John Bradshaw
Technology Leader · Field CTO · Speaker
I believe that technology leadership is about business judgment, not technical skill. The technology is the easy part. Building the right thing, for the right people, at the right time, with a team that stays and grows — that's the hard part.
Background
Currently Field CTO at Akamai Technologies, where I champion cloud, edge, AI, and security solutions across EMEA. I also serve as Board Advisor to HealthGuardian (opens in a new tab), advising on product, GTM, security, and cloud strategy.
Previously Head of Cloud at WPP, where I led a $300M cloud transformation programme with P&L ownership of $70M annual cloud spend. I grew a global team from 8 to 150 in 18 months, introduced a FinOps culture delivering $2M savings per quarter, and reduced operational costs by ~50% while accelerating releases by 75%.
Before WPP: Technical Director for EMEA and APAC at Skytap, then solutions architecture at a hyperscaler cloud provider and a global collaboration platform, both on government and large-enterprise accounts.
I speak at industry conferences across Europe and the Middle East — from WeAreDevelopers World Congress to The AI Summit London — on cloud economics, AI adoption, security, and the future of infrastructure.
Career
Each stop carries what it produced. The WPP figures are my own record; the public record is counted from this site.
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Solutions architecture
A hyperscaler cloud provider and a global collaboration platform, on government and large-enterprise accounts
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Technical Director, EMEA & APAC
Skytap
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Head of Cloud
WPP, to September 2023
- $70M
- annual cloud spend, P&L ownership
- $300M
- transformation programme
- 8 to 150
- team built in 18 months
- ~50%
- operational cost reduction
- $2M/qtr
- FinOps savings delivered
- 75%
- faster release cadence
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Field CTO
Akamai Technologies, since October 2023
Board Advisor, HealthGuardian AIPublic record to date
What I work on
- Cloud economics and FinOps Moving organisations from cloud-bewildered to cloud-deliberate.
- AI infrastructure Where API economics break, where self-hosting wins, and how the edge changes the answer.
- Edge computing Distributed inference, low-latency experience, and the architectures that make global products feel local.
- Cyber security API security, zero trust, and what agentic AI does to the threat model.
- Build vs Buy The decision framework every CTO eventually has to defend in a board room.
Where I've worked
- Industries
- Public SectorDefenceMediaRetailHealthcareTech
- Organisations
- HyperscalersVendorsSystems IntegratorsMSPsAgenciesStartups
Get in touch
Interested in working together, speaking at your event, or just want to talk about technology leadership?
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