Tim Stannard

I am Product Owner for Data in the Wealth Consumer business at Mercer. Daily, I also work hand-in-hand with the Mercer Money product owner and the Consumer Digital Leader in ensuring quality and reliability across our product portfolio, as well as timely delivery and issue resolution to support our Mercer Master Trust clients. Consecutively, I manage our client onboarding process - having been integral in establishing its processes and protocols, oversea provider/vendor/Mercer data transfers and imports, and assist on Service Desk ticket triage with our Customer Success Team. I also lead a Test team of two direct reports – a Test Lead and a UAT Analyst.

Core member of Scrum and Product Owner teams on Mercer Harmonise, I owned test strategy, UAT, user testing, and client testing. My remit extended across Dev, QA and UA testing for digital product and Flex benefit package releases for clients, with responsibility for Business sign-off of all releases. I had oversight of E2E development and testing, including all QA (load and performance, automation, and functional testing), internal and external front-end, back-end and data teams, PO workstreams and the product roadmap. Every day I worked with Product Owners, Tech principals, CSMs, Product Managers, UI/UX designers and developers to analyse and address critical issues, input into items in development, and report on development and testing status. I worked very closely with the Lead Product Owner to ensure that execution and blockers were managed effectively, and so that our message to the wider team and leadership was consistent. I was responsible for UA and PROD testing and sign-offs, and items outside of that scope (i.e. QA-specific work, external product build/testing) came through me before release. I led a test team (based in Woking, UK) and coordinated closely with our QA team (based in India), ensuring that timely and detailed execution was carried out against the backdrop of an aggressive Agile release schedule, with multiple releases per week. The team in Woking reported directly to me and I had responsibility for their development.

Leading global teams of 5+ analysts, providing professional E2E UAT and implementation support on numerous high-profile, high-value projects, across mutliple time zones and languages. Accountable for all aspects of test management and coordination, planning, deliverables (strategy, HLTCs, scripts, reports) and sign-off – ensuring first class results are delivered on time and on budget. Early adopter and evangelist for Agile and Rally within the Systems Assurance family. Mentoring my team in the advantages of an Agile approach and mindset, promoting Rally/Agile training, and reinforcing an understanding of how UAT fits into this framework. Evangelist, promoter and developer for innovative and easy-to-use tools and capabilities (ToP, Mobile Lab) which maximize test efficiency and automation, improve test management and reporting, and which simply work. With ToP, my leadership and analysis drove functional development and increased usage; load speeds in ToP increased by a factor of 12, and tool usage at Dec 2014 had more than doubled since Dec 2013. Passionate advocate for the PSS Employee Development program, promoting team training and development, and championing the attainment of professional accreditation. I myself am working towards Scrum, ISTQB, ITIL and SES-Standards certifications.

Responsible for testing and deliverables on a variety of Interactive and Globestar project. Heavily involved with SEPA implementation planning, accountable for all application implementation validations for SEPA markets (excluding France). I worked with business teams, BSAs and the PMO to understand the scope and requirements of the required validations, influenced stakeholders, wrote scripts for multiple applications, sourced test data, created test plans, and communicated test progress and status. Provided first class around-the-clock support for the DC2015 migration and the Disaster Recovery program. Developed a structured EMEA Systems Assurance on-boarding plan for new Band 25s.

Officially recognized for outstanding VoCM/RTF results (100% across all customer surveys) and awarded Employee of the Month in April 2011. World Service Portal SME– responsible for current state and Business Use Case analysis, including developing SIPOCs and process maps, and carrying out testing to identify pain points and improve WSP towards POA. In that role I conducted a POD overview of D+ to Vikram Nangia and a live demonstration of WSP capabilities to CEO Ken Chenault. Used my initiative to develop an efficient process for escalation and Out of Hours management for the Lead CCP Inbox, Centurion Inbox and Simple Complaints process.

My focus is on Civil Engineering, Energy and Renewables, and Environmental Engineering, while developing a fundamental understanding and appreciation of the core skills required of a successful engineer.