Desmond Seeley
Sydney
Summary
At Commonwealth Bank, I spearheaded transformative initiatives, enhancing engineering and strategic operations with a focus on Agile methodologies and DevOps. My leadership drove significant improvements in team productivity and operational efficiency, achieving a 50% reduction in planned migration costs. Skilled in strategic transformation and technology leadership, I excel in fostering enterprise agility and managing high-stakes projects.
Overview
9
9
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work History
Engineering Chapter Area Lead
Commonwealth Bank
02.2024 - Current
- Modernized FS Engineering cohort to deliver superior engineering-driven business outcomes by effectively coordinating onshore and offshore teams.
- Enabled DevSecOps maturity across 12 capabilities, improving baseline from 1.35 to a target of 2.5.
- Strategised and executed accelerated Service Management modernization, transitioning IT operations and embedding Site Reliability Engineering within squads.
- Directed the Corporate Services & Ops Tech SU acceleration taskforce, achieving substantial improvements in DORA DevOps metrics such as Deployment Frequency, Change Lead Time, Change Failure Rate, and Mean Time to Recovery.
Executive Manager Treasury & Regulatory Reporting
Commonwealth Bank
07.2021 - 04.2024
- Increased overall team productivity by implementing innovative management strategies and streamlining communication channels. (50% increase in team productivity)
- Enhanced operations and implemented technological innovations in collaboration with senior leadership. (modernization of Treasury systems to AWS public cloud)
- Implemented data-driven decision-making processes to drive continuous improvement in overall business (reduce Liquidity reporting performance by 50%)
- Created, managed, and executed technology 3year plan and communicated vision and objectives to motivate teams.
- Successfully navigated complex regulatory environments to ensure compliance with all relevant laws and industry standards, mitigating potential legal risks.
- Negotiated high-value contracts with key partners and suppliers, securing favourable terms that supported business objectives.
- Achieved over $2 million in annual OPEX cost reductions through technology modernization using SaaS and PaaS.
- Directed international regulatory reporting technology initiatives for CFOs across seven jurisdictions, ensuring compliance and efficiency.
Executive Manager Strategy/Delivery Transformation
Commonwealth Bank
07.2019 - 07.2021
- Increased overall team productivity by implementing innovative management strategies and streamlining communication channels.
- Integrated strategic streams of Cyber, Data Office, and Group Technology with Corporate Services Technology domain for seamless and efficient portfolio management.
- Spearheaded efforts to increase delivery velocity of software development and deployment by leveraging Product Management, Program Management, Business Portfolio Management, IT Delivery Management, and IT/Business Partnership.
- Developed cohesive lean management and delivery frameworks to streamline decision-making and boost delivery efficiency.
- Implemented virtual management and delivery systems through COVID-19, increasing decision-making capabilities and team throughput.
- Enhanced the deployment of group enablers, processes, and tools for delivery teams through the automation of SDLC, embedding 30+ delivery controls.
- Managed the closure of IT assets for the International Business across 10 global offices, ensuring data controls for customer information.
- Managed the identification of IT and cyber control risks, driving improvements in PT Commonwealth Bank's cyber and IT control measures.
Enterprise Transformation Lead (lean/agile)
Commonwealth Bank
07.2016 - 06.2019
- Design, coach and facilitate the transition of leadership and teams towards agile ways of working to enhance enterprise agility.
- Enabled payment teams to accelerate and enhance the quality of requirements definition for existing payment flows, reducing planned migration costs by 50%.
- Enabled a team to provide capability costing with options, allowing the business to make informed priority decisions based on visualized models, reducing the estimated program cost by 35%.
- Accelerated backlog development by targeting common themes across Privacy Banking Code of Practice, Open Banking, and other regulatory programs.
- Established agile business analysis methods to define the Product/Portfolio Backlog, incorporating business process reengineering and ensuring traceability of legal requirements throughout delivery.
Education
Bachelor of Arts - Community Develeopment
University of South Africa
Pretoria01-2020
Bachelor of Science - Computer Science
University of South Africa
Pretoria01-1987
Skills
- Strategic Transformation
- Engineering Management
- Technology Leadership
- Agile Ways of Working
- DevOps
- Leadership
- Enterprise Solution Design
- Risk Management
- Cloud Computing
- Product Management (Agile)
- Strategic Partnership
- Financial Management
Accomplishments
DevSecOps
- Enable DevSecOps maturity across 12 capabilities from 1.35 to 2.0 in twelve months
- Reduce delivery Cycle time from more than 85 days to 30 days
- Reduce Wait time from baseline more than 40 days to less than 10 Days
Technology Modernisation
- Directed the Treasury systems (QRM) AWS public cloud Modernisation reducing the the IT operations cost by 70%
- Led an initiative focused on specific test automation opportunities in the Corporate Services Technology domain - 4 week sprint to Automate testing across 4 HR on boarding and contracting processes, reducing testing time by 80%
Certification
- Leading@CBA Business Leaders Program
- Certified Scrum Product Owner® (CSPO®)
- Certified Scrum Master
- DevOps Foundations
Languages
English
Native or Bilingual
Timeline
Engineering Chapter Area Lead
Commonwealth Bank
02.2024 - Current
Executive Manager Treasury & Regulatory Reporting
Commonwealth Bank
07.2021 - 04.2024
Executive Manager Strategy/Delivery Transformation
Commonwealth Bank
07.2019 - 07.2021
Enterprise Transformation Lead (lean/agile)
Commonwealth Bank
07.2016 - 06.2019
Bachelor of Arts - Community Develeopment
University of South Africa
Bachelor of Science - Computer Science
University of South Africa
Similar Profiles
Achyutha JagadeeshAchyutha Jagadeesh
Data Science Job Simulation at Commonwealth BankData Science Job Simulation at Commonwealth Bank
Leigh PhanLeigh Phan
Banking Customer Service Representative at Commonwealth BankBanking Customer Service Representative at Commonwealth Bank
Vivienne CirilloVivienne Cirillo
Executive Assistant at Commonwealth BankExecutive Assistant at Commonwealth Bank
Sophie PittsSophie Pitts
Customer Banking Specialist at Commonwealth BankCustomer Banking Specialist at Commonwealth Bank
Pujari UthpalaPujari Uthpala
Lead Consultant at Capgemini, AustraliaLead Consultant at Capgemini, Australia