dburrells

Led strategy governance from zero to product launch, through structured prioritization and fast execution cycles. Built and led a cross-functional team across Product, Engineering, Marketing, Growth, and Partnerships with clear focus and accountability. Directed product research and early designs for Spark’s AI trading agents — exploring how AI can enhance trading performance and automation. Created adaptable product and org plans to respond quickly to user feedback, market shifts, and strategic developments. Drove alignment across stakeholders and maintained operational clarity amid evolving objectives. Fostered a culture of ownership, speed, and high standards in a lean startup environment. Navigated shifting timelines and resourcing by maintaining structured planning and decisive leadership. Operated with a founder mindset — prioritizing impact, clarity, and momentum at every stage

Successfully raised £110k in pre-seed funding through strategic fundraising and investment calls, securing crucial capital for initial business operations and growth. Implemented effective shareholder communication strategies to maintain transparency and foster trust among stakeholders, enhancing overall investor relations. Established the company's presence in Lithuania, navigating legal and administrative processes to ensure compliance and facilitate expansion into new markets. Registered the company as a Virtual Asset ServiceProvider (VASP), demonstrating expertise in regulatory compliance within the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry.

Developed an impactful business model through insightful contributions to executive leadership, fostering strategic creativity and alignment with organizational objectives. Elevated business performance by delivering comprehensive oversight and constructive critique to the board, contributing to informed decision-making and strategic refinement. Demonstrated specialized expertise in crypto advisory, advising on critical areas including regulatory compliance, product management, software development, and marketing strategies, enhancing the company's competitive edge and market positioning. Facilitated access to venture capital funding by leveraging an extensive network of investors, contributing to the company's financial growth and expansion initiatives.

Created a dApp that reached over $1M in customer deposits in under 60 days by leading the product management for our DeFi division. Created technical patents, IP contracts, trademarks, and open-source licensing for all our DeFi development. Set up regulated crypto operations in the UK, Ireland, BVI, Cayman, Gibraltar, and the Seychelles, while collaborating with legal teams across the jurisdictions. Kept corporate governance on track through chairing the quarterly board meeting and collaborating with the Company Secretary, in my role as director.

Reduced data feed failures by 80% by identifying areas for improvement. Reduced client onboarding time by 75% by improving the Customer Success and New Business development processes. Set up the Romanian legal entity and new office (our first overseas operational office) and managed recruiting of 20 members of staff. Reduced monthly global OpEx costs by 50% by aligning and removing all unnecessary spending, creating a new procurement process, and enhancing budget guidance. Reduced feature time to market by 20% through a restructure of the company’s software development teams, by reducing the number of handoffs and improve communication and ownership. Reduced bugs reaching live by 61% through process efficiencies, within 3 months of taking over the company QA team. Ensured appropriate risk management was undertaken by the business with regards to Program Management. Led project and change management across the company. Coordinated finances across UK, US, and Romanian legal entities. Coordinated all HR activities, staff onboarding, training programs, and OKRs. Increased staff training by 60 hours a month by bringing in a third-party e-learning platform. Achieved 81% successful department OKRs by ensuring they stayed aligned to the company objectives and ensuring tangible measurements were used when tracking results. Ensured all company practices remained ISO and SOC compliant, as head of the company InfoSec department. Effectively executed the company strategy globally while working in close alignment with the CEO, coordinating company activities across departments. Created the bi-monthly board pack through coordination across the leadership team.

Directed end-to-end Product Ownership of JP Morgan's CASS client money application, ensuring uninterrupted operational excellence. Implemented automation of numerous intricate manual processes across thirteen lines of business, enhancing the efficiency of delivering regulatory information to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Spearheaded greenfield innovation initiatives, including leveraging APIs to augment core JPM technologies and conceptualizing a Natural Language Processing application for meeting minutes. This groundbreaking invention earned the company top honours in a Hackathon and was subsequently patented. Championed a community of Product Owners through the organization of structured learning paths and provision of mentorship support, fostering professional development and knowledge sharing within the team.

Spearheaded the design and development of sales technologies' UI/UX, resulting in £4.53M in new business generation. Maintained a perfect track record in delivering applications on time, ensuring immediate deployment readiness. Orchestrated the seamless migration of legacy applications to strategically aligned counterparts using the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), preserving live environments' functionality. Conducted comprehensive software demonstrations for diverse stakeholders, including sales staff, board members, and clients, fostering alignment and buy-in. Provided oversight to onshore and offshore software development and testing teams, ensuring successful delivery of sales applications. Directed critical project management activities such as release planning, iteration planning, and retrospectives, driving continuous improvement. Collaborated effectively with third-party vendors to achieve seamless system integration, facilitating operational efficiency.

Headed process enhancements that led to a streamlined workflow, culminating in a reduction of 100 Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) positions across the organization, optimizing resource allocation and operational efficiency. Developed comprehensive Product and Sprint Backlogs by meticulously crafting User Stories with precise acceptance criteria, facilitating seamless project execution within a multidisciplinary team of over 30 members dispersed across multiple offshore locations, ensuring adherence to project timelines and objectives. Coordinated and presided over Agile Scrum meetings, leveraging data analysis to drive informed decision-making, and proactively devising novel methodologies for continuous process refinement, fostering a culture of perpetual improvement. Proficiently facilitated Model Storms, Daily Scrums, and Sprint Retrospectives, orchestrating collaborative sessions to evaluate project progress and address challenges, ultimately ensuring the timely delivery of projects within programmatic constraints.