Dermot Duncan · Head of Architecture & CTO, Vanguard Europe
I build the systems that help organisations change.
For twenty years the job has kept the same shape and changed scale. I find the system constraining progress, build the capability that removes the constraint, and then apply that capability to something bigger. Code became platforms. Platforms became engineering capability. Capability became organisations, then technology strategy for a global firm’s European business. Now I am designing for what comes next: the enterprise where intelligent agents are active participants.
One pattern, six scales
The pattern repeats at every stage: identify the system constraining progress, build the capability that removes the constraint, then apply that capability at a greater scale. Follow the spine, or jump into any chapter.
- Code Automating the friction 2006 – 2012 Early roles at O2 and Fidelity, where a pattern emerged: find the manual work that slows a system down, and replace it with software.
- Platforms Building reusable foundations 2012 – 2016 The XTRAC years, where the work shifted from delivering single applications to building the platform that let many applications exist.
- Engineering capability Scaling cloud and engineering capability 2016 – 2020 Two director-of-architecture roles at Fidelity, where the job changed from designing systems to designing how the organisation builds systems.
- Organisations Building platforms, teams and companies 2021 – 2024 HUB, joined as the founding technologist alongside the CTO and eighth employee. Architecture, engineering, hiring, security, operations and company building converged in one role.
- Technology strategy Shaping the technology organisation Since 2024 At Vanguard as Head of Architecture and CTO for Europe. The unit of design is now the environment in which platforms, teams and investment decisions operate.
- Agentic enterprise Designing the agentic enterprise Now A connected research programme, built hands-on outside the day job, exploring how organisations, software delivery and technology leadership change when intelligent agents become active participants in the enterprise.
The current frontier
A connected research programme, run hands-on in a private lab, asking one question: how will technology organisations, software delivery and executive technology leadership change when intelligent agents become active participants in the enterprise?