Kevin Foad Email & Phone Number

London, Ontario, CA

Manager to the CARFAX AFI team, conducting R&D in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to leverage data and help customers around the world shop, buy, service and sell vehicles.

Waterloo, ON, CA

• Foundational services engineering manager responsible for a dozen software systems and services underpinning Manulife Retail Banking - such as batch, banking services, integration points, databases, PCI/PII protection.
• Managed 9 developers, across 2 multi-functional scrum teams (SAFe) - incorporating 2 offshore and 4 offshore contingency workers - alongside BA's & PO's provided by the business.
• Member of management team spanning 3 ART's (Agile Release Trains) covering On-boarding, Service and Platform streams involved in planning, roadmapping and strategic/technical direction.
• PENTEST response, Snyk compliance, manage intake requests (for self-reported or stakeholder/internal customer requests), asset sustainment work and access control/audits.
• Forge relationships, adhoc team training, coaching and mentoring.

Kitchener, Ontario, CA

• Program / Project / Initiative management of Autonomy software for Neo 2 scrubbing robot using pragmatic agile scrum, hybrid processes, artefacts & techniques.2020-22 Autonomy Program Portfolio - managed.
• Adopt machine learning (semantic segmentation) to detect low obstacles (pallets, fork tines, debris) opening sales to previously unsuitable environments.
• Mission & guidance planning features to increase value proposition of a single operator running robots at large customer sites (e.g. airports, DC's)
• 30% reduction in human intervention by R&D and replacement of navigation with a robust SLAM algorithm for highly variable environments, realising an opportunity for the system to suggest improvements to support staff.
• Managed corporate customer onboarding compliance features (e.g. migration of web apps to Azure from AWS) 2022-23: Shifted focus towards system & infrastructure to support next-gen product line:
• Facilitated on-time delivery of a highly technical, collaborative program to merge & rearchitect divergent customer solutions into a single extensible, configurable codebase. Workshopped agreement across software.

• Ventilators for Canadians (V4C) was a team of philanthropists and entrepreneurs finding solutions to help Canadians through the unprecedented COVID-19 health emergency. Founded by Jim Estill (Danby), Rick Jamieson (ABS.
• Team goal: Assist Baylis/Danby finalise processes and procedures for Start of Production.
• Establish baseline production at pace - Contributed improvements, feedback, flow improvements - specifically for QA/Test of finsihed units.
• Coach/train new recruits in all test stations (electrical safety/compliance, configuration, calibration and final testing & packaging).
• Medical Device manufacture quality/productivity standards including ISO 14971 (Risk Management), ISO 13485 (Medical Devices), QMS, 5S, Kanban.
• Semi-cleanroom environment, with COVID-19 safe working practices.

CA

Relocating my family 5632 kilometers took a few months out of my working life. With careful planning, courage and hard work we're settled. I'm centred, re-energized & excited to find my first role in Canada!(+COVID-19 happened.)

Newport, Wales, GB

• Head of Profession leader across Software Development, QA Test, Operations & Support. Collectively responsible for capability, consistency, community & careers of ~100 technical staff through organisation-wide.
• Define, recruit, build & lead team of 4 HoP's to manage changing needs of department & staff.
• Develop several teams in leadership, coaching culture, collaboration & dialogue.
• Coached ~20 staff (graduate to director).Created team objectives & ethos:
• Capability: Skills matrix, individual & team training plans, support blended-teams with suppliers, change management & coordinated bespoke ‘Managing Technical People’ training.
• Consistency: Identify & embed consistent tools & processes. Maintain & document professional standards.

Cardiff, Wales, GB

• Certified Product Owner and Solutions Analyst as part of a team of six Business Analysts & Technical Analysts, considered the ‘thought leaders’ of the company. My unique role of Solutions Analyst combined both Business.
• Planning and running collaborative, shared understanding discovery workshops – e.g. product vision, user story mapping, user profiles, acceptance criteria and prioritisation.
• Provide ‘servant leadership’ to multidisciplinary scrum teams, build shared understanding (StoryTime) and lead collaborative sessions to find solutions, estimate effort, identify resources and plan work.
• Work with embedded QA to define a ladder of readiness, definition of done and documentation standards.
• Reporting and governance, as required by the business and client.Business functions:
• Process improvement / best practice.

Blackwood, South Wales, GB

• Product Manager (in final 3 years) & Senior software developer in BLaDE (Battlespace Laboratory and Digital Environments) in Defence R&D department.Developing, maintaining and working with military clients to deliver a.
• Senior C++ Developer (multi-threaded, multi-core network distributed processing) plus 3 years as Product Manager – XP, scrum and DSDM
• Global company-wide award-winning team of 4-10 developers
• Ideation and development from ‘throw-away prototype' to mature capability (TRL8+)
• Customer requirements gathering, briefings and demos - travelling UK, Europe & Canada
• Briefed and demonstrated R&D outputs and product capability to ministers, international defence chiefs, senior military personnel, partners and vendors with clarity and enthusiasm

• Research & Development Lead Engineer deployed to Dutch office to develop innovativevideo gaming technology for fixed odds and skill games to play for 'pocket money prizes' in the HoReCa (Hotel Restaurant Cafe).
• R&D of multigame, multiplayer gaming machines - implemented core cash-handling gamingmodels and animated player interfaces.
• Identified, defined and contributed to R&D platforms, concepts, prototypes and products.
• Prepared accelerated simulations and documentation for gaming law compliance testing.
• Ported legacy products to new platforms.
• Mentored and lead graduate software engineers.

• Co-creator of the original GoldenBall casino/amusement game, having both key technical implementation and creative input. Product development from concept, physical build, trial/proof and sale of concept to prospective.
• Developed Goldenball, a new-concept in 3D multiplayer AWP (Amusement With Prizes) gaming, ideation to market.
• R&D and specified hardware, integrated systems, development and support strategy.
• Developed reusable OpenGL 3D graphics engine and integrated game controller platform.
• Designed and created artwork and 3D models.
• Directed and recorded voice talent.

• Gamestream was an experimental startup which sadly folded. Impressed with my approach and skills, the business owner retained me to wind down the business for a month and to start the Goldenball product concept (see.
• R&D to specify and develop a low-cost mini-PC-based gaming platform.
• Maintained legacy embedded gaming products.

• Joined 12-month graduate development programme with Coinmaster (later Capital Gaming) and Cardiff University, made permanent on completion. The scheme aimed to develop graduate business skills and to transfer knowledge.
• R&D of multiplayer 3D graphics engine and casino gaming platform (large money prizes) for use in Winning Post horse racing video game (exported around UK, Europe and Las Vegas) & combined video/physical roulette games.
• UML architectural design and C++ implementation using design patterns.
• Built dynamic commentator soundtrack from directed voiceover work by Channel 4 Racing's Mike Cattermole.
• Lectured at Cardiff University on ‘Data Modelling’ and ‘3D Graphics Technology.’

New York, US

• Student Volunteer at ACM SIGGRAPH 2000 Conference in New Orleans, LA, USA. Two weeks of varied tasks to aid in the smooth running of an international computer graphics conference.
• Presenter assistance/hospitality
• Event Ushering/Guide
• Shop Assistant

Cardiff, Wales, GB

Liaising with academic staff to prepare course notes and department handbooks. Conducted statistical analysis and make projections to help intake planning by Education Support Staff.

Cincinnati, OH, US

Summer placement with the GE90 Support Cell at GE Aircraft Engine Services, as clerical support to engineers maintaining GE90 turbofan aircraft engines (for Boeing 777 aircraft). Novel contribution to improve tracing FAA paperwork through factory departments through 12-month maintenance cycle.

Bsc 1St Class With Honours, Computer Science

Phd (Incomplete) Research, Computer Graphics (Nonphotorealistic Rendering & Machine Vision)

'A' Levels (Post-Grade 12 Equivalent)

'A' Levels (Post-Grade 12 Equivalent)

Education record