Leo W.

Experience

• DeepAutomate AI

  Director of AI Engineering

  Oct 2025 - Present

  DeepAutomate AI is a company.

  • Led AI engineering initiatives to productionise models and deliver reliable automation at scale.
  • Built and maintained engineering workflows and tooling to support rapid AI solution deployment and monitoring.

• X Board

  Fractional CAIO / CSO / COO / CFO

  Oct 2025 - Present

  X Board is a company.

  • Provided fractional CAIO/CSO/COO/CFO services to boards, aligning AI, security, operations and finance strategy.
  • Delivered interim executive leadership and helped translate strategic priorities into measurable operational plans.
• 

  DeepStrategies AI

  Founder & CEO

  Oct 2025 - Present

  Your business is leaving money on the table. And as AI advances, the cost of that gap compounds every month. You don't need to know exactly where it's leaking or how to fix it. But you do need someone who will find it. Most AI consultants can't — because they know AI but they don't know how a business like yours actually operates. DeepStrategies AI was built by an ex-COO and CFO who went completely AI-native specifically to close that gap. We map your entire operation. We find the 3–5 biggest AI opportunities by revenue and profitability impact. We build them. And we stay embedded as AI keeps on rapidly advancing — so you're never behind. 42 AI solutions across 10 departments. Built for UK SME founders. Free 2–4 day diagnostic. Prioritised roadmap. Yours to keep whether or not you work with us. No commitment. → Get your free diagnostic at deepstrategiesai.com → Or shoot us an e-mail at hello@deepstrategiesai.com

  • Mapped entire SME operations end-to-end to find highest-value automation opportunities by revenue and profitability impact.
  • Built AI and non-AI automations, agentic AI workflows and deterministic workflows with self-improving and self-healing controls.
  • Delivered a catalogue of 42 AI solutions spanning 10 departments using frontier AI tooling and workflow platforms.
• 

  Talent Nexus

  Chief Operating Officer

  Jun 2024 - Oct 2025

  🔹 At Talent Nexus, we specialise in delivering strategic recruitment advertising solutions that drive real results. 🔹 With industry expertise and a client-first approach, we help employers and recruiters streamline their advertising efforts, focusing on what truly works. 🔹 Our team is committed to simplifying recruitment advertising through data-driven insights, media buying expertise, and unbiased recommendations. 🔹 We manage complex ad campaigns across leading job boards and hiring platforms, ensuring your investment is optimised for the best return. 🔹 With Talent Nexus as your trusted partner, you gain not only access to market-leading tools but also impartial, tailored guidance to elevate your recruitment strategy. 🔹 And it doesn't cost you a penny!

  • Ran every function except sales and RevOps as the founder's right-hand on the top-level management team.
  • Scaled the commercial engine: sales headcount from 3 to 17 and client base from ~230 to ~800.
  • Built the founders' management dashboard and an upsell/cross-sell probability model feeding cashflow forecasts.
  • Unified six systems (contracts, media spend, CRM, finance, payroll/HR, ops) to automate advanced client and revenue insights.
  • Offshored 22 roles to Kuala Lumpur and South Africa, saving ~£350k annually while increasing capacity per pound.
  • Designed cross-department operating rhythm to stop client-facing errors and free founders from constant arbitration.
• 

  Talent Nexus

  Chief Financial Officer

  Jun 2023 - Jun 2024

  • Built client-level profitability insights showing gross profit, cost to acquire, cost to serve and overhead allocations reconciled to the P&L.
  • Secured £2m receivables financing to support rapid growth and managed external banking, legal and funding relationships.
  • Rebuilt management accounts into a full monthly pack and introduced the company's first annual budget.
  • Grew the finance team from 3 to 7 and transformed it into a data analytics and strategy engine for the founders.
• 

  Talent Nexus

  Finance Director

  Jan 2023 - Jun 2023

  • Built sales performance visibility with per-person targets, monthly tracking and conversion reporting across the pipeline.
  • Modelled economics of scaling sales and grew the sales team, unlocking significant revenue and EBITDA expansion.
  • Restructured sales commissions to add ~£120k to EBITDA while aligning pay with performance.
  • Turned loss-making clients into fixed, repriced or exited accounts and redirected sales to higher-value segments.
• 

  Mous

  Head of Finance

  Feb 2021 - Nov 2022

  We are Mous. (Pronounced mouse, not moose.) We create industry-leading tech accessories, made with a laser focus on expansion and innovation. We enhance the everyday experiences our everyday customers have with their everyday tech, every day. We started by designing phone cases which were ultra-protective, seriously stylish and expanded phones’ functionality by connecting to a range of modular accessories with custom magnetic arrays. Since then, our product range has expanded to include ecosystems of MagSafe® compatible and mechanical accessories, wireless chargers, MacBook sleeves and so much more. Our products are for risk-takers and thrill-seekers as well as tech-lovers and city-dwellers. We create solutions to the problems that come from busy lives and outlandish adventures. These aren’t just tools or utilities, they’re crafted to enable and elevate your real life; not simply making your life easier, but actively making it better. With products like these, the only limit is your imagination. www.mous.co @mouscase

  • Led financial due diligence for the Series A and reported monthly to the PE MD and board.
  • Set up a $2.5m HSBC financing facility and a £3m corporate card facility to fund pre-launch stock cycles and growth.
  • Delivered a daily P&L and efficiency KPIs on £800k+ monthly Google and Facebook ad spend.
  • Maximised R&D claims to £487k across three years and reduced the provider fee from 15% to 6%, saving £44k.
  • Led Xero-to-ERP migration and Shopify/Amazon integrations while growing the finance team to eight.
• 

  Mous

  Financial Controller

  Jan 2020 - Feb 2021

  • Oversaw day-to-day finance operations across a fast-growing D2C business.
  • Built true unit economics and landed-cost visibility across every SKU, flagging an unfavourable contract before commitment.
  • Defended cash through COVID with robust weekly forecasting and negotiated material cost savings.
• 

  Mous

  Senior Finance Manager

  Oct 2019 - Jan 2020

  • Provided senior finance leadership supporting rapid topline growth and margin oversight.
  • Implemented daily profitability views and operational KPIs to inform executive decisions.
  • Supported audits and prepared the business for first-time ERP and bookkeeping transitions.
• 

  Mous

  Finance Manager

  Jan 2019 - Oct 2019

  • Managed core finance tasks, supporting treasury, bookkeeping and month-end processes.
  • Helped operationalise unit economics and supported integration with commerce platforms.
• 

  KPMG

  Assistant Manager, Private Equity/Investment Management audits, Canary Wharf, London

  Mar 2018 - Nov 2018

  KPMG is a global network of professional firms providing Audit, Tax and Advisory services.

  • Managed a portfolio of private equity and investment management audits including Foresight and Equitix.
  • Reviewed complex investment valuation models such as DCFs and adjusted multiples.
  • Liaised directly with PE partners, CIOs and senior client stakeholders during audits.
• 

  UK National Audit Office

  Audit Principal, Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS)

  Dec 2015 - Mar 2018

  The National Audit Office (NAO) is the UK’s independent public spending watchdog. We support Parliament in holding government to account and we help improve public services through our high-quality audits. We scrutinise public spending for Parliament and are independent of government and the civil service. We help Parliament hold government to account and we use our insights to help people who manage and govern public bodies improve public services. The Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG), Gareth Davies, is an Officer of the House of Commons and leads the NAO. We audit the financial accounts of departments and other public bodies. We also examine and report on the value for money of how public money has been spent.

  • Led a top-three NAO departmental group audit with £4.6bn materiality and 100+ consolidated subsidiaries.
  • Managed an engagement team of 36 staff across a large-scale departmental audit.
  • Delivered value-for-money and financial audit oversight for the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy.
• 

  UK National Audit Office

  Auditor, Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS) and United Nation audits

  Dec 2014 - Dec 2015

  • Delivered audit work for the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills and led United Nations engagements.
  • Managed audits across government and international bodies including HM Land Registry and the British Hallmarking Council.
  • Led and won the re-tender for the Special Tribunal for Lebanon audit at The Hague, securing multi-year fees.
• 

  UK National Audit Office

  Audit Associate, Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS) and United Nation audits

  Sep 2012 - Dec 2014

  • Joined NAO graduate scheme and led four audit engagements in the third year—the first trainee to do so.
  • One of the first trainees to lead international and UN audit engagements before qualification.
  • Supported departmental audits at BIS, building technical audit skills and stakeholder engagement experience.