Simon Rainback Email & Phone Number

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Woolworths embarked on a full scale Agile Transformation across all business areas. Services, Operations and Infrastructure (SOI) are a significant IT business area with over 27 Teams and 250+ people. SOI’s annual spend is c$700M. Introducing Agile ways of working to SOI aimed to create significant efficiency through quarterly planning and business focused delivery. Key responsibilities in the SOI Agile Transformation were as follows: • Key member of Transformation Lead Team who are… Show more Woolworths embarked on a full scale Agile Transformation across all business areas. Services, Operations and Infrastructure (SOI) are a significant IT business area with over 27 Teams and 250+ people. SOI’s annual spend is c$700M. Introducing Agile ways of working to SOI aimed to create significant efficiency through quarterly planning and business focused delivery. Key responsibilities in the SOI Agile Transformation were as follows: • Key member of Transformation Lead Team who are responsible for steering the transformation• Built the Agile Team Charter and set up the engagement and management framework • Worked with the team to define and refine the Agile Transformation Ways of working journey for both Operational and Engineering Teams• Interviewed, onboarded and line management for 10+ Senior Agile Scrum Masters and Coaches • Coached key Operational and Engineering Teams through the Agile transformation journey increasing the level of agile maturity and delivery • Created Agile Jira and Confluence dashboards to show progress and status• Ran the SOI wide inter team dependency forum to identify and remove impediments resulting in increased efficiency and flow of work across SOI • Supported and helped to evolve the BRP process to a high level of maturity, transparency and value• Facilitated training sessions on Agile foundation principles Show less

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Primary Connect (Distribution Centre Business area of Woolworths) has a multi year book of work to uplift IT infrastructure capability across all Centres. Was brought in as an interim Program Manager to stabilize and rebuild the team of over 15 people. Key responsibilities included:• Created a team culture that had psychological safety for all team members• Reviewed the full book of work and created a prioritised backlog and obtained sign off from the business• Ensured each team… Show more Primary Connect (Distribution Centre Business area of Woolworths) has a multi year book of work to uplift IT infrastructure capability across all Centres. Was brought in as an interim Program Manager to stabilize and rebuild the team of over 15 people. Key responsibilities included:• Created a team culture that had psychological safety for all team members• Reviewed the full book of work and created a prioritised backlog and obtained sign off from the business• Ensured each team member had the correct projects and workloads• Created a rhythm of weekly team meetings and individual meetings to assess health of each individual and the overall Team Show less

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

London, United Kingdom

One for the Boys is hoping to fundamentally change the way men think about male cancers. Its objectives are to encourage men to become more self aware of all types of cancers and to take a proactive role in seeking advice and help. The charity is initially achieving these objectives by running high profile celebrity events which gain worldwide publicity which is helping to spread the key messages. I am a trustee and I continue to act in an advisory capacity providing support and… Show more One for the Boys is hoping to fundamentally change the way men think about male cancers. Its objectives are to encourage men to become more self aware of all types of cancers and to take a proactive role in seeking advice and help. The charity is initially achieving these objectives by running high profile celebrity events which gain worldwide publicity which is helping to spread the key messages. I am a trustee and I continue to act in an advisory capacity providing support and guidance to the CEO. My objective is to ensure that the strategy is clear and the events and activities are aligned to that strategy. Show less

Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia

Hunter Water had created a new Digital Enablement business focused Team. Worked closely with the team to support, coach and help with the Agile Ways of working and critical thinking. Focused on managing and supporting a few key projects to show how future initiatives and projects can be run. Key areas as follows: • Setup an Agile Robotic Process Automation Project in Accounts Payable which removed 80% manual handling of customer invoices• Setup a Microsoft Low Code platform and ran a… Show more Hunter Water had created a new Digital Enablement business focused Team. Worked closely with the team to support, coach and help with the Agile Ways of working and critical thinking. Focused on managing and supporting a few key projects to show how future initiatives and projects can be run. Key areas as follows: • Setup an Agile Robotic Process Automation Project in Accounts Payable which removed 80% manual handling of customer invoices• Setup a Microsoft Low Code platform and ran a team to develop an app which enabled front line workers to see up to date inventory 5 maintenance facilities. This saved 25% lost front line time out of hours searching facilities for parts Show less

Sydney, Australia

The Digital Solutions Program delivered a number of key mobile solutions for the front line. Due to its success at reaching the front line business, the program received significant endorsement from the CEO and subsequently paved the way for digital transformation within Pacific NationalI was given the opportunity to create a new Digital Team within Pacific National, to focus on delivering solutions to the front-line. The team was built from the ground up worked closely with the many… Show more The Digital Solutions Program delivered a number of key mobile solutions for the front line. Due to its success at reaching the front line business, the program received significant endorsement from the CEO and subsequently paved the way for digital transformation within Pacific NationalI was given the opportunity to create a new Digital Team within Pacific National, to focus on delivering solutions to the front-line. The team was built from the ground up worked closely with the many front-line areas of the business to identify and prioritise opportunities. Key call outs as follows:• Used Design Thinking to engage with key stakeholders in the field to ensure the business problem was fully understood and captured into the design process• Built a team of highly specialised digital experts ranging from design (UI,UX), native applications’ development, technical design and architecture, back-end design including API and data specialists, along with change delivery capability • The CEO endorsement was the catalyst for a full-scale deployment of mobile devices to all front-line staff, which included over 2000+ drivers, maintenance and operational staff across the company• The benefits of the mobile device deployment, was the ability to create a foundation platform for delivering digital capability and applications, in a consistent and agile manner to all front line staff• Received runner up in the Australian Business Innovation awards for the train driver application My role in the program was leading and guiding the team; securing funding from the CEO for the program; planning and engaging with the front line; managing the delivery and change; and finally, creating a new and innovative way of delivering programs for Pacific National Show less

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

IT Infrastructure Transformation Program – Delivered $7M year on year benefitFollowing the breakup of Asciano, Pacific National embarked on an IT transformation to provide the right size Infrastructure for the Pacific National Business. The transformation objectives were to reduce Opex spend and increase Capex expenditure given the new structure of Pacific National. An additional objective was to change from an outsourced service management model to an in-house supported model which would… Show more IT Infrastructure Transformation Program – Delivered $7M year on year benefitFollowing the breakup of Asciano, Pacific National embarked on an IT transformation to provide the right size Infrastructure for the Pacific National Business. The transformation objectives were to reduce Opex spend and increase Capex expenditure given the new structure of Pacific National. An additional objective was to change from an outsourced service management model to an in-house supported model which would provide greater business flexibility and cost reductions. I was given the opportunity to initiate the Program from the initial concept discussions. Following a series of technical and architectural workshops with the IT Operations, Applications and Service teams I shaped the Program into 3 distinct streams. These were the Messaging, Core Infrastructure and a Desktop streams which would meet the Program objectives. Key deliverables and responsibilities as follows: • Worked with a 3rd party architectural consultancy to scope the high-level designs required to achieve the transformation goals • Worked closely with the CIO and Senior IT leadership team to establish a Program working group to ensure the direction, focus and progress were clear and aligned • Responsible for the delivery of the 3 separate business cases totalling $15.2M which was approved by the Pacific National board • Created a series of Agile boards to focus on priorities across each stream through the initial stages of the Program and also Initiated a series of stream daily stand-ups to ensure the teams focused on the key deliverables and blockers • Worked with the Program working group to identify and recruit the resources required to deliver the Program across all the streams • An executive director level program steering committee was formed to provide support and guidance Show less

Sydney, Australia

Employee Connectivity Digital Program – connected 80% of employeesEmployee Connectivity is a strategic group wide digital employee engagement initiative. The programs goals were to establish the first company wide digital employee focused channel. This new channel would be available and accessible to the entire 8,000 internal remote employee workforce using their own BYOD devices. I ran the program using the agile methodology. The program delivered a series of web and mobile applications… Show more Employee Connectivity Digital Program – connected 80% of employeesEmployee Connectivity is a strategic group wide digital employee engagement initiative. The programs goals were to establish the first company wide digital employee focused channel. This new channel would be available and accessible to the entire 8,000 internal remote employee workforce using their own BYOD devices. I ran the program using the agile methodology. The program delivered a series of web and mobile applications which were accessible via the Apple Store and Google Play store. These apps were ultimately used by 85% of the front line remote which significantly increased employee engagement for the entire business. Key deliverables and responsibilities as follows: • Collaborated with product owner to establish a clear vision of what the initiative was aiming to achieve • Worked closely with the business analyst, product owner and technical architect to establish clear high-level user stories and technical requirements• A product backlog was created to ensure the requirements were captured and prioritised • Initiated an infrastructure work stream which focused on designing and delivering the technical infrastructure required to support a number of mobile applications• Created the application development work stream to design and deliver the mobile application and responsive website. This was ran using an agile methodology with development split into sprints and phases. This was achieved by working through an ever changing and groomed product backlog • An executive director level program steering committee was formed to provide support and guidance • Facilitated and ran the regular steering committee meetings where I would report on progress against the plan, discuss risks and explain what the actions were against any key issues, along with a financial review • Responsible for end to end management of the program which included over 20 people from 5 different vendors Show less

Southampton, United Kingdom

SAS is the key strategic BI tool used across Aviva for data analytical purposes. Following the outsourcing of the Aviva infrastructure to HP, a high profile transformation project was initiated to transform SAS from three separate services and different hardware platforms onto a new SAS service and hardware platform. The new service was based on the latest SAS software version 9.4 and running on a new hardware platform supported by a new support team. The project cost was £1.6M and the year on… Show more SAS is the key strategic BI tool used across Aviva for data analytical purposes. Following the outsourcing of the Aviva infrastructure to HP, a high profile transformation project was initiated to transform SAS from three separate services and different hardware platforms onto a new SAS service and hardware platform. The new service was based on the latest SAS software version 9.4 and running on a new hardware platform supported by a new support team. The project cost was £1.6M and the year on year benefits were estimated at £550K. I gained the responsibility for delivering the complex project from near inception to completion. Part way through the project Aviva outsourced the technical expertise to a 3rd party based offshore. Key accountability and responsibilities included:• Ensuring the complex requirements were identified, discussed and agreed with all business and IT stakeholders • Ensuring the infrastructure supplier (HP) design and build met SAS’s and the business requirements• Following the outsourcing of the local technical capability, It resulted in me taking responsibility for managing the onshore / offshore team to deliver the changes required to complete the project • Conducted the weekly technical, business and service team check point meetings • Reported directly to the senior transformation management board and presented weekly progress reports and updates• Worked with the service introduction and service delivery teams to ensure a smooth handover to BAU support and service Show less

Southampton, United Kingdom

Brought into a small team under an NDA, whose responsibility was preparing for the sale and transfer of all systems, hardware, software, data and personnel to a Company. Stream lead responsible for the IT transition which included the transfer of data, software, hardware and systems within a tight timescale. Key deliverables and responsibilities as follows:• Prepared and managed the IT schedule for the transitional services agreement (TSA) • Worked with the legal, procurement, business… Show more Brought into a small team under an NDA, whose responsibility was preparing for the sale and transfer of all systems, hardware, software, data and personnel to a Company. Stream lead responsible for the IT transition which included the transfer of data, software, hardware and systems within a tight timescale. Key deliverables and responsibilities as follows:• Prepared and managed the IT schedule for the transitional services agreement (TSA) • Worked with the legal, procurement, business and technical teams to ensure all aspects were covered in the TSA• Prepared and managed the complex transition plan which included, software, hardware, systems, application and shared data, email and telephony cutover• Responsible for managing and working closely with the new Company to ensure a smooth transition• Setup and managed an Aviva project team which comprised representation from, technical, business protection, IT operations, service support and service management teams to effectively deliver the transfer to the Company Show less

Southampton, United Kingdom

A Group Risk Quote System Business Change Project end to end distribution to claims business that is focussed on providing income protection, life and critical illness employee benefits for the corporate markets. A core stream project manager responsible for the software and infrastructure delivery components on the new complex Quote system being introduced. This was the largest project delivered into the Healthcare business in 2012 delivering a 25% gain in business productivity. Key… Show more A Group Risk Quote System Business Change Project end to end distribution to claims business that is focussed on providing income protection, life and critical illness employee benefits for the corporate markets. A core stream project manager responsible for the software and infrastructure delivery components on the new complex Quote system being introduced. This was the largest project delivered into the Healthcare business in 2012 delivering a 25% gain in business productivity. Key accountability and responsibilities included:• Ensuring the software vendors requirements were clearly defined and signed off • Ensuring the infrastructure supplier (HP) design and build met the software providers requirements• Worked with the environments team to ensure consistency across the 5 testing environments • Reported to the senior management stakeholder group and presented weekly progress reports• Worked with the service introduction and service delivery teams to ensure a smooth handover to BAU support and service• Managed a business / IT performance work stream to understand and resolve system performance tuning post go live• Management and responsibility for the £1.5M hardware and software budget• The development of the solution was run using an agile methodology Show less

Bournemouth, United Kingdom

Treasury Services International Technology is JP Morgan’s global technology organization that is responsible for the systems processing for international Treasury Services branches. iPAY is the new strategic payment platform which processed over 1.5m transactions per day. eBay was looking to change its business model in Germany which resulted in an additional 1m transactions being processed through the system daily. The project required both system and hardware changes to deliver and meet the… Show more Treasury Services International Technology is JP Morgan’s global technology organization that is responsible for the systems processing for international Treasury Services branches. iPAY is the new strategic payment platform which processed over 1.5m transactions per day. eBay was looking to change its business model in Germany which resulted in an additional 1m transactions being processed through the system daily. The project required both system and hardware changes to deliver and meet the additional eBay volumes. The project was delivered successfully, on time and within the $1.5m budget in a very demanding intense environment with high business visibility. Key responsibilities included:•Ensured detailed business requirements were gathered by facilitating requirements workshops•Managing the vendor’s code change deliverables ensuring timescales and budget were kept on track•Managed a separate stream to deliver the hardware changes to support the additional volume•Worked with the QA, UAT and non functional test teams to ensure all testing phases were effectively managed and kept on track•Worked with the Technical Operations teams to ensure a smooth handover to BAU support•Planned the detailed implementation plan which spanned 30 hours across a weekend•Delivered all project documentation in accordance with JP Morgan’s project governance framework•The project was delivered using an JP version of Agile methodology Show less

London, United Kingdom

Senior IT Project ManagerSuccessfully delivered Aviva’s first global collaboration capability with the implementation of Microsoft’s hosted ‘Office Communicator’ service. This was achieved by working closely with the Microsoft teams (both US and UK based) to overcome the numerous challenges throughout the project’s lifecycle. In parallel, setup and managed a business engagement team who engaged with the 30+ global Business Units and prepared them for the adoption of new service. Specific… Show more Senior IT Project ManagerSuccessfully delivered Aviva’s first global collaboration capability with the implementation of Microsoft’s hosted ‘Office Communicator’ service. This was achieved by working closely with the Microsoft teams (both US and UK based) to overcome the numerous challenges throughout the project’s lifecycle. In parallel, setup and managed a business engagement team who engaged with the 30+ global Business Units and prepared them for the adoption of new service. Specific achievements and responsibilities included:• Overcame project challenges by setting up and facilitating weekly and more regular meetings with the Microsoft teams to ensure the project was continually moving forward and kept on track• Ensured senior stakeholders were fully engaged by setting up weekly meetings to review achievements, issues, risks, finances and project progress against the plan• Setup and managed an Aviva project team which comprised representation from, Technical, Business Protection, IT Operations, Service Support and Service Management teams to effectively deliver the change• Engaged with the Communications team and worked to deliver a robust global comms plan• Setup and managed a team responsible for engaging with and assisting the global business units with the preparation and adoption of the new service• Delivered all project documentation in accordance with Aviva’s project governance framework Show less

London, United Kingdom

Delivered a step change in the functionality of Aviva’s global intranet, and helped non English speakers feel more involved in the company, by delivering the Intranet to users in their local language. This was achieved by working with Microsoft to overcome product issues and implement SharePoint Variations of the 15,000 page global site in 10 languages. Specific achievements and responsibilities included:• Overcame SharePoint Variations product issues by working closely with Microsoft… Show more Delivered a step change in the functionality of Aviva’s global intranet, and helped non English speakers feel more involved in the company, by delivering the Intranet to users in their local language. This was achieved by working with Microsoft to overcome product issues and implement SharePoint Variations of the 15,000 page global site in 10 languages. Specific achievements and responsibilities included:• Overcame SharePoint Variations product issues by working closely with Microsoft consultants, and the Aviva project team to highlight, investigate, develop and test workarounds • Ensured smooth rollout of new Variations by setting up and managing a global team responsible for engaging with and assisting the business units with the preparation of the new variations• Setup and managed weekly senior management level stakeholder group meetings and used these to ensure there was a focus on delivery times• Worked with 3rd party vendors to design, build, test and deploy numerous code updates• Specifically worked with Business Protection to deliver a secure capability for offshore staff based in India to access the intranet through a Citrix solution• Worked with the Service Management teams to ensure a smooth transition into BAU Show less

London, United Kingdom

Successfully delivered the first global HR system for Aviva on time and to budget. Selected and implemented an externally hosted talent management system which pulled core HR data from 18 different HR systems across 5 global regions. This was achieved by:• Ensuring detailed business requirements were gathered by facilitating requirements workshops • Managing from RFI, RFP, vendor presentations to final selection • Ensuring timely contract sign off by working with Purchasing, Legal… Show more Successfully delivered the first global HR system for Aviva on time and to budget. Selected and implemented an externally hosted talent management system which pulled core HR data from 18 different HR systems across 5 global regions. This was achieved by:• Ensuring detailed business requirements were gathered by facilitating requirements workshops • Managing from RFI, RFP, vendor presentations to final selection • Ensuring timely contract sign off by working with Purchasing, Legal and the vendor • Defining effective business support processes with HR• Managing the vendor’s deliverables ensuring timescales and budget were kept on track• Overseeing the testing phase from full end to end system testing to UAT• Keeping senior director level stakeholders aware by facilitating steering group meetings• Ensuring a common understanding of the project approach and plans by presenting to senior business directors at various conferences• Ensuring local changes were implemented smoothly by engaging the global business units Show less

London, United Kingdom

Enabled Aviva directors worldwide to view their share schemes and holdings online by working with Group Secretarial, IT Operations and a 3rd party application vendor to design and deliver a secure service. Ensured the initial software vendors design was modified to meet business protection requirements and aligned to Aviva’s enterprise design standards Delivered a core component of a business risk mitigation programme, with minimal business impact, by working with IT Operations… Show more Enabled Aviva directors worldwide to view their share schemes and holdings online by working with Group Secretarial, IT Operations and a 3rd party application vendor to design and deliver a secure service. Ensured the initial software vendors design was modified to meet business protection requirements and aligned to Aviva’s enterprise design standards Delivered a core component of a business risk mitigation programme, with minimal business impact, by working with IT Operations, Facilities and 3rd party suppliers, including Cable & Wireless, to deliver a £1.5m network installation & server room move project within Aviva’s global head office building. Show less

Welwyn Garden City, United Kingdom

Ensured a smooth transition to new desktops with minimal business impact by working closely with 3rd party application vendors, and technical and deployment teams while managing a team of business engagement consultants on a, large and complex, migration programme.

Welwyn Garden City, United Kingdom

Implementation Project Manger on a large multi phased complex project to develop and implement a new pharmacy system across the UK. Also Managed a separate PDA integration and opticians migration project.

Welwyn Garden City, United Kingdom

Successfully implemented a Citrix solution across all UK stores and distribution centres by using external consultants to design the solution and managing Tesco deployment engineers across the UK.

Welwyn Garden City, United Kingdom

Desktop migration project for 5,000 users across the UK

London, United Kingdom

Individually responsible for the successful desktop migration of key, trading floor, business functions. Was recognised for quick, logical, thinking and diplomacy in the demanding, high pressure, environment by being promoted to more senior roles as the project progressed. Roles included: migration team leader; senior team leader of 20+ engineers; and business engagement co-ordinator.

London, United Kingdom

Agile Coaching

Certified Level 2 Coach, Life Coaching, Level 2

Education record

Prince 2 Practitioner

Bsc (Hons), Quanity Surveying

Education record

Agile Pm Foundation, Agile Delivery