About
Brendan Small
Senior technology leader. 20+ years across the full stack. Practitioner and advocate of Specification First Agentic Development.
Brendan Small is a senior technology leader with 20+ years of experience spanning the full technology stack — from PCB design and C++ firmware through to cloud infrastructure, ERP systems, and AI-assisted software development.
Currently serving as Head of IT and Chief Security Officer at an electronics manufacturing group in Brisbane, Brendan leads all aspects of technology strategy and execution across a four-company group — reporting to four CEOs, bridging the gap between technical reality and business decision-making at every level. Responsibilities span cybersecurity, infrastructure, ERP, business intelligence, and AI adoption, in an environment with government security obligations and audit requirements.
Brendan is the founder of RegimeR, a macro regime intelligence platform for institutional capital preservation, and PedigreeForge, an open pedigree registry platform. He is the practitioner and advocate of Specification First Agentic Development (SFAD) — a structured methodology for taking an AI use case from rough problem statement to governed, production-ready system. It means identifying where AI creates real value, building the case for it, and seeing it through with auditability at every step — not retrofitted at the end. RegimeR and PedigreeForge are both live examples of SFAD in action.
What Brendan offers
AI Strategy & Leadership
Designing and executing AI adoption strategies across complex organisations — defining use-case portfolios, building AI roadmaps, and driving measurable business outcomes. Delivered as part of broader technology strategy responsibilities across a multi-entity group.
AI Capability Development & Literacy
Building AI capability and literacy across technical and non-technical teams. Track record of training and upskilling staff — from engineers on solution architectures and APIs through to business users on BI and productivity tools — in regulated, operational environments.
AI Implementation via SFAD
Introducing and embedding Specification First Agentic Development into delivery processes. Structured, governance-first AI development — from use-case specification through to production. Every project is gated, auditable, and operates within defined guardrails.
Governance, Risk & Responsible AI
Comprehensive security response planning, compliance with government security standards and audits, and Chief Security Officer experience working with security-conscious federal agencies. Essential8 and cyber framework compliance. Risk management and mitigation applied to both IT and AI systems.
Technology Strategy & Stakeholder Engagement
Full technology strategy and execution across a multi-entity group, reporting directly to four CEOs. Translating complex technical strategy into clear outcomes for executive and non-technical stakeholders. ERP, infrastructure, BI and emerging technology adoption.
Problem-to-Production AI
Starting with a real operational problem and finishing with a running system — scoped, specified, built, and governed. Not a proof of concept. Not a recommendation. A working solution. The case studies on this site are all examples of exactly this.
Tech Stack & Skills
Infrastructure & Virtualisation
Linux (Debian/Ubuntu), Proxmox, Hyper-V, Docker, Docker-Compose, LXC, pfSense, Unifi, Windows Server '19/'22, Azure AD, 365
Storage & Backup
SAN, NAS, ZFS, BTRFS, RAID, GPT, Proxmox Backup Server, S3 offsite replication, 3-2-1 backup architecture
Networking
SM/MM fibre deployment, routing, switching, WiFi 6 mesh, OpenVPN, IPSEC, PXE/Ghost/FOG imaging
Databases
SQL Server, PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite — maintenance plans, replication, queries, WAL, HA/failover
Cloud
Google Cloud (Compute, Storage, DB, Networking), Azure AD, S3
Programming & Development
Python (OOP, multithreading), JavaScript, TypeScript, CSS, HTML, C++ (firmware), JSON, YAML, REST APIs, webhooks
AI & Data
Agentic AI development (SFAD), CP-SAT constraint modelling, Power BI, Looker Studio, Grafana, KNIME, Node-Red, DAX, advanced Excel data models
IoT & Hardware
Nordic nRF52840, ARM M4, ESP32/8266, Iridium satellite integration, I2C/SPI/analog sensors, PCB design and prototyping, Altium
DevOps & Tooling
Git, Gitea, BitBucket, Docker, CI/CD pipelines, VS Code, PyCharm, Arduino IDE
Security & Compliance
Essential8, cyber frameworks, XDR threat hunting, heuristics analysis, incident response, DR/BCP planning, risk management
Comms & PBX
3CX, Twilio, Enfonica, SIP/PBX management
Management
Project planning, team leadership, system architecture, stakeholder engagement, vendor management, Jira, Trello, sprint planning
Certifications
MCP, MOS, VMWare VSP, Citrix CSSP, CompTIA A+, CompTIA N+, Cert III Information Technology
Career
2026 — Present
Concurrent
Founder
↗ regimer.comRegimeR
- —Macro regime intelligence platform for institutional capital preservation — classifying six major economies into macroeconomic states in real-time
- —Rule-based regime classification validated across 28+ years of history — 6.0:1 net capital preservation ratio, 15 of 16 stress episodes outperforming benchmarks
- —Full-stack platform: Python data pipeline, .NET API, Next.js dashboard — sole developer, architecture through to deployment
- —Built end-to-end using SFAD — targeting pension funds, endowments, sovereign wealth funds, and institutional asset managers
2026 — Present
Concurrent
Founder
↗ staging.pedigreeforge.comPedigreeForge
- —Full-stack Next.js / TypeScript SaaS application — multi-tenant architecture, PostgreSQL, REST APIs, server-side rendering
- —Complex domain logic: COI (coefficient of inbreeding) calculation engine, recursive pedigree tree traversal, graph algorithms
- —Built end-to-end using SFAD — specification locked before a single line of code was written, AI-generated codebase within the spec
- —Sole developer: architecture, database design, frontend, backend, CI/CD pipeline, and deployment — all owned by one person
2023 — Present
Head of IT & Chief Security Officer
Senior technology leader, electronics manufacturing group, Brisbane
- —Full technology strategy and execution across a multi-entity group, reporting to 4 CEOs
- —Led IT recovery after a catastrophic site fire — critical systems restored next business day
- —Delivered enterprise DR strategy, 3-2-1 backup architecture, and HA/failover across all systems
- —Chief Security Officer; compliance with government security standards and audits, working alongside security-conscious federal agencies
- —Implemented SFAD methodology delivering production systems at a fraction of traditional timelines
2021 — 2023 · Part-time
Chief Technology Officer
Quik Corp
- —Designed and delivered network architecture for a 10,000m² production facility in Coolum, QLD
- —SM 10G fibre backbone, WiFi 6 mesh, PBX/SIP integration, full infrastructure stack
- —IoT R&D projects including satellite-integrated telemetry systems
2019 — 2023 · Part-time
Technical Specialist & IT Manager
Teknix
- —R&D on IoT hardware products — PCB design, C++ firmware, satellite (Iridium) integration
- —Full-stack development: Python, JavaScript, REST APIs, SQLite, Node-Red
- —Managed corporate and production IT environments including Google Cloud infrastructure
2014 — 2019
National Sales, Customer Success & IT Manager
Fone Dynamics
- —National sales and partner management; built and scaled customer success practice
- —Proprietary customer retention model developed and tested across 400+ accounts
- —Corporate IT management and security
2004 — 2014
IT deployment engineer, enterprise software licensing, and national sales at Data#3 and ASI Solutions — covering sectors including healthcare, finance, engineering, and logistics. Full history available on LinkedIn.
Get in touch
Available for senior AI and technology leadership roles, SFAD consulting, and speaking engagements.