Darren Bassett

Wipro Ltd 07/01/2022 - 08/31/2023

Solutions Architect

Designated to a major UK retail bank’s cloud migration program midway through execution to lead a team of 3 architects on solutions design. Ensured architectural integrity through validation and refinement of complex cloud solutions and enforced security and regulatory compliance across designs. Protected continuity of mission-critical banking applications during the transition. • Led application migration delivery, which included architecting target-state designs, coordinating stakeholder discovery, mentoring junior architects, and helping establish a repeatable migration framework that enabled future cloud transitions. • Introduced design refinements that strengthened system resilience and compliance with enterprise and regulatory standards. • Restored vendor support for mission-critical applications by resolving compliance gaps in solution design and operational configuration.

Wipro Ltd 10/30/2020 - 06/30/2022

Lead Consultant

Transferred under TUPE following the previous employer’s outsourcing of IT operations and continued supporting John Lewis Partnership’s enterprise middleware and infrastructure operations. Facilitated smooth operational handover to offshore delivery teams throughout the 18-month transition. • Designed and delivered structured knowledge transfer and training that accelerated transition milestones and enabled the offshore team in India to assume full responsibility without disruption to critical business systems. • Implemented robust hyper-care support during the transition, effectively managing risk and ensuring SLA fulfilment. • Ensured uninterrupted business operations during the peak holiday trading period following the October cutover, maintaining full-service levels with a 3-member team.

John Lewis Partnership 07/04/2016 - 10/30/2020

Senior Infrastructure Support Engineer

Served on the middleware team responsible for infrastructure underpinning company websites and applications, including middleware platforms, application servers, integration technologies, and PKI. Balanced operational support with solution design by rotating through incident triage and response duty (~50 daily tickets) while delivering enterprise-scale innovation projects. • Established middleware integrations between internal systems and third-party cloud-based logistics platform, which enabled real-time links between logistics and e-commerce systems and allowed delivery fleet to resolve issues on-site, ultimately improving customer satisfaction and reducing churn. • Assumed full ownership of SSL certificate renewals with one week’s notice during early COVID-19 disruption; and subsequently authored a Partnership-wide SSL management guide that reduced certificate-related incidents by ~40%. • Drove ~30% reduction in major incidents and improved service reliability by improving SLA and KPI compliance and executing root cause analysis that enabled long-term remediation for recurring, critical production issues. • Consistently bridged operations and architecture by delivering resilient, secure, and scalable middleware solutions that supported business continuity and modernisation

BNP Paribas Corporate & Institutional Bank 09/30/2009 - 06/30/2016

Solutions Architect

Promoted from Production Engineer with expanded responsibility as Deputy Team Leader for a 15-engineer Middleware group. Guided middleware strategy through roadmap planning, while managing coordination between application, infrastructure, and architecture teams. Led vendor evaluations and hands-on proofs of concept to test emerging tech for suitability to BNPP’s environment. • Accelerated delivery cycles and improved reliability by introducing automation that cut deployment times by 60%. • Designed scalable hosting platforms for tier-1 applications, boosting system performance and availability under heavy load. • Prevented costly adoption missteps by validating middleware technologies through targeted proofs of concept pre-rollout. • Collaborated between London and Paris middleware teams to strengthen operational alignment.

IBM UK Ltd 07/05/1999 - 09/29/2009

Senior IT Specialist

Foundational Roles as an IT Specialist at Sequent (acquired by IBM), and Senior IT Specialist at IBM – UK, and a Production Engineer at BNP Paribas. Specialise in Middleware technologies.