sales leads. [#strategy]
Zinkworks 2.0: Facilitated a cultural transformation program through cross-functional workshops, launching initiatives such as all-staff updates, in-person meetups, in-office tournaments and annual company awards. [#transformation]
Recognition Awards: Rolled out a company-wide system of awards and badges (eg Outstanding Efforts, Phenomenal Team Delivery, Spark Igniter, Bug Exorcist and many more) to celebrate achievement and creativity, strengthening engagement and embedding a culture of recognition. [#transformation]
Project Horizon: Designed and led a leadership accelerator, training 15 emerging leaders in personal effectiveness, team management, and organizational influence. [#transformation]
Learning Clusters: Built a library of 200+ curated learning pathways tailored to individual and team growth, including topics like Spring Boot, Facilitation, and Scrum. [#transformation]
Innovation Team Resourcing: Transformed the resourcing bench into an agile extension of the Foundry team (innovation team), optimizing backlog delivery and engagement. [#strategy]
Communities of Practice: Launched and nurtured 10+ communities in core capability areas—Engineering Management, Agile, DevOps, Kubernetes, and more. [#transformation]
Targeted Training Programs: Delivered high-impact training in strategic skill areas such as Golang, production-ready Python, and Generative AI development. [#transformation]
Cloud Certification Drive: Initiated and managed cloud upskilling campaigns across AWS, Azure, and GCP, resulting in 100+ certifications in one year. [#strategy]
Apprenticeship Program: Led a 4-year partnership with FIT, mentoring 19 apprentices to client-ready performance levels. [#transformation]
Graduate Program: Ran a two-year graduate track, successfully onboarding 5 graduates into billable, project-ready roles. [#transformation]
L&D Newsletter: Author a monthly company-wide L&D digest, highlighting internal initiatives, upcoming opportunities, and practical learning strategies. [#transformation]
Knowledge Sharing Talks: Coordinated 50+ internal talks across technical and professional topics, fostering a strong peer-learning culture. [#transformation]
Employee Skills Database: Built and maintained a searchable employee skills database used across staffing, mentorship, and bid teams. [#strategy]
Client Profile Creation: Authored 50+ employee client-facing profiles that directly contributed to over 20 business engagements. [#strategy]
Phishing Security Training: Rolled out and managed a new platform for security training, including custom phishing campaigns, leading to over 700 successful reports of phishing attempts. [#transformation]
Associate Program Relaunch: Reimagined the associate program to reward employees who contribute to culture and community beyond their core roles. [#transformation]
Career Development Framework: Designed and rolled out a progression framework enabling engineers to grow from junior roles to solution architects. [#transformation]
1:1 Coaching Framework: Created the T-GROW+FI coaching model to support managers in structuring impactful one-on-ones (Topic, Goal, Reality, Options, Will Do, Feedback, Insights). [#transformation]
Tech Lead: Feb 2021 - Sep 2022
Authentication Manager: Acted as the technical point of contact for third-party integrations with the authentication manager. [#systems]
Architecture & Design: Led team discussions on software architecture, design, and integration decisions. [#strategy]
Change Management: Introduced a new change management process across 15 teams, significantly reducing upgrade-related bugs. [#systems]
On-Call Leadership: Handled critical customer outages while on call, ensuring rapid resolution and system stability. [#performance]
Scrum Master: Sep 2019 - Feb 2021
Team Coaching: Coached a team of 8 to become self-organising during lockdown, maintaining productivity in challenging circumstances. [#transformation]
Remote Transition: Facilitated the shift from in-person to remote work with zero impact on delivery deadlines. [#strategy]
Project Management: Successfully managed mission-critical feature delivery within expected timeframes, repeatedly meeting client and business needs. [#strategy]
Backlog Refinement: Partnered with the Product Owner to design and manage the backlog, leading frequent refinement workshops. [#systems]
Retrospective Facilitation: Transformed retrospectives from “nice to haves” into action-driven workshops that produced tangible improvements. [#transformation]
Leadership Reporting: Reported weekly to senior leadership on the improvement backlog for non-functional features, ensuring transparency and alignment. [#systems]
Product Owner: Aug 2018 - Sep 2019
Product Backlog: Managed the backlog of 2 teams, ensuring prioritization and clarity of work. [#strategy]
User Story Design: Created user stories using Behavioral Driven Development (BDD) techniques. [#systems]
Example Mapping Workshops: Continuously refined each user story through example mapping workshops. [#systems]
Cloud-Aware Backlog: Designed backlog with a strong understanding of Cloud technologies. [#strategy]
Transparent Updates: Gave teams a clear and transparent view of product developments, whether technical or business facing. [#systems]
Alignment to Vision: Ensured all user stories aligned with the long-term product vision. [#strategy]
Collaboration with PMs: Worked closely with product managers in defining and scoping product requirements. [#strategy]
Software Developer: Mar 2018 - Aug 2018
Scripting: Developed automation scripts in Python and Bash to improve efficiency and reliability. [#performance]
Infrastructure Automation: Automated OpenStack environments using Ansible, streamlining deployment and configuration. [#systems]
Documentation: Created and maintained clear, reusable technical documentation in Confluence. [#systems]
