Toby Jacobs Email & Phone Number

London, Gb

London, Gb

Reporting to the Head of Engineering under the COO, I am responsible for directing the program of work targeting the desktop capabilities of HCS colleagues. I am leading the inception, architectural design, development, and delivery of the Aon HCS desktop platform. This will streamline colleagues interactions with our data, from onboarding and cleaning capabilities through to design and delivery of highly customisable data products for sale to our clients. The platform is comprised of a suite of Electron-based desktop applications, and an Office VSTO addin, with a locally hosted decoupled service environment providing backend functionality consistently across all user-facing components, whether involved in obtaining data from our various databases and APIs, composing highly customised dynamic outputs in Excel (typically for PDF delivery), exploring data in our proprietary UI, or publishing custom digital deliveries for clients to interact with directly. Technologies in use at present are C#, React/TS, Julia, Python, Web Application Messaging Protocol, Aeron, Apache Arrow, SQL, Azure Blob storage, and XML/JSON for metadata and configuration.Additionally, I am consulting on the transition from in-team support of legacy applications through to a dedicated first-line-support and maintenance team, with a view to divesting ourselves of technical debt to enable the team to focus primarily on the broader HCS data product strategy.

London, Gb

- Designs and develops bespoke innovative analytics and reporting solutions making use of C#, VSTO, WPF, SQL and Excel to transform existing approaches to reporting and analytics within McLagan- Works hand in hand with senior stakeholders to answer client compensation benchmarking questions and develop the tools to enable future questions to be answered rapidly- Delivers internal desktop applications enabling new ways of working across McLagan by delivering solutions to internal efficiency and consistency problems- Responsible for driving adoption of internal solutions via a combination of careful UX design, training sessions, and by working closely with senior management and potential SMEs across McLagan- Mentoring newer team members to achieve coding and problem-solving expertise across Solutions EngineeringDuring my tenure at Aon I have achieved two promotions to reach my current level.Projects include:- The development of a framework enabling Tableau-style applications to be developed for rapid data discovery, and to facilitate daily data management operations at McLagan- A state-of-the-art calculation engine enabling big-data analysis within Excel in millisecond timeframes- A WPF client application ensuring that every McLagan employee has one-click access to all internal apps, and that each app can update separately based on user permissions (including UAT via A/B testing)Technologies/Approaches Used:- SOLID design evangelist with a commitment to the separation of concerns whenever possible (typically via an MVVM approach)- TDD and test-harness approaches employed to ensure consistency of code, and testability against black box scenarios- Advanced C# techniques, including multi-threading, IPC, reflection, custom operators, and dependency injection. Limited exposure to encryption theory.- Strong understanding of sorting theory, sub-linear percentiles, and tree-structures - Designing databases and data retrieval mechanisms using T-SQL and C#

Worldwide, Oo

- End to end internal dev-ops product developer and designer using VBA within MS Excel, Word and Access- Gathered and had signed off specifications for tools developed with the goal of improving project communication and efficiency- Designed and implemented pilot programs for tool roll-out including data-driven go-no-go decisions- Examples of tools include an abstract bespoke complaints handling user interface that enabled complaint handlers to jump to exactly the process node they needed to, and a management information user interface that helped managers track their route to delivering targets and identify potential issues early on- Initially carried out alongside my Development Manager role taking approx 20% of time before transitioning to be my primary role from August 2012

Worldwide, Oo

- Worked with other Academy Development Managers to design and enact onboarding and competency-assessment processes- Managed a frequently changing team of new joiners (typically around 11) through their training and route to competency (RTC) - Managing roll-out of processes and guidance to case handlers during their RTC period- Ensuring RTC case-handlers meet the required production and quality requirements for accreditation- Writing and maintaining MI tools in VBA and Excel to track case handler progress through RTC and simplify assessment of their progress on accreditation

Worldwide, Oo

- First job after University- Complaint-handling using client-provided processes and achieving production and quality targets consistently (Quality score of 100%)- Developed a new data-access system in VBA (no previous knowledge) receiving project wide roll-out- Working with complaint-handing industry-standard CRM solutions to review customer complaints- Providing advice to team members when case-related issues arose, maximising team quality. - Mentored new starters, managed guidance roll-outs, and ensured targets met in TL absence.

London, Gb

- Researching for an Article 81 issue for Mergers and Acquisitions (concerted practice). - Ensuring documents were correctly organised and catalogued for submission to the OFT. Investigating the legality of a merger according to fair trade legislation.

Theale, Reading, Berkshire, Gb

- Customer-facing experience offering an end to end sales service, and after-sales support- Using company CRM database to design and execute telesales campaigns to existing customers

Np

- Worked to raise awareness of social, health and environmental issues in a rural community in Nepal during a minor civil war. - Facilitated training of local youth to continue to address these issues after volunteer departure.

Msc Evolution Of Language And Cognition (Awaiting Result), Linguistics, Informatics, Philosophy, Biology, Statistics

Ma Philosophy (2:1), Philosophy