Aaron is available for hire
Hire AaronAaron Booth
Verified Expert in Product Management
Product Manager
Manchester, United Kingdom
Toptal member since March 3, 2021
Bio
Aaron is a product manager specializing in cloud management and governance products with expertise in agile products across the UK public sector. He saved over £10 million/annum for the Home Office; managed the implementation of a £1 million project for the UK Ministry of Defence; and served as the key contact for establishing legislative requirements at Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs. Aaron is recognized by AWS as an AWS Community Builder and holds practitioner qualifications with AWS & Azure.
Project Highlights
UK Home Office: Public Cloud Team
At the UK Home Office, I set up their Public Cloud Team and led the creation of their cloud strategy.
UK MInistry of Defence: Supplier Cyber Protection Service
Led the implementation of a supply chain cybersecurity assessment tool for the UK Ministry of Defence.
Expertise
- Agile
- Amazon Web Services (AWS)
- Cloud
- Cloud Strategy
- IT Governance
- IT Product Management
- Roadmaps
- User Research
Work Experience
Senior Product Manager
2019 - 2021
Home Office
- Set up the public cloud team and led the creation of the cloud strategy. Ensured that we worked on the cloud securely, reduced our costs, and improved how the team performed.
- Secured over £10 million of savings per annum through various sources such as contractual negotiations, purchasing reserved instances, and enabling cost optimization on individual accounts.
- Served as the supplier relationship manager for AWS and Azure. I worked with both of the suppliers' account teams to derive the best value from our partnerships.
- Managed the roadmap for the use of public cloud within the organization. I led a team of eight people with a budget of £1.5 million per year and was the recognized single point of contact for cloud across the entire organization.
Product Manager
2018 - 2019
Department of Work & Pensions
- Managed the supplier relationship management of AWS. I worked with commercial staff and directly with the DWP account manager within AWS.
- Monitored progress of 12 workstreams, which were designed to leverage our commercial relationship to benefit both the DWP and supplier.
- Delivered a specific workstream on the integration of our cloud suppliers into the DWP’s incident and service management procedures. While leading on this workstream, I worked with three suppliers, AWS, Microsoft Azure, and VMware.
Senior Delivery Manager
2017 - 2018
Home Office
- Served as the delivery manager for the Data Analytics Competency Centre (DACC). I led seven teams covering over 40 staff and an annual spend of over £20 million. I led each team's daily stand up and their scrum ceremonies.
- Oversaw dependency and risk/issue management across the DACC. I worked with the product owners to produce product roadmaps and identify inter-product dependencies.
- Led in the organization of the Home Office-wide product and delivery management community. I also up skilled staff within our work area on agile ways of working by delivering presentations and workshops.
Product Manager
2017 - 2017
TeachPitch
- Directed development across three platforms within TeachPitch and managed the development team based outside of the UK.
- Reported directly to the CEO and worked with him to articulate his vision and product direction into an effective roadmap. I prioritized tasks based on user needs and customer priorities.
- Implemented automated user research and analytics tools to further improve their agile ways of working.
Product Manager
2016 - 2017
Ministry of Defence
- Project managed the implementation of a £1 million defence project to secure the defense supply chain from cyber security threats. Responsible for the development of the online tool used in the project.
- Resolved an outstanding issue regarding two-factor authentication security within four weeks by advocating for a nuanced approach to user access controls and differentiating the security controls based on risk.
- Served as main liaison with the third-party supplier. I was able to effectively challenge them to change the way they worked to ensure that they met UK government requirements. I also negotiated additional free development time on their core product.
- Joined the MOD and took over the lead on this project positively impacting the project and taking it in the right direction. The project was delivered with a 50% reduction in team resources.
Business Analyst
2016 - 2016
Department of Work & Pensions
- Collaborated with the team to assess the viability of a needs-focused replacement of the Universal Jobmatch service in line with Government Digital Service (GDS) standards and support the transformational shift towards Digital by Design within DWP.
- Contributed towards accelerated delivery through comprehensive identification and analysis of complex user needs, their impact on user-centric designm, and relevance to strategic directives.
- Served as the key contact for establishing legislative and policy requirements around the provision of a public employment service.
Project History
UK Home Office: Public Cloud Team
At the UK Home Office, I set up their Public Cloud Team and led the creation of their cloud strategy.
As a product manager for the public cloud team, I was responsible for the overall product roadmap, led a team of eight people, a spend of £1.5 million per year, and was the recognized single point-of-contact for cloud across the entire organization.
The public cloud team is responsible for the strategy, governance, and best practices for using the public cloud service, such as AWS and Azure.
It is a multidisciplinary team working in an Agile way to develop tools and products to improve development teams' access and use of the cloud.
We continuously improved the security, cost efficiency, and effectiveness of our 150+ AWS accounts and 30+ Azure subscriptions!
The public cloud team is responsible for the strategy, governance, and best practices for using the public cloud service, such as AWS and Azure.
It is a multidisciplinary team working in an Agile way to develop tools and products to improve development teams' access and use of the cloud.
We continuously improved the security, cost efficiency, and effectiveness of our 150+ AWS accounts and 30+ Azure subscriptions!
UK MInistry of Defence: Supplier Cyber Protection Service
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/supplier-cyber-protection-serviceLed the implementation of a supply chain cybersecurity assessment tool for the UK Ministry of Defence.
This service enables the Ministry of Defence (MOD) and industry partners to manage cyber risk across the defence supply chain. This allows completion of the Risk Assessment (RA) and Supplier Assurance Questionnaire (SAQ).
Certifications
AUGUST 2020 - PRESENT
Microsoft Certified: Azure Fundamentals
Microsoft
JUNE 2020 - JUNE 2023
AWS Certified Cloud Practioner
AWS
Skills
Tools
Jira, Slack, VMware
Paradigms
Agile, Agile Product Management
Platforms
Azure
Industry Expertise
Education Technology (Edtech)
Other
IT Governance, Cloud, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Commercials, Cloud Strategy, Delivery Management, User Research, Roadmaps, IT Product Management, Cybersecurity, Strategy, Backlog Management, Teams, Google Cloud, Data Analytics, Analytics, UX Wireframes, ISO 27001, Business Analysis, Product Owner, Stakeholder Management, Agile Coaching, Edtech Design, Startups
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