Neelima Kovi
Summary
Dynamic technology leader with over 19 years of experience in strategizing, executing, and governing large-scale Agile and DevOps digital transformation initiatives. Expertise in managing complex services within ITIL and ITSM frameworks while ensuring seamless technical delivery across a modern technology stack, including Java/J2EE, SOA, MuleSoft, AI/Analytics, and multi-cloud platforms such as AWS and Azure. Proven ability to leverage deep technical knowledge to craft compelling strategic pre-sales content, fostering collaboration among diverse business and technical teams to drive significant business growth. Committed to delivering innovative solutions that enhance operational efficiency and elevate organizational performance.
Overview
20
20
years of professional experience
5
5
Certifications
Work History
Technical Delivery Manager
Fujitsu
05.2019 - Current
- Designed and prototyped a Gen AI-driven Bid Management software solution as a key deliverable for the Fujitsu Innovation Circuit (FIC) program.
- Led end-to-end digital transformation delivery across a diverse client portfolio (Cubic/TfL, Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), University of Bristol, Lowell, Home Office, Hampshire Police & RBS) and for captive Fujitsu products (Smart Customs / Digital Trader Services, Proflow etc.).
- Strategic Delivery & Governance: Defined product vision, roadmaps, and prioritized backlogs, leveraging SAFe and DevOps practices to optimize development cadence. Effectively managed risks using techniques like RAID, while meticulously planning iterative delivery, including MVP definition and milestone tracking against budget and resource availability.
- Technology Expertise: Oversaw solutions leveraging core technologies including AI, AWS/Azure cloud, Outsystems, Java, J2EE and REST Services.
- Team & Culture Development: Fostered high-performance team dynamics through effective coaching and organic stakeholder/supplier relationship management. Championed a culture of continuous exploration and improvement by effectively driving PI planning, sprint ceremonies, and retrospectives. Actively protected teams from external distractions and provided guidance to keep them focused on delivering measurable business value against the product vision.
- Business Operations: Managed essential operational elements, including financial tracking, hiring processes, and organizational reporting.
- As a Product Manager in the UK Application and Multi-Cloud Portfolio, I provided strategic leadership for the conceptual design and delivery of intelligent digital transformation solutions.
- Product & Collateral Development: Led the development of Modern Applications and DevOps offerings that integrated Cloud, AI, and Analytics. Authored technical and sales collateral by liaising with Sales, Bid, Delivery, and Portfolio functions.
- Driving Innovation: Focused on defining and leading the development of strategic Application Evolution Services. This involved architecting cloud-native solutions with pre-built automation components utilizing a range of Azure AI services (ML, Bot Services, Cognitive Services, etc.) and integrating advanced Analytics.
- Commercial Impact: Empowered sales and delivery teams with effective materials and strategy, to increase sales win rate, reduce cost to bid.
Technical Delivery Manager
SSP
08.2015 - 04.2019
- Worked as Technical Delivery Manager to deliver enhancements to SSP’s captive insurance product named, SELECT that maintains polices, claims, renewals etc. Worked for DLG to deliver enhancements for SELECT product to suit their business requirements.
- Strategic Planning & Governance: Led the full lifecycle of enhancements, starting with customer requirement workshops and stakeholder engagement. Developed comprehensive communication, delivery, resource, and budgeting plans, ensuring alignment with stakeholder interests at all levels.
- Operational Leadership: Matrix managed a multidisciplinary onshore and offshore team, responsible for 24/7 product support (L3, L4, L5) and new feature delivery. Expertly managed dependencies, coordinated release schedules, and maintained seamless support operations.
- Incident & Problem Management: Drove rapid incident resolution by leading "swarming" sessions for Priority 1 issues. Instituted trend analysis to proactively identify and control recurring problems, implementing effective mitigation strategies, including workarounds, code enhancements, and risk controls.
- As a Senior Consultant worked with various Insurance clients like L&G, DLG, Endsleigh, Hood etc., to design and develop various business value additions. Advocated adoption of agile methodology to turn around go-live issues from enormous defects. Created technical specification docs, developed key app modules, managed stakeholder expectations, lead & mentored onshore & offshore teams.
Technical Lead
Publishing Technology
01.2015 - 05.2015
- Led the delivery of enhancements for publishing website (using Spring & Hibernate) & automated testing using Junit & Cucumber.
- Responsible for enhancing the database model design.
Application Consultant
London South Bank University
03.2014 - 11.2014
- Delivered personalised Student and Staff Portal using IBM WebSphere Portlet factory, IBM Web Content Management, and IBM Connections for paying print credit, checking timetables, getting news feeds, checking student engagement levels with Cognos reports etc. across multiple channels (desktop, tablets and mobile).
Solution Architect
Portal
04.2011 - 05.2013
- Responsible for pitching to customers and delivering RFPs for various customers like RBS, Compass etc. that involved integration of WebSphere Portal with SAP NetWeaver Portal, IBM Connections, Quickr, SharePoint and other legacy systems.
- Designed solution, led the delivery, and supported KPI & content portals through Webservices (REST/SOAP), WebSphere portlet factory & APIs for various customer like Martin Brower (MB), ACE Insurance & Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS).
Senior Engineer
Stannah Management Services Ltd.
04.2009 - 03.2011
- Technologies - WebSphere Portlet Factory, J2EE, JSR 168/286, Web Content Viewer portlets, IBM Lotus Web Content Management API and Web Content Management JSP Tags adhering to SOA.
- Drove the end-to-end Agile (Scrum) delivery and deployment of B2B application, CRM solution, personalized Intranet portal and a multi-channel KPI Dashboard solution (to gain concise, meaningful insights into leads and sales data) utilizing Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA).
- Managed the full project execution lifecycle from requirement definition and leading outsourced teams through to user training, while ensuring continuous ITIL/ITSM governance through strategic Vendor, License, and Service Management (including outsourcing and supplier shortlisting) for both new initiatives and existing applications.
- Instrumental in saving time and costs by setting up the Development and Test Environment with IBM Cloud Computing.
Module Lead
Wipro Technologies
05.2006 - 03.2008
- Aviva, UK- Responsible for leading & delivery of a personalised portlet based online system (WebSphere Portlet Factory, J2EE, JSR 168/286) for the Pension Policy holders, Independent Financial Advisors (IFA), Customer representatives and Pension Fund administration staff by engaging with stakeholders using Agile methodology.
- Farmers Insurance, Chennai – Responsible for leading a team to deliver enhancements and support production environment of a J2EE application. The enhancements delivered, helped to meet agent’s requirements for providing consistent data.
- Nokia, Chennai – Responsible for delivering a J2ME application for digital transformation of sales orders.
- MasterCard, Chennai - Responsible for re-write of lost card application to replace poorly performing and outdated legacy application from SWING, C++ to web-based application using Spring framework.
Education
Executive MBA -
Henley Business School
UKBachelor of Technology - Electronics and Communications
Nagarjuna University
IndiaSkills
Product Management
DevOps
AI
Cognitive Services
Intelligent Process Automation
Virtual Agents
Data & Analytics
Agile leadership
Operational excellence
Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC)
Continuous Sustainable Improvement Plans (CSIP)
Project turnaround
Communication
Certification
AWS Cloud Practitioner
Timeline
Technical Delivery Manager
Fujitsu
05.2019 - Current
Technical Delivery Manager
SSP
08.2015 - 04.2019
Technical Lead
Publishing Technology
01.2015 - 05.2015
Application Consultant
London South Bank University
03.2014 - 11.2014
Solution Architect
Portal
04.2011 - 05.2013
Senior Engineer
Stannah Management Services Ltd.
04.2009 - 03.2011
Module Lead
Wipro Technologies
05.2006 - 03.2008
Bachelor of Technology - Electronics and Communications
Nagarjuna University
Executive MBA -
Henley Business School