Mark Simpkins

(+44) 007855 365481 msimpkins@gmail.com Geocontrol LinkedIn

Professional Summary

Technical Programme Manager and certified security professional (CISSP, CompTIA SecurityX/CSAE) with 25+ years managing the delivery of complex, cross-functional programmes at the intersection of security, digital product, and organisational change. Proven ability to build programme structure from the ground up in fast-moving, ambiguous environments — translating high-stakes requirements into executable plans under compressed timelines. Track record of leading product and technology transitions, release management, vendor handovers, and in-house capability building across scale-up and enterprise contexts. Experienced coordinating incident response across digital product teams, owning senior leadership communications, and driving post-incident improvement cycles.

Research background in applied security at Royal Holloway (EU TREsPASS, InnovateUK SeReWiSc and CySeCa) covering attack tree modelling, secure object sharing, and SIEM anomaly detection. Hands-on experience with AI/LLM workflow automation, cloud security across AWS, GCP and Azure, and frameworks including ISO 27001, NIST 800, OWASP, and CIS Controls. Comfortable making real-time trade-off decisions under pressure, influencing without authority, and communicating programme risk clearly to executive stakeholders.

Recently passed the CompTIA SecAI+ certifcation, follows continual personal development with online training programmes, subscribed to deeplearning.ai and tryhackme.com. Currently studying and due to sit the CSA certifications in Zero Trust Architecture and Cloud Security Architecture.

Professional Experience

Job Title: Associate Programme Director

Employer: MRM UK

Location: London, UK

Dates: 07/2025 - Present

  • Delivery lead for a primary client account, owning end-to-end governance across a full-time BAU delivery team and up to six concurrent special project programmes spanning Strategy, Design, Client Services, and Technical Delivery.
  • Owned the release calendar across concurrent programmes — managing code freezes around commercial events, coordinating out-of-hours deployments, and ensuring release artefacts (notes, testing evidence, rollback plans) were completed prior to go-live.
  • Introduced CAB processes where none existed, defining change request templates and approval workflows; also introduced documentation standards and governance structures aligned to ISO and Secure by Design principles.
  • Coordinated incident response across client digital product teams — owning senior leadership communications, maintaining incident logs, and running post-incident reviews to drive root cause resolution.
  • Facilitated cross-team retrospectives and translated findings into prioritised improvement initiatives, tracked in partnership with the Head of Delivery.
  • Accountable for Statements of Work, resource and project management plans, budget governance, and executive stakeholder reporting.
  • Technologies: Sitecore XM Cloud / Sitecore AI, OneTrust, Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Webflow, Azure, Vercel.

Job Title: Freelance Consultant

Employer: Freelance (Self-Employed)

Location: London, UK

Dates: 07/2024 - 07/2025

  • Delivered engagements across a portfolio of clients focused on AI strategy, risk modelling, and complex sociotechnical systems.
  • Developed a user engagement strategy for Auracles.io on AI use in music; presented findings directly to representatives of the UK Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
  • Revised and packaged a methodology for using creative tools and process modelling to examine risk in complex systems, drawing on prior academic research at Royal Holloway, as a structured consultation service.
  • Managed full technical infrastructure for You Me Bum Bum Train (West End immersive theatre): physical network installation, IP telephony, web application support, and acceptable use and data policy drafting — standing up a bespoke technical environment and executing a full handover to an in-house operating team.
  • Co-founded Design & Economics, developing a conference programme and business consultation offering at the intersection of design, economics, and emerging technology.

Job Title: Technical Delivery Manager

Employer: AKQA

Location: London, UK

Dates: 08/2022 - 07/2024

  • Managed a portfolio of complex technical delivery programmes across multiple clients — from initial scoping and pitch through to execution. Accountable for technical architecture review, resource planning, and budget management up to £5m across four to six concurrent programmes.
  • Led a large-scale mobile ecommerce programme for a major clothing brand, coordinating 10–20 engineers and designers across European and US time zones and driving technical scope definition through senior stakeholder reviews.
  • Owned release scheduling across concurrent client programmes, including release calendar management, code freeze communication, deployment quality monitoring, and rollback planning for high-risk releases.
  • Coordinated incident response for live client ecommerce and digital platforms, maintaining incident status communication to senior stakeholders and facilitating post-incident reviews.
  • Facilitated team retrospectives across programmes and worked with product owners and tech leads to translate findings into tracked improvement initiatives.
  • Identified a critical gap in secure development practice across engineering teams; designed and piloted a mixed formal/informal secure development framework combining policy guidelines with practical AI guidance — an in-house capability initiative deployed across the London office.
  • Built and pitched AI/LLM prototypes using RAG principles; two progressed into active client development programmes.
  • Delivered the Choose Love charity website rebrand end-to-end: stakeholder management, Shopify architecture, scrum facilitation, backlog grooming, and user story definition.

Job Title: Chief Product Officer

Employer: Agitate

Location: London, UK

Dates: 12/2020 - 07/2022

  • Board-level CPO at an FCA-regulated fintech building blockchain-based identity and payment systems. Owned end-to-end product delivery across a portfolio of technical products within the compliance and governance constraints of a regulated financial services environment.
  • Established the product development function from scratch — introducing structured lifecycle practices across business analysis, user research, and design, building in-house capability where none had previously existed.
  • Designed white-label product solutions for hospitality and high-net-worth financial management verticals, incorporating digital credentials and secure communication channels.
  • Delivered the BOPP Open Banking payment application, including API offering development and Digital Identity Platform launch on Google Cloud Platform.
  • Technologies: Blockchain, Verifiable Credentials, Open Banking APIs, Google Cloud Platform.

Job Title: Chief Technology Officer

Employer: Creative Passport / Mycelia

Location: London, UK

Dates: 01/2016 - 12/2020

  • Technical co-founder for the Creative Passport — a digital identity platform for the music industry, founded by Imogen Heap and the Mycelia collective. Accountable for technical architecture, product direction, and team leadership from prototype through to production on AWS.
  • Defined and executed the technical roadmap; evaluated and implemented blockchain and Verifiable Credential technologies for artist identity and rights management.
  • Managed the full vendor and partner lifecycle with IBM and Evernym — scoping, technical knowledge transfer, and team onboarding across a third-party-to-in-house transition.
  • Recruited and grew the development team; presented technical and strategic progress to funders and industry consortia. Contributed to an EU Copyright database white paper integrating digital ID and verifiable credentials.
  • Technologies: AWS, Blockchain, Verifiable Credentials, Distributed Identity Standards.

Job Title: Senior Technical Project Manager & Consultant

Employer: Freelance (Self-Employed)

Location: London, UK

Dates: 06/2010 - 01/2018

  • Delivered complex digital programmes across media, publishing, broadcasting, and academic sectors — combining product strategy, technical leadership, and cross-functional team management.
  • CTO & Product Manager, impossible.com: Architected and scaled a social network platform; directed international development teams and implemented data privacy policies.
  • Technical Product Manager, Condé Nast: Launched the first Vogue UK iPad application, establishing content delivery workflows and analytics reporting across editorial and engineering.
  • Product Owner, SRF: Oversaw a full website redesign using hybrid Agile/Waterfall delivery with distributed teams across multiple geographies.
  • Research Fellow / Co-Investigator, Royal Holloway University of London: Conducted research across EU-funded TREsPASS and InnovateUK-funded SeReWiSc and CySeCa projects; built visualisation tools for attack tree threat modelling, secure object sharing frameworks, and SIEM-based anomalous behaviour detection.

Job Title: Technical Project Manager (TPM to Senior TPM)

Employer: BBC

Location: London, UK

Dates: 10/2001 - 05/2010

  • Delivered digital strategy and technical programmes across multiple BBC platforms — managing teams of 5–15 and budgets to £2m against hard broadcast deadlines and complex cross-divisional dependencies.
  • Developed the Games Grid platform enabling thematic content connections across BBC websites; pioneered early Video on Demand and location-based mobile content delivery, including prototypes for camera phone content submission and mesh network media distribution.
  • Oversaw resource allocation and prioritisation across in-house and external teams, aligning technical delivery with broadcast scheduling and transmission deadlines.
  • Implemented concept extraction and content tagging systems; contributed to working groups for Blogging, Streaming Video, and Games.

Earlier Roles

Job Title: Freelance Digital Media Developer Employer: Freelance (Self-Employed) Location: London, UK Dates: 1999 - 2001

Job Title: Lead Internet Programmer Employer: Red Kite New Media Location: London, UK Dates: 1999

Job Title: Internet Developer Employer: AKQA Location: London, UK Dates: 1997 - 1999

Job Title: Technical Support & Network Admin Employer: Custom Business Systems Location: London, UK Dates: 1995 - 1997

Professional Certifications

SecAI+ ~ CompTIA ~ 10/2025

SecurityX / CSAE ~ CompTIA ~ 07/2024

CISSP ~ ISC2 ~ 02/2023

Cloud+ ~ CompTIA ~ 01/2020

Cloud Essentials ~ CompTIA ~ 05/2019

CySA+ / CASP ~ CompTIA ~ 03/2019

Security+ ~ CompTIA ~ 12/2018

Certificate in Information Security Management Principles ~ BCS ~ 03/2019

Cybersecurity in Industrial Control Systems ~ US Dept. Homeland Security ~ 05/2019

Education

University College London ~ London, UK

M.S. in Computer Science ~ 1992 - 1994

University of Westminster ~ London, UK

B.Sc (Hons) in Photographic and Electronic Imaging Science ~ 1989 - 1992

Skills

Programme & Project Delivery: End-to-end programme ownership; Multi-team cross-functional delivery; Agile (Scrum Master/PO) & Waterfall; Risk, dependency & stakeholder management; Executive reporting & governance; Release planning & calendar management; Code freeze coordination; Rollback planning; Deployment quality monitoring; Incident response & post-incident review; CAB process design & change management

Security & Compliance: CISSP; CompTIA SecurityX (CSAE); ISO 27001; NIST 800; OWASP Top 10; CIS Controls; PCI-DSS; GDPR; Secure by Design; ICS Security

Technical Product & Delivery: Cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, Azure); Microservices & API architectures; Product lifecycle management; Backlog ownership; Roadmapping; Vendor management; User story creation; Requirements gathering; Business analysis; Technical prototyping; Stakeholder workshop facilitation

Transition & Vendor Management: Third-party to in-house handovers; Knowledge transfer; Technical debt assessment; Codebase readiness; Documentation frameworks; Architectural review

AI & Emerging Technology: LLM workflow automation (LangChain, Hugging Face, OpenAI, Ollama, Anthropic, Gemini); RAG architectures; Generative AI prototyping; Coding agent use; Risk assessment; Blockchain & distributed identity

Stakeholder & Senior Leadership: C-suite communication; Budget planning & control (to £5m); Hiring & team management; Business analysis; Requirements & user story definition