Shop Direct brings tech supremo on board

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Feb 15, 2019

Digital e-tail giant Shop Direct has appointed a new technology chief with former Sky Betting and Gaming chief technology officer (CTO) Andy Burton joining in the same role at the firm. He’s also joining the board, underlining the importance of tech to the company. He’ll start in May and will report directly to group CEO Henry Birch.

Over a nine-year period at Sky Betting and Gaming he was said to have “transformed the technology team, growing headcount 40-fold to 700 and helping the company become the UK’s largest online gaming operator by number of customers.” At Shop Direct, there’s currently a 275-strong tech team.

He “introduced new ways of working, including agile engineering and lean product development [and] also shaped a team capable of releasing code hundreds of times per week to improve the customer experience.”

That’s crucial experience to bring to the Very and Littlewoods owner with the retailer being not just about selling online, but also heavily focused on integrating the most advanced technology into its offer. 

And along with the new appointment, the company has also promoted former head of IT architecture and engineering Karl Wintrell to the position of technology director, responsible for data science and strategy, and tech engineering and architecture. He’s been with the firm for almost six years, and “played a central role in defining the company’s technology plans and delivering IT change to support its ongoing digital transformation.”

Interim CTO JM Domaingue will also take up the role of technology director, leading tech operations including information security. Both of them will report to Burton, and jointly oversee the technology team prior to his arrival.

Henry Birch said of the changes: “Technology underpins everything we do. It helps us deliver the online experience and end-to-end journey that keeps our customers coming back. It was always our ambition to appoint a heavy-hitting CTO to our board and Andy certainly fits the bill.”