Portfolio / Curriculum Vitæ
Khalid Fazeli.
Digital Transformation / Cloud & AI Strategy / Cybersecurity Leadership
Fifteen years building secure, high-performing IT functions from the ground up — bridging legacy infrastructure and AI-driven profitability for global firms.
01 / Profile
A commercially astute IT Director with over 15 years architecting secure, high-performing IT functions from the ground up — for global organisations and Top 50 professional services firms. A strategic business partner who bridges the gap between legacy infrastructure and AI-driven corporate profitability.
Combines an MBA with an MA in Cybersecurity (in progress) from King’s College London to align enterprise-grade security with board-level commercial growth. A proven track record of managing technology budgets up to £2.5M, supporting rapid scaling from 150 to 400+ staff, and driving high-value private-equity exits.
Secure. Simple. Efficient.
02 / Impact
Scaling businesses, not just systems.
03 / Approach
Four things I am repeatedly trusted to do.
The patterns that recur across every mandate — from greenfield builds to private-equity exits.
Greenfield IT leadership
Establishing inaugural in-house IT departments from scratch — and transitioning organisations away from high-cost, outsourced MSP models.
Strategic AI & automation
Leading the evaluation, procurement and deployment of enterprise AI to eliminate operational friction and unlock efficiency at scale.
M&A & scale-up velocity
Navigating complex IT due diligence and post-merger integration for flawless continuity through fast expansion and PE acquisitions.
Cybersecurity governance
Executing Zero Trust architectures, SIEM frameworks and Cyber Essentials Plus compliance to defend corporate digital sovereignty.
04 / Experience
A track record of building and modernising IT.
Apr 2023 – Present
IT Director
James Cowper Kreston · Top 50 UK firm
Transforming a fragmented, outsourced IT model into a unified in-house technology department across multiple sites.
- Secured board approval for a ‘Secure, Simple, Efficient’ IT vision, migrating from a third-party MSP to an internal team and cutting annual IT costs by 12%.
- Drove the purchase, evaluation and rollout of enterprise AI (PETAR, Microsoft Copilot), automating over 90% of manual effort across core operational and tax-processing lines.
- Directed the end-to-end migration of on-premises infrastructure to Microsoft Azure and SaaS, modernising the data footprint and reducing overhead.
- Strengthened security posture with modern SIEM, SSO and Zero Trust protocols, achieving Cyber Essentials Plus compliance.
- Delivered 100% of the firm’s modernisation roadmap within 18 months, including a new Intapp Document Management System for compliance and data integrity.
- Presented monthly technology strategy, security risk matrices and capital-expenditure business cases directly to the Management Committee.
Feb 2020 – Apr 2023
Head of IT
The NAV People · Microsoft Dynamics 365 specialist
Architecting a scalable IT infrastructure for a high-growth provider preparing for a high-value private-equity transaction.
- Designed and deployed the company’s first dedicated internal IT department from scratch, recruiting a multi-site team and establishing endpoint security via Palo Alto, Intune and Defender.
- Scaled IT infrastructure to absorb a staff expansion from 150 to 400, adjusting the annual budget from £850k to £2.5M while revenue rose from £22M to £46M.
- Served on the Senior Leadership Team through acquisitions and the final sale to private equity, spearheading IT due diligence and post-merger technical integration.
- Implemented corporate-wide compliance guardrails, including GDPR governance and Cyber Essentials Plus, enabling secure global market expansion.
Jun 2018 – Feb 2020
IT Manager
Kyocera SGS Precision Tools Europe Ltd
Directing technology operations across a two-site precision-manufacturing facility serving the aerospace sector.
- Supervised the full lifecycle implementation of a new Sage 200 ERP, managing vendors and user change-management to capture a 20% increase in operational efficiency.
- Formulated and tested strict disaster-recovery and backup frameworks, protecting critical aerospace manufacturing lines against unplanned downtime.
Sept 2014 – Jun 2018
Senior ERP Consultant
K3 FDS
Delivering ERP implementations and consulting for a diverse portfolio of corporate clients.
- Led end-to-end ERP implementations (Sage X3, Sage 1000), overseeing custom development and integrations to match unique business workflows.
- Applied Lean methodologies to re-engineer client operations — faster processing, stronger BI reporting and reduced manual overhead.
05 / Toolkit
The capability behind the strategy.
01Strategic leadership
- IT Strategy & Governance
- Digital Transformation
- M&A Technical Due Diligence
- Post-Merger Integration (PMI)
- Change Management
- Capital Budgeting
- Vendor Relations
02Technical architecture
- AI Implementation (Copilot / PETAR)
- Cloud Infrastructure (Microsoft Azure)
- Enterprise ERP / CRM (Dynamics 365, Sage)
- Document Management (Intapp)
- Identity Management (SSO, SIEM)
03Frameworks & compliance
- GDPR
- Cyber Essentials Plus
- Zero Trust Architecture
- ITIL
- PRINCE2 Project Management
06 / Education
Grounded in business, security and computer science.
King’s College London
MA International Affairs (Cyber Security)
University of Hull
Master of Business Administration (MBA)
Kingston University London
BSc (Hons) Computer Science
Reading College
AAT Certificate in Accounting & Finance
07 / Languages
An international communicator.
Fluency across English and several South and Central Asian languages — a genuine advantage in global teams, vendor relationships and cross-border work.
English
Native / Fluent
Persian / Dari
Native / Fluent
Hindi / Urdu
Conversational
Russian
Basic conversational
08 / Contact
Let’s talk.
Open to senior technology leadership roles and board engagement. Based in Reading, UK and open to relocation. Drop me a message below and I’ll come back to you directly.