Working in partnership with the General Manager to manage all aspects of the business, with specific focuses on key areas including, but not limited to:• Business strategy• Business process refinement and implementation• Web design, development and user experience• Online digital marketing, branding and brand standards• On-site and off-site social media development and optimisation• SEO and content optimisation• Budget and resource managementIn my time as COO, I pioneered a series of user-centric design and development projects, including an end-to-end re-evaluation and restructure of the site’s IA and navigation, a major rebuild of the site’s underlying technical architecture, and managed the implementation of a large number of UX changes which required carefully balancing the results of user testing, gaze plot visualisation, retrospective interviews, and focus groups, with business KPIs, subject matter expertise, stakeholder objectives, technical feasibility, and ROI.Leading web production and acting as line manager to all web production staff, I implemented new SEO and user-focused content strategies in response to evolving user behaviours and search algorithm changes, whilst spearheading CRO measures and working to revise and refine the business’s online sales and product models. This resulted in an increase of 1200% in online enquiry and a 300% increase in organic traffic, over 2 years.

• Specialising in working with start-up businesses and SMEs to create customised web solutions which meet the specific requirements of each business• Designing and producing sleek, effective websites and publications, underpinned with a strong, consistent design style and a strong focus on usability design• Analysing business requirements and consulting with business owners to plan, conceptualize and design effective solutions which adhere to tried and tested design methodologies• Coding elegant, streamlined CSS-driven websites• Consulting on branding and brand standards• Creating efficient, stylesheet-driven InDesign templates

• Have run photoshoots to capture portraits of a range of groups and individuals, including musicians, media spokespeople, business professionals and many other bespoke clients• Worked as a freelance cameraman to film a number of interviews for a documentary produced by Testimony Films as part of 'Wivenhoe Remembered: The Wivenhoe Oral History Project'• Curated and managed the 'Key Arts Video Showcase,' a public event showcasing the work of local and international video artists in Ipswich• Acted as a stills and video photographer at a number of weddings, balls and other public events• Worked as a runner on the set of Channel 4 documentary 'Britain's Boy Soldiers' which won 'Best Network Documentary' at the 2004 RTS Awards• Product tested various prototype models of the Lindos MiniSonic Mic Kit, feeding back results to its manufacturers to help improve aspects of its design and functionality, prior to its public launch• Directed and produced 'Hylozoism,' a 35 minute non-narrative documentary film which was screened at a number of public events, including the Sheffield International Documentary Festival• Stock photographer for the Getty Images affiliate program

As Gapyear.com Web Design and Development Team Leader:• Defined and managed the gapyear.com design and development work-stack• Sat on the gapyear.com management team, working in collaboration with the A&I General Manager to manage all aspects of the business• Initiated and managed a key UX project with digital agency Cyber-Duck, which included user and usability testing (with eye-tracking), retrospective user interviews and focus groups, web analytics analysis, SEO, major reworking of the sites IA and navigation, wire-framing and laying the groundwork for implementation of responsive web design breakpoints (including mobile and tablet)As Flight Centre UK Web Development Assistant Team Leader:• Managing the web development work-stack of the flightcentre.co.uk, roundtheworldexperts.co.uk, myadventurestore.co.uk, corptraveller.co.uk and thetravelclub.co.uk websites, in co-ordination with the Web Development TL• Worked with numerous brands, most notably Flight Centre and Round the World Experts, to analyse and refine approaches to SEO and development

• Oversaw the complete redesign and rebuild of all aspects of the gapyear.com website, to allow a series of significant upgrades to its functionality• Redefined the Information Architecture of the gapyear.com website, to improve usability and hone user journeys• Played a pivotal role in relocating the gapyear.com website and related CMS systems from a costly, custom developed system to a highly stable solution using series of widely supported platforms including Expression Engine, OpenX and Marketo• Was central to two significant rebranding projects, both of which required significant changes to the look and feel of the gapyear.com website and the rebranding of all company sundries and stationary • Worked closely with an offsite development team in Brisbane, Australia to develop and deploy new website functionality• Was responsible for gathering statistical data on website performance, analysing, creating and circulating reports to relevant gapyear.com and Flight Centre management personnel, using historical data to set realistic performance criteria for use in all departments, and producing extrapolations to support high level business plans

• Put in place the design styles and principals governing the functional and aesthetic design of a brand new publication and was responsible for overseeing it's design throughout the life-cycle of each issue• Involved in the management of the publication from it's early conceptualisation, through to the distribution of its 100,000 copy print-run• Acted hands-on as Lead Designer on the magazine, working with editorial staff, writers, illustrators and other designers to design, produce and proof every spread

• Worked with the Director of Operations to implement and hone a number of SDLC processes• Was directly responsible for overseeing all IT and design projects throughout their life cycle, from conceptualization and requirements capture, through to design, development, deployment and testing• Controlled a number of key processes such as change and defect management• Acted as technical liaison, communicating complex technical issues to non-technical staff of all levels• Was line manager to the companies IT & design resource• Managed business partnerships with Hostelbookers, Expedia, Blacks Leisure Group and a number of other key clients• Reported directly to the companies board of directors, giving consultation in a variety of technical and non-technical matters

• Oversaw two major redesigns of the gapyear.com website. The first focused on improving brand, aesthetics, navigation and UX. The second redesign required a complete restructure of the site, rewriting the code to bring it in line with future-proof, modular programming methodologies. The second of these websites won gapyear.com Website of the Year at the British Youth Travel Awards in 2007• Conceptualised, designed and oversaw the development and deployment of Gapyear.com Campaign Manager, a customer-facing CMS built in PHP and MySQL, designed to support the second major redesign of the website• Made major refinements to the brand and introduced fully documented brand specifications and external usage guidelines• Worked with the Website Editor to implement internal design and editorial sign-off processes • Managed a number of designers and front end web developers• Worked closely with the directors of Way Out Experiences (WOX) to launch the joint venture volunteering company The Great Volunteer Project. Worked hands on to develop the brand and design the website and brochures• Worked with representatives from Advance Payment Solutions (APS) to launch the Gap Year Prepaid Credit Card. Worked hands on to design and deploy the card, associated literature, bounceback emails, online and offline adverts, stand artwork and the gapyearcard.com website• Designed and conceptualised the original gapyear.com online community components and oversaw their deployment from a functional and aesthetic design perspective• Worked as part of a small SEO team who managed to increase traffic to the gapyear.com website by almost 400% in 3 years

• Redesigned and recoded the website• Rebranded all company assets in line with the website update, including brochures, print adverts, letterheads, business cards, software CDs, product packaging and manuals, posters, stand artwork and other documentation• Developed a product fascia for the Lindos MiniSonic MS20• Photographed many of the companies key products for use in a range of media