Mike Dunn

E-mail: mdunn147@gmail.com

Personal Statement

I am an IT professional with over 20 years of multi-role industry experience. Much of my career was spent at EY, where I provided second- and third-line IT support, maintained critical IT infrastructure, and developed internal desktop tools to automate processes and improve workflows. The role combined overlapping responsibilities with teams including IT operations, project management, and network and database administration, offering broad experience across multiple disciplines.

Following EY, I took a career break to both modernise and specialise my skills by focusing specifically on software development. During this period, I deepened my expertise in modern C#, .NET, ASP.NET Core, RESTful APIs, DevOps practices, and cloud platforms including Azure and AWS. I applied these skills in a professional context with Plain Savings as an IT consultant, developing internal tools and reporting systems to improve operational efficiency.

In 2023, I co-founded Retire Right, designing and building subscription-based tools for financial advisers. Since its launch, I have been developing and refining Retire Right’s backend systems and APIs, expanding its functionality in response to customer feedback.

Outside of work, I develop personal software projects, including a character generator application for a table-top role-playing game, which I use to experiment with modular design and iterative testing.

I am now seeking a collaborative software development role where I can contribute to meaningful projects, while furthering my technical skills as a developer and contributing my broader IT experience.

Education and Qualifications

University of York

(October 2002 - July 2005)

BSc (Hons) in Computer Science (2:1)

Key topics studied: Algorithms and data structures, networks and operating systems, theory of computation and computer mathematics, natural language processing and artificial intelligence.

Final Year Project: Computerised Analysis of Spontaneous Gestures.

South Tyneside College

(September 2000 - July 2002)

A-Levels

Mathematics (A), Computing (A), Physics (A), Chemistry (B).

AS-Level

Biology (A).

Whitburn School

(September 1995 - July 2000)

11 GCSEs (grades A* - B)

Includes Mathematics, English, IT and separate Sciences.

Work Experience

Consultant Software Developer - Retire Right

(March 2023 - Present)

  • Redeveloped logic from work at Plain Savings into C#/.Net API to deploy a web-based model to sell to Financial Advisors, for the purpose of producing retirement income reports for clients.
  • Developed AI agent to assist in client information gathering.
  • Developed plugins to interface between WordPress frontend and backend API.
  • Currently working on enhancing and refining existing retirement income report functionality.

IT Consultant - Plain Savings

(February 2022 - October 2022)

  • Built tools to support internal tracking of management information to co-ordinate work and index client correspondence utilising Microsoft Office and VBA.
  • Created models to plan and calculate and report on projected client retirement income.

Senior IT Support Analyst - EY

(October 2009 - September 2020)

  • Supported 300+ users (onsite and remote in multiple locations), working with internal IT support and operations specialists based globally.
  • Planned and implemented multiple major third-party software and environment upgrades.
  • Ensured regular testing of disaster recovery contingencies, always achieving full fail-over of core business systems within recovery time objectives.
  • Modernised internal tools to move away from legacy platforms and deliver security and performance enhancements utilising VB.Net and Microsoft PowerBI.
  • Supported new Customer Tax Reporting teams by developing tools and processes including a custom ETL solution, data reconciliation and report production.
  • Automated the production of complex mail-merges and incoming post processes using both bespoke document management tools and Microsoft Word/VBA.
  • Managed a growing team of up to 4 full-time staff, providing coaching, training and support.

IT Support Analyst - EY

(October 2005 - September 2009)

  • Supported around 200 users (primarily on-site and in one remote office) with general desktop support, specialist third-party applications and their interaction through Citrix XenApp.
  • Enforced change management best practices in co-ordinating and delivering application updates.
  • Worked with internal IT to respond to system outages, restore service and perform follow-up investigations to identify root causes.
  • Supported third-party software by liaising with vendors to deliver bug-fixes and improvements.
  • Maintained and enhanced toolset of internally-developed VB6 and VBA applications.
  • Enhanced and maintained Classic ASP intranet site for management information.
  • Performed data mining reports key to winning new client work and process improvement.

Trainee IT Technician - South Tyneside College

(July 2003 - September 2003)

  • Performed data input and analysis of content for new website.
  • Tested and assisted with the development of XML and SQL Server based tools to manage website content.
  • Provided general IT support, asset tracking and maintenance of computers on the administrative staff network.

References

Plain Savings / Retire Right

Address:

Richard Scott

48 Marlborough Court

Gosforth

Newcastle upon Tyne

NE3 2YY

Mobile:
07794590285
E-mail:
richard@plainsavings.co.uk

EY (References provided by HR Team)

Address:

Employee Services

HR Shared Service Centre

Ernst & Young

No.1 Colmore Square

Birmingham

B4 6HQ

E-mail:
references@uk.ey.com