Summary
- Market and Business Focused Technologist and Evangelist
- Agile Product Planning and Development (Scrum, Kanban, Lean Canvas)
- Advanced mobile app development on iPhone and Android
- Mentoring and Development of Key Technical Staff
- Solid background in Sales support and Public Speaking
- Proven track record in Fund Raising and Investor Relationships
- Cloud Computing, Big Data storage, Business Intelligence and Data Analytics
- VoIP, IM and Telecommunications services
- Consumer Applications, Games and Embedded Software Development
- Virtual Reality, Simulation and 3D Graphics systems
Employment History
Technical Consultant, Orange Expert (September 2008 – Present)
I am part of the core team building Orange Telephone, a strategic project centred on voice services. The aim is to provide enhanced information services for customers around the calling experience, and the first service went live in 2017.
I provide expertise in a number of areas, such as software architecture, data privacy and security (with a focus on GDPR), partnerships, agile practice and future technologies.
I also continue to be a core member of an Orange Expert Group that advises senior management on communications technology strategy.
Previously I was the CTO for the award winning Libon service. Libon is a communications platform working in tandem with sophisticated but user-friendly mobile apps for iOS and Android that provide HD VoIP, IM and Voice mail features for the mass market. It has been developed within Orange Vallée, part of the Orange innovations and marketing team.
I boot-strapped the development team and now provide vision for the evolution of the mobile apps, server architecture and core API, the voice platform and the big data platforms for user data storage and business intelligence. I was the technical face of the service, speaking at conferences and workshops, both internal and external. I also acted as security officer for the project and have co-authored six patents for the unique aspects of the apps and service.
Development is on iPhone, Android and HTML5. Server technologies used include Cassandra, Hadoop, Splunk, Oracle, MySQL, SIP and XMPP. The service operates in physical hosting for performance and in the cloud for scalability.
Teams work under Agile and Lean methodologies using Scrum as well as Kanban and Feature teams.)
Achievements
- Technology leadership of award winning mobile apps, service design and development
- Co-authored six new patents for the service covering user experience and service innovation
- Championed the use of analytics within mobile apps to optimise experience and quality
- Acknowledged as a Orange Expert in the field of Evolving Mobile Communications
- Commercial and market awareness, ensuring technology compatibility with business objectives and exploring new opportunities for revenue generation.
- Liaising with Orange departments covering R&D, business development, network enablers and service provision.
- Sales and business development support for partner and vendor negotiations.
- Roadmap specification, technical validation of future direction and strategic vision.
- Responsible for security, privacy, system scalability and quality across all technology areas.
- Introduced Amazon cloud services for messaging and analytics platforms, utilising Hadoop and Erlang XMPP technologies
- Championed the move to microservice architecture, automation and DevOps culture to support greater business agility and involve development teams in the feedback loop
- Review and selection of 3rd party app development partners.
CTO Eccosphere International pty (September 2007 – August 2008)
Eccosphere was a mobile social network based out of Australia and China that had a unique vision to seamlessly move between circles of contacts out to the wider audience to encourage viral spread of the service and growth of connections between users as well as providing a base for targeted marketing. It was based on Symbian, Web and WAP clients and utilised a Java backend for storing address books and connection status.
As CTO Paul introduced Scrum Agile methodology to the development process and redirected the roadmap towards a more robust and scalable solution that better met business needs. As a result the company secured a term sheet for significant investment from a VC firm and was ultimately acquired by an early investor as a dedicated service for a media company.
Achievements
- Led the re-design of the mobile app into a focused development with clear strategy
- Reviewed and re-directed architecture and technology towards more robust, scalable and market-sensitive solution that better met business needs
- Technology development led to term sheet with UK VC investment group for $4.5m
- Instituted Agile Scrum process and use-case based Product Backlog for Stakeholders
- Developed key staff and mentored senior members in Australia and China
- Developed pay structure and initiated review process
CTO & Founder Cirrus Mobile (September 2006 – August 2007)
Cirrus Mobile was set up to build a mobile shopping portal that aimed to replicate a more natural shopping experience, providing product search, recommendations, couponing and billing and based on a commodity tablet platform.
Paul developed the initial prototypes, service architectures and development plan and contributed to the overall business plan for the proposed service. Unfortunately start-up costs were too high for UK investment and the service was put on hold.
Achievements
- Created initial business plan, software architecture and early prototypes.
CTO & Senior VP Research & Development Superscape plc (January 1995-March 2006)
Superscape were one of the early Virtual Reality toolkit vendors, providing desktop solutions in a market dominated originally by custom hardware. It became the leading low cost solution for 3D visualisation, simulation and space planning.
Paul originally joined Superscape as a lead developer, but took over as CTO in 1999 and led the technical transformation of the company into a mobile 3D software vendor and games company. This involved the restructuring and refocusing of the development team, establishing a games studio, standardisation work in J2EE and the forming of strategic alliances with Nokia, Vodafone and ARM Holdings. He was also part of a team that successfully raised over £20 million on the London Stock Exchange to support this transformation.
Products included a 3D software engine for mobile devices that shipped on over a quarter of a billion devices, #1 games for Disney, Sony Pictures and 20th Century Fox, web sites for Intel and the International Space Station and games for Lego. Superscape were ranked in the top 5 mobile games publishers in the USA as a result of the ground breaking 3D games titles produced.
Achievements
- Initiated the successful technology strategy to be a mobile technology vendor through market analysis, evangelism and business development.
- Revenues increased by 100% in first year as CTO as a result of improved strategy
- Platform developed is market leader and used by Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, LG and Sun Microsystems – achieved 35% market share and has shipped on over 200 million devices
- Built and managed games studio with full P&L responsibility. Recruited 3rd party developers
- Provided technical guidance and presented to investors as part of core team (CEO, CFO & CTO) for successful fund-raising of £20m.
- Authored 5 patent applications for commercial exploitation of technology.
- Developed market-leading e-commerce technology and solutions for Intel, Sony and Panasonic.
- Senior member of Executive Management team and member of UK board, Reported to CEO, main plc board and regular presenter to analysts and investors.
R&D Project Manager Insignia Solutions plc (May 1993 – December 1994)
Paul led the R&D team that developed the JIT compiler technology for SoftWindows 2.0, the market leading PC emulation package for the Unix and Apple Macintosh markets.
Head of Software Development TSC Limited (August 1985-April 1993)
Paul headed the team that developed robotics and vehicle testing software and firmware for stress analysis projects within the company and for customers such as McLaren F1 and the Mayo Clinic.
European Service Centre Supervisor Allen Bradley Limited (August 1982-August 1985)
Development of software, firmware and hardware for fault diagnosis.
Key Technology Expertise
- iPhone, Android and HTML5 mobile app development.
- Java, Scala and Erlang server development.
- NoSQL databases and Hadoop data warehouses.
- SIP and WebRTC based VoIP and Voicemail.
- XMPP Instant messaging.
- 3D Graphics and Code Optimisation.
- Honours Degree in Applied Physics from UCL London.
- 11 Patents co-authored, 4 at application stage.
- Served on Initial Expert Groups for Java Standardisation of new APIs.
- Appointed Orange Expert in Communications Services
- Experienced speaker at conferences and trade events.
Personal Interests
- Music and recording technology
- Vintage guitar collector (18 and counting)
- Recent personal projects: iTunes Visualizer using OpenGL, Arduino Digital Guitar Controls
|
