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Curriculum Vitae

I’m an inspiring, motivated technical leader with excellent communication skills capable of building high-performing teams. I’m a true technologist with an energetic passion for open-source, security and the development of those around me.

My focus is on technical leadership, but I’m a skilled software engineer that’s not afraid to get my hands dirty. My primary area of technical expertise is in Linux, Kubernetes, cloud automation and Information Security.

I’m heavily motivated by hard technical problems for good causes, and I like talking about it on stage whenever I get the opportunity.

Experience #

Canonical #

VP Engineering - May 21 - Present #

In January 2025, I was appointed the VP Engineering for Ubuntu at Canonical, assuming leadership of the Ubuntu Desktop, Server, Foundations and Debcrafters teams. I wrote about this appointment and my thoughts on it in Engineering Ubuntu For The Next 20 Years.

I have since led initiatives such as oxidizing Ubuntu, reimagining the release process and supported the design and development of upki.

My reach extends beyond my own projects as a trusted advisor to those my junior and senior. I work closely with the CEO, CTO and other leaders on a daily basis. I frequently lead engineering decisions behind snapd, LXD, MAAS, Multipass and Canonical Kubernetes. I’m frequently sought out to mentor both individual contributors and leaders.

My day-to-day focus is on the evolution of Ubuntu, and the development of the directors, managers and senior ICs in my organisation that enables them to move confidently and autonomously.

VP Engineering, Charm Engineering - May 21 - Present #

  • Led the development of Juju and the ecosystem of charms.
  • Grew the team from 25 to over 125 in the first three years - hiring from Graduate to Director level, while maintaining high employee engagement across the board.
  • Delivered enterprise-grade data, observability, identity and MLops platforms.
  • Led the Starcraft team, responsible for delivery of Canonical’s craft tooling.
  • Authored new employee levelling framework and promotion process company wide throughout 2023.
  • Authored the Canonical Leadership Academy - a six-month course comprising a handbook, weekly Google Meet seminars and a workbook aimed at developing leaders across the company to drive their teams more effectively and sustainably.

Product Lead - Mar 21 - May 21 #

  • Led the design and delivery of features across functional teams.
  • Worked closely with CEO & CTO to evolve technical strategy for Juju and charms.
  • Consolidated and authored missing technical documentation for Juju and ops.
  • Introduced and designed the Juju Terraform provider.
  • Delivered live training at Operator Day / Kubecon 2021 (video).
  • Researched and authored technical style guides and implementation examples for charms built with ops.

Thales UK #

Technical Solutions Architect - 2019-2021 #

  • Proposed, designed and delivered a multi-tenant, cloud-native development platform on Microsoft Azure, delivered through extensive use of infrastructure-as-code and automation.
  • Designed, built and open-sourced a ‘zero-trust’ SSH tool in Go (sshizzle).
  • Built, trained and mentored a new cloud engineering team.
  • Helped define Thales UK Digital Platform strategy through frequent interaction with C-suite leadership as a technical consultant.
  • Defined Thales Group’s container security assurance process and best practices.
  • Executed engineering consultancy engagements ranging from critical national infrastructure to startups delivering zero-trust networking products.

British Army #

Captain - 2013-2019 #

  • Architected and built multiple high-end bespoke Electronic Surveillance capabilities.
  • Created a small start-up programme with a culture of disruptive innovation.
  • Conceived and delivered bespoke technical development and training programmes.
  • Co-authored the ‘CEMA Framework’ for the British Army which underpins Joint Forces CEMA doctrine.
  • Deployed tactical Electronic Warfare and strategic Signals Intelligence capabilities.

MWR InfoSecurity #

Internship - Jun 12 - Oct 12 #

  • Four month internship as Ruby on Rails applications developer
  • Delivered a robust, modern internal messaging and information sharing system

Education & Certification #

Talks & Podcasts #

I enjoy public speaking, and have been fortunate enough to have had a few opportunities to speak on a range of topics:

Contact #

You can contact me at cv@sgrs.uk or on Telegram.