A day in the life of… Mark Gillis, Technology Director

Technology Director, Mark Gillis, shares insights into his role at TAB, upcoming technology developments for the business and how technology is going to help shape the bridging market. 

Mark starts his day 6.45 am. First on the agenda is waking the kids up and getting them dressed, fed and out the door by 8 am. He then drives into the office where he meets with the rest of the technology team to have a quick review and prioritise tasks for the day. 

Throughout the day the team are in constant communication discussing the best technology approach to meet the needs of the business, any challenges they face and their understanding of the technology requirements. While working on new developments, Mark will meet with other teams to understand their requirements and the scope of the project. 

For lunch, Mark and the technology team often go for a walk and talk through any issues and evolve ideas on data architecture and new technologies the team have found and how it might impact the business. 

Wrapping up at the end of the day Mark has a final catch up with the team to see how they have progressed with their projects before heading home for dinner with his family. 

How long have you worked at TAB?

I have been working for TAB since July 2021. Before TAB, I was working for a leading global advertising, marketing and corporate communications company building finance and control systems for £2bn of media transactions. Prior to that I set up a ski holiday business, as well as built the finance and underwriting system for another bridging lender. 

What does your role at TAB involve?

We have a small team of developers with the ambitious task of creating a complex financial system that powers our proprietary platform TABHQ. Our platform offers detailed information on investment opportunities and borrowers, detailed information on the performance of their assets. The platform provides a digitised journey, in a secure and robust way, for the TAB team to undertake due diligence and track the progress of relevant tasks for loans and investment opportunities. The platform is always developing and we’re constantly adding new features while maintaining the existing system and retaining the core integrity of our client's data. My role is to ensure the team is used to its maximum potential and juggle the multiple demands of our fast-growing business as well as improve user experience and improve the efficiency of our back office. 

What’s the best thing about working at TAB?

We have a really great team who are constantly posing new challenges to the technology team to meet the rapidly evolving business. I enjoy the opportunity to explore new technologies and we can see how to deploy them to meet the needs of our customers (internal and external). The team is a great size, we’re small but there are enough developers to be nimble and adapt to changing requirements and keep on track with scale and ambition to implement best in class systems. I really enjoy working in the office, it’s a fun and supportive environment allowing us to quickly get answers.

How do you relax outside the office?

Outside the office mostly revolves around my family, so that’s not always relaxing! I do enjoy taking part in 5k Parkrun on the weekend and I am proud, albeit sad to say my daughter has now significantly overtaken me. I enjoy catching up with friends and other family members for a few drinks as well. 

What does the future hold for TAB?

We are coming to the end of a major development cycle where all the main back office functions will have moved to TABHQ. We are not stopping there with further integrations into open banking which will open up a whole range of opportunities. Our platform is built to scale. The fractional property investment product in particular is designed around opening the world of property investment to the smaller investor. This will present our technology team with challenges of scale, but also ensure the user experience matches our great products. 

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