Robert Small

Enigma
DISC Type : Dic

Head of Platform Engineering at Arbor Education

United Kingdom

Overview

Robert is a seasoned technical leader with over 20 years of experience at firms like McKinsey, Nokia, and Walgreens. He specializes in cloud, DevOps, and platform engineering, focusing on translating technical expertise into business value. People who have worked with him describe him as an effective, insightful, and empathetic leader.

As the Architecture Guild Chair at Tessian, he led technical solutions for high-profile clients including ARM, Schroders, and Bain Capital.

Personality Overview

Persuasive & Assertive

Challenger

Hard To Convince

They are generally strong communicators and are not easy to convince.  They can sound friendly and charming but can quickly change gears to become inquisitive and probing  They are likely to ask many questions and look heavily for supporting proof as well as information.

Topics They Care About

Platform Engineering
His career at Arbor Education, Tessian, and McKinsey has centered on redefining and leading internal platform engineering teams to enhance technical solutions and efficiency.
Cloud & DevOps
He has extensive experience leading Cloud and DevOps initiatives, implementing comprehensive automation, and is actively hiring engineers with AWS and Terraform skills for his team.
Building Teams
With a decade of leadership experience, he is passionate about team-building, talent cultivation, and mentoring junior colleagues to create high-performing engineering teams.

Media Appearances

Robert has no verified media appearances

Work History

6-2024
Head of Platform Engineering at Arbor Education
9-2022 - 2024
Architecture Guild Chair & Platform Architect at Tessian
9-2020 - 9-2022
Technical Leadership on Platform Team at McKinsey & Company
9-2019 - 9-2020
Technical Leadership for Cloud and DevOps in QuantumBlack/Labs at QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey
12-2017 - 9-2019
Head of Cloud and DevOps Engineering at QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey

Education

2024 - 2024
MBA Essentials from The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)
Master’s Degree from Western Governors University

More Information

Social Presence :

Prographics :

Exp : 14 Location : United Kingdom Job Level : Mid-senior Designation : Head of Platform Engineering at Arbor Education
URL has been copied!

Insights For Selling To Robert

During A Call Or A Meeting

DO's

  • Be prepared for a mix of questions and inquisitiveness, answer them in the tone in which they have been asked
  • Use a combination of data as well as stories for your pitch, a ppt might not be necessary
  • Build rapport slwly without rushing, it will come handy to handle hard questions later

DONT's

  • Don’t try to rush them into a decision, provide all necessary information first
  • Avoid making offhand commitments, understand the root of their concerns first
  • Don’t brush off any concerns, take all questions seriously. They are easily deterred

When Cold Calling

When Writing An Email

While Negotiating & Closing

    The secret to closing fast with Robert is

  • Proven value, strong objective evidence are important for them, rapport can impact decisions a little.
  • Will you ever get a clear answer from Robert

  • They are practical and friendly, but can give a clear response with a little prodding

Insights For Deal Planning

    How fast (or slow) will Robert move?

  • They like to be detailed, so unless they develop strong conviction, they can take their time to arrive at decisions
  • Can Robert take some risk or not?

  • They evaluate their decisions systematically and do not take risks that often, unless you can get them to develop strong conviction

You And Robert

Personality Compatibility


More Profiles

Discover additional public profiles from our index.

Search more profiles

Looking for someone else? Search here for anyone.

Or visit Humantic AI to know more.