Experience & Selected Work
The transformation problems I help solve
18+ years as an operator — not a consultant — means the advice comes with pattern recognition built in. I've seen re-platforms succeed and fail, technology functions built well and badly, vendor decisions made with rigour and without it. The following is what that looks like in practice.
Where I've operated
Experience that shapes how I work
I've held technology leadership roles across some of Australia's most recognised consumer and enterprise brands. This isn't a timeline — it's the context behind the advice.
E-commerce & Retail
CTO and Head of Engineering roles at Hanes Australasia (Bonds, Bras N Things, Sheridan), Temple & Webster, and CarPlace. Led platform strategy and engineering through multiple re-platforms, multi-brand architecture decisions, and peak trading dependencies that leave no room for error. Deep hands-on experience with the commercial pressures that separate a real re-platform from a consultancy exercise.
Media & Marketplaces
Technology leadership at News Corp across digital publishing and marketplace platforms. Experience with high-traffic content systems, audience data infrastructure, and the intersection of editorial and product technology — where the speed of publishing and the integrity of data are both non-negotiable.
Scale-ups & Growth Stage
Fractional CTO and advisory engagements with WooliesX, Amplifyd, and Carma — businesses scaling past the point where informal technology decision-making stops working. Focused on building engineering capability from the ground up, defining architecture for the next phase of growth, hiring technical leadership, and establishing delivery practices that scale with the team.
Platform & Vendor Ecosystem
Direct implementation and decision-making experience across VTEX, Salesforce Commerce Cloud, Shopify Plus, and Adobe Commerce for commerce; Contentful for content management; Segment for customer data; Braze for marketing automation; and Snowflake for analytics. I understand how these platforms work from inside a real programme — not from a sales deck or a reference architecture diagram.
Selected engagements
What this looks like in practice
Each case study represents a real engagement. Details have been anonymised to respect confidentiality, but the business context, challenges, and outcomes are authentic.
Re-platforming a $200M+ multi-brand e-commerce operation
Led the technology strategy and vendor selection for a major Australian retailer moving from a monolithic legacy platform to a composable commerce architecture — without disrupting peak trading.
Systems & platforms
Selected outcomes
- Successful migration of 4 brand storefronts with zero unplanned downtime
- 40% reduction in platform operating costs within 12 months
- Page load times improved from 4.2s to 1.1s average
Unifying customer data across a fragmented retail ecosystem
Designed and led the implementation of a customer data platform strategy for a national retailer with 12 disconnected data sources and no single view of the customer.
Systems & platforms
Selected outcomes
- Unified customer profile across 12 previously siloed data sources
- Marketing campaign setup time reduced from 2 weeks to 2 days
- Email revenue attribution improved 65% through better personalisation
Building the technology function for a high-growth marketplace
Stepped in as Fractional CTO to establish engineering capability, architecture, and delivery practices for a Series B marketplace platform scaling from 50 to 200+ employees.
Systems & platforms
Selected outcomes
- Engineering team scaled from 4 to 18 with structured hiring process
- Deployment frequency increased from fortnightly to multiple times daily
- Platform uptime improved from 97.2% to 99.95%
Standing up the technology function for a greenfield startup with aggressive growth targets
Brought in as interim CTO for a newly funded startup with aggressive revenue targets and no existing technology team or infrastructure.
Systems & platforms
Selected outcomes
- Architecture designed for 10x revenue scale without re-platform
- Engineering team hired and structured with clear capability roadmap
- Vendor costs held below budget through disciplined selection
Capability areas
The recurring themes across my work
Platform Architecture & Selection
Evaluating, selecting, and implementing e-commerce, content, and data platforms. Independent of vendor relationships — recommendation based on fit, total cost of ownership, and operational reality.
AI Readiness & Adoption
Assessing where AI creates genuine business value versus where it's premature. Practical adoption strategies grounded in data infrastructure, team capability, and commercial return — not lab experiments.
Digital Transformation Leadership
Leading multi-year technology transformations with the commercial discipline they require. Migration planning, programme governance, risk management, and stakeholder alignment across the full delivery lifecycle.
Data Strategy & CDP
Designing customer data foundations that make personalisation, analytics, and AI capabilities possible. From fragmented legacy systems to unified event-driven architectures that the business can actually act on.
Team Capability & Hiring
Building engineering teams from scratch or restructuring existing ones. Role design, hiring process, onboarding, career progression, and the cultural practices that let teams grow without breaking delivery.
Vendor Management & Procurement
Negotiating platform contracts, managing system integrators, and ensuring vendor relationships serve the business's interests. Commercial rigour applied to technology procurement — not just technical evaluation.
Facing a similar challenge?
Whether the timing is right to bring in external perspective is always a judgement call. I'm happy to have that conversation — no commitment required, just an honest discussion about whether my experience is relevant to where you are.