Gumtree has announced two new senior hires to strengthen its growing technology team.
Arman Abbasi joins as head of Engineering with Alastair Bradley appointed site operations manager. Based in Richmond, southwest London, the two appointments significantly strengthen Gumtree’s technology capability.
Head of Engineering
As head of Engineering, Abbasi will be tasked with guiding the team, whilst focusing on recruitment and retention. He is in the process of expanding his team further with new hires, including 14 roles currently open for engineers.
Abbasi’s experience includes the agile development and delivery of e-commerce platforms in complex engineering environments across multiple teams. He brings with him technical experience from previous roles at PhotoBox, Marks & Spencer and ING.
Commenting on his appointment, Abbasi said: “Having already bought and sold cars through Gumtree myself, I’m excited to be joining such a vibrant online business with large audience capabilities. My focus will be on creating value and remaining agile in a digital environment to improve how users perceive and interact with the technology interface.”
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Site operations manager
The newly appointed site operations manager brings over 20 years of software development and delivery experience, as well as a flair for DevOps. Bradley has worked as an Engineering manager at Hitachi Vantara where he was involved with modernising DevOps applications and infrastructure. He has also held various roles at Accenture, Nokia, Symbian and Psion.
Bradley has a keen interest in the value stream of what is delivered to customers which includes bringing more speed and complexity to a modern web application with the latest techniques and technologies.
On his new role, Bradley said: “DevOps and Site Reliability Engineering principles have advanced the state of the art of doing things, and the further application of these principles will help Gumtree continue to evolve as a platform, as it has done historically.”
Barry Frost, chief technology officer, Gumtree UK said: “With more than a third of the UK population visiting the Gumtree site each month, it’s imperative we have the technological infrastructure to support that. Arman and Alastair bring the expertise we require to support the business and help it grow — we’re delighted to welcome them to Richmond.”
