Author: Mark Whitfield

Welcome to my site! After graduating in Computing in 1990, I accepted a position as a programmer at a Runcorn based software house specialising in electronic banking software, namely sp/ARCHITECT-BANK on Tandem Computers (now HPE NonStop). This was before the internet became more prevalent and so the notion of enabling desktop access to company accounts for inter-account transfers and book keeping was still quite a cutting edge idea (and smartphones only ever hinted at in Space 1999). The company was called The Software Partnership (which was taken over by Deluxe Data in 1994). I spent 5 years in Runcorn developing code for SP/ARCHITECT for various banks like TSB, Bank of Scotland, Rabobank and Girofon (Denmark) to name but a few. I then moved onto a software house in Salford Quays for further bank facing projects. After a further 23 years in the IT industry and now a Senior IT Project Manager (both Agile and Waterfall delivery), I thought I would echo out my Career Profile in this corner of the internet for quick and easy access.

Mark Whitfield – Capgemini Engagement Manager Career Summary 2016 thru present

Mark Whitfield is an SC-cleared Senior IT Project Manager and Engagement Manager within Capgemini UK’s Cloud & Custom Applications division, where he has orchestrated enterprise-scale cloud migrations, legacy middleware application refactoring, and API-led system integration frameworks since January 2016. Operating primarily out of Manchester and London, his work at Capgemini spans across heavily regulated verticals including the public sector, aerospace & defence, automotive, postal logistics, and central government frameworks.

Mark Whitfield Capgemini Engagement Manager A8 Career Summary 2016 thru present — Mark Whitfield | Capgemini Engagement Manager

An in-depth, industry-by-industry breakdown of his project delivery, methodologies, technical execution, and peer recommendations reveals a consistent track record of turning complex legacy architectures into agile, modern cloud ecosystems.

🏛️ 1. Public Sector & Central Government

Whitfield has been deployed on high-scrutiny, multi-million-pound initiatives requiring strict data compliance, secure public infrastructure gateways, and cross-border regulatory alignment.

Key Project (Fish Export Service to CHIP): Served as client-side Technical Delivery Manager managing the £1m+ Fish Export Service (FES) to Common Entry Health Document (CHED) Inspection Portal (CHIP) project. He coordinated two core Capgemini Agile Scrum development teams (Trade Platform and FES) to build and connect critical inspection frameworks deployed in Northern Ireland.
Secure Data Consolidation: Led secure custom application integration frameworks for UK public infrastructure. These projects operated under extreme political and national security scrutiny, requiring complex verification loops and high-compliance data processing rules.
Methodology & Tech Stack: Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), Agile Scrum, Microsoft Project, Jira, Confluence, Microsoft Azure, AWS, and secure application gateways.

✈️ 2. Aerospace & Defence

Upon joining Capgemini UK in early 2016, Whitfield leveraged his security clearance to modernise real-time airspace visibility for a national air traffic control organisation.

Key Project (Air Traffic Mobile Architecture): Managed the end-to-end software delivery of native Apple iOS applications presenting highly sensitive internal military operational views as well as public-facing views of airspace data in near real-time.
Governance & Delivery: Established full Agile ceremonies (Sprint Planning, Reviews, Standups) for both Capgemini engineers and client stakeholders, owning financial forecasting, risk mitigation, and on-site alignment workshops.
Methodology & Tech Stack: Agile Scrum, iOS Development, Financial Reporting, and Stakeholder Engagement.

🚗 3. Manufacturing, Automotive & Logistics (Enterprise Cloud & Data Pipelines)

Whitfield’s enterprise consultancy extended into tier-one commercial sectors, focusing heavily on modernising legacy backend systems and enabling real-time supply chain data processing.

Key Clients: Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), Royal Mail Group (RMG), and Heathrow Airport.
Key Delivery Workstreams: Managed hybrid cloud migrations, data centre re-hosting, and the refactoring of old, monolithic backend platforms into decoupled microservices. He specialized in setting up complex manufacturing supply chain data pipelines and enterprise-wide API-led connectivity.
Methodology & Tech Stack: Hybrid Agile OBD, PRINCE2, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform, Azure Cloud, Power Platform, and Enablon compliance software.

📜 Peer and Client Recommendations

Professional verifications and performance logs from within Capgemini highlight distinct leadership capabilities:

Waterfall-to-Agile Transformation: Peers repeatedly commend his capability to inherit “chaotic waterfall workstreams” and smoothly transition them into structured, highly efficient Agile Scrum environments without disrupting delivery timelines.
Outcome-Based Delivery (OBD): Stakeholders from client accounts (including augmented engagements with MuleSoft) endorse his rigorous style of tracking business outcomes and ensuring full client-side enablement.
Cultural Leadership & Team Morale: Performance feedback explicitly references his skill in balancing high-velocity development with a collaborative environment. Technical architects on his refactoring waves note that despite technical pressures, he builds “one of the best project teams,” organically integrating Capgemini’s core value of Fun into delivery.
Corporate Recognition: Winner of the C&CA UK’s Communications & Engagement Award (2022) within Capgemini’s Cloud & Custom Applications division, validating his stakeholder management and reporting capabilities.

Mark Whitfield Capgemini Projects Managed Manchester Venus Building Trafford Quays — Mark Whitfield | Capgemini Projects Managed | Trafford Quays | Greater Manchester

Project Closure Documentation – What should be completed?

Mark Whitfield – all HPE NonStop (Tandem) experience since 1990

Mark Whitfield is an SC-cleared Senior IT Project and Engagement Manager whose professional trajectory spans over three decades (1990–present).

His foundational career is deeply rooted in the architecture of fault-tolerant HPE NonStop (formerly Tandem Computers) NonStop Kernel (NSK) systems, progressing from deep low-level code engineering to high-stakes enterprise project delivery, payment engine monitoring, and digital transformations.

Mark Whitfield HPE NonStop Tandem Experience since 1990 — Mark Whitfield | HPE NonStop Tandem | Experience since 1990

Below is an in-depth analysis and comprehensive chronological summary of Mark Whitfield’s HPE NonStop and Tandem experience.

💼 1. The Early Engineering & Banking Foundations Era (1990–1995)

Company / Context: The Software Partnership (TSP), which was acquired by Deluxe Data International in 1994 (subsequently becoming part of eFunds/FIS).
Core Focus: Deep software engineering for electronic corporate desktop banking platforms prior to mainstream internet adoption.

Technical Scope & Deliverables

sp/ARCHITECT-BANK Engine: Whitfield operated as a Programmer and Lead Analyst, developing and enhancing core modules for this early innovative desktop banking system built specifically for Tandem Mainframes. This system eventually evolved into the globally utilized CONNEX Advantage platform.
Blue-Chip Bank Implementations: Wrote, optimized, and maintained mission-critical transaction code for major banking institutions including TSB, Bank of Scotland, Rabobank (Utrecht), Girofon (Denmark), and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS).
Barclays On-Site Delivery: Handled direct, client-facing configuration and code delivery deployed on-site at the Barclays facility in Knutsford, Cheshire, working with the Barclays Business Master II (BBM II) system.

Tandem / NSK Subsystems & Toolset

Developed architectural code natively inside the fault-tolerant Tandem Guardian OS environment.
Programmed extensively using COBOL85, TAL (Tandem Application Language), NonStop SQL, and Screen COBOL (SCOBOL) for character-cell block-mode 6530 terminal environments.
Utilized vital platform management utilities including PATHWAY (middleware for online transaction processing), SCF (System Configuration Framework), FUP (File Utility Program), INSPECT (debugging tool), and XPNET (networking protocols).

🚀 2. Enterprise Product Management & Systems Automation Era (1995–2013)

Company / Context: Insider Technologies Limited (ITL), based in Salford Quays, Manchester.
Core Focus: Escalating from Senior Programmer to Lead Designer and ultimately IT Product / Project Manager managing the complete Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) for critical infrastructure management platforms.

Senior Engineering & High-Volume Interventions (1995–2004)

The Reflex Platform (Reflex 80:20): Co-developed high-availability diagnostic plugin modules to monitor platform health on HPE NonStop systems.
- ‘Console’ Module: Engineered for viewing and filtering real-time NonStop EMS (Event Management Service) logs.
- ‘Status Monitor’ Module: Designed to monitor system critical hardware and software layers (CPU, Disks, Processes, Files, WebSphere MQ, XPNET, and TCP/IP).
- ‘Service Monitor’ Module: Built complex, rule-based, multi-line analysis to evaluate combined system component health and report general service SLA metrics.
CRESTCo (Euroclear) Benchmark Consultant (1997): Handled an explicit placement at CRESTCo in London to write specialized volume-testing, throughput, and performance benchmarking software within their production-scale NonStop cluster.

Project & Product Management Leadership (2004–2013)

Lifecycle Governance: Officially transitioned into full-cycle project management, tracking release schedules, multi-threaded sprints, and financial capital expenditure via Microsoft Project. Managed portfolios covering dual-platform applications (HPE NonStop backend systems intertwined with Microsoft Windows user-facing layers).
High-Value Integrations: Directed payment engine configurations, middleware components, and real-time electronic transaction interfaces for massive financial networks running BASE24, EPS, and MultiBatch environments.
Al Rajhi Bank (Saudi Arabia) Implementation: Successfully drove the execution and global deployment of the RTLX Reactor Suite at Al Rajhi Bank, bridging legacy fault-tolerant environments with modern analytical databases.

Global Thought Leadership (2013)

The Connection Journal Publication: Authored a major architectural white paper in The Connection, the world’s leading professional journal for HPE NonStop systems, entitled “Episode IV – A New Hope (…for both Archived Legacy and Real-Time Transactions and NonStop EMS Alerts)”.
Core Concept (Application Modernization): Provided a tactical logical data warehousing blueprint outlining how banks could “dovetail” rather than completely “rip-and-replace” multi-million pound NonStop structures by streaming real-time transaction log monitoring directly into modern, open Big Data systems.

🛡️ 3. Modern Enterprise Leadership & Digital Transformations (2013–Present)

Company / Context: Wincor Nixdorf (2013–2014), Betfred (2014–2016), and Capgemini UK (2016–Present) acting as Senior Engagement and Delivery Manager.
Core Focus: Unifying foundational high-availability Tandem mainframe knowledge with modern enterprise delivery frameworks (Agile, Scrum, PRINCE2, and DevSecOps).

Project & Program Achievements

Retail Banking Core Swap: Commanded a £5m+ HP NonStop core swap and log monitoring overhaul for premier retail banking giants, ensuring zero downtime migrations across system components.
Hybrid Cloud & API Bridges: Successfully spearheaded secure hybrid cloud infrastructure programs, connecting legacy on-premise hardware networks like HPE NonStop X frameworks directly into modern cloud fabrics (AWS, Azure, and MuleSoft API-led layers).
Cross-Sector Governance: Successfully applied high-availability service assurance across major blue-chip operations and critical state institutions including Lloyds Banking Group, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), Royal Mail Group, and the Bank of England.

💡 Proactive Delivery Reference

Mark Whitfield continues to package his comprehensive knowledge across classical Waterfall, hybrid governance, and modern Agile deployments into PROject Templates, a curated repository featuring hundreds of customisable delivery tools (RAID logs, RACI matrixes, Plan on a Page maps, and financial tracking sheets) built to streamline delivery environments.

Mark Whitfield – Client and Team Project Feedback Summarised

The professional performance and stakeholder feedback received by Senior IT Project Manager and Engagement Manager Mark Whitfield throughout his career (specifically documented across his tenure at Capgemini and various client engagements) is exceptionally positive.

His feedback has been categorized below into the primary areas of leadership, management, and technical delivery:

👥 People Leadership & Team Culture

Empowerment over Micromanagement: Multiple team members and consultants highlighted that Mark empowers individuals to take on responsibility, giving them the freedom to execute tasks without feeling pushy or micromanaged.
Team Harmony & Humour: Feedback from lead functional consultants explicitly credited Mark with building outstanding, cohesive remote team cultures. He balances high professionalism with a fantastic sense of humour and humility, making heavy workloads feel manageable and enjoyable.
Mentorship: Described by colleagues as a “tailored enabler” who caters to his team’s professional comfort to yield peak results, he has been thanked directly for creating learning opportunities in modern frameworks like the Power Platform and Azure cloud migration.

👔 Stakeholder Management & Communication

Calmness Under Pressure: Clients and Account Delivery Managers frequently commend Mark for his “voice of reason” demeanor. He maintains remarkable levels of calmness and rational thinking during complex project challenges, shifting timelines, and fluid client environments.
No-Jargon Transparency: He is highly respected for his “say it as it is” and “no-ego” client engagement style. He translates deeply complex technical aspects into clear, pragmatic delivery timelines, putting stakeholders at ease and building instant trust.
Firm & Pragmatic Expectations: While accommodating to customer needs, feedback indicates he is unafraid to push back firmly when faced with unreasonable client expectations or scope creep.

⚙️ Governance, Delivery & Project Controls

Meticulous Attention to Detail: Senior Program Managers have labeled Mark’s project artefacts, financial logs, and reporting structures as “first-class” and “exemplar”. He sticks rigorously to reporting cadences and ensures RAID (Risks, Issues, Assumptions, Dependencies) logs are meticulously maintained.
Process Innovation: Mark frequently goes beyond baseline requirements to improve delivery templates. For example, he spent considerable effort mapping complex “strawman” spreadsheets into robust Microsoft Project (MSP) plans and creating standard Plan on a Page (POaP) layouts utilized across wider programs.
Commercial Risk Mitigation: He works tightly with legal and account leadership to gain fast approvals on Work Orders (WOs) and Statements of Work (SOWs), effectively managing complex multi-million pound account financials and navigating corporate hurdles (such as IR35 legislation compliance).

💻 Technical Ownership & Versatility

Technical Depth: Uniquely for a project manager, technical architects have praised Mark for taking structural ownership of solutions. He acquires a deep enough technical understanding of complex architectures to “hold his own” on technical calls.
Rapid Learning & Fast Adaptability: Throughout his diverse contract assignments, Mark has consistently demonstrated an ability to quickly pick up new technologies (such as AWS, CloudHub, MuleSoft OBD, and Dynamics365) and unfamiliar client governance protocols with minimal to zero handover.

🏆 Bid Management & Delivery Excellence

High-Value Wins: Bid Directors have noted his exceptional proficiency in creating high-quality estimation models and plans under strict, stressful timelines, resulting in critical project extensions and massive programme wins (such as the Environment Agency estate migration and the Welsh Government Childcare bid).
Relentless Work Ethic: During high-impact cut-over periods (like the massive Royal Mail BIG Interface Migration), senior leadership highly commended Mark for his massive personal sacrifice, working long hours and overnights to deliver project milestones ahead of peak corporate change freezes.

See link one and two.