Barclays
January 2019 – present
Barclays
Director - Head of process automation & AI CoE, Risk & Finance & Tax Technology Partner
Process Automation & AI CoE, Risk and Tax Technology - Barclays Bank (Oct 2021 - Present) Technology Architecture Roadmap and Strategy ● Responsible for technology platforms and services across Risk, Finance and Tax domains, managing a global engineering team of 100+ staff, leading development and execution of technology roadmaps, implementing digital transformation initiatives and data strategy ● Led implementation and integration of a diverse range of technologies, including open-source frameworks, low-code / no-code platforms and third-party SaaS / PaaS products, driving stack modernization and Cloud migration, achieving 20% reduction in applications' total cost of ownership while enhancing system resilience and service levels ● Evaluated, selected and developed partnerships with industry-leading service providers, managing vendor engagement, including contract negotiation, service level agreements and enterprise licencing, achieving cost optimisation opportunities of over £3m annualised savings Process Automation & AI Innovation ● Established the Risk & Finance Process Automation & AI CoE, leveraging hyperautomation solutions, including iBPM, RPA, Process mining and NLP tools, to deliver automation projects that reduced end-to-end application development lead times by 50% and significantly enhanced process efficiency ● Responsible for AI R&D and strategy for Group Finance Technology, overseeing tool evaluations, use case assessments, proof-of-concept implementation, and roll-out of emerging AI/GenAI capabilities. Contributed to the development of guardrails and standards for responsible AI adoption to ensure compliance, governance, and ethical use of AI technologies and delivered education sessions to senior leaders across Finance. Tax and Enterprise Risk Technology Transformation Technology Partner to the Chief Tax Officer, responsible for defining comprehensive vision for technology strategy, managing end-to-end technology stack and service provision, supporting Tax operations (UK Corporate Tax, Indirect VAT/GST Tax, US Tax) and delivering core regulatory programmes, such as Global Minimum Tax Pillar 2, Making Tax Digital and Bank Levy ● Led bank-wide Enterprise Risk transformation program to re-engineer and digitise the New and Amended Product Approval process (NAPA), covering end-to-end product lifecycle from idea generation to launch and post-trade monitoring, integrating governance, risk rating and horizontal functional assessment, ensuring robust compliance and risk management for all products across investment and retail banking divisions Operational and Technology Risk management ● Designed and implemented technology, data, and security control frameworks, improving operational resilience and mitigating risks to service levels, supplier obligations and incident recovery processes ● Directed risk assessment and remediation activities, collaborating with 2nd and 3rd LOD functions to improve control effectiveness and ensure regulatory compliance through rigorous RCSA and risk testing processes ● Strengthened data governance practices, overseeing data quality initiatives and maintaining data lineage to ensure integrity, availability, and confidentiality of financial data Leadership and Talent development ● Established data-driven productivity measures, code quality standards and agile ways of working to support decision-making and manage large, hybrid, geographically distributed teams across five sites in the US, UK, and India. Optimized team structures to align with architecture and portfolio strategy, embedding Scaled Agile and LEAN principles for adaptability ● Implemented early career programs, mentoring initiatives, and hosted joint talent acquisition events with the University of Northampton, resulting in a 25% improvement in staff retention, increased team diversity, and reduced recruitment costs
