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 PedigreeForge and 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. PedigreeForge is a live example 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
↗ 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.