I led an internal project to re-define the group and our outputs, aligning it to the company’s long-term objectives. I defined the vision of the team, determined the strategy and direction, created new processes and ways of working, while fostering agreement and signoff from a diverse group of innovative thinkers. I contributed towards the restructuring of the team, defining the hierarchy and the job specifications for multiple roles and bands, resulting in a more focussed team capable of addressing disruptive innovations in technology.

As the senior technical member of the team, I explore and implement cutting-edge technologies on the 3-5 year horizon to expand AstraZeneca's capabilities. I identify and validate new technologies, showcasing their value to strategic leaders through demos, presentations, and workshops. This is done with the aim of raising awareness and understanding, while also looking to support the integration of new capabilities within the company through determining future strategies, funding, and hiring. In addition to building the software we use, I oversee the management of our production environments and sandboxes, encompassing both cloud and physical infrastructure and equipment.I have hands-on experience with a vast number of technologies to deliver Proof of Concepts as well as partnering directly with vendors to draw outcomes as part of the technology evaluation. I work with everything from start-ups and open-source technologies, through to the tech giants where we can get early access to innovative technologies.Key Achievements:Creation of a new XR Capability: Architected the platforms and ecosystems to be used, contributed towards pitch decks, negotiated MSAs with procurement and legal teams, defined roles and job specifications, interviewed the first hires into the new team, coached new hires and collaborated on initial projects.Developed the emerging technology portal: A single location to view new and emerging technologies as well as an automated pipeline of projects being worked on, based on data provided by others in the team. I implemented both the front and backend.Designed and built proof of concepts: In order to communicate the potential impact of emerging technologies in the 3-5 year horizon. This involved working with technologies such as VR & AR, ML and Generative AI, Blockchain, Digital Twins, and more.Redesigned our innovation process: Lead and contributed towards the team’s vision, processes, and new ways of working.

In order to formally allow me to work on innovative technologies during work hours, my job title was changed. I carry out research into disruptive technologies that would be of benefit to the company as well as planning how we can go from a proof of concept to a viable solution that is used in production. Examples of the types of problems I am working on include: Virtual Reality to simulate factory training environments, where users gain muscle memory of procedures without having to take any equipment offline. Machine Learning, either as bespoke solutions to solve unique business problems, or working with vendors to deliver a solution for a project (e.g. IBM Watson). Blockchain, to drive efficiency and accountability within the supply chain. Natural language processing, to make the most of our unstructured data that is contained within large numbers of text documents. Virtual Assistants, such as chatbots and voice activated devices, to drive efficiency and accessibility for specific areas within the business.

As a Software Engineer I was in charge of the design and implementation of various in house business applications using C# .NET, creating new systems as well as supporting legacy ones. Over the course of my time in this position I enabled us to migrate away from old approaches and towards using restful APIs with clients in the browser as well as adding unit testing and e2e testing capabilities.

After spending some time with the company, my role grew to include the implementation of systems as well as testing them. Testing activities also expanded into more technical areas with particular focus on performance, security and automation. When viruses were targeted at the company I assisted in reverse engineering them and resolving issues caused. I have implemented complex multi-server systems as well as driving the addition of helpful software to the company such as the analytics suite Piwik and source control system Gitlab.

As a test analyst, I was tasked with the design and execution of tests for in house applications. I worked closely with both the end users and programmers to see applications through the whole life cycle. Over the two years that I was in this position I became ISTQB advanced level qualified and implemented new quality processes for the business to use when creating or implementing software. I was also tasked with testing and helping to implement bought in systems, requiring the ability to quickly pick up previously unseen technologies and work with systems that have little to no documentation.