Ask OC for design, technology, delivery and commercial leadership.
Two decades across in-house public sector, agency leadership, and founder-operator roles — available as a day, a sprint, a fractional engagement, or a full-time recovery.
When people call me
§ 01A GOV.UK Service Standard assessment is coming up — or the last one didn't go well.
I've worked inside blended civil-servant and supplier teams through Service Standard assessments, supporting first-time passes and recoveries after a failure. I can tell you what'll get flagged, what's a polish job, and what needs a rework before the panel.
A delivery is stuck, over-engineered, or lost in detail.
You need a critical friend who can diagnose fast, reset the team's focus, and get delivery moving again without ripping it all up.
You're buying a lot of digital and you don't have the in-house senior to evaluate it.
Two days a month of me costs less than one badly-written change request. I sit on your side of the table.
About
§ 02The rare advisor who has been the buyer, the builder, and the boss.
Twenty years across in-house public sector, agency leadership, and founder-operator roles. I have run digital services within a London borough, led experience and creative within a Crown Commercial Services supplier, and co-founded Gulp Digital — now fifteen years delivering to government and commercial clients across 50+ digital products and services. I still ship. I still sell. I am still in stand-ups. That compound credibility is what you get when you engage Ask OC.
Four capabilities, one operator
§ 03Design
Service design, user-centred interaction design, GOV.UK Design System. Former Head of Experience & Creative at a £50M+ Crown Commercial Services supplier.
Technology
Solution and service architecture across multiple technology and infrastructure stacks, aligned to the GOV.UK Technology Code of Practice.
Delivery
Discovery, Alpha, Beta, Live. GDS-aligned delivery, coaching teams to ship quality-assured products and services that meet user needs and business requirements safely at pace.
Commercial
Helps agencies win work, public sector teams shape procurements, and scale-ups tighten commercial models. Proposal writing, bid shaping, pitching, pricing, and relationship development.
Track record
§ 04How to engage
§ 05Day rate, responsibility & role
§ 06Day rates from £800 (Senior) to £1,250 (Director / Principal), aligned to SFIA levels 4–7.
I can comfortably work across SFIA levels 4 to 7 in design, technology, delivery and commercial roles. Rates are exclusive of VAT and expenses where applicable, and can be aligned to relevant procurement policies.
Rates are negotiable to support pay-grade alignment, margin on agency engagements, longer-term commitments, and employer NI contributions for inside-IR35 roles.
What to ask me for
§ 07Ask me for
- Design leadership, service design, interaction design, and GOV.UK Design System guidance.
- Technical strategy, roadmap, solution and service architecture; hands-on leadership.
- Rapid prototyping and concept validation, including with AI tools.
- Delivery coaching, sprint rescue, team shape.
- Bid shaping, pricing strategy, partner matching.
- Board-level digital strategy and roadmap.
- Fractional or interim roles with specific outcomes.
Don't ask me for
- Full-stack production build (use Gulp Digital).
- A junior rate for senior work — let's scope to the right SFIA level instead.
- Execution without access to the real context.
- Out-of-hours operational on-call.
- Advice that is outside my experience — I will say so.
Start with a 30-minute conversation.
No CV exchange, no scoping theatre. Bring a problem; leave with a secondary perspective, a forward-thinking approach, and a shared understanding on whether we work well together.
Message on LinkedIn for fractional and interim work (inside IR35), or via Gulp Digital for commercial engagements.
