What I do

(I can be contacted by email or twitter).

I design and build software solutions that address business needs in the simplest possible way. I'm comfortable operating at the nexus of technology and commerce - bridging the gap between the software / hardware teams and the business drivers and key stakeholders, right up to board level.

Currently I'm the Chief Technology Officer for Eysys (we're hiring by the way!). At Eysys we're using big data combined with machine learning to build a next generation ecommerce platform, with baked-in intelligence to optimise conversion and make efficient use of marketing spend.

In a previous life, I was the Head of Data Engineering and Infrastructure at the Thomas Cook Online Travel Agency, using Master Data Management and big data analysis to drive platform conversion and performance.

Previous to that (sheesh!), I was the Chief Technology Officer for Comtec Group - building end to end systems for clients in the leisure travel industry, primarily in the UK and US. I led the definition and construction of our travel suite, from fast loading of  inventory (e.g. Hotel, Air, Transfers etc.) through GDS selection and with a particular focus on ecommerce. In the ecommerce world we helped our customers to measure and increase online conversion rates, optimize PPC spend, increase SEO scores and overall consumer engagement. We leveraged analytics, A/B with multivariate testing and personalization techniques, to name just a few tools and techniques in the kit bag.

Before Comtec I worked for a financial services company as a software architect and before that again I worked as a consultant for a well-known business and IT consulting company.

In 2000, I became an external examiner and subject matter expert for the Java Enterprise Architect accreditation from Sun Microsystems - now Oracle. I have presented at JavaOne and written numerous articles on many different aspects of software engineering. In 2010, I co-authored the definitive official study guide to the SCEA exam itself.

I am deeply rooted in Computer Science - I have a particular interest in distributed systems and hold a B.Sc (1998 - First Class Honours) and M.Sc (2002) in Computer Science from University College Dublin. My M.Sc. thesis focused on building a high-throughput grid-like compute engine using Java and Artificial Neural Networks to solve a well-known bioinformatics problem (protein secondary structure prediction).