Technology People Partner & Engineering Org Scaling

WAHEED OYEDEJI OLANIPEKUN

+*** 803-***-**** +*** 805-***-**** ***********@*****.*** Lagos, Nigeria PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY

Technology leader with 20+ years in ICT, telecom and engineering organisations, spanning network engineering, IT operations, and general management. Two decades of hands-on people leadership within scaling, distributed technical teams — defining organisational structure, career paths and capacity plans; hiring, mentoring and retaining engineering talent; and acting as the direct people and operations leader for cross-functional technical and business units. Comfortable operating with autonomy at senior executive level, translating business priorities into workforce and organisational decisions, and managing complex stakeholder, partner and vendor relationships across multiple markets. PMP-certified with an MBA (University of Lagos), bringing strong business acumen to people and organisational strategy conversations. RELEVANT LEADERSHIP & PEOPLE CAPABILITIES

● Organisational design & workforce planning — defined and evolved engineering organisational structure, career paths and capacity planning for a growing technical division (GM, Networks & Project Support, Upland Consulting).

● Talent leadership — hired, mentored, trained and retained engineering and project management talent; built and led teams of Project Managers, Network Engineers and support staff.

● Cross-functional & executive stakeholder management — provided strategic initiatives and leadership across technical verticals and business units, with direct engagement at senior decision-maker level.

● Distributed team effectiveness — led and coordinated geographically dispersed technical teams delivering nationwide IoT and network infrastructure projects.

● Governance & compliance — owned compliance with SLAs, industry regulators (NCC, NERC) and international standards

(SOC2, GDPR, TL9000/ISO9001) from a technology-operations perspective.

● Business partnering — translated people, budget and resourcing decisions into business outcomes as a standing member of senior leadership, managing OPEX/CAPEX and resource allocation plans.

● Vendor & partner relationship management — managed partner, OEM and vendor relationships and negotiations across the technology portfolio.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

General Manager, Technical Services & Business Development Jul 2020 – Present Upland Consulting Nigeria Limited, Lagos

● Provide overall leadership for project planning, execution and delivery of digital technology solutions, leading and managing a team of Project Managers, Network Engineers and support staff.

● Provide technology leadership through hiring, mentoring, training and retaining top talent, and promote a culture of innovation, continuous learning, inclusion and operational excellence.

● Deliver cross-functional, strategic initiatives and executive leadership across technical verticals and business units, with direct accountability to customers' senior decision-makers.

● Develop and manage budgets, forecasts and resource allocation plans; supervise OPEX and CAPEX for networks and capacity planning.

● Led the national rollout of the first RPMA-based IoT network across all geo-political zones, and a remote monitoring solution for Seplat Energy's oil and gas assets.

GM, Networks & Project Support Sep 2016 – Jul 2020 Upland Consulting Nigeria Limited, Lagos

● Defined and evolved the engineering organisational structure, career paths and capacity planning as the function scaled.

● Managed and led teams of Network Engineers, System Administrators and technicians in delivering projects; developed and enforced IT policies, procedures and best practices.

● Ensured governance, security and compliance with regulatory standards (SOC2, GDPR); owned risk management and cybersecurity strategy from a technology perspective.

● Managed partner, OEM and vendor relationships and negotiations; supervised disaster recovery and business continuity planning.

Program Manager Nov 2014 – Aug 2016

Upland Consulting Nigeria Limited, Lagos

● Oversaw and coordinated all activities and resources on the Shell National VSAT project, ensuring timely, contract- compliant customer provisioning.

● Promoted IT solutions enabling cross-functional workflow and company-wide knowledge sharing and collaboration.

● Actively managed the technical operations budget and provided first-line liaison with consultants, technical partners and vendors.

Network Engineering Manager Sep 2010 – Nov 2014

Afcom Satellite (Afcomsat) Network Limited, Lagos

● Led network planning, design and administration, and managed operational costs and near/long-term financial forecasts.

● Prepared RFPs, bid proposals and contracts; served as project manager on a project basis, covering planning, budgeting and implementation.

IT/Network Coordinator Dec 2009 – Sep 2010

West African Ventures Ltd, Lagos

● Coordinated IT administrative duties and network operations across the company's regional and international branches, reporting operational status to the IT Manager.

Senior Network/NOC Engineer Aug 2007 – Nov 2009

Netcom Africa Limited, Lagos

● Managed and supervised data centre operations and equipment deployment; handled 2nd/3rd-level technical escalations and wrote work procedures aligned to TL9000/ISO9001. Network Engineer/Administrator Jan 2006 – Aug 2007 SIOtel Nigeria Limited, Lagos

● Deployed and administered network infrastructure and managed the company's IT systems and customer-facing network support.

Network Security Engineer Aug 2003 – Dec 2005

Wave Networks (Nig) Limited, Lagos

● Managed and administered company network and WAN connections, and provided technical support for clients. EDUCATION

● Master of Business Administration (MBA) — University of Lagos, Nigeria — 2015–2017

● Bachelor of Engineering (Mechanical Engineering) — University of Ilorin, Nigeria — 1998–2002 CERTIFICATIONS

● Project Management Professional (PMP) — 2023

● Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) — ITM

● ISC2 Certified in Cybersecurity (CC) — Baudspace CyberLearn, USA — 2024

● Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE) — few attempts; CCNP; CCNA

● Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP)

● Juniper JNCIA; JNCIS-ER; JNCIS-SEC

● TL9000/ISO9001 Quality Assurance & Management System — Netcom Africa Ltd — 2008

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