Alex Walker

Experience

• 

  Staples UK

  Jan 2008 - Dec 2012

  At this time was offered the opportunity to join the stores management team, the role entailed supporting the general managers by assuming operational responsibilities and providing coaching to relevant teams to achieve results, while being accountable for sales services and standards.Key achievements;• Implemented a new in store tech repair service across divisions• Restructure of stores including opening of new stores• Delivered a structured and effective workflow for store operations• Representative for 16 Stores in all supporting aspects• Managed the stores team and Inventory systems• Controlled the allocation of stock to high performing stores Show less

  • Team Leader

    Aug 2010 - Dec 2012

  • Sales Specialist

    Jan 2008 - Jan 2011
• 

  Debenhams

  Dec 2012 - Feb 2016

  Working as part of the solution delivery team responsible for the execution of all delivery activities for projects assigned, adhering to the agreed schedule & budget, quality & standards as per the customer’s expectations.Responsibility for the co-ordinated design and production of a solid and scalable solution based on well-formed requirements, whilst closely managing the delivery team for each piece of work.Key Accountabilities and Responsibilities:• Working closely with the Project & Programme managers to ensure resource requirements and allocations are in line with the functional area’s roadmap of delivery.• Highlighting any risks and issues with mitigation and escalation advice to address problems and keep the deliveries on track.• Ensure defects and issues are managed and take corrective/preventative action to meet quality standards.• Responsible for ensuring that all hardware / systems / applications are developed in line with business strategy and have an evolution, business continuity and decommissioning plan in place in line with the delivery framework.• Working with internal and external delivery teams, within a functional area to convert requirements into solid and scalable solutions that are delivered on time and within budget. Show less Application Services Analyst - Service Delivery January 2014 to PresentWorking as part of the direct order management team within the Debenhams IT division. This involves efficiently diagnosing systems faults and Identifying potential improvements, whilst providing second line support on every aspect of the Company’s multichannel shopping channel services.Key accountabilities and responsibilities:• Providing continual systems support.• Working closely with 3rd parties and concession contracts to ensure swift problem resolution and escalation where required.• Working with the Network teams to ensure all connections are correct for third parties to send and receive information.• Evaluating and improving the infrastructure monitoring aspects.• Day to day management of offshore parties and coordinating knowledge transfer where required.• Ensuring ITIL practices are used throughout the workplace. Show less Working a continental shift system over 365 days a year, Responsible for the day-to-day delivery of the operations scheduled workload. Working to strict agreed Service Levels, supporting lots of applications. Interacting with Developers and other support teams and 3rd party support where necessary to ensure swift resolution to programming issues. Providing regular out of hours 1st line support to the business ensuring prompt escalation where necessary. Applying all relevant Business Policies and IT/ITIL standards within the production environment. Show less

  • IS Delivery Lead - Retail & Business Support

    Apr 2015 - Feb 2016

  • Application Services Analyst - E-commerce & Business Intelligence

    Jan 2014 - Apr 2015

  • Systems Operation Analyst

    Dec 2012 - Jan 2014
• 

  Claims Consortium Group

  Feb 2016 - Sept 2018

  To manage all project and software development effort in line with our agile development process. To be responsible for the day to day project management of the development team and manage all IT Projects/Change requests from start to finish. Ensure that deadlines are clear, planned and met. Generates and maintains the overall IT Project plan in line with the IT roadmap. Act as the central communication hub keeping all key stakeholders up to date with progress through a close relationship with the business and external stakeholders, continued creation of new IT business processes.Key Accountabilities: Focus on ensuring all requests for IT change a specified through the Business Requirements Document (BRD) process working with the key Subject Matter Experts (SME’s) and Business Analyst. Creation of Project/resource plans to maximise resource utilisation. Manage all projects within the software development team, adhering to plans and budgets Ensuring the development process is adopted and standardisation adhered too  Highlighting any risks and issues with mitigation and escalation advice to address problems and keep the deliveries on track. Ensure defects and issues are managed and take corrective/preventative action to meet quality standards, ensuring projects are not impacted Ensure that we maximise the efficiency of our development resources, based on project priority and IT development dependencies. Liaise with the IT Developers to establish resource allocation and continually assess effectiveness. Drives forward project/change request by ensuring deadlines are planned and met.  Ensuring ownership of the teams velocity and reporting to stakeholders at the end of iterations. Ensuring that full visibility and transparency is given to all stakeholders with regards to the status and progress of current development work. Managing resource in multiple geo locations. Show less To manage all IT development projects/change requests from start to finish. Ensure that deadlines are clear, planned and met. Generates and maintains the overall IT project plan in line with the IT development roadmap. Act as the central communication hub keeping all key stakeholders up to date with progress through a close relationship with the business project management team. Key Accountabilities:• Focus on ensuring all requests for IT change are specified through the Business Requirements Document (BRD) process working with the key Subject Matter Experts (SME’s) and Business Analyst• Creation of Project/resource capacity plans to maximise resource utilisation• Liaise with the IT Director to establish priorities based on the agreed business projects priority order. • Highlighting any risks and issues with mitigation and escalation advice to address problems and keep the deliveries on track.• Ensure defects and issues are managed and take corrective/preventative action to meet quality standards.• Ensure that we maximise the efficiency of our development resources, based on project priority and IT development dependencies• Liaise with the IT Developers to establish resource allocation and continually assess effectiveness• Provide consistent documentation including IT development project plans• Work closely with the Project Management and Business teams with regards to IT development progression• Drives forward project/change request by ensuring deadlines are planned and met. • Continual assessment of the status of each project/change request• Communicate status of all projects /change requests in a consistent and timely fashion to all relevant stakeholders working with the business project management team where appropriate Show less

  • Software Delivery Lead

    Jun 2017 - Sept 2018

  • IT Projects Manager

    Feb 2016 - Jun 2017
• 

  Berkshire Cloud

  Sept 2018 - Mar 2021

  Responsible for leading multiple teams globally to deliver project(s) that span across one or more business units. Continuous Management of operational resources, schedules, financials and commercial client and sales management.Key Accountability and Responsibilities:• Set the overall direction, priorities and development of your department ensuring engagement and alignment with the Operations, Vision and Identity.• Manage commercial relationships with new and existing clients to continuously build our portfolio • Leadership, development and resourcing of the department to ensure that we attract, engage and develop high calibre talent that will meet the strategic and operational requirements of the function• Build strong and successful relationships across the teams involved in end to end delivery to generate engagement in projects and implementation into BAU.• Responsible for procurement of staff and services• Responsible for employee management and welfare• Ensure a consistent and effective method for project delivery• Stakeholder Management - Comms planning, reports and status updates• Effective change management within projects• Resource review & reporting across programmes/projects• Forecasting pipeline and future resource requirements for each department• Closure - Project review, impact, lessons learned, post project reports• Deliver leadership to the wider Operations division through the role as a member of the Senior Management Team, ensuring the products and services are consistently delivering value to the clients• Facilitate communication between management, sales, projects and workshop to ensure the smooth running of the delivery• Oversee all enquires that are received• Providing accurate reporting to the CTO & CEO as required• Implementation and management of ISO 27001 & 9001 Show less

  • Regional Head Of Operations & IT Delivery (UK & Asia Regions)

    Feb 2020 - Mar 2021

  • Head Of IT Delivery

    Sept 2018 - Feb 2020
• 

  Cardstream

  Mar 2021 - Jun 2023

  Head of Technical Operations & Delivery
• 

  Gregory Group

  Jun 2023 - now

  Head of Project Delivery