Mark Collins Email & Phone Number

Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland

In this role, I was working in an unconstrained fashion to define the strategic vision for ZephyrTel to become a leader in public cloud software solutions for the Telco industry. I worked directly with customers to communicate transformative investments in a thought provoking manner and was responsible for executing the commercial strategy which aimed to create growth for the company and value for the customer. My role reported directly to the CEO, in a highly acquisitive environment that presented a continuous stream of exciting new challenges and products.My primary responsibilities included, building and communicating a 5 year Vision for ZephyrTel's cloud native software stack, developing clear product roadmaps for each ZephyrTel solution, and working with Engineering and Operations to deliver market leading products to create great customer experiences which would revolutionize the TCO and capabilities available to Telco customers.

I managed a team of Product Managers, Solution Architects and Product Marketeers, responsible for the Product Management of, Product Marketing for, and supporting both Sales Engagements and Solution Delivery of, Openet's core software for Policy and Charging Management.My role is heavily involved in the ongoing evolution of Openet's core products for deployment in the Cloud, working with Product Development teams, using technology such as Docker and Kubernetes; leveraging Event Driven and Reactive design; and delivering it using CI:CD processes. I also have a key role in working to enable our Sales Teams all over the world; and in the Product Marketing of our products. To top it all, I get to engage with many of our customers (including prospective ones) in the Telecoms world, with quite a few being Tier 1 Group OpCos.

In my role at Openet I am responsible for the Product Management of the Openet Evolved Charging Suite (ECS), which at it's heart is a 3GPP compliant Converged Charging System (CCS). This involves:- Detailed understanding of the Product and the Solutions it makes possible for Openet's customers- Engagement with Sales, Solutions Management and Marketing to drive development of robust material to support successful customer engagements- Delivery of training for Direct and Indirect Sales for each product release and/or focus area relevant to customer solutions- Support for Solutions Consultants in the pre-Sales process with prospective customers- Evolution of the Market Led Strategic Roadmap for the Product Suite, leveraging engagement with customers (prospective and existing), and customer facing teams in Openet, to define market requirements that address the opportunities and challenges required for solution sales, with continual assessment of the product/solution portfolio against evolving industry trends and competitor challenges- Supporting the prioritisation around investment decisions through modelling of monetary market opportunity versus investment cost- Teaming with Product Development architects and managers to define the backlog for future releases (including prioritisation) using JIRA as the main tool of record with Roadmap REQUESTS linked to Technical Epics (and sometimes Stories) being the primary artifacts.- Working closely with the Ux\UI and Concept Visualisation Teams to enable early demonstration of new solutions/features

In my role with eircom\eir I was responsible for the management of a Team of up to 13 Design and Build Engineers. My responsibilities included: Resource and Capacity Management, Vendor Management for multiple Vendors, Release Planning support to multiple Release Managers where deliverables were required from my Team or from Vendors my team directly interfaces to, Process improvement, and Release\Version control. In executing my responsibilities I was directly involved in the successful execution of all major and minor releases on the Mobile systems stack, as well as the delivery of numerous independent Work Requests. In addition to the responsibilities outlined for my role with Meteor below, I was also system owner for the FusionWorks\ECS platforms from Openet used for real-time Data Charging, and for the Ericsson PrePay Charging System v5.3.

In my main role with Meteor I was responsible for the management of a team of Design and Build Engineers with delivery responsibility for all changes to the Singl.eView Billing\CRM solution and the Mediation platform. Initially this involved leading a Workstream as part of Meteor's Billing Replacement Programme, deploying the Singl.eView v6.01 system into Production in August 2009. This included the management of a Project Team of up to 28; split into 4 sub-Teams, and the management of the Billing Vendor (Intec\CSGi). Prior to launch, my responsibilities changed to cover the on-going configuration and enhancement of the Singl.eView Billing/CRM Solution and ongoing Mediation development, with a team of 5 permanent staff and 6 contract staff. This involved, BAU releases every 2 weeks, Configuration Project releases on average every 2 months, and Major release projects with the emphasis on the functional uplift every 6 to 8 months. For one of these, I was heavily involved in the launch of eMobile as a virtual operator. I was also responsible for vendor engagement and the delivery of their solutions into Meteor. This included responsibility for the scope of work being delivered by the Vendor, Change Management, and the Scope Definition of follow on work packages based on business priorities (with clearly identified Functional and Non-functional requirements). My responsibilities also covered the management and coordination of Meteor owned Project deliverables.

I had responsibility for managing the process of gathering Scope and Requirements for changes to IT Systems resulting from the introduction of a new Billing System (Singl.eView) within Meteor. This covered Web based Administration applications, the Number Portability System, and Operational Reporting, all of which are integrated to some degree with aspects of the Billing System.

I was briefly responsible for the development of a Web Search product for the European Marketplace. I had responsibility for the management of a team of 9 Engineers; 5 Software Engineers and 4 QA Engineers.

In line with AOLs objective to renew its Global aspirations, my role involved interaction with Product Management to define a cohesive strategy; and coordination with multiple development teams to pull together products and components for Portal Roll-outs in multiple countries. This included a more forward looking view, beyond current projects, with a view to building a Product Roadmap.

I was responsible for the Portfolio of Back Office Projects run for the AOL UK Business. My responsibilities included Portfolio and Account Management for the UK Business. I managed a mixed team of 4-6 Product and Project Managers who were responsible for projects from Intake to Release.

As a Product Manager, I fulfilled the functions of a Business Analyst or Requirements Engineer. The role involved responsibility for the management of the scope of a project from inception to release. This required close interaction with the responsible business stakeholders to initially define the Vision and Scope for a project and then to define and manage the detailed requirements. My responsibilities also included working with the relevant development groups in AOL to define estimates for the level of effort required to complete the project at the key milestones in the AOL Software Development LifeCycle, the review of Design documentation and working closely with the assigned Project Manager to ensure successful delivery to the requirements. The projects I was responsible for spanned areas including Customer Care and Billing, in support of the AOL UK Business.

My role in this period had 2 main aspects.My program management role involved the coordination of 2 major product development streams for KPN (Fixed Line and GSM Operator, the Netherlands). The 2 products were: a mediation device, and a web based management system to control the service being offered by the mediation devices deployed in KPN’s network. I was responsible for managing the program plan and all communication with the project sponsor within KPN. Along with the Account Manager for KPN, I was involved in the management of the contract. My wider development management role involved; people management, resource management, project planning, status reporting, and process definition and improvement. The main focus of the role was to ensure consistency across all projects within Accuris. To this end, I was responsible for progressing the roll out of portions of the Rational Unified Process (RUP). The projects I was responsible for included; 3 different variants of web based management systems and 2 different variants of mediation devices. I had overall responsibility for all projects and a development team of ~30 people.04/2000 – 08/2001 : Project ManagerI was responsible for the development and the team of engineers responsible for the delivery of a Lawful Interception mediation device. The deliverables involved primarily software, but required negotiation with 3rd Party Vendors for both hardware and software components, and interaction with external vendors regarding their interface specifications. My project management role involved planning, monitoring and reporting, as well as management of one of Accuris’ largest customers, KPN. I was responsible for the on time and within budget delivery of 3 generations of the product. I also had people management responsibility (including recruitment) for a team that ranged from 7 to 15 in size in the period.

I was responsible for the development and the team of engineers responsible for the delivery of a Lawful Interception mediation device. The deliverables involved primarily software, but required negotiation with 3rd Party Vendors for both hardware and software components, and interaction with external vendors regarding their interface specifications. My project management role involved planning, monitoring and reporting, as well as management of one of Accuris’ largest customers, KPN. I was responsible for the on time and within budget delivery of 3 generations of the product. I also had people management responsibility (including recruitment) for a team that ranged from 7 to 15 in size in the period.

I was responsible for the definition of a project which involved the integration of a Geographical Information System (GIS) front end for Eircell (GSM 900/1800 Operator, Ireland – now Vodafone). My responsibilities included presentations in response to the request for information, leading workshops to ascertain the requirements for the project and the development of a business proposal taking into consideration all the gathered requirements.I was also involved in the product definition of FMW's Network Management System (Setanta) which incorporated modules for network planning (both civil infrastructure and cell plan), network inventory, systems integration (to existing OSS Systems) and for interfacing with systems used for Customer Relationship Management (CRM) to provide customers with a view of network related issues.

Ireland

Working with Ericsson’s Unix based Network Element Management (NEM) System, TMOS, my responsibilities included Project Management, Unix System Administration, and Training course development and delivery. I was responsible for a number of pre-studies, which were detailed feasibility studies for training courses in particular areas of the Ericsson product range. This involved analysis of the problem and estimations of the resources and timescales involved in successfully completing the projects involved. I also spent time working on-site for mobile operators in Romania and Ukraine, and for a 3 month period provided on-site support for OCEAN Telecommunications (which subsequently became part of ESAT, BTs operation in Ireland) at their network management centre. I filled the role of subject matter expert, with specific expertise in Ericsson NEMs, the TMN Model and network management issues.

Ireland

Working with Ericsson’s Unix based Voice and SMS Messaging System, MXE, my responsibilities included, project leading, system installations at customer sites in India (as part of a large roll out team that were installing the GSM infrastructure at 3 sites; Bombay, Delhi and Madras), customer support at a customer site in Japan, and training course development.

Ireland

Ireland

B.Eng, Electronic Engineering (Ee), 1St Class Honours

Professional Certificate In Business Analysis