Richard Thacker is an experienced Solutions Architect with a proven track record of delivering IT projects. He has expertise in digital transformation, online customer transactions, information security, and telephony. As a Solutions Architect, he has led initiatives like a multi-million pound digital transformation program and the implementation of new corporate systems. Richard is skilled at communicating with stakeholders, applying architectural best practices, and ensuring projects meet requirements.

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RICHARD PATRICK THACKER
richard.thacker@outlook.com
www.linkedin.com/in/richardthacker
+44 (0) 7738 353518
SUMMARY
I am an experienced and highly qualified Solutions Architect. I have a proven track-record of successfully
delivering a wide variety of IT projects, and I am a pro-activecontributor and leader within IT programmes,
often making the difference between success and failure. I meet new challenges usinga combination of
analytical thinking and practical experience, applying best practice whenever possible.I communicate with
stakeholders of all levels,bridgingbetween the business and technical delivery (both in-houseand
outsourced). I have recent considerableexpertisein Digital Transformation and onlinecustomer transactions,
alongsidespecialisms in Information Security and telephony.
EMPLOYMENT HISTORY
 Solutions Architect at The City of Edinburgh Council (2013-2016)
As partof the Enterprise Architecture team, my responsibilities included…
o creating enterprise-wide architectural principles,policies and design patterns
o communicatingand consultingwith the business,via workshops,presentations etc.
o high-level assuranceof infrastructuredesigns,includinginputinto requirements specificationsfor
competitive tenders for new enterprise systems
o setting up a Technical Design Authority (TDA) to enforce architectural principles and contributeto a
clear ITgovernance structurefor the business
o customer experience “ownership”, liaisingwith Communications and Web teams
o design troubleshooting
o jointworking and information sharing with other public sector organisations(e.g. Scottish
Government)
o external developer (and architect) management and liaison
o infrastructuredelivery projectmanagement.
My achievements included…
o architecton 3-year, multi-million-pound Digital Transformation programmeto deliver a shiftto digital
channels for citizen interaction with the Council,requiring significantinvestment in new infrastructure
and functionality (responsiveweb design, Enterprise Service Bus, Master Data Management, CRM,
Federated SingleSign-On etc.). I created requirements specifications;mapped out customer journeys;
created high-level designs and component designs;created enterprise system roadmaps; performed
design assuranceand troubleshooting… whileliaisingclosely with the business and managingmultiple
external suppliers/developers.Within a year of firstgoinglive,the programme had delivered 30
public-facingtransaction types (“View my Council Tax balance”, “Report a missed bin collection”…)
resultingin 40,000 customer accountregistrations (almost10%of the population of Edinburgh). The
shiftaway from traditional customer channels (and increasein internal efficiency) allowed the Council
to instigatea 10% phased reduction in FTEs and hence protect critical services
o designed and project-managed implementation of a new enterprise-wide payment gateway to
supportdigital transactions,liaisingwith the Council’s Bankingteam. Went livesuccessfully with
public City Registrars transactions

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o created requirements specification for PQQ (and then full tender) for new corporate telematics IT
system, winnowing selection down to 3 enterprise-quality candidates with architectural fit
o lead a phased introduction of MicrosoftLync infrastructureto 300 pilotusers,definingand evaluating
business scenarioswhich were later ableto successfully supporta businesscasefor enterprise-wide
rollout.
 IT Consultant at The City of Edinburgh Council (2008-2013)
o member of project board and build co-designer for Corporate IT Refresh & Workstyleprogramme,
providingtechnical assurancefor the rolloutof next-generation computers, telephony and software
to 7000 staff.The new technology successfully supported new ways of working (e.g. from home for
Contact Centre staff).The clientbuild proved stableand enterprise-scalable,allowingaccelerated
rolloutand avoidingthe performance degradations endemic to previous builds
o ensured that new Council intranetand public websites were securely hosted and followed best
practicefor staff/public accountmanagement and authentication.Created requirements
specifications for thecompetitive tender for the new CMS itself to ensure architectural fit,and
functional fitwith Council web team requirements. Also designed and builtkey onlineforms,liaising
with Council businessareas to capturethe business logic butensuringcustomer experience was
highest priority (embedding non-intrusivePrivacy Notices).The public website went on to consistently
win the top “4 stars”ratingfromSOCITM’s annual Better Connected review, ahead of all other
Scottish councils
o led the rationalisation and development of a register and roadmap of the Council’s information
systems, allowingidentification of high-risk and non-strategic systems (in terms of obsolescence,
integratability,hosting,personal data,business-criticality etc.). This was pivotal to later programmes
such as Digital Transformation (above) and Access databaserationalisation
o Information Security content editor for Council intranet
o project-managed and designed the introduction of wireless internet access for staff and the public at
city libraries and the Assembly Rooms, ensuringthe servicewas user-friendly butstill securein terms
of site filteringand authentication.Implementation resulted in an over-target increasein library
membership
o project-managed the migration of all Council broadband lines to a more controllableand secure
enterprise solution.This ensured that remaininglines had a business purposeand realised £80K
annual savings(over target)
o lead the technical work stream for a projectat the Community Equipment Stores, which successfully
introduced a new clientand stock management system for the loaningof equipment to vulnerabl e
citizens athome. Also reverse-engineered the legacy system in order to safely migrate its sensitive
data
o troubleshot high-profileand sensitivesecurity incidentinvestigations
o supervised the collection of data for core IT systems on key resiliencethemes, and ensured
meaningful correspondence with “maximum tolerableoutage” and other metrics defined in the
Corporate Business Continuity plan.Instrumental in the Council achievingits BS25999 certification
o ensured that migration of all Council telephony lines/trunks to a new provider caused only minimal
outages, and that these outages were scheduled and co-ordinated with the business to minimise
disruption to critical services
 Technical Officer at The City of Edinburgh Council (2001-2008)
o created a roadmap for mobile“Push E-mail”solutions and convinced the Head of e-Government to
proceed with the emerging “native” MicrosoftActiveSync technology in preference to the then de
facto standard (butexpensive) Blackberry Enterprise solution.ActiveSync cost the Council very little
to implement and is now the industry-standard protocol for e-mail synchronisation for mobiledevices
o change-managed introduction of MicrosoftExchange e-mail system. Created a step-by-step migration
user guide which was used by 7000 staff successfully,keepingexpensive IT floor-walkingresourceto 1
FTE

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o overall ICTcontent editor for Council intranet
o troubleshot complex or urgent IT issues for councillors,senior managers and Chief Executive, often
receivingpersonal notes of thanks
 Postgraduate research at the University of Edinburgh (1997-2000)
… into Natural Language Generation (of large-scaleEnglish textby computers)
 Tutor at the University of Edinburgh (1997-1998)
… for three graduate courses (Computational LinguisticsI & II and Computation for Cognition).
PERSONAL SKILLS
 I approach challenges with clear,unbiased analytical thinking (backed up by experience).
 I am technically skilled and flexible, learningnew IT architectures and concepts very quickly.
 I am a responsibleand diplomatic leader or team member.
 I prioritiselonger-termstrategic goals but recognise frequent need for pragmatic approaches and
shorter-term delivery.
 I communicate clearly and accurately to audiences with variabletechnical understanding.
 I emphasiseuser / customer experience.
 I see the 'big picture' but also work through the fine details where appropriate(combination of top-
down and bottom-up approaches).
 I apply best practice and ensure statutory compliance(I am professionally certified for key industry
frameworks such as TOGAF, CISSP and PRINCE2).
TECHNICAL SKILLS
 Digital / online customer transactions and Digital Transformation concepts, architecture,
development and management, including…
o strategic business alignment (e.g. customer channel-shift) and governance
o negotiating change with stakeholders
o focus on customer experience and the customer journey
o enterprise system integration and alignment, including Service Oriented Architecture (SOA),
Enterprise Service Buses and Master Data Management
o infrastructurecomponent design and hosting
o customer device form factors (responsive web design, mobile apps)
o customer accounts and identity assurance (user authentication)
o Information Security (customer privacy,customer anonymity, open data)
o transaction business logic and form design
o customer payments (payment gateways)
o developer / supplier management
 Architecture development methodology and software (e.g. Sparx)
 Software development methodology (e.g. Agile)
 Technical authoring and operational communications (varied audiences,internal and external)
 Requirements specification authoringand scoring(for full competitive tenders, PQQs etc.)
 Web Content Management System (CMS) concepts and architecture (taxonomies,navigation
schemas,metadata, content/presentation separation,delegated editing/authoring)
 Web authoring (languages:Dynamic HTML, XML, JavaScript,CSS)
 Telephony / voice systems concepts and architecture(includingIP Telephony / VoIP, PABXs,
circuits/trunks)
 IP networking and broadband
 Microsoft stack architecture, concepts and configuration:Lync, Exchange, Windows,Active Directory

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 Relational database (RDBMS) design and programming: SQL, Access
 Other programming languages: Delphi,Java, Prolog
 Microsoft Office applications(includingVBA programming)
 Assemblingand configuringIBM PCs (hardware).
FORMAL QUALIFICATIONS, EDUCATION AND TRAINING
 TOGAF 9 Part 1 from The Open Group (2016)
 Basic Disclosure from DisclosureScotland (2016)
 Certified CISSP (Certified Information Systems Security Professional) fromISC2 (2012)
 Certificatein Requirements Engineering from British Computer Society (2010)
 PRINCE2 Registered Practitioner from APM Group (2009)
 ITIL2 Foundation Certificate from British Computer Society (2005)
 MSc in CognitiveScience & Natural Language from the University of Edinburgh (1997)
 BA (FirstClassHonours with Distinction) in English Language& Linguistics fromthe University of York
(1996)
 A-Levels: English Language (A), Mathematics (A), General Studies (A) at Highfields School,Matlock,
Derbyshire(1993).