Did you gain work experience during university?
“One reason why I struggled at university was because I was so used to working. I’d earned my own money since I was 12 years old and had been in the professional IT workplace for the previous 2 and a half years.
“In third year, I was offered the opportunity to do a year-long placement. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do it because it would add time to my studies and therefore delay my return to the workforce. However, I decided to go for it and joined asset management firm BlackRock as a Desktop Support Analyst. It was very intense because at the time me and another intern were the only in-person desktop support in Edinburgh. However, it pushed me to be better. After finishing my placement, I was kept on for four more months to help with a big IT transformation project.
“At the start of fourth year ECS Security, now known as Adarma, came to campus to recruit students. They’d just won a big contract at a local national bank and were looking to hire security analysts. I applied and was offered a senior analyst position. The senior roles were primarily for masters students, but my placement experience elevated me to a higher position.
“The only trouble was that the role was full time, and they needed people to start right away. I spent the majority of my fourth year juggling 12-hour shifts with my studying responsibilities. I do not recommend doing this!”
What did you do after graduating?
“I continued working for Adarma, ultimately staying there for nine years. After graduating in 2014 I was promoted to Junior Consultant.
“This role introduced me to consultancy work. I travelled the UK helping different enterprises with their security operations. Sometimes I’d be in a place for 2 days, other times longer. My first consultancy job was a 6-month secondment at Burberry in London. I was in a £90 Matalan suit whilst everyone else was wearing designer clothes! I did this job for three years during which time I was promoted to Consultant and then Senior Consultant.
“Travelling so frequently was challenging. I didn’t quite burn out, but I got singed, and being away for so long also began to affect my relationships. I communicated this to the company, and I gradually reduced my billable hours to 25% of my overall time over the next 18 months. To fill the gap, I became a Managing Consultant, leading and supporting other teams of consultants from our HQ in Edinburgh. My role at Adarma was really successful, and therefore, I was tasked with building an enablement programme to scale our supply and meet customer demand. The company brought in talented graduates, and I trained them up. We grew from four consultants to 47, and about half of them were from Edinburgh Napier!
“After a couple of years, I got a little bored of doing this role. Adarma noticed and they presented me with an opportunity to become a Product Lead. The company wanted to move into product development but didn’t know where to start. I was tasked with developing this further in partnership with our senior leadership team.
“Two years later I was approached by a Series A startup, SenseOn. They had just done their first round of significant funding and were looking to bring in someone who had my exact skills. I was ready for a new challenge and joined them in early 2022 as Director of Product. Sadly, the tech industry entered a post-pandemic downturn, and the funding opportunities became more challenging; when Tesco reached out with an exciting opportunity, I had to hear them out!
Tell us more about your role at Tesco.
“Tesco reached out to me as they were looking for a Head of Cybersecurity Engineering. The job would involve managing three engineering teams; very few organisations in the UK have a cybersecurity engineering team of that size. It was such an unusual opportunity, and I was excited to take it up for a business I already held respect for.
“I joined Tesco in February 2024. I was used to working with large companies through my consultancy work, but I’d never worked for one of them directly. I’m not just here for three months to identify a problem and leave. These are my problems to solve and I’m really enjoying that ownership.
“Also, my job is now easier to explain!
What has been the high point of your career?
“I’ve won a few industry awards and it’s nice to have that recognition from my peers.
“I received the Best New Cyber Talent at the Scottish Cyber Awards in 2016. This was special because it was the first year of the awards. I was also selected as the 2018 Security Professional Under 30 at the Security Excellence Awards. As awkward as it was to walk on stage, it felt really special to receive these awards.
“I’m the co-founder of Cyber Scotland Connect. We organise regular events designed to bring the community together, and I was awarded the Cyber Evangelist of the Year prize at the 2018 Scottish Cyber Awards in part due to this outreach. That’s not why we started the network, but it was nice to be recognised for our contribution to the community.”