Kris Heath

The only problem is when they are no problems. Luckily, with change being the only constant, that has never happened!

IT Change & Transformation SDLC Governance Agile/Scrum API Estate Management Agentic AI Adoption Python & SQL Fintech & Tier-1 Banking KYC/AML Onboarding Requirements Engineering Stakeholder Management Data Integrity & GDPR Vendor Management Data Governance heklo
A versatile leader with 15+ years of experience bridging the gap between complex banking operations and high-growth technology. I specialise in architecting mission-critical platforms - from API estates to automated onboarding journeys. Combining a Masters in CS & AI with a 'vibe coding' approach, I live to drive straight-through processing and deliver scalable, high-velocity change in regulated environments.

Employment History

Allica Bank Limited
London, United Kingdom
Oct 2021 – Present

Strategic Leadership: Ownership of a cross-functional Agile Tribe consisting of 5 squads within the UK's fastest-growing fintech

SDLC Governance: Managed the end-to-end delivery of multi-product customer onboarding journeys and data management applications, utilising SaaS core banking integrations

AI Transformation: Architecting Agentic AI solutions and 'vibe-coded' prototypes to refine requirements and increase operational execution speed within an in-house case management platform

Technical Delivery: Scaled the tribe from 0 to 5 squads, delivering a customer data MVP in 4 months and re-platforming deposit onboarding journeys within 3 months. Creating a new self-serve journey for Business Current Accounts in 6 months

Data Integrity: Developed compliance standards and analysis tools to ensure data completeness, accuracy and validity across 3 major migrations

HSBC Bank PLC
London, United Kingdom
May 2019 – Oct 2021

API Strategy: Served as Product Owner for an estate of 400 APIs, managing versioning and lifecycle enhancements across Web, Mobile, and Open Banking channels

Engineering Leadership: Directed a team of 20 back-end engineers to prioritise and deliver functional enhancements for customer and colleague applications

Operational Impact: Enhanced the digital onboarding journey, significantly increasing Straight-Through Processing (STP) rates

SDLC Management: Bridged the gap between business requirements and technical execution, coordinating delivery across 4 digital channels simultaneously

TSB Bank plc
London, United Kingdom
Jan 2018 – Mar 2019

Business Transformation: Spearheaded the build-out of a multi-party onboarding application for business customers to support a major switching programme

Vendor Management: Led third-party engineering resources through the SDLC to deliver a full digital solution in 8 months, ahead of initial expectations

Stakeholder Governance: Managed business readiness by engaging Legal, Compliance, and Operations to ensure regulatory alignment for the final solution

Security Integration: Integrated a Digital ID anti-impersonation solution, enabling businesses to open accounts with minimal manual intervention

HSBC Bank plc
London, United Kingdom
Jul 2016 – Jan 2018

Requirements Engineering: Led requirement gathering and documentation for a major bank-wide digital transformation, utilising low-code tools to accelerate build velocity

Technical Bridging: Facilitated discussions between business stakeholders and Front-End engineers, documenting technical "tags" and API integrations into downstream core banking platforms

Regulatory Implementation: Managed the implementation of complex FATCA/CRS regulatory requirements within the digital onboarding channel

SDLC Oversight: Provided timeline expectations and delivery monitoring for complex application journeys involving internal and external service services

    Gulf Finance Corporation PJSC
    Dubai, UAE
    Oct 2009 – Jun 2016

    Operational Scaling: Oversaw a period of hyper-growth, scaling the business from 15 to 200 employees and increasing the client base from 7 to over 3,000

    Multi-Disciplinary Leadership: Managed a team of 45 across Operations, IT, and Facilities, progressing through roles in Credit, Sales, and Collections

    Platform Launch: Directly involved in developing the firm's Invoice Finance Solution, ensuring operational security and scalability as the business expanded

    HSBC Bank plc
    Birmingham, United Kingdom
    Feb 2007 – Oct 2009

    Risk Management: Actively managed a portfolio of 60 Invoice Finance customers, ensuring product security and recovery capability

    Portfolio Oversight: Maintained a record of zero material losses across the managed portfolio through rigorous auditing and compliance monitoring

    Lloyds TSB Bank plc
    Birmingham, United Kingdom
    May 2004 – Feb 2007

    Portfolio Growth: Consistently met and exceeded growth targets for an SME portfolio while maintaining strict bank and compliance standards

    Relationship Management: Built face-to-face relationships with West Midlands businesses, providing bespoke account management and financial services in a time where banks were removing local relationship managers

    Barclays Bank plc
    Birmingham, United Kingdom
    Jul 2001 – May 2004

    Starting as a cashier in a prominent city centre branch, progressed through counter manager to personal account manager, supporting retail customers needs and selling relevant products for the betterment of their financial situations

    Branch Operations: Delivered account management for new and existing personal customers, covering cash handling and people management

    Education

    Abertay University
    London, United Kingdom
    Jul 2025 – Present

    Focus: Advanced technical foundation in emergent technologies and software architecture.

    This involves ups killing on a number of languages, during the modules completed so far an understanding has been gained in: HTML; CSS; JavaScript; Python; SQL and PHP, along with an overview of the benefit of leaning on frameworks such as Bootstrap, Django and React

    Key Modules & Academic Performance

    • Fundamentals Of Computing - B+
    • Networking - A+
    • Data Structures and Algorithms- A
    • Web Development - B+
    • Emergent Technologies - CURRENT

    Plantsbrook School
    Birmingham, United Kingdom
    Sep 1999 – Jun 2001

    Achieved A-Levels in Maths and General Studies

    Plantsbrook School
    Birmingham, United Kingdom
    Sep 1997 – Jun 1999

    11 A-C grade G.C.S.E's including Maths, English, Science, Statistics and Information Systems.

    Interests & Development

    Fitness & Sport
    Lifelong passion for football, mountain biking and anything that raises the heart rate!
    Aviation
    Completed 65 hours of flight time in a Cessna 152; maintaining a strong interest in aerospace and technical piloting
    Continuous Learning
    Obsessed with learning, specifically in tech and AI. Recently installed a home server with Maria DB to host this and a few other sites using NGINX.
    Entrepreneurship
    Acts as the technical lead and support for an e-commerce startup (manaiaandbo.store), managing platform infrastructure and digital presence