Matthew Carr

A transformative technology leader with over 20 years experience centred on people, process, and technology in start-ups, scale-ups, and global enterprises. Renowned for enhancing business agility by leading evolutionary change and transformation that delivers significant value.

My strength and passion lie in adeptly aligning people, business goals and technology that craft modernisation strategies which harness an agile mindset, innovative cloud solutions and fostering cohesive high performing teams. I am proud of cultivating global teams up to 180 members with impressive retention rates where my people-centric approach drives exceptional results.

• Technical Rescue and Strategic Transformation: At GL Education, I directed the turnaround of a global digital assessment platform, addressing both technical bottlenecks and cultural challenges. Leading a dedicated team of 35 professionals, we embraced a scaled agile strategy to overcome these hurdles. This collective effort played a pivotal role in the subsequent sale of the business for £212 million 
   
• Successful Market Expansion: Orchestrated the deployment of a Microsoft Azure platform in China at GL Education, enabling a first-ever successful trial of an education assessment and reporting tool for 15,000 Mandarin-speaking students. This led to a 10-year partnership valued at up to £150 million with the education ministry
   
• Global IT Strategy Formation: As the first Global Director of Architecture and Engineering at City, I strategically drove the creation of the global IT strategy and roadmap emphasising people, processes, and technology. This led to the modernisation of the legacy ERP platforms, boosting operational efficiency, productivity, and business agility
   
• Pioneering Cloud Transformation: Championed a 'serverless first' and methodology combined with AI. By leveraging AI-driven analysis, we systematically reviewed legacy business logic, identified pain points, and made informed decisions during our targeted modernisation. This led to a strategic migration to the AWS cloud. This AI-enhanced approach not only streamlined operations by addressing latent inefficiencies but also significantly cut operational costs, establishing a foundation for a more agile and updated business model
   
• Agile Transformation: Led a pivotal agile transformation at De La Rue with a team of 25, successfully deploying a £5.2 million international 'Software as a Service' solution. This transformative initiative not only showcased agility in addressing operational complexities but also strengthened the company's market position and financial resilience
   
• Leadership in Cloud Adoption: Drove the creation of the company's first AWS Serverless team and solution at CEF, strategically addressing and replacing segments of cumbersome legacy code.  This transformative initiative resulted in a remarkable reduction in the time required for national customer price changes, cutting it from 8 hours to under 10 minutes, which significantly enhanced the market responsiveness and operational efficiency
   
• Establishment of Global Enterprise Architecture Function: Within 12 months, I strategically led the formation of a 12-member high-calibre enterprise architecture team spanning the UK and North America.  This initiative propelled a cutting-edge Global API and by leveraging AI within our Architectural blueprint, we were able to harness advanced predictive analytics and automation capabilities. This strategic shift not only streamlined our global service delivery but also provided actionable insights that led to substantial reductions in operational risks and costs
   
• Cultivating High-Retention Teams: Known for creating and coaching resilient, self-managing cross-functional teams ranging from small sizes to approximately 180 members. These teams, under my leadership, boasted exceptionally low attrition rates, ensuring project continuity and fostering a positive work environment

• BSc (Hons) Business Systems and Information Technology (2:2)