Where I've delivered
I'm Steven Emmason, Head of Software Engineering at Dals — leading 9 development squads and 1 test team across telecoms, video and linguist-booking platforms. I build high-performing engineering departments and embed agentic-AI ways of working that ship software faster, at higher quality, and at scale.
There's no such thing as a one-size-fits-all solution. Even the same company has to change over time, so it makes sense that any product or service delivery process must do the same. That's where I come in.
Many years as a manager, coupled with being an ISO-certified auditor. A broad toolkit to assess existing processes and procedures, plus a logical, analytical method to help teams identify risks at critical pain points.
Macro and micro analysis of teams and infrastructure — because it's the complete solution, not parts of it, that determines how well you deliver.
ILM Level 5 Leadership & Management; ISEB practitioner in development and testing. Years of experience standing up agile frameworks — Kanban, Crystal, Scrum, Lean, XP.
I build focused teams that are proud of what they've achieved and enjoy it — giving you true ownership and commitment. Plus I can provide a clear answer to how AI fits your technology and day-to-day processes.
6 Sigma Green Belt, with several years as a quality engineer and then leading a quality-engineering team. Well versed in quality-control methods including ISO 25010 and 29119, driving the 3 Cs: correctness, completeness and consistency.
Customer-focused — easy to say, but only meaningful when customers believe it. So I help establish trust and measurable results.
Every leader is asking how to leverage AI today. I've moved past the question — I design the operating model. I embed agentic-AI development into both the toolchain and the way teams work, with the guard-rails, metrics and governance to make it safe and repeatable.
I help engineers adopt agentic-AI tools the right way — raising throughput without sacrificing review, security or craft. The result at Dals: a sustained ~30% increase in performance and faster delivery to live.
From requirements to release, I redesign the workflow so AI does the heavy lifting where it earns its place — generation, testing, triage and documentation — while people stay focused on judgement and design.
Adopting AI is a quality and risk exercise as much as a technical one. I bring auditor-grade controls — measuring impact, managing risk and keeping delivery accountable as the tooling evolves.
Decisions grounded in driving success. I devise technical team strategies that achieve your business objectives — cost-effective, with a sound business case. Cost and ROI are often the key decision factors, and shaping them is something I've done throughout my career.
Leading and managing are not the same and require different skills. I've led remote, hybrid and office teams in the UK and internationally, developing people, identifying talent and creating an open, trusting environment. I'm proud of the people and teams I've managed over the years.
A few examples of me in action.
A development team had limited testing capability, so quality suffered — over 60% of bugs were found by customers. I first improved agile-team testing and introduced unit testing by developers, then built a separate test team from scratch. Within two months, customer bug exposure dropped below 10%; after a year, below 1%.
I led the design and implementation of a new production software system for a Greek production facility. I wrote and presented the business case in direct competition with other proposals to the board, won approval, and moved straight into delivery — using an existing UK team and a new team in Greece. The system was later adopted elsewhere.
I audited an entire software delivery life cycle for an R&D department using LEAN criteria, driving for value. Mapping sessions across multiple teams revealed plenty of waste to remove, plus fundamental changes to ways of working — ultimately taking a process that took weeks down to days.
If this resonates, I'd be happy to discuss the possibilities.
Contact me