Product leader by trade. AI builder by conviction.
I’ve been in tech for over 25 years — developer, business analyst, project manager, programme manager, and for the last decade, technical product owner. The common thread: taking something complex and commercially critical and actually shipping it.
The day job
I’m Lead Technical Product Owner (Consumer) at Diageo, where I own technical strategy and delivery for the flagship global consumer platforms — thebar.com and Malts.com — directing a partner-led team of two scrum squads.
Highlights from the last few years:
- Malts.com — led the end-to-end redesign and replatform from legacy to a modern headless stack (Contentful, Vercel, Next.js, React, Algolia, Auth0, Shopify), then twelve months of continuous feature delivery and a D2C launch into Australia.
- thebar.com — currently consolidating 12 disparate global websites onto a single unified platform. I own the migration strategy: first four sites off the legacy stack, blueprint for the remaining eight.
- Diageo Bar Academy — led the replatform of Diageo’s largest customer site (5M+ annual visitors) from an unstable custom build to headless architecture. Result: 100% faster load times and a stable platform.
- DiageoOne — as global owner of the B2B sales platform, launched Italy and shipped the mobile app to both app stores.
Before Diageo: I authored the strategy that took npower’s government-mandated SMETS2 smart meter pilot from concept to the UK’s first-ever customer installation, scaling to 1,000+ homes in six months. Earlier lives include delivery and analysis roles at IBM, Accenture, KPMG and a £1.65M bank onboarding programme. I started my working life as a head chef, which is still the best training in prioritisation under pressure I’ve ever had.
Certifications: PRINCE2 Practitioner, Advanced Certified ScrumMaster, Scrum Master Certified, AgilePgM.
The night job
Around November 2024 I started trying to make AI genuinely useful — not answering questions, but taking a brief and coming back with something finished. The first year was mostly me doing the heavy lifting while the AI watched. Then I found agentic loops, then multi-agent orchestration, and the balance flipped.
Today I run a specialist agent team on Hermes with model routing across nine models, an escalation council, durable memory and a kanban. It has shipped six real products — a whisky education platform, a retirement planner, a family taxi app, a recipe system, an SEO analysis tool and the operating system that builds them all.
Why does this matter professionally? Because my ability to use AI at work is limited by enterprise constraints, and AI is exactly where my career is going. This site is the evidence that I’m not waiting for permission: the delivery discipline I use on global platforms works on AI agents too, and I can prove it with shipped products.
- 1998B&B kitchen
Started working under pressure before I ever managed a digital delivery.
- 2001IBM
Moved into technology and learned delivery discipline inside large organisations.
- 2008Accenture
Worked across structured change, analysis and programme delivery.
- 2010–2016BA and PM roles
Led complex requirements, stakeholder alignment and delivery across enterprise programmes.
- 2016npower SMETS2
Authored the strategy that took the government-mandated smart meter pilot to the UK's first customer installation.
- 2020Powershop migration
Carried product and delivery ownership through a major migration programme.
- 2021NWG smart trials
Applied the same product discipline to energy-sector trials and operational delivery.
- 2022Diageo TPO
Took technical product ownership across global consumer platforms and partner-led squads.
- 2023Diageo Lead TPO
Owned strategy and delivery for flagship platforms including thebar.com and Malts.com.
- 2024First AI experiments
Started testing whether AI could do real delivery work, not just produce useful answers.
- 2025Ralph loop and DramMaster
Turned PRDs, acceptance criteria and autonomous execution into a working product-build loop.
- 2026Hermes agent team
Runs a specialist agent team with model routing, durable memory, kanban and independent QA.
Away from screens
Two kids. Jnr Rugby Coach. Whisky enthusiast (that one turned into a product). Most of what I build starts as a family problem.
Get in touch
LinkedIn is best for professional conversations: [linkedin.com/in/gavinranton]. Email works too: gavin@gavinranton.com. If you’re building with AI and want to compare notes, I answer those first.