1996
Fortoak Packaging: Stock & Inventory Controller
Responsible for stock integrity across circa 6,000 SKUs, availability, discrepancy reporting and obsolescence management; also supported fire safety, first aid and the bulk-storage team.
Technical + Operational Manager
I am Nicholas Ward
I help teams move from early scoping through implementation, rollout, and ongoing support with fewer delivery surprises.
20+ yearsTechnical leadershipTeams & systems
Career in motion
Experience that compounds.
2003
Communisis: Stock Control Supervisor
Led the stock and inventory-control department, bulk replenishment team and goods-in department, maintaining integrity across circa 10,000 SKUs.
2008
Communisis: Operations & Implementations Controller
Provided operational support for a busy logistics site, business processes and implementation projects; responsible for ISO and health-and-safety compliance and key accounts.
2010
Communisis: Operations & Implementations Manager
Proposed, delivered and managed controls and operational processes; project-managed client IT and process implementations, with direct responsibility for accounts and logistics.
2011
Communisis: Senior Technical Account Manager, MT
Ensured delivery of marketing-technology SaaS services, built technical and business support solutions, and led client communication and relationship management.
2019
Communisis: Senior Technical Account Manager, Data
Ensured client service delivery, built and maintained technical and business support solutions, and managed and motivated delivery teams.
2020
Head of Technical Support
Built, and now lead, a technical-support team through acquisitions and client growth. It grew from four people to a peak of 17, and now 11 deliver the same workload through process optimisation, personal development, bespoke tooling and thoughtful AI adoption.
What I Do
From onboarding to service delivery
From solution inception and technical analysis through development, rollout and ongoing support, with operational controls and client trust at the centre.
Client Onboarding
All stages of client onboarding, from solution inception through development, delivery and rollout of client solutions.
Technical Delivery
Design, development and delivery of SaaS solutions in a DevOps environment.
Operational Management
Analysing, implementing and managing controls and operational processes in line with ISO 27001, ISO 9001 and ISO 14001.
Stakeholder Relationships
Building strong, lasting relationships with clients and internal stakeholders to understand their business and build lasting trust.
AI Enablement
Building bespoke tooling and adopting AI to reduce friction, strengthen delivery and give teams more room to think, not less.
Current leadership story
Built the team. Improved the model.
I took a team of four through the period after COVID, alongside acquisitions and significant client growth. At its peak, the function grew to 17 people.
4Starting team
17At peak
11Team today
Most people who moved on did so to take more technical roles, internally or elsewhere, using capabilities developed in the team. Process optimisation, personal growth, bespoke tooling I built, and thoughtful AI adoption now allow the same workload to be delivered by a smaller, more capable team.
How I think about teams and AI