Brian Pickford

Experience

• 

  Costco Wholesale

  Dec 2004 - Dec 2021

  • Oversee the development and execution of Costco's Business Process Management team's strategic vision and ensure the team actions align with the larger goals of the company and IT division. • Responsible for leading a software development team (15+ employees) in the implementation, enhancement and support of BPMS solutions for Merchandise and Compliance Business areas. These solutions include Item Procurement, Non-Foods Quality Assurance, and Enterprise Facility Audits.• Proactively engage with my employees via regularly scheduled team meetings and employee 1:1 meetings• Executing team’s strategic plan through appropriate delegation of responsibilities and project assignments • Actively encourage employees to contribute to the success and high performance of the team by listening to and incorporating employee ideas and feedback, when appropriate• Support a healthy and cooperative team dynamic by fostering a work environment based on collaboration, openness, and trust • Coach and counsel employees on career development opportunities and options • Provide clear performance expectations and thoughtful and timely feedback for all employees• Complete functional supervisory responsibilities including, but not limited to: capacity planning and scheduling, performance management, employee recruitment and hiring, budgeting, personnel administration, etc. Show less Oversee platform and coexistence workstreams for Costco's SAP master data modernization project. • Lead 3 development teams to execute product build activities to meet project milestones• Successfully prioritize, plan, coordinate and drive efforts to complete deliverables in scrum and waterfall methodologies• Engage and collaborate with cross-functional teams and stakeholders to build solutions that meet project requirements • Manage issues, risks, and changes to project scope, schedule and budget• Coordinate efforts to share and manage resources with other project managers and teams • Manage user stories and task assignments until completion• Work with functional managers to staff projects by acquiring the necessary personnel from the various functional areas• Plan, lead and deliver highly technical, complex IT solutions across multiple business and IT teams • Successfully create and drive the plan to the build and setup of environments according to the project timeline• Scrum master certification• Proficient in the use of the Google products: email, spreadsheet, document, presentation• Proficient in the use of SmartSheets as a WBS and schedule tool Show less • Manage project stories, tasks, releases and coordination of deliverables with all teams• Facilitate weekly stand up meetings to discuss project status and progress. • Responsible for feature branch creation, code reviews, merging of code and deployment of builds for QA teams. • Contributor to all project design meetings and serve as a resource for decision making on best solutions. • Create branching strategy plans and improve process of feature release delivery. • Hold meetings with a team of Business Analysts and sponsors for project requirements. Show less • Full Stack Developer with a primary focus on front-end responsive development• Creating responsive mobile website using frameworks bootstrap, jquery, CSS, SCSS, and HTML• Handle and manage escalated web application problems reported by system users using service now• Create new applications and enhancements for company website. • Provide support for website issues and developed solutions for fixes. • Provide problem analysis, measurement, and process methodology. • Develop high quality code in alignment with business requirements and specifications. • Identify opportunities for process improvement. Show less • Created design specifications, coding (RPGIII, RPGIV, SQL), testing, creating and using service programs, debugging, creation of detailed test scripts, code reviews, and meeting project milestones for Costco's iSeries AS400 merchandising system • Managed tasks and set priorities for a small team of developers • Created project plan, overall design creation and database table creation • Maintained use case document changes, analyzed change requests and assigned defects • Created project feature builds into multi-tiered turnover libraries • Ensured compliance policies and regulation standards by creating all installation documentation associated with QA/QC -SOX corporate systems • Supported installs and drove product demos to users • Interacted with corporate merchandising users and provided solution assistance Show less

  • IT Manager, Software Development - BPMS

    Jun 2020 - Dec 2021

  • Technical Project Manager

    Sept 2018 - Jun 2020

  • Lead Software Developer

    Feb 2017 - Sept 2018

  • Software Developer II

    Apr 2012 - Feb 2017

  • iSeries AS400 Application Developer

    Dec 2004 - Apr 2012
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  Olympic Ski School

  Jan 2016 - Feb 2020

  Ski Instructor

  • Teach individuals the basic techniques of skiing or help them improve their skills and increase their level of ability.• Ensuring that personal equipment is well-maintained and ready for tackling a long day on the slopes• Teaching familiarity with the ski lifts• Attending meetings at the ski school in the morning to assign instructors to pre-booked lessons scheduled throughout the day

• 

  REI

  Oct 2016 - Jun 2020

  Sales Specialist

  • Inspire customers and outfit them for the outdoors. • Provide excellent customer service to REI members and guests. • Sell REI products, co-op memberships and services. • Continually expand knowledge of REI products and services. • Help to maintain visual standards and cleanliness within department. • Stock product from truck/warehouse to sales floor. • Communicate and cooperates with other staff and management team

• 

  REI

  Jan 2022 - now

  Software Engineering Manager, Product Engineering - REI.com

  • Lead, support and grow a talented team of engineers focused on delivering scalable solutions across the REI.com ecosystem.• Manage a distributed team environment consisting of full time employees and contractors operating across various locations & timezones. • Partner with engineering leadership to set strategy, priorities, and mission for teams and projects.• Build strong relationships with business partner teams to deliver innovative solutions that bring expertise to REI's digital experience.• Partner closely with Product Management and UX teams to meet business needs.• Oversee engineering financial management including planning, budgeting, forecasting of projects, resources and tools.• Oversee training and development of employees directly and indirectly managed and make effective staffing decisions.• Provide coaching, direction and leadership support to employees in order to achieve department, company and customer results. Show less