Principal Solution Architect and Design Authority with 30 years across government, financial services, mining and energy, education and retail — owning complex technical decisions in environments where getting it wrong has real consequences. Career spans investment banking trading floors in Wellington and London, global platform and data centre delivery across four continents, two major corporate acquisitions, and Queensland Government architecture programs.
I take fragmented, ambiguous or at-risk programs and bring architectural clarity — defining the solution, setting the standards, governing delivery, and staying in the room until it is built. I work with CIOs and SVPs to shape technical roadmaps, present them to Boards and Architecture Review Boards, and drive them to outcomes. I own the outcome, not just the design.
Angel Investor & Technical Advisor, Func Ventures (2023–Present).
Career Achievements
- 25M seats — architected Symantec Web Site Security platform expansion from 4M to 25M seats through 15 new hyper-converged edge locations across Europe, USA and Asia Pacific, supporting revenues in excess of US$100M per annum.
- 20 data centres decommissioned — implemented the global data centre consolidation program alongside the Program Director, delivering over US$30M per annum in recurring savings.
- 1,750 developers integrated — architected the Azure secure development environment post-acquisition, retiring $12M p.a. in legacy infrastructure as part of the Symantec/Blue Coat M&A integration.
- 17 of the top 20 global mining groups — architectural authority for managed services delivery across Mincom/ABB’s Tier 1 client base on the Ellipse EAM platform, spanning six countries and 100+ customers.
- 1,300+ numbers ported — led decommissioning of a Telstra-hosted Cisco PBX and migration to Microsoft Teams Voice across all six campuses of a Victorian TAFE, with zero service disruption.
- 40 people, 3 continents — led global architecture and delivery teams across APAC, EMEA and North America through two corporate acquisitions, reporting to SVP and CIO level.
- Zero disruption — architected Exchange and SharePoint to Microsoft 365 migration for 2,000 users across a live global operation.
- 25%+ cost reduction — rationalised Azure Monitor architecture across a large managed services estate, improving signal quality and reducing operational noise.
Core Competencies
Solution & Enterprise Architecture
Design Authority & Architecture Review Boards
TOGAF 9.2
QGEA, DIS & Whole-of-Government Frameworks
Infrastructure Architecture
Data Centre Design, Consolidation & Relocation
Networks, Wireless & SD-WAN
Telephony, Unified Communications & Teams Voice
Audio-Visual & Collaboration Technologies
End User Computing
Server & Storage Platforms
Structured Cabling & Facility Infrastructure
Cloud Architecture (Azure, AWS, GCP)
Microsoft 365 & Power Platform
Data Architecture, Migration & Retention
Cybersecurity Architecture (SABSA, ISO 27001, ISM, E8)
Legacy Decommissioning & Modernisation
Multi-Vendor & System Integrator Governance
ADRs & Investment-Grade Artefacts
Executive, Board & C-Suite Engagement
Presales & Solution Consulting
FinOps & Managed Services
ITIL, PRINCE2, Agile Delivery
Professional Experience
Senior Architect (AO8)2024 – 2025
Queensland Dept of Transport & Main Roads · Contract via Ordo Animi · Brisbane, QLD
- Engaged at AO8 level as Solution Architect across a portfolio of legacy modernisation, platform migration, data architecture and compliance programs — producing artefacts presented to executive governance forums including DAWG and SAG.
- Authored Strategy and Architecture Documents and initiative assessments supporting investment decisions — presented through executive approval chains.
- Designed Notes Fast Track shared platform architecture — a three-platform model covering application hosting, public web portal, and long-term Azure archival of 2.5TB of legacy content.
- Developed a 30-year data tiering strategy balancing operational searchability against cost-efficient Azure Blob and Dataverse storage across business-critical legacy systems.
- Defined reusable integration patterns for Power Automate, Azure Functions and Blob storage — standardising secure data flows and environment boundaries.
- Defined legacy decommissioning strategies for telematics and operator platforms — stakeholder mapping, architecture discovery, 50-year data retention implications, and B2B decoupling. Privacy impact and threat/risk assessments completed.
Technical Service Delivery Manager2024
Idea11 — Boutique AWS Managed Service Provider · Brisbane, QLD
- Managed an enterprise client portfolio spanning Queensland Government, education, early childhood, mining and utilities — maintaining 90%+ satisfaction and retention across all accounts.
- Owned executive engagement, service contracts, SLA compliance, commercial accountability and presales pipeline participation across concurrent enterprise relationships.
- Primary point of contact across a 24/7 managed services operation — owned outage response, escalation management and delivery governance.
Lead Solution Architect — Cybersecurity & Infrastructure2023
Queensland Dept of Education · Contract via Ordo Animi · Brisbane, QLD
- Directed architecture and governance for a state-wide cybersecurity uplift across a large distributed Queensland Government estate — assessing security posture and designing remediation aligned to SABSA, ISO 27001, ISM and Essential Eight.
- Produced as-is assessments, to-be designs, threat and risk assessments and implementation roadmaps compliant with QGEA, DIS guidelines and whole-of-government security standards.
- Governed SD-WAN migration and Microsoft Defender/Sentinel deployment — chairing design reviews, enforcing architecture standards, and engaging senior stakeholders on decisions, risks and trade-offs.
Senior Architect — ERP, Supply Chain & Data Platform2022
Amart Furniture (National Retail, 65+ Stores) · Contract via Ordo Animi · Brisbane, QLD
- Led solution architecture for ERP and supply chain systems uplift — aligning business capability across procurement, logistics, and warehouse operations to technology investment decisions.
- Designed data warehouse architecture for logistics and warehouse management; established enterprise architecture foundations — governance frameworks, reference architectures, principles, and standards.
Lead Consulting Architect2020 – 2022
Planet6 — Technology Services Provider (Microsoft Practice) · Brisbane, QLD
- Lead architect across concurrent infrastructure and platform programs for mid-market and enterprise clients — leading technical delivery teams, working alongside fellow architects and senior engineers, and supporting presales and consulting engagements across the practice.
- Chisholm Institute (Victorian TAFE — six campuses, ~1,200 staff, ~26,000 students): designed and governed full decommissioning of the Telstra-hosted Cisco PBX and migration to Microsoft Teams Voice across all six campuses — 1,300+ numbers ported with zero service disruption, including all call workflow design.
- Led the supporting multi-campus network upgrade underpinning the voice and collaboration platform.
- Architected audio-visual and collaboration technology deployment across teaching and meeting spaces — working directly with AV, Telstra, Cisco and third-party vendors on design, integration and delivery.
- Delivered Microsoft 365, SharePoint Online and Microsoft Purview architecture — information architecture, records management, metadata frameworks, data classification and compliance alignment.
- Delivered Active Directory to Entra ID migration and Microsoft 365 architecture for a national retail client.
- Rationalised Azure Monitor architecture across a large managed services estate — 25%+ cost reduction and materially improved signal quality.
Career Sabbatical — Technical Dive Master & Rescue Diver2019 – 2020
Deliberate recalibration
Global Solution Architect & Project Manager2016 – 2019
Blue Coat Systems / Symantec (Broadcom) — NASDAQ-Listed · Global · 4 Continents
- Architectural authority for global cloud and infrastructure transformation — 50+ sites, 14 data centres, four continents, 2,500+ users. Reported through the Program Director to the SVP of Information Technology (Networks, Data Centers and Site Operations).
- Architected Web Site Security platform expansion — scaling from 4M to 25M seats through 15 new hyper-converged edge locations across Europe, USA and Asia Pacific, supporting revenues in excess of US$100M per annum.
- Implemented the global data centre consolidation program alongside the Program Director — 20 data centres decommissioned globally, delivering over US$30M per annum in recurring savings.
- Architected the Azure secure development environment — 1,750 developers integrated post-acquisition and $12M p.a. in legacy infrastructure retired as part of the Symantec/Blue Coat M&A integration.
- Architected zero-disruption migration from on-premises Exchange and SharePoint to Microsoft 365 for 2,000 users across live global operations.
- Contributed to global office IT infrastructure standardisation and corporate data centre optimisation — physical infrastructure rationalisation across power, cooling, floor space and regional lab environments.
- Led SOC2 and ISO 27001 compliance program — executive stakeholder engagement, external audit coordination and policy governance across a regulated global environment.
IT Operations Manager2015 – 2016
Ordyss · Brisbane, QLD
- Six-month engagement managing ICT infrastructure and client delivery coordination during organisational transition prior to merger.
Global Lead Solutions Architect & Delivery Manager2010 – 2015
Mincom / Ventyx / ABB Enterprise Software · Brisbane + Kuala Lumpur + Atlanta, USA
- Joined as Senior Systems Engineer and progressed through five roles across two successive acquisitions to Global Lead Solutions Architect — senior architect to the SVP of Managed Services.
- Architectural authority for the transformation of Mincom’s managed services division into a global shared services business unit — operations across Australia, Malaysia, South Africa, United Kingdom, Chile and the United States, serving 100+ customers globally with 250+ staff.
- Delivered architecture and managed services for Tier 1 global clients across mining, utilities, oil & gas, energy and defence on the Ellipse EAM platform — Mincom’s customer base included 17 of the top 20 global mining groups.
- Led global architecture and delivery teams of up to 40 architects and engineers across three continents — accountable for performance, service levels, architecture integrity and customer outcomes.
- Architected Mincom/ABB development environment migration to AWS — $2.5M p.a. in infrastructure costs eliminated and global development teams integrated.
- Worked directly with SVPs and CIOs to develop and present board-level technology roadmaps, pre-sales architecture and investment cases across APAC, EMEA and North America.
- Deployed to Atlanta, USA to lead integration of the North American services team into the global service delivery model following ABB’s acquisition of Ventyx.
Lead Systems Engineer2008 – 2010
Fronde (acquired by Datacom) · Wellington, NZ
- Lead onsite engineer across three major New Zealand clients simultaneously — NZ Parliament (critical government infrastructure), EMS Trading / Transport NZ (trading platform infrastructure and technical operations), and NZ Trade and Enterprise (infrastructure management and technical delivery).
Technical Lead — Banking & Trading Systems2005 – 2008
FNZ New Zealand · Wellington, NZ
- Technical lead for banking and investment back-office trading platform infrastructure — availability, performance, security and technical integrity of systems processing live financial transactions in a zero-downtime regulated environment. FNZ now manages over US$2 trillion in assets for 650+ financial institutions.
Lead Systems Engineer — Financial Services & Government1999 – 2005
Deutsche Bank · HSBC · Allen & Overy · Saudi International Bank · Strategic Rail Authority · City of London, UK
- Six years across London’s leading financial institutions and government bodies — through the Y2K period and beyond — in regulated, high-availability, mission-critical environments.
- Strategic Rail Authority (2003–2005) — two-year engagement supporting UK government national infrastructure, high-availability systems and government-grade security.
Technical Administration Lead — NZ Police INCIS1998 – 1999
IBM · Wellington, NZ
- Technical administration and delivery on NZ Police INCIS — one of New Zealand’s largest and most complex government technology programs of its era.
Technical Lead — Investment Banking Trading Floor1997 – 1998
Westpac Investment Banking · Wellington, NZ
- Technical lead for Westpac’s investment banking trading floor and back-office systems — Reuters, Dow Jones Telerate, Bloomberg and Knight trading platforms in a zero-tolerance regulated environment.
Earlier Roles — New Zealand1994 – 1997
Wellington, NZ
- Hardware engineering, systems assembly, structured cabling, helpdesk, desktop support and systems administration across commercial and government environments — foundational infrastructure capability built from the ground up.
Certifications
Architecture & Business: TOGAF® 9.2 Certified · Certified Business Architect (CBA®, 2025) · SAP Enterprise Architecture Fundamentals (2026) · OrbusInfinity Foundations
Cloud Platforms: Azure Solutions Architect Expert (to 2027) · Azure Administrator Associate (to 2026) · AWS Databricks Platform Architect (2025) · Azure Databricks Platform Architect
Cybersecurity: Google Cloud Cybersecurity (2025) · ISO/IEC 27001 Information Security Associate · API Security Architect (API Academy) · Fortinet Certified Associate — Cybersecurity · Palo Alto Networks PSE: Foundation · Microsoft Sentinel Ninja · Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Ninja
Delivery & Methodology: Commvault Solution Architect (CVSA24) · Lean Six Sigma Green Belt · PRINCE2 · ITIL · Scrum Master
Memberships & Partnerships
Association of Enterprise Architects · SABSA Institute · Business Architecture Guild · DAMA Australia · Iasa Global · Project Management Institute · Microsoft Partner · AWS Partner · Google Cloud Partner
Education
Certificate in Business Information Systems — Wellington Institute of Technology (WelTec), Wellington, New Zealand
Advisory
Angel Investor & Technical Advisor, Func Ventures (2023–Present) — technical due diligence and architecture advisory for early-stage technology investments.
References
Richard Scott
Executive Consultant & Investor · Former SVP Managed Services ABB/Ventyx · Former Program Director Symantec · Director of Operations Planet6
“Phil is the go-to person for high-value, business-critical projects. I have engaged him across Australia, Asia, and the USA. He takes accountability for quality, timelines, and outcomes. Highly recommended.”
Chris Birrell
Founder & Managing Partner, Func Ventures · Former CIO Blue Coat Systems · Former SVP IT Symantec · Former GM Mincom · Chairman Planet6
Fifteen-year working relationship across four organisations. Additional references available upon request.