Ash Patel

• Directed enterprise-wide transformation across pensions and retirement
services, modernising legacy infrastructure and migrating actuarial,
finance, and customer platforms to hybrid cloud.
• Acted as Board advisor, presenting quarterly to ExCo, Chair, and Audit &
Risk Committees on innovation, cyber resilience, and technology
investment.
• Strengthened resilience by embedding PRA SS2/21, FCA, ISO27001, and
DORA-aligned frameworks; rolled out DR testing, incident response
playbooks, and capacity dashboards.
• Built high-performing teams technologists across Cloud Ops, Platform
Engineering, Service Desk, Networks, DBA, and Architecture; created
career paths, and implemented a recognition culture linked to business
outcomes.
• Drove a culture shift from reactive IT operations to proactive, product-led
engineering, embedding Agile, DevOps, and value stream principles to
accelerate delivery while improving resilience.
• Championed colleague centric design, running TechOps offsites,
leadership forums, and Voice of Colleague sessions, raising engagement
scores and reducing attrition.

• Defined multi-year enterprise technology strategy across cloud, DevOps,
and data analytics, enabling AI-powered sports risk modelling.
• Introduced cloud-native engineering practices, CI/CD pipelines, and
microservices adoption to accelerate product delivery.
• Established data science and AI driven platforms that improved
predictive accuracy for trading models
• Consolidated infrastructure suppliers, driving annualised cost savings of
while improving SLA compliance.
• Shifted culture from siloed functions to integrated product squads,
creating high-performing teams aligned to business outcomes.
• Mentored senior managers and architects, raising internal succession
capability and reducing dependency on contractors.

• Directed hybrid cloud transformation for global car rental operations,
spanning EMEA and North America.
• Built global service management and incident response frameworks,
reducing critical incident MTTR by 40%.
• Negotiated global vendor contracts, delivering cost efficiencies through
licensing optimisation and automation.
• Led DR planning and resilience testing across 20+ international data
centres, ensuring compliance with business continuity obligations.
• Transformed IT operations culture from keep the lights on to customer
first, embedding accountability for incidents and resilience.
• Introduced recognition and performance culture that improved team
morale during major transformation.

• Led international post M&A technology integration across Europe, Asia,
and the Middle East, consolidating 10+ acquired platforms into a unified
operating model.
• Standardised monitoring, security, and resilience frameworks across
global operations, enabling 24/7 uptime for high-volume food delivery
services.
• Partnered with Product and Commercial teams to align technology
roadmaps with customer growth and partner onboarding.
• Unified diverse cultures across acquired businesses, creating a single
engineering identity and shared delivery culture.

• Directed end-to-end technology strategy and delivery across EMEA and
APAC, reporting into global CIO.
• Delivered customer facing booking platforms and AI enabled
personalisation engines, increasing conversion rates
• Managed large scale M&A integrations (e.g. Ebookers global
consolidation), achieving $10m+ in annualised operational synergies.
• Introduced centralised engineering governance and agile delivery
models, reducing time-to-market for new features
• Shifted engineering culture from fragmented regional delivery to a
unified global function, embedding shared standards, KPIs, and
recognition programmes.
• Built long endured, high-performing teams across multiple time zones
through talent development and global collaboration.