Senior Business Analyst · Product Owner · Transformation Consultant

I deliver the systems that make businesses run better.

Ten years turning messy, manual operations into software, automation and process that deliver measurable results - for global clients including Amazon, Rumpke and Waste Pro.

Certified PSPO I·Google AI Professional

Cape Town  ·  Dual British / SA citizen  ·  Available immediately
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David Brien
In a nutshell

Both sides of the table - supplier and business.

I'm a Senior Business Analyst and Product Owner working where requirements, product ownership and delivery meet - translating complex operational problems into scalable systems and products. Supplier-side, I built enterprise software at ISB Global; business-side, I ran an eight-year transformation from the inside at Asilia Africa. I understand the developers, I understand the end user, and I'm a daily, hands-on user of AI to compress work that used to take weeks into days.

BBusSc Hons Information Systems, UCT

Where the work has landed

Two decades of work for global brands and the enterprises who run them - product and transformation delivery in the last decade, agency account leadership in the one before it.

ISB Global
Waste Pro
Rumpke
Amazon
Samsung
Lloyd's of London
Aviva
Harrods
DStv
Spur
Selected work

A few problems worth solving, and what changed.

How I approach the work →
6 weeks → <24 hrs
Reporting cycle · scaled 5 → 500+ sites
Product Owner

Trace - Amazon Sustainability Platform

Collapsed reporting from six weeks to under 24 hours and scaled the pilot from 5 to 500+ sites. As Product Owner I owned the full backlog, shipped the MVP in ten weeks and demoed live to the Amazon team - turning a sustainability rollout that ran on manual reporting into near real-time visibility across every site.

The fuller picture

  • Led end-to-end solution design and requirements for enterprise sustainability tracking across six waste producers and processors, integrating logistics and waste data across the full value chain.
  • Owned the full product backlog, defined and prioritised user stories, represented the customer voice to engineering, and delivered live demos directly to the Amazon team.
  • Launched the MVP within ten weeks using a Kanban approach - accelerating rollouts from four-week cycles to weekly releases.
  • Designed dashboards that surfaced reporting discrepancies and supported data-driven operational decisions.
  • Cut reporting cycles from six weeks to under 24 hours (a 42× improvement), enabling near real-time visibility for waste-diversion initiatives.
  • Coordinated stakeholder management for internal Amazon approval, scaling the pilot from 5 to 500+ sites.
  • Delivered on API integrations, AWS and Azure, an Angular front end and low-code OutSystems builds.

Role: Lead Business Analyst & Product Owner, ISB Global. Full history on LinkedIn.

500+ hrs/month
Manual reporting eliminated · leads 80 → 1,600 · 3× digital sales
8-year transformation

Asilia Africa - Digital & Systems Transformation

Tripled digital sales and removed 500+ hours of manual reporting a month across 15+ locations. I built the ERP and CRM ecosystem from scratch and ran the automation and marketing engine - lifting conversion from 8% to 25% at a luxury safari business that had been running on spreadsheets.

The fuller picture

  • Led enterprise transformation: designed and implemented a unified CRM and ERP ecosystem across 15 safari camps and 3 regional offices, replacing fragmented manual processes.
  • Grew website traffic from 10,000 to 100,000+ monthly (+900%) and scaled lead generation from 80 to 1,600 per month (20×).
  • Improved conversion from 8% to 25%, delivering a 3× increase in digital sales.
  • Built a CRM platform supporting 20+ travel partners and 40+ users.
  • Reduced the reporting cycle from 30 days to 48 hours and eliminated 500+ hours of manual reporting per month.
  • Introduced NPS-based performance tracking and digitised guest feedback, indemnities and operational-risk processes - cutting reporting lag by 90%.

Role: Head of Growth (and earlier systems & marketing roles) across an 8-year tenure. Full history on LinkedIn.

2,000,000+
Customers supported · 100,000+ contracts
Lead BA & Product Owner

ISB Global - Enterprise Customer Lifecycle

Delivered one integrated lifecycle platform supporting 2,000,000+ customers and 100,000+ contracts for clients turning over $1bn+. As Lead BA and Product Owner I owned requirements across CRM, billing, customer portal and contract management, replacing fragmented systems with a single platform.

The fuller picture

  • Led solution design and implementation of CRM, customer portal and contract management for enterprise waste and recycling clients ($1bn+ turnover), across US-based organisations and international delivery teams.
  • Delivered end-to-end lifecycle integration across CRM, billing and operations - supporting 2,000,000+ customers and 100,000+ contracts.
  • Drove stakeholder alignment across business and technical teams of 5–20 people, translating requirements into functional specifications for Scrum and Kanban delivery.
  • Reduced UI design turnaround from 14 days to 1 day by introducing Copilot and Gemini Canvas into the prototyping workflow.
  • Improved revenue visibility, customer retention and operational efficiency through system integration.

Role: Lead Business Analyst & Product Owner, ISB Global. Full history on LinkedIn.

20+ yrs
Blue-chip account leadership · ASP/SQL technical foundations
Foundations

Earlier Career - Agency Leadership & Technical Roots

Before enterprise delivery I grew blue-chip agency accounts - MultiChoice (DStv) and Allan Gray among them - at Gloo Digital Design, later acquired by Ogilvy. Earlier still, I built the web and database systems (ASP/SQL) that gave me the developer's grounding I still draw on as a BA today.

The fuller picture

  • Gloo Digital Design - Senior Account Director (2011–2014): managed and grew enterprise client accounts including MultiChoice (DStv) and Allan Gray, delivering multi-million-rand annual account growth and partnering with senior stakeholders on digital strategy and solution design.
  • Led end-to-end delivery of digital projects for major South African and international brands; the agency was subsequently acquired by Ogilvy, one of the world's largest agency networks.
  • Spur Group - Web & Database Developer, ASP/SQL (2002–2005): built web and database solutions for a national franchise of 400+ restaurants, including an extranet/intranet to capture operational data and enable KPI tracking and benchmarking.
  • Independently gathered requirements and designed, developed and deployed those systems end to end - the hands-on technical foundation behind how I work as a business analyst today.
  • Education: BBusSci (Hons), Information Systems - University of Cape Town.

Roles: Senior Account Director, Gloo Digital Design; Web & Database Developer, Spur Group. Full history on LinkedIn.

3 systems
Specified & directed, not hand-coded · live since May 2026
AI Systems Direction

AI-Directed Systems - Specified, Not Hand-Coded

Three live systems now run on specifications written and directed personally, each built by AI rather than hand-coded: a job search and outbound engine, this website, and a property calendar consolidation tool. Every system started as a written spec - logic, scoring rules and success criteria - handed to AI tools for build, then reviewed and refined in cycles. This is direction and governance, not personal productivity tooling: a different category of AI use to the Copilot and Gemini Canvas support relied on inside paid ISB delivery.

The fuller picture

  • Specified and directed a job search and outbound engine: multi-source Gmail scanning, filter and scoring logic, and a relationship CRM with warmth scoring and follow-up cadence, running on Notion since May 2026 with a dated change log.
  • Directed this website end-to-end from a written specification - design system, content architecture, copy and interaction detail - through iterative build-and-review cycles.
  • Specified a property calendar consolidation tool pulling Airbnb, Booking.com and inbox booking data into Google Sheets via Apps Script, for a small property-letting business.
  • Governed all three systems post-launch: reviewing output, refining logic and updating the specification as requirements changed.
  • Kept this distinct from paid delivery: AI at ISB Global supported personal productivity (Copilot, Gemini Canvas) rather than systems owned end-to-end.

Role: Specification, direction and governance across all three systems - AI-built to spec, not hand-coded. Full history on LinkedIn.

Interactive - see the upside

What is the manual work costing you?

A quick model of the time and money tied up in manual reporting - the kind of work I replace with custom systems and automated workflows. Drag the sliders to match your team.

Currency

Modelled on transformation projects where digital platforms replaced 10+ legacy spreadsheet processes, assuming up to 85% of the manual effort is automated.

Estimated reclaimed cost / month R419,577 capacity returned to higher-value work
Hours reclaimed / month
442h
Modelled efficiency
Up to 85%
Put this to work in your business

Illustrative, not a quote - but grounded in real outcomes. At Asilia Africa, automated reporting removed 500+ hours of manual work every month.

A little about me

High standard at work. Easy company after it.

I hold my work to a high standard, but I'm easy to work with - and good company once the laptop's shut. Outside work you'll find me chasing sunshine: hiking the mountains, in the ocean, or firing up a braai. Weekends often mean a Cape Town wine estate with my family, or slipping off to the countryside. I grew up taking trips into the Kgalagadi - deep Kalahari country - and never lost the love of wild places and the animals in them. There's a particular kind of rustic elegance, wild and refined at once, that I'll always go looking for. Usually with Boris, my French bulldog, not far behind.

David on a Table Mountain ledge Boris under Lion's Head Infinity pool over the Cape countryside
Giraffe
Buffalo calf
Lion
From the Kgalagadi and beyond - my own photographs.

The Boris decision engine

The Boris decision engine flowchart A flowchart depicting Boris's nightly bedtime negotiation: he refuses to leave the couch, waits for the humans to fall asleep, scratches at the bedroom door, settles quietly once let in, then waits again before snorting and scratching his ears loudly until the humans are wide awake. z Z Time for bed Boris exhibits extreme comfort, will be remaining on couch Are the humans asleep yet? No - wait in total silence Yes Scratch incessantly at bedroom door. Ensure some paint comes off. Humans out of bed to open door. Settle into doggy bed quietly. Are the humans asleep yet? No - wait in total silence Yes Snort, sputter and scratch (> 15 mins) Humans wide awake. Mission accomplished.

A faithful account of bedtime with a French bulldog.

Work with me

Got an operational problem worth solving?

I help operations-heavy businesses replace manual reporting and fragmented systems with software, automation and process that deliver measurable results. There are two ways to start a conversation.

For a role

Let's talk about a role

Open to senior permanent positions as a Business Analyst, Product Owner or Digital/Transformation Consultant - remote across the UK, EU and Australia, or here in Cape Town. Available immediately, with no UK visa required as a dual British/South African citizen.

Email me about a role
For a project

Let's talk about a project

Available for short-term consulting and transformation engagements on a day rate - bringing a process or system from manual to automated, fast.

Email me about a project

Let's chat

davidbrien@gmail.com
+27 82 328 0810
Download CV
linkedin.com/in/davebrien
Email me