Ash Siddiqui

Technology Executive | AI & Digital Transformation | Trusted Delivery
Sydney, Australia.

About

High-impact, hands-on leader with significant experience delivering complex AI and digital CX transformations and products. Trusted by boards and C-level executives for delivering innovation at scale, building high-performing teams, and executing ROI-driven transformation outcomes.

Extensive product, consulting and technology architecture experience across financial services, manufacturing, government, automotive, logistics, and regulated industries. Unique ability to align technology vision with business goals, commercial growth, and regulatory compliance successfully leading high-value programmes in complex, high-security environments.

Expert in operational efficiency, cost reduction, sustainable transformation, and building high-performance teams.

I cut complexity in IT and simple, relevant, and adoptable across the organisation.

Work

Honda
|

Head of AI & Digital Transformation

APAC

Contract

Summary

Reporting to the CEO, I designed & led the $20M 3-year product and strategy transformation, incorporating AI and digital transformation product and program portfolio for Honda APAC, modernising core platforms and driving strategic initiatives with C-suite and board oversight.

Highlights

Developed and led the design and implementation of an agentic AI-driven Salesforce integrated virtual showroom platform with lifelike virtual sales avatars, a global first for Honda, reducing onboarding and training time for new staff by 35%.

Designed and implemented an agentic AI-driven data platform leveraging Python, TensorFlow, and Azure ML, optimizing vehicle sales forecasting across APAC markets.

Directed the strategic enterprise-wide digital transformation, migrating legacy IBM AS400 IBMi mainframe systems to a cloud-based Salesforce Automotive Cloud platform to enable real-time customer insights.

Established an enterprise-wide data governance and ethical AI framework, ensuring compliance with GDPR and APAC regulations, and deployed Azure infrastructure as code (Terraform) to improve scalability and resilience in NZ operations.

Partnered with C-suite and the board to embed AI-driven analytics dashboards using Microsoft Fabric and Salesforce Einstein, enhancing data-driven decision-making and increasing ROI by 15%.

Delivered $2M in recurring cost savings through operational efficiency initiatives, reinvesting funds into future-state initiatives and achieving 90% user adoption within 3 months post-deployment of modern tools.

Latitude Solutions
|

Principal Transformation Architect

New Zealand

Summary

Reporting to the CEO, managed 100m + ARR consulting portfolio and built the cloud practice for a boutique professional services consultancy. Directed national cloud transformation projects for a top 10 managed services & consulting firm, delivering digital modernisation and elevating cybersecurity resilience for diverse clients.

Highlights

CTO level national cloud transformation projects across FMCG, sport, and manufacturing sectors, providing executive-level consulting for enterprise SaaS and AI implementations.

Elevated client cybersecurity resilience and digital maturity across multiple engagements, ensuring robust and secure cloud environments.

Enabled digital modernisation for financial services, manufacturing, local government, Tier1 sporting organisations, enhancing their operational capabilities and market competitiveness.

Led the build and development of AI enabled products for high performance bio-mechanics within the vertical - subject to NDA

Realwear | AI & Augmented Reality
|

Product Director - CTO

Sydney, NSW, Australia

Fixed Term

Summary

Led end-to-end technology strategy, product development, and enterprise-scale architecture innovation for an AI/AR startup, driving global market expansion and operational efficiency between 50 - 200% and reduction in cost of over 50% on average.

Highlights

Defined and executed the technology and product roadmap, aligning product strategy with enterprise customer needs across field services, mining, manufacturing, healthcare, and energy sectors.

Led the design and delivery of AR-powered remote assistance tools integrated with smart glasses and mobile devices, empowering frontline workers with real-time expert support.

Scaled a secure, cloud-native AI SaaS platform on AWS leveraging SageMaker, supporting global clients with low-latency, real-time collaboration and improving remote worker efficiency by 30%.

Oversaw cross-functional engineering, product, and DevSecOps teams in an agile environment, and led the adoption of containerized microservices with Kubernetes for scalable and agile deployments.

Drove adoption among Fortune 500 customers, enabling significant reductions in downtime and service costs, and raised ~$350M in series funding based on successful ANZ strategy and execution.

Delivered multi-million-dollar client product for key clients including the Australian Defence Force, Lockheed Martin, Siemens, and FIFA for the Dubai World Cup.

Skills Group
|

Senior Product Manager

New Zealand

Contract

Summary

Led global strategic initiatives for digital skills development and future workforce readiness, fostering international partnerships to advance vocational education.

Highlights

Contributed to and developed global strategic leadership for digital skills and the future workforce, supporting young talent through mentorship and assessment.

Built international industry partnerships across 79 member countries to advance skills programs with leading technology companies like Amazon AWS, Microsoft, and Cisco.

Delivered excellent product that contributed directly to 72% uplift in vocational stream adoption and apprenticeships

Led the Global Digital Innovation advisory for Worldskills www.worldskills.org

Spark Digital
|

Transformation Director | Health, Govt & Enterprise

New Zealand

Summary

Reporting to the COO, co-managed the transformation practice practice and led digital transformation and strategic technology initiatives for Spark New Zealand's Health, Government, and Enterprise portfolio, overseeing multi-million-dollar programs.

Highlights

Managed a $200M+ portfolio, including cloud services to the NZ Government, aligning technology strategy with national priorities in healthcare and government service delivery.

Delivered the National Telehealth Services platform, which became a critical part of NZ's COVID response strategy, facilitating nearly 3 million contacts to 2 million people annually.

Championed cross-sector innovation, secure infrastructure design, and customer-centric delivery models to improve citizen outcomes and organizational resilience.

KPMG
|

Associate Director, Cloud Transformation

New Zealand

Summary

Provided expert consulting and enterprise architecture strategy in cloud transformation, advising clients on strategic adoption and implementation. Efficiencies and cost savings achieved through optimisation and transformation were between 15 - 60%. Led data transformation strategy and architecture uplifts resulting in a reduction in time-to-decision by 23-55% - this significantly improved organisational competitiveness and product agility in large enterprises

Highlights

Consulted on architecture and strategy within insurance, retail, financial services, enterprise and government clients on cloud transformation strategies and architecture, contributing to efficient and secure cloud adoption.

Built and led a significant cloud and ERP team specialising in Microsoft Dynamics 365, Salesforce, Netsuite focusing on manufacturing, telco, retail, logistics verticals

Grew the KPMG advisory practice from 5 staff to 87+ in a relatively short timeframe with over $200M ARR revenue pipeline

CSR Group
|

National Information Technology Manager

Sydney, NSW, Australia

Summary

Managed national information systems and OT/IT team, optimising performance and supporting business operations for over 10,000+ seats in a large and diverse manufacturing and building products company. ASX listed organisation.

Highlights

Managed national information systems, contributing to improved operational efficiency.

Volunteer

Business Mentors New Zealand
|

Senior Business Mentor

New Zealand

Summary

I work with startups and founders, and some established businesses to define and deliver product strategy, growth and pivot to market demand. Worked for several years with a number of startups to drive strategic product and business growth and achieve series funding.

Education

University of Auckland

Bachelor of Engineering

Software & Networking

University of Otago

Master of Business

Professional Practice

Certificates

Certified Business Continuity Professional

Issued By

Various

Chartered Information Technology Professional

Issued By

IT Professionals New Zealand

Member

Issued By

Information Systems Audit and Control Association

Chartered Engineer

Issued By

Engineering New Zealand

Certified Cloud Security Professional CCSP

Issued By

ISC2

AWS / Azure / GCP Certifications

Issued By

Amazon Web Services

ITIL & Prince2

Issued By

KPMG

Six Sigma Master

Issued By

KPMG