Chris Little
⚲ Manchester, UK
✆ 07XXXXXXXXX
Software Development Director | Engineering Delivery Leader | Regulated Gaming Technology
Professional Summary

I am a software delivery and engineering leader with 20 years’ experience in regulated gambling technology, progressing from QA into senior leadership across software development, quality engineering, release governance, operational support and delivery transformation.

I lead multiple cross-functional engineering teams across development and QA, with responsibility for roadmap planning, delivery performance, team structure, stakeholder communication, incident response, internal tooling, process improvement and regulated release control.

I specialise in bringing structure, visibility and control to complex software environments. I scale teams, improve delivery flow, introduce automation, use AI-assisted development and tooling to improve productivity, support live customer systems and align technical delivery with business, customer and regulatory needs.

Achievements
Experience
Software Development Director (Software Delivery)
Intelligent Gaming Systems (Playtech)
April 2020 - Present

    I lead multiple cross-functional engineering teams across software development and quality engineering, supporting the delivery, maintenance and operational stability of regulated gambling technology platforms. My role covers delivery leadership, roadmap planning, team structure, stakeholder communication, process improvement, release governance, internal tooling and major incident coordination.

    Leadership and Delivery

    • Lead multiple cross-functional teams across development and QA, with responsibility for delivery performance, team structure, prioritisation and day-to-day execution.
    • Own and coordinate roadmap planning across teams, balancing product priorities, customer needs, technical work, regulatory requirements and live operational demands.
    • Manage and support engineering leaders, developers, QA leads, automation engineers and apprentice developers across multiple workstreams.
    • Work closely with product, support, operations, compliance and senior stakeholders to align engineering delivery with business and customer needs.
    • Support recruitment, onboarding, performance management, team development and progression planning across the engineering function.

    Process, Tooling and Governance

    • Restructured delivery from separate product, development and QA functions into cross-functional teams with clearer ownership, accountability and roadmap visibility.
    • Introduced and improved internal tooling for roadmap tracking, team reporting, release history, release notes, bill of materials generation and certificate tracking.
    • Improved use of Azure DevOps for planning, tracking, reporting and delivery visibility across engineering teams.
    • Apply AI-assisted development practices to accelerate internal tooling, automation, reporting and process improvement, while keeping delivery decisions grounded in engineering review, governance and business value.
    • Strengthened release governance through clearer release controls, readiness checks, traceability and improved stakeholder communication.
    • Supported the introduction and growth of automation within QA, including tooling, process design and upskilling of manual testers.

    Operational and Regulatory Delivery

    • Coordinate engineering response to major incidents and customer-impacting issues, working across support, development, QA, operations and business stakeholders.
    • Support regulated software delivery across gambling markets, including compliance-led releases, external testing requirements and controlled deployment processes.
    • Contribute to operational improvement across live casino systems, balancing long-term delivery goals with urgent customer and production needs.
    • Support ISO 27001 and wider governance requirements through controlled processes, documentation, audit awareness and improved release discipline.
    • Maintain focus on stability, customer impact, regulatory obligations and engineering quality across live software environments.
Implemented Agile within the development and QA teams
Initially introduced Scrum to a large functionally led development team, including QA engineers. Acting as the Scrum Master while introducing the process, while assisting others with their new roles under Scrum including the Product Owner and all developers. Upon a planned review and other changes within the company we decided that the Scrum model was too prescriptive and made a change towards Kanban. I was key in introducing Kanban as a methodology to the company, designing and setting up the Kanban boards and migrating the backlog from a single Scrum backlog in Azure DevOps to multiple cross functional team projects in Azure DevOps
Implemented multiple processes to streamline software delivery and test
From introducing Kanban as a process, with all set up within Azure DevOps to incident management processes to Software Change Processes I have designed, implemented, and fostered adoption of multiple processes across multiple teams to improve the SDLC for all members of the process. With my experience leading many different teams I have a unique insight into how process change will affect every team member and how to avoid common pitfalls when introducing process to established teams.
Creation of multiple bespoke tools
When making changes to how the company tracked our development road maps and work items there were no tools commercially available that fixed all the problems we needed to resolve. Based on this I generated several bespoke tools to resolve these problems. From a bespoke Scrum of Scrums board that allowed direct integration with Azure DevOps to show the current status of all the work in every team, to a bespoke software release page which tracked the latest version of every component of the software, including its release history, dependant software, release notes, etc. I also generate web-based release form generator and release notes generator, which speed up the release process considerably and allowed more efficient release of the software.
Oversaw the introduction of automated QA within the QA team
I oversaw the introduction of automated testing into the QA team. From the initial hiring of the first Automation Engineer, now manager, to the design and creation of the first automated tooling, to the up skilling of the existing manual testers to be able to assist with running the automated tests.
Operations Manager
Intelligent Gaming Systems (Playtech)
June 2019 - April 2020
  • Continued responsibility for the QA team, and leadership responsibility for the install and support departments
  • Directly managing 9 Support Engineers while we tried to hire a new support manager
  • Direct responsibility for the lifecycle of major incidents and ensuring the incident was resolved and all details fed back to the customer
  • Oversaw the planning of the installation team and ensure all customer install deadlines were met
  • ISO 27001 Section 14.2.8 and 14.2.9
Implemented multi-tier out of hours support system
Prior to me joining the Support department the support system was a single support engineer on call overnight without any back up. If an issue arose which they did not have the training for then they had to 'hope for the best' while trying to call more experienced people. I introduced a multi-tier support system for out of hours so that all support engineers had the appropriate support from within the Technical Services team and support from the development team on a rota basis where required.
Led the company in multiple critical incidents related to problematic software role outs
During the implementation of a new slots system multiple major incidents occurred due to several unforeseen circumstances. I was the lead for all these issues. I led the support team collecting data and required evidence, led the development and QA team in finding and then fixing the issues, and kept all key stake holders up to date with the progress of the incident resolution. This included regular calls with customers to ensure they remained calm and were up to date with the latest developments. These incidents all started out of hours and then continued into normal business hours for the fixes.
Led my departments in multiple major installations of the new, next generation software
During my time as the Operations Manager I oversaw multiple major installations across the world. The two biggest in Argentina and Monaco. Although we faced some major issues, we were able to overcome these and resolve all the issues quickly enabling us to go live in the casinos.
QA Manager (started as QA Lead)
Intelligent Gaming Systems (Playtech)
May 2017 - August 2019
  • Initially managing two QA engineers, growing to six QA engineers and technicians
  • Scheduling work for all team members
  • Hiring of new engineers
  • Team Training
  • All test planning
  • All defect management, including management in the development team
  • Implementing process and control on the department to achieve better results
  • Crisis and incident management, including customer relationships during incidents
  • Project management including customer relationships and key stakeholder reporting
  • ISO 27001 Section 14.2.8 and 14.2.9
Implemented Test Cases and Release Management
Prior to me joining the company testing was done ad hoc based once the development had been completed. I first implemented a release process, tracking all the software which left the department and where it was being installed. Then introduced a testing strategy which led into the release process. This included test cases being generated for new software changes, as well as building a regression pack of test cases for the existing software. Specific release targets were introduced into each project and tracked for the project. I introduced Test Rail into the department, and this was used for all the test planning going forward.
Implemented incident management procedures for the entire development team
I introduced a new process for managing P1 incidents within the development team which gave each incident a lead engineer and specific lines of reporting for the length of the incident to ensure a quick resolution. The process brought together all departments and led to quicker turnaround of fixes and clearer updates for the customers.
Content QA Manager
SG-Gaming
June 2013 - April 2017
  • General management of team of 8 Engineers, 6 off site engineers (India training program) and number of contract engineers, on site as required
  • Scheduling of work for team to meet release deadlines
  • Daily scrum meetings
  • Daily management of projects
  • Reporting to senior management of project progression
  • Hiring new engineers, interviewing and compliance handling
  • Hiring contract staff and company compliance
  • Team training
  • Annual reviews and objective setting
  • Test planning and organising test control measures
  • Test analysis and design for all new markets
  • Update and control of all existing test cases for all projects
  • Updating processes and procedures based on results of each project
  • Responsible for review and actions based on any issues reported from external test teams or from end users.
Quality Centre Implemented
Before leaving SG Gaming I was working on a project for both test teams to start using Quality Centre, moving away from the traditional excel documents which have been in use for the last several years. I have been solely responsible for the transfer of all test cases in the software and the redesign of the test processes to accommodate Quality Centre. I was running the trail of the Quality Centre use within the teams and recording the results for review before rolling the software out for general use in both test teams.
Trainee Program Initiated
I am responsible for the introduction and management of a trainee program. Set up for 2 years, I hired 3 trainee engineers and oversaw their introduction to testing and training throughout. I am responsible for setting development targets and keeping track of their achievements and required areas of growth, dealing with any problems, and ensuring that at the end of the 2-year training the trainee is capable of independently testing a project to required standards and legal requirements.
India training program
Before leaving SG Gaming I was responsible for the management, training and set up of India training program. Due to a company merger, we had access to offices and Test Engineers in India through our sister company. I arranged shipment of our machines to India. I travelled to India to set up the machines and initiated a 9-month training program to get the team of 6 ready to work on slot games for the required markets. This required daily management to train the engineers in maintaining the machines as well as updating the machine software and general QA training for the required markets. Initial visit required at start and after 3 months of project. Training was split into 3 phases; handover to each phase was managed by me and agreed with my Management contact in India based on our pre-defined targets. I was still responsible for this team and had regular meetings to ensure the projects and team were meeting required expectations until I left the company.
Team / Resource re-design
I was responsible for travelling to QA teams in London and Tallinn, Estonia to investigate differences between the in-house QA team and the external QA teams responsible for checking the work. Following these investigations, I was key in having the department redesigned to give QA more room, more machines and given more time to work on projects. I also supervised the merger of 2 separate QA teams into a single team not connected to the development directors. During this time, I re-wrote the entire QA scripts and process to incorporate all areas of test in more detail to give a better test scope for all projects. This was a key point in the team showing immediate improvement and after a few months deliver the first game which was delivered to site without any issues from the external test teams. Months on from this it was the required standard that at least 90% of projects pass through this process on the first submission.
Test / Project Engineer
Barcrest Group
June 2006 - June 2013
Operator
Barcrest Group
July 2004 - June 2006
Operator
Heads Recruitment (at Barcrest Group)
July 2002 - July 2004
Apprentice Maintenance Engineer
Ciba Specialty Chemicals
September 1999 - September 2002
Education

Learning never stops. As well as the formal qualifications below, I am constantly striving to better myself. From when I first started out in a software development work environment and decided to teach myself to code, and ever since I have continued to learn new work-based skills. Most recently my role has led me to focus on procedure, departmental improvements, and improved management techniques, however I still actively try to learn new practical skills such as new programming languages or new workplace-based skills. Most recently I learnt Python as this became a requirement of the automation team. I also volunteered to be a workplace Mental Health First Aider in an effort to be able to support my staff better and ensure they are getting the best help I can offer.

Mind.org.uk
Mental Health First Aider
2021
Grove Software Testing LTD
ISTQB Certified Tester Foundation Level
2016
Open University Certificate
Computing and Mathematics
2010
Tameside College
ONC - Engineering
1999 - 2001
Stockport Education and Training Association
NVQ L2 Maintenance Engineering
1999 - 2000
Audenshaw High School
GCSE Math A
GCSE English Literature B
GCSE English Language C
GCSE Design and Technology B
GCSE History B GCSE Science (Dual Award) CC
GCSE Art C GCSE German C
1994 - 1999
Interests

Outside work I enjoy practical maker projects, embedded coding, electronics, tabletop gaming, film, blacksmithing, music and spending time with my dogs.