Chris Ainslie Email & Phone Number

Durban, Kzn, Za

South Africa

- Lead a team of Business Development Managers, responsible for sales of products and services.- Manage strategic partnerships and group company alliances.- Develop and execute sales strategies to achieve annual revenue targets.- Collaborate with Executive Committee (EXCO) and Business Unit Managers to align strategies.- Oversee budget and revenue management, accountable for the annual budget.

South Africa

- Managed two national development business units with over 60 developers, project managers, and business analysts.- Full commercial responsibility for business units, including budget and revenue management.- Reported to EXCO, ensuring alignment with corporate strategies and goals.

South Africa

- Managed national custom development teams across all customers and projects.- Led a team of 56 developers, project managers, and business analysts.- Responsible for the full commercial performance of the business unit, including budgeting and revenue.- Reported to EXCO, provided insights into development progress and strategic planning.

Durban Area, South Africa

- Managed coastal development teams (Durban & Cape Town) for all customers and projects.- Responsible for coastal revenue management, overseeing two project managers and 13 developers.- Full commercial responsibility for the business unit, reporting directly to EXCO.

Hillcrest, South Africa

As the Business Development Manager, I was accountable for driving all new business and managing customer relationships—basically, if there was a deal to be made or a client to be kept happy, I was on it. I took charge of the initial analysis of all new projects, meticulously scoping and preparing proposals that were both compelling and realistic (most of the time).I was deeply involved in resource planning, strategic planning, and operations—juggling these roles required a blend of strategic thinking and the occasional act of wizardry. Managing two account managers, who were responsible for the sales of both products and services, was also part of my daily routine. Together, we worked to turn ambitious targets into remarkable achievements.Speaking of achievements, I’m proud to say we exceeded expectations by a long shot: achieving 265% of the annual target for FY2017 and 256% for FY2018. (Yes, those numbers are real—I double-checked them.)And, of course, I reported directly to the CEO, keeping them updated on our progress and occasionally surprising them with our success.

Hillcrest, South Africa

As a Scrum Master, my primary role was to facilitate efficiency improvements within the development team. I was responsible for managing the scrum process using Agile methodologies, ensuring that everyone was aligned and working smoothly without any roadblocks. Removing impediments for the team was a big part of my job—sometimes this meant finding the right person to solve a problem, and other times it involved coaxing the printer into cooperation.I coordinated and scheduled daily stand-up meetings, facilitated demos, and managed decision-making processes. I worked closely with the product owner to keep the product backlog well-maintained and ready for the next sprint, ensuring we were always prepared for what was ahead.Conducting retrospective meetings was another key responsibility—these sessions were designed to reflect on what went well and what could be improved, fostering a culture of continuous improvement. I aimed to delight our customers by guiding the team in effectively using Agile/Scrum practices, helping them reach higher levels of maturity at a pace that was both sustainable and comfortable.I focused on building a trusting and safe environment where team members could raise issues without fear of blame or judgment, promoting open communication and problem-solving. My role also involved facilitating work without coercion or dictating tasks, encouraging a more self-organized and motivated team.Additionally, I supported and educated the Product Owner, particularly in grooming and maintaining the product backlog, always leading with a servant leadership style. My goal was to ensure transparency and improve communication both within and outside the team, creating a positive and productive atmosphere.

Pinetown, Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa

As a software development project manager, I wore many hats—sometimes all at once. My responsibilities were varied, ranging from software vendor management and needs analysis to vendor selection, project management, solution implementation, and ongoing system maintenance. In short, if it involved software, I had a hand in it.I oversaw the development team responsible for all enterprise system maintenance and enhancements, ensuring that everything we built not only worked but also aligned perfectly with the strategic goals of the organization. Think of me as the guardian of our enterprise architecture—nothing got past without my say-so.But my role didn’t stop at the technical nitty-gritty. I was also the go-to person for understanding and documenting stakeholder requirements, which meant plenty of meetings where I translated their grand visions into actionable plans. (Yes, I spoke fluent "Executive" and "Developer," often acting as the interpreter between the two.) I integrated these needs with requirements gathered from all business units, ensuring we were all rowing in the same direction.On top of that, I moonlighted as a technical consultant within the IT and operational divisions. There, I assisted the IT manager with planning, budgeting, and scoping out all IT projects—basically, making sure we had enough fuel in the tank and the right map to get us to where we needed to go.Whether it was strategizing on enterprise architecture or rolling up my sleeves to fine-tune a project scope, I kept our ship sailing smoothly through the sometimes choppy waters of software development.

Durban, Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa

Managing a team of developers can often feel like herding cats, but I was fortunate to lead a clowder of remarkably well-behaved and self-driven professionals. This allowed me to focus on more strategic responsibilities, such as engaging in high-level meetings with executives and stakeholders, where I quickly became known not just as a bringer of solutions, but also as a sharp detector of unrealistic expectations.As the development manager, my primary responsibilities included overseeing the team’s priorities and workload, ensuring all development projects—both new and ongoing—were meticulously planned, resourced, and delivered on time and within budget. I worked closely with clients, business analysts, and the management team to align our technical efforts with business objectives, often advising on matters of architecture and digital strategy.One of my key achievements in this role was leading the complete redevelopment of our flagship product, which involved extensive planning, technical development, and testing phases. This project, a ground-up rewrite using new technologies, significantly improved our client's bottom line and demonstrated our capacity for innovation and technical excellence. The project required managing all resources, ensuring compatibility with existing systems, extensive development work, internal testing, user acceptance testing, and support post-release.Beyond project management, I dedicated a significant portion of my time to mentoring developers, fostering an environment of continuous learning and professional growth. My hands-on experience with enterprise systems and software development—often writing application and SQL code myself—was an invaluable asset that I leveraged daily to guide the team in overcoming challenges and driving projects to successful completion.

Durban, Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa

No two companies define a Business Analyst the same way, and in this role, I wore many hats. My day-to-day tasks ranged from managing client relationships to diving deep into project specifications. One moment, I was navigating client expectations and aligning them with feasible solutions; the next, I was deep in discussions with the development team, workshopping the technical intricacies that would form the foundation of our next major project.I thrived on the challenge of helping clients discover what they truly needed and translating those needs into actionable plans. This involved a mix of requirements gathering meetings, rapid application development (RAD) sessions, and collaborative brainstorming to ensure every solution was not only effective but innovative.The role required me to manage the entire product lifecycle—from initial feasibility studies through to final delivery and ongoing support. Despite the fun and excitement, there were also times when I became a “documentation machine,” churning out requirement specs, technical specs, and project specs, much to the dismay of the world's rainforests. While I wasn't thrilled about the paperwork, the satisfaction of seeing projects come to life and clients delighted made it all worthwhile. And just as Greenpeace and I were relieved, I eventually transitioned to a development manager role, bringing a fresh perspective from my extensive experience in defining and documenting robust, client-focused solutions.

Trying to feed oneself as a freelancing consultant is tough and I was starting to get hungry so I had to rely on my development skills for a while. While at Mondi I was almost struck by lightning in their parking lot and I rewrote an old DOS system for them. Fun as it was, I wasn't enjoying development as much as I used to and the small amount of analysis and architecture work I was doing for them just pushed me to look for more. Aside from that, I didn't want my kids going hungry so I took a more secure and permanent position.

Everyone who decides to go it alone and start their own business for the first time has a full bucket labeled great ideas and an empty bucket labeled experience. Learning that I had no idea how to market my skills or make myself known in any way was a very humbling thing. Over time I learned a few lessons and tried to fill my experience bucket before my ideas bucket was emptied whilst also picking up a few trusting clients for whom I performed various data analysis, data modelling and business process tasks. I found myself really enjoying digging through datasets and looking for trends and patterns which I could use to build models which defined new business processes and unlocked new revenue streams. I had a lot of fun defining and documenting systems for developers to build. Certainly where I really managed to add value was in meeting with various business stakeholders and trying to align their needs.Some of the time I need to write software or interface with data stores to extract what I needed. I worked primarily with SQL and MySQL databases although I spent a fair amount of time talking to Firebird and Interbase boxes as well.

At Derivco, the primary function of my position as Service Manager entailed serving as a central point of contact for Microgaming’s online casino operators and owners while developing and maintaining effective client relationships with them.I managed a portfolio of multimillion dollar international customers, ensuring that their daily operations were maintained to the highest standard, communicating with the owners and operational management staff on a daily basis. I was tasked with ensuring that all operational matters were effectively dealt with by the relevant departments in accordance with company standards.My experience with land based casinos while working at Namitech put me in a very good position to manage Microgaming’s clients’ issues and effectively monitor their daily operations with little need for training. My outgoing personality combined with my knowledge and experience of a broad range of technologies in both the IT and gaming industries served to add value to the team as well as to our customers’ businesses.

My duties at Namitech were focused on C++ software development in the land based casino industry. My projects included many different aspects, ranging from product specification and architecture design through the software development lifecycle. I was instrumental in developing the leading product for their Gaming & Leisure division which exposed me to intricate protocol development as well as new coding methodologies which, I feel, will enhance any products that I work on in the future. I have spent extensive time on Linux and Windows development, using C++ in an embedded product for Namitech. As a result of this, I have further extended my knowledge of TCP/IP, C++ and XML.

My daily activities included software design, software object creation (mostly relating to hardware control, database and Point of Sale front ends) and the implementation of these objects in a suite of electronic parking control products. I gained valuable experience in writing and interfacing to .dll and ActiveX objects, which, in this instance, have been used for wrapping database functionality as well as hardware control via various forms of digital I/O devices. I have gained extensive experience in Delphi 5 during this time. I was instrumental in developing a backend to process credit card transactions for an international client. I played a key role in implementing a completely new ethernet LAN for company Internet/email facilities. This included configuring Intel routers and relevant firewall, mail, web and proxy software and related security on a Windows NT server.

I was involved in all aspects of creating over 15 custom systems developed for one of the largest potable water suppliers in South Africa. A number of these were exclusively my projects from the analysis stage through to the handover to the client. During this time I was exposed to numerous software and database design methodologies as well as the implementation thereof. Experience gained with ICS includes .cgi development and exposure to DCOM and GIS development. Daily activities included client liaison, joint application development meetings, system and database analysis, SQL server database development & maintenance, Delphi application development and maintenance as well as end user support.