As Head of Operations - a role which spans ownership of legal, compliance, finance, IT and facilities - my goal is to enable Gearset to effectively deliver our software to our global customer base in an effective and scalable manner, and support the long term growth of the company.

We launched Gearset when we saw how lacklustre DevOps was preventing teams from taking full advantage of Salesforce. We’d experienced first-hand how Salesforce allowed anyone to become a Trailblazer and build amazing apps, but then left you stranded, with only Change Sets or complex command lines to get your work to users. Gearset makes DevOps on Salesforce as simple as everything else on Salesforce.Starting with release management, we’ve developed Gearset into the comprehensive DevOps tool it is today by focusing relentlessly on two things: simplicity and deployment success. Over the past six years, our team has obsessively used customer feedback to drive Gearset’s daily releases, building a platform that can handle even the most complex ALM workflows.Gearset is now the leading DevOps tool for Salesforce. It scales from teams first dipping their toes into DevOps right through to teams of hundreds of people making the most of parallel development and continuous delivery.As Head of Customer Success, I'm responsible for driving positive commercial outcomes in our thriving global customer base, ensuring we continue to deliver world-class technical support, onboarding and account management, and mentoring and developing our amazing team. I'm also responsible for Gearset's legal, compliance and internal operations, including Gearset's InfoSec programs and regulatory compliance.

Working as part of the Ventures division, my role was to help bring Gearset, a new SaaS Salesforce release management product, successfully to market. As Business Development Manager, my remit covered a broad mixture of marketing, sales and strategy. I was responsible for defining, reaching, and engaging with our customers by creating and executing our marketing strategy. I acted in a sales role, from pre-sales support through to negotiations and invoicing. I also acted as the go-between from our customers to our engineering team, to guide product development and strategy and ensure the commercial success of the project.

If it supported the commercial success of the company, I was there to make it happen. Remits like that only appear in start-ups! From advertising and branding through to pricing and key messaging, my role was to define the public face of BlinkPipe. Behind the scenes, I supported our reseller network, producing marketing collateral and training material that helped them sell BlinkPipe. Given the flexibility of the role, an adaptable and enthusiastic approach was key. Strategic market positioning and product pricing? Sorted. Copywriting and graphic design? Tick. Sales support and reseller training? Done. A few highlights from my time at the marketing helm:• Revised and released a new range of products and services to build our sales revenue• Designed, built and launched a modern website to enhance our brand• Created swathes of sales and marketing collateral to support our reseller network• Helped shape our pricing strategy and market positioning• Trained up our resellers at our in-house sales & technical training days • Wrote job specs, interviewed candidates and on-boarded new hires

Ensuring that our customers received the goods they ordered - in good time and produced to a high quality - was my on-going responsibility. To allow us to continue this as the company grew, I moved our manufacturing from in-house to a fully outsourced, scalable process. As a result, we increased our production capability by an order of magnitude, reduced manufacturing costs by over 20%, shortened lead times and improved product quality. Whether it was initial planning, sourcing suppliers, managing stakeholders, contract and price negotiations, initial implementation or on-going optimisation, I was there. Some other things I looked after while in the role:• Managing the design and development of new products, from initial designs through to prototyping, manufacturer sourcing, tooling production and route to market• Ensuring compliance with safety and licensing regulations, including CE certification and patent licensing• Managing company finances, tracking budgets, preparing VAT returns, raising POs, reconciling transactions and implementing Direct Debit for customer payments• Maintaining and developing our supply chain, increasing efficiency and reducing costs through a process of continual review of suppliers and processes• Office management, including locating new premises for our expanded team and getting us up and running as soon as possible after the move• Logistics; from preparing shipments to filling in customs documentation, I made sure our cameras arrived at our customers all around the world• Marketing and sales support, including producing collateral, liaising with customers and resolving support issues

I joined Deloitte as a graduate hire into the Analyst Induction Programme within Technology Consultancy. I attained industry-standard qualifications including BCS (ISEB) and ITIL v3 certificates in parallel to my client work. I spent five moths in a PMO (project management office) role on an IT modernisation programme for a global manufacturing company. I quickly took responsibility for numerous deliverables including Level 0 plans, managing and organising Change Boards and Programme Delivery Groups and co-ordinating financial tracking and reporting for the £20 million programme. I also took a team lead role on a large public sector bid and worked to improve knowledge sharing across the technology consultancy sector as Infrastructure Knowledge Champion.

I worked on all aspects of software marketing for the Cerebrata team within Redgate's Fledgling Markets division. I quickly gained technical knowledge of SaaS software solutions and took responsibility for social media, web and graphic design, Google Adwords and technical authoring. I took the initiative and expanded the campaign to include Microsoft Adcenter. The revised campaign resulted in significantly increased site traffic and software downloads, and improvements in bounce rate and average length of visits, significantly increasing ROI.

I spent two years as a reservist in the RAF as part of the University Air Squadron. During this time I received formal officer leadership and management training, flight training from RAF instructors in light aircraft, field and combat training. All of this was done alongside my university work and other commitments.A few highlights:• Learning to fly light aircraft, including aerobatics• Nighttime field exercises, working as a team to defend strategic locations• Placement at RAF Lyneham working with the Hercules transport crews• Discipline, fitness and the ability to work in a team under highly stressful conditions• Squadron entertainment officer, in charge of organising social events for the squadron

During my paid internship, I designed and built a prototype electrical system to detect manufacturing faults during superconducting-magnet coil production. Based at the Siemens factory near Oxford, I rapidly learnt Visual Basic programming, electronics and electrical system design, alongside project management skills. I designed and built a sensitive data-logging system which integrated with other factory-floor equipment, starting from circuit design through to building and testing the system itself. I also gave regular presentations to management team on project progress.

In what was one of the most enjoyable and challenging experiences of my life, I spent five months living and working in remote rainforests in central Madagascar, helping the research team study a critically endangered species of Lemur (Allocebus trichotis). Tracking the nocturnal animals at night through dense tropical rainforest, I worked with team of local guides and researchers to document their behaviour and feeding habits. This covered radio tracking, catching and collaring the animals, GPS tracking, feeding behaviour and social interactions. Working in such a remote and unforgiving environment with limited resources (and a language barrier) was a challenge, but it was hugely rewarding when we documented hitherto unknown behaviour. Whilst out there, I also spent some time working with local conservation and tourism groups to help build a sustainable development plan for the local area.

Ran the 'Golgi Body', a student society where students and external speakers gave presentations on biological topics and shared ideas and feedback. Organised and introduced guest presentations from external speakers, and acted as the student liaison between the biology department and the student body on subject and departmental topics.

During Sixth Form at secondary school, I took part in the Young Enterprise scheme and became IT director of our student run company. It was a fun and a fantastic early exposure to running a small company, and the challenges and rewards that go along with it, and began to spark my interest in business and entrepreneurship.