Leadership
Leadership
Twelve-plus years building and running teams - from a one-person "do something cool" brief inside a global automotive giant, to founding and directing my own studio.
Business Ownership
Digital Technology Labs
"Your business, beautifully crafted online." Founded Digital Technology Labs as a sole trader in 2015, grew it into a full-time boutique web design and development studio in 2019, and successfully navigated it through the 2020 pandemic before stepping back in 2022 - five years in total. A small, freelancer-powered team delivering web design, e-commerce, hosting and ongoing support, for clients ranging from small businesses to large organisations and startups - including BIMA, DMA Media and Hayworths.
Lessons learned
Three guiding lessons
Lesson 1
Balance revenue with outgoings
The biggest lesson: keep a laser focus on reducing costs, and build a sustainable model where recurring monthly income balances outgoings - that's what makes the project work profitable.
Lesson 2
The unglamorous stuff matters
Bookkeeping, tax returns, contracts, resource management - running a small agency teaches you as much about business as it does about delivery.
Lesson 3
Right relationships, right suppliers
Networking, engaging and collaborating with the right suppliers and freelancers is what lets a small studio punch above its weight.
Within organisations
Leadership roles
Solution Architecture Leadership
Solutions Architect, ITG / Inspired Thinking Group (Sept '24–present, London). Architected Jaguar's 2026 digital platform across two Scrum teams using AEM Module Federation micro-frontends and React. Pioneered AI/LLM and RPA workflows that increased team productivity, and led extensive delivery for Range Rover - new features, animations and event experiences.
Creative Technology Direction
Creative Technology Director, Future Foundry (May '23–Sept '24, Remote). Built MVPs from ideation for No7, WaterAid and Screwfix, from UX and UI design through to solution architecture, and rapid build and delivery, ran hands-on generative-AI proofs of concept and live integrations, delivered a real-world loyalty programme trial for Screwfix, and led client workshops, demos and rapid validation cycles.
Head of Digital Technology & Delivery
Financial Ombudsman Service (March '21–Dec '22, London). Built a digital function from scratch - recruitment, roadmap and delivery. Oversaw AI/ML/RPA automation and delivered a brand new intranet, and supported the IT Managed Service procurement process to deliver two new portals for the service.
Lead Innovation Architecture
Worldpay (June '15–July '19, London). Lead Innovation Architect for a 10-person innovation lab, focused on a 10-year technology horizon - built Worldpay Within, an IoT payments SDK with Intel and Mastercard, supported the build of the world's first software payment terminal, launched the world's first finger-vein biometric payment trial, "Fingopay," and organised and ran international hackathons.
Digital Creative Team Leadership
Ford Motor Company (2013–2015). Grew the Digital Creative team from one person to twelve within 18 months, securing over $3m in funding for the Ford Store digital upgrade - delivering augmented reality, 3D configurator power walls, the "Hello Walls" social media aggregator, and early iBeacon deployments ahead of Apple's own rollout.
MPS2 Dev Team Leadership
Ford Motor Company (March '10–Oct '13, Dunton). Led a 35-strong development team across the UK, Chennai, Cologne and Detroit, architecting and rebuilding Ford's enterprise variable-marketing platform - processing over $3bn in dealer payments a year - and migrating three large enterprise systems from UK to US data centres.
Let's talk
Open to director-level and head-of-department roles in digital and creative technology leadership - and always happy to hear about interesting ventures.
Contact me