Available for new roles

Blair
McDougall

Technology & IT Leadership

I help teams navigate complex tech environments and major change, connecting strategy with day-to-day delivery.

Portrait of Blair McDougall
25+
Years in technology
10+
Years senior leadership
50+
Projects delivered
6
Years median tenure
London-based · Open to permanent & contract roles

Turning strategy into delivery,
ideas into outcomes

I work best where technology, people, and delivery discipline need to meet in the middle. I bring structure to ambiguity, translate between technical and non-technical stakeholders, and help teams move from noise to traction.

That makes me especially well suited to Head of IT and similar roles where reliable operations, clear leadership, and practical transformation all matter at once.

"I help technology teams move from complexity and uncertainty to clarity, momentum, and trust."

My background spans infrastructure, software, production technology, and enterprise delivery across organisations including Wētā FX, DUG Technology, and Sky — environments where the stakes were high and the pace unforgiving.

What I bring to senior IT
leadership roles

01

Technology leadership

Direction across infrastructure, platforms, systems, delivery practices, and operational stability — with a bias for pragmatic decisions and clear standards.

02

Transformation that lands

Roadmaps, sequencing, governance, and change execution that stay tied to outcomes rather than floating off into presentation-land.

03

Operational improvement

Service reliability, process clarity, prioritisation, vendor coordination, and better visibility for leaders who need the real picture.

04

Stakeholder confidence

Calm communication with executives, delivery teams, vendors, and clients — especially when work is complex, political, or under pressure.

Selected career
highlights

Wētā FX

Visual Effects & Film

Senior Technology & Delivery Leadership

Led complex programmes supporting visual effects production systems, including projects spanning thousands of servers and workstations. Worked across infrastructure, software, production, and leadership stakeholders to coordinate delivery and reduce friction in a demanding, high-performance environment.

Infrastructure Migration Production Systems Delivery

DUG Technology

High-Performance Compute

Global Infrastructure Operations

Oversaw global infrastructure operations supporting critical compute capability. Balanced operational reliability, team coordination, and out-of-hours technical change, including physical infrastructure and datacentre work across multiple sites.

HPC Global Operations Datacentre Service Leadership

Sky

Broadcasting & Media

Continuous Improvement & Agile Enablement

Led continuous improvement across technology and operations, simplifying processes and reducing inefficiencies, delivering over 300,000 hours of annualised savings. Supported Agile adoption across teams, improving coordination and delivery consistency.

Continuous Improvement Agile SAFe Change Leadership

myFairPartner

Online Temporary Employment Platform

Technology Strategy & Platform Transformation

Defined and executed the technology strategy for a 24/7 online employment platform, enabling clients to search, hire and manage temporary staff at any time. Transitioned the platform from legacy hosting to a scalable cloud-based architecture, improved reliability and performance, and led distributed development teams across the UK and India using Agile delivery practices.

Technology Strategy Agile Delivery Cloud Migration Team Leadership

Investis

Digital Corporate Communications

High-Availability Hosting & Web Platform Operations

Delivered high-availability hosting and operational support for over 1,000 corporate websites, including FTSE-listed clients, ensuring performance, security and uptime. Led infrastructure and service operations across Linux/Windows environments, databases and networking, while coordinating delivery across UK, India and Germany teams.

Managed Services Web Platforms High Availability Global Delivery

CNBC Europe

Broadcasting & Media

Hands-on Broadcast Infrastructure & Studio Engineering

Delivered end-to-end technology across a live broadcast environment, spanning networking, security, Linux/Windows servers, databases, and high-performance storage. Built and supported newsroom and studio systems, including remote reporting and autoprompters, led the setup of a new Frankfurt studio, and contributed to integration across Dow Jones, European Business News, NBC Super and CNBC.

Infrastructure Engineering Broadcast Systems Live Operations Systems Integration

Representative
work

Cloud & Infrastructure

Migration & modernisation programmes

Led infrastructure and migration initiatives in complex estates where delivery had to stay tightly aligned to business and technical realities.

Governance & Visibility

Reporting & better decision-making

Improved visibility and governance through better reporting and cross-functional communication, including Power BI reporting during COVID-era operational change.

Delivery Alignment

Cross-team coordination

Brought structure to programmes involving multiple partner teams, competing priorities, technical risk, and the need to rebuild confidence through action.

Interested in
talking?

I'm currently exploring Head of IT and related senior technology leadership roles in London and beyond.

The best way to reach me is through LinkedIn or email. I'm open to permanent positions and contract engagements.