Ryan Turnbull
Technology & IT Operations Leader
Executive profile
Commercially minded technology leader with more than 15 years of experience across IT operations, enterprise architecture, data, applications, cybersecurity and digital transformation. I shape roadmaps, simplify estates, lead teams and suppliers, and keep delivery connected to the business result.
I have led change across ecommerce, fulfilment, customer service, ERP, data and cloud platforms. I am strongest where the estate is complicated, priorities move quickly and the answer has to work in daily operations as well as in the strategy deck.
Selected leadership impact
Budget & supplier ownership
Reduced annual IT expenditure from £1.2m to £480k by joining commercial scrutiny to platform rationalisation, supplier governance and operational need.
People & operating ownership
Led a core multi-functional team across infrastructure, systems, service and support, with a wider peak delivery scope of internal staff and contractors.
Transformation portfolio
Shaped and delivered change across identity, cloud, data, ecommerce, fulfilment, customer service, internal applications and cybersecurity.
Growth & digital operations
Contributed to 15% EMEA revenue growth by improving ecommerce, fulfilment, customer-platform and operational journeys.
Risk, continuity & resilience
Owned cybersecurity, disaster recovery and continuity work, building proportionate controls and recoverable services into the operating model.
Executive decision support
Built governed reporting and automation that improved visibility, supported public-market scrutiny and released more than 1,000 hours of monthly capacity.
Key skills
Enterprise Architecture
Connecting business capabilities, platform choices and transition sequencing into a coherent path forward.
Strategic IT Delivery
Maintaining pace, ownership and operational confidence through complex portfolios and change programmes.
Cloud & Infrastructure
Resilient cloud and hybrid foundations covering identity, endpoints, networking, recovery and service continuity.
Data & BI
Trusted reporting, governed semantic models and automation that move insight closer to the decision.
Applications & Development
Application delivery from requirements and architecture through code, integration, release and ongoing ownership.
Retail, Ecommerce & Customer Platforms
Joined-up customer and operational journeys spanning acquisition, order, service, fulfilment and insight.
Cybersecurity & Risk
Practical controls, recovery design and governance that protect the business without making change unusable.
AI & Automation
Focused use of AI and automation to remove friction, surface knowledge and give teams more time for higher-value work.
Experience
Head of IT Operations
simplehuman · Premium consumer products and retail technology
Scope: EMEA technology function · five countries plus US users · £1.2m starting annual estate spend · executive and cross-functional stakeholders
Responsible for business technology and IT operational leadership, shaping digital transformation across EMEA and aligning the technology estate with commercial goals, customer experience and scalable operations.
- Shaped the IT roadmap and transformation portfolio across cloud, data, ecommerce, fulfilment, customer service and cybersecurity architecture.
- Leading an enterprise migration that began in March 2026 from Microsoft Entra ID, Azure, Microsoft 365 and OneDrive to Google Workspace, Cloud Identity, Google Drive and Google Cloud hosting.
- Contributed to a 15% increase in EMEA revenue by modernising ecommerce, fulfilment and service platforms, introducing API-led customer access and onboarding, accelerating order processing, reducing system failures and lowering the operational cost of returns.
- Reduced annual IT expenditure from £1.2m to £480k through vendor consolidation, platform rationalisation and process automation.
- Negotiated favourable technology contracts that saved more than £200,000 per year.
- Led a core team of eight internal staff and four contractors across IT operations, infrastructure, systems development and support; wider peak delivery scope reached up to 12 internal staff and 13 contractors.
- Managed IT onboarding and support for more than 1,500 users across five countries, plus users in the United States.
- Built hybrid data infrastructure that improved analytics, reporting resilience and data availability.
- Delivered API-led fulfilment integrations across Shopify, Amazon, FedEx, ERP and warehouse management platforms.
- Rolled out Zendesk and Gorgias as customer service platforms integrated with ecommerce and operational systems.
- Created secure in-house application portal capability to replace costly third-party tooling and remove vendor-led limits on future development.
- Oversaw disaster recovery, cybersecurity, business continuity and compliance activity, including MFA, encrypted data flows and control improvements.
- Introduced an Azure and Microsoft Copilot-enabled self-service platform for knowledge, reporting and productivity workflows.
Solutions Architect
Softcat · FTSE 250 IT infrastructure and services provider
Scope: FTSE 250 enterprise · global delivery · 25+ projects · sales, finance, operations and managed-services stakeholders
Designed and implemented enterprise-wide business intelligence platforms and analytics solutions in a FTSE 250 environment, strengthening reporting, decision-making and operational performance.
- Delivered more than 25 global projects that automated processes and saved over 1,000 work hours every month.
- Influenced organisational revenue by 13% through analytics and data-driven solutions.
- Owned and maintained the BI estate across reporting, decisioning, governance, security and platform development.
- Managed the end-to-end project lifecycle across planning, scope, budget, risk, issues and stakeholder engagement.
- Delivered forecasting and opportunity analytics that made commercial decisions faster and more evidence-led.
- Streamlined ITSM processes and improved monitoring capability to increase operational efficiency.
- Contributed to a data project supporting Softcat’s London Stock Exchange and FTSE 250 listing journey.
Part-time Technical Director
The Common Framework · Parallel venture · regulatory and risk assessment platform
Scope: Parallel venture · product strategy, architecture, delivery roadmap and operating ownership
Alongside my employed role, I led the technical vision, design and delivery of a custom regulatory and risk assessment platform built around structured assessments, evidence capture, reporting and practical compliance guidance.
- Created a regulatory portal guiding users through NCSC, GDPR and corporate social responsibility requirements.
- Improved user documentation and knowledge management capability by 50%.
- Owned the technical vision, delivery roadmap, user experience and solution architecture.
- Managed delivery end to end across requirements, planning, scope, risk, issues, platform design and continuous improvement.
- Built the product around structured controls, evidence capture, maturity scoring, reporting and actionable recommendations.
Other activities
Alongside my employed roles, I have always enjoyed helping smaller businesses and building things in my own time. These projects keep me close to the practical work: understanding what a business actually needs, choosing sensible tools and taking responsibility for the whole solution.
Ashford Development
I helped take this small industrial development business from an idea to a working operation, covering both its public presence and the practical technology needed behind the scenes.
- Built the company website and established its SEO, image library and online presence.
- Set up email, office tools and licensing, alongside the hardware needed for day-to-day work.
- Put backups and file synchronisation in place across the home and office environments, then continued to support the setup as the business developed.
La Cime
I worked with an independent café and hospitality business to create the joined-up technology behind its website, ecommerce and day-to-day customer operations.
- Built the website and full ecommerce experience, including the connection with till and payment processes.
- Created reusable email and marketing templates and continue to maintain the domain and DNS configuration.
- Designed a product database and mobile app that make it straightforward to add and manage new items without relying on a complicated back-office process.
Multiplayer game application
In my own time, I have also designed and built a mobile game that allows multiple users to play together in a shared environment. It gave me a useful testing ground for decisions that also matter in business applications.
- Designed the multi-user experience with safety, security and appropriate access in mind.
- Managed application data and bandwidth carefully so the shared experience remained responsive and reliable.
- Strengthened my ability to build useful applications in-house, remove unnecessary third-party restrictions and give organisations ownership of the tools that solve their problems.
Certifications & training
Technical proficiencies
- Platforms
- Microsoft Azure, VMware vSphere, Citrix and Windows Server (2008–2025)
- Data & BI
- Power BI, QlikView / Qlik Sense, SSIS, SSRS, SSMS, Power Query and DAX
- Programming
- SQL, R, HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, Node.js, PHP, PowerShell, C#, .NET and React
- Methods
- ITIL, TOGAF, Agile, Scrum, Kanban and Waterfall
- Security & networking
- Microsoft Intune, Endpoint Manager, Mimecast, NordPass, NetIQ and SolarWinds
- Retail & sales
- Dynamics 365, Amazon, Shopify, Magento, Salesforce, HubSpot, POS and omnichannel CRM
- Operations
- SAP / Oracle ERP, warehouse management, distribution, IoT, robotics and process automation
Additional information
Flexible on location for the right opportunity; excellent references available upon request.
- Fitness
- Swimming
- Running
- Outdoor activities
- Cooking
- Networking events
- Technology
How I keep up
Technology moves quickly, so I set aside time each week to read release notes, vendor roadmaps and independent engineering analysis. I also test promising tools for myself. It helps me separate useful change from noise, understand what is happening beyond a single platform and judge what it could mean for the business.
- Azure UpdatesAzure services, previews and product releases
- Microsoft 365 RoadmapUpcoming Microsoft 365 capabilities and rollouts
- Google Cloud release notesChanges across Google Cloud products and services
- Google Workspace UpdatesWorkspace, Gemini, administration and security changes
- AWS What's NewAWS service launches and platform improvements
- GitHub ChangelogDeveloper platform, tooling and Copilot changes
- OpenAI NewsAI research, products, safety and company updates
- CNCF BlogCloud-native projects, patterns and community insight
- Thoughtworks Technology RadarEmerging tools, platforms, techniques and frameworks
- Stanford Emerging Technology ReviewFrontier technologies and their wider global impact