Programme Leadership · Enterprise Scale

Daniel Taylor

Enterprise Software · Programme Governance & Transformation · Most Recently Global Specialty Insurance

Value Complexity Intelligence.

Most programme leads are still tracking velocity and formatting status updates. I’d rather know whether we’re building the right thing, catch the dependency that’s about to cascade across three product streams, and automate the mechanical work so I can focus on the decisions that actually matter. Most recently, I did exactly that across an 8-product portfolio, 2,000+ initiatives, and ~250 people — helping navigate a £50M acquisition in the process.

£50M
Acquisition
8
Products
~250
Resources Coordinated
2,000+
Initiatives Managed
£12M
R&D Budget
102
Methodology Constraints
62
AI Tools Built

The Challenge

Sound Familiar?

The Questions You Can’t Answer

The board asks where programme X stands relative to the product strategy. You check three tools, email two PMs, and still aren’t sure.

Dependencies That Surface at the Worst Moment

A 2-week slip in one team cascades through three product streams. Nobody saw it coming because nobody was mapping cross-product dependencies.

Everyone Thinks Their Work Is The Priority

Five product managers, five roadmaps, one shared platform team. No framework to arbitrate, so the loudest voice wins.

Roadmaps That Don’t Survive First Contact

Beautifully presented plans that fall apart by sprint 3 because they were built on assumptions, not validated dependencies.

Governance That Exists on Paper Only

Steering committees that rubber-stamp updates. Risk registers nobody reads. Processes designed for auditors, not for delivery.

Risks Surface When It’s Too Late

By the time it hits your desk, the options are damage control or delay. The early warning system doesn’t exist.

These aren’t failures of competence. They’re what happens when complex portfolios outgrow the informal coordination that got them this far.

The Approach

How I Work

Every organisation I walk into has some version of these problems. The tooling is different, the politics are different, the maturity is different — but the root cause is usually the same: no single point of coordination with the authority and visibility to connect the dots.

I build that function. I assess what exists, identify the structural gaps, and put governance in place that people actually follow — because it helps them, not because a process document says they should.

See how I turned this into software →
ASSESS

What governance exists, what’s informal, what’s missing. Where the real dependencies live versus where people think they are.

STRUCTURE

Build the coordination framework — steering cadence, dependency mapping, prioritisation mechanisms, executive reporting that drives decisions.

EVOLVE

Automate the mechanical work. Measure what matters. Continuously improve the system based on what the data is telling us, not what the last audit said.

What This Delivers

Outcomes I’ve Built Toward

Cross-Product Dependency Mapping

2,000+ initiatives mapped with full upstream and downstream traceability across an 8-product portfolio. The kind of visibility that catches a cascade before it starts.

Reporting That Drives Decisions

Health scoring, schedule delta, and focus areas — not traffic-light dashboards that tell leadership what they want to hear. Built to surface what matters, not what looks good.

Roadmap Integrity

Commitments grounded in validated dependencies and realistic capacity. But more than that — every initiative tied to a measurable benefit, so when priorities shift or scope creeps, there’s a clear basis to ask: are we still building the right thing? Keeping delivery aligned to the mission, not just the plan.

Resource Intelligence

Who’s working on what, when, and why — across ~250 resources and multiple product streams. Single points of failure identified before they matter, not after someone hands in their notice.

Governance People Actually Follow

Built a Global Steering Committee from scratch — still running, still relied on. Not a box-ticking exercise but the decision-making backbone of an 8-product portfolio. Robust enough to pass £50M acquisition due diligence, practical enough that people actually show up prepared.

Risks Caught Early

90% of risks mitigated before escalation. Issue resolution time reduced from 2 months to 1 week. Early warnings, not fire drills.

Career Progression

Experience

2024 — 2026

Global Product Programme Lead

Sapiens AdvantageGo · Global Specialty & P&C Insurance Software

Details

Took ownership of programme governance across an 8-product portfolio for a global insurance software vendor — building the coordination function from scratch during a period that included a £50M acquisition and transformation from unrated to Everest Group Leader status.

£50M Acquisition 8 Products Everest Group Leader 12-Week Implementation

Key Achievements

  • Conceived, designed, and implemented comprehensive programme methodology — coordinating 2,000+ initiatives with full upstream and downstream dependency mapping
  • Established and chaired Global Steering Committee with 5 Directors, 6 Product Managers, and 2 Delivery Heads — 14 consecutive monthly sessions where no governance previously existed
  • Achieved 90% risk mitigation before escalation; reduced issue resolution time from 2 months to 1 week
  • Led comprehensive product due diligence supporting successful £50M acquisition by Sapiens
  • Enabled first new customer win in 18+ months — delivered as fastest implementation in company history
  • Fundamental contributor to transformation from unrated vendor to Everest Group Leader status
~250
Staff Coordinated
£12M
R&D Budget Owned
2,000+
Initiatives Managed

Skills Applied

Programme Management Dependency Mapping Steering Committee M&A Due Diligence Executive Reporting

2020 — 2024

Programme & Operations Manager

Ingersoll Rand · Global Industrial Manufacturing

Details

Led comprehensive enterprise CRM transformation and operational excellence programme across multi-site service operation following acquisition integration.

13-Month Delivery 4 Sites ISO 9001

Key Achievements

  • Delivered enterprise CRM integration in 13 months against 24-month timeline — consolidating multiple legacy systems whilst maintaining business continuity
  • Achieved >20% workflow efficiency improvement through end-to-end process redesign and standardisation across all sites
  • Transformed engineer utilisation from 33% to 75% through Lean Six Sigma process redesign — directly improving service capacity and revenue potential
  • Led successful ISO 9001 accreditation and industry-specific certifications, establishing quality management framework
4
Sites Consolidated
75%
Engineer Utilisation
11mo
Ahead of Schedule

Skills Applied

CRM Implementation Lean Six Sigma ISO 9001 Process Redesign Change Management

2017 — 2020

Transformation Manager

Harrier Pneumatics Ltd

Details

Recruited to drive comprehensive digital transformation of a traditional paper-based operation. Full technology adoption, process re-engineering, and commercial growth strategy.

Digital Transformation 250% Revenue Growth

Key Achievements

  • Executed complete digital transformation from paper-based to CRM-enabled operations — achieved full organisational adoption within 6 months through structured change management
  • Delivered 250% revenue growth (£20k to £70k monthly) through systematic new account acquisition enabled by improved operational visibility and capacity
  • Established operational foundations and governance that supported subsequent Ingersoll Rand acquisition and integration
250%
Revenue Growth
6mo
Full Adoption
£70k
Monthly Revenue

Skills Applied

Digital Transformation CRM Adoption Change Management Commercial Strategy

2013 — 2017

Operations & Logistics Manager

Atlas Copco (Multibrands) · Global Industrial Manufacturing

Details

Progressive career advancement through technical and operational roles, culminating in leadership of nationwide ERP transformation programme.

SAP Implementation 10% Under Budget 20% Stock Reduction

Key Achievements

  • Led nationwide SAP transition as sole Business Key User — delivered on time and 10% under budget whilst maintaining operational continuity throughout migration
  • Reduced stockholding by 20% whilst simultaneously improving fast-mover availability through development of custom BI reporting and demand forecasting
  • Designed and implemented digital warranty system reducing customer claim processing time by >20%, improving customer satisfaction
  • Built foundational expertise in enterprise systems, change management, and operational transformation
50+
Team Size
10%
Under Budget
20%
Stock Reduction

Skills Applied

SAP Implementation ERP Migration BI Reporting Demand Forecasting Supply Chain

Testimonials

What Leaders Say

Daniel is not merely competent — he is the calibre of individual around whom you can build an entire operational function.

John Bowers

Chief Product Officer, Sapiens AdvantageGo

Dan makes the difficult look easy. He is reliable, insightful, and deeply committed to delivering quality.

James Byford

Global Head of Design

He translated complex project data into clear insights. Reliable, patient, and very skilled, he made a big difference in how we tracked and improved project outcomes.

Abhinandan Gulabrao Pise

Senior Data Scientist, Aays

Beyond Programme Management

Most Programme Leads Use Tools. I Built One.

AI is rapidly automating the mechanical side of programme management — status reports, schedule variance, risk pattern detection. That’s not a threat to what I do. It’s what frees me to focus on the work that actually matters: the judgement calls, the stakeholder relationships, the dependencies that only surface through experience and conversation.

After years of coordinating complex portfolios with tools that were never designed for the job, I stopped waiting for the right platform to exist and started building it. PRAXIS is a programme intelligence platform — it encodes my methodology into a knowledge graph, ingests live project data, and surfaces the dependencies, bottlenecks, and risks that traditional PM tools fundamentally can’t see.

AI-Powered Analysis

62 specialised tools that interrogate real project data. Not a chatbot with your plan pasted in — structured analysis that traces dependency chains, simulates delays, and explains findings in plain English.

Knowledge Graph Architecture

Programme data isn’t spreadsheet data — it’s connected. PRAXIS uses a graph database to model relationships between initiatives, resources, dependencies, and risks the way they actually exist.

The result: interactive dependency mapping that traces chains across projects and portfolios. Click any node to see what’s upstream, what’s downstream, and where the bottlenecks are.
PRAXIS Dependency Radar — cross-project dependency chains visualised across multiple product streams
It’s a natural extension of how I think about programme leadership — and where I believe the discipline is heading.
Explore PRAXIS →

Connect

Let’s Talk

Open to senior programme leadership opportunities in enterprise software — particularly where complexity has outgrown the current coordination model. If that sounds familiar, I’d welcome the conversation.

dan.elliot.taylor@gmail.com
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