Xydus has announced two key technical leadership hires, following a record-breaking 600% revenue increase in 2021. Ensuring its identity solution is ready to flex to any challenges the future throws at it, Xydus brings in technical pros Jos Aussems as Chief Information Security Officer and Chris Covell as Senior VP of Engineering.
In response to global demand, Xydus spent the past six months reorganising and modernising its Agile IT department to improve efficiency, performance and resilience. The redesign stopped engineers working in siloed teams, splitting into two departments; Enterprise Engineering, which covers all client-facing parts of the technology such as mobile, web, and EMS, supported by the backend engineering team. Within these teams Xydus now uses a ‘buddy system’, pairing developers and engineers together to ensure cross-training. These future-proofs the technology as no one person holds the keys to the IP.
Russell King, CEO and Founder of Xydus says, “Digital identity is in a crisis today. The global scale of the problem is the reason we’ve spent a significant number of resources on adjusting our engineering practice. Now we need the right senior leadership in place to manage the new team dynamic, making sure our product solves today’s digital identity crisis, and tomorrow’s.”
During Jos’ 17-year career at PwC, he was instrumental in the development of its world class audit process for information security. He moved from senior-roles in tech consultancy to management of one of the leading cyber teams in the industry. In his new role as part of the Xydus leadership team he holds responsibility for the critical role of keeping its enterprise and customer data locked down. He will oversee the two new engineering teams, Enterprise Engineering, which is responsible for the applications a client has any interaction with, and Backend Engineering, .
Commenting on his new position, Jos says, “I’m moving from a world-renowned consultancy to a scaleup creating what will become world-renowned identity products and solutions. It’s a challenge I welcome, particularly as joining Xydus reunites me with former colleagues and peers as we establish world-class security capabilities to protect the sensitive data of our customers.”
Following over a decade working with Transunion and Call Credit, Chris leaves his current role as head of engineering for an internet-of-things startup to join Xydus. He will serve as the technical lead for Xydus’s class-leading products and services, building world-class, never-seen-before products that help customers and employees seamlessly manage digital identities.
Russell continues, “Whether you’re a business, an employee or a customer, identity is not only important, it’s essential. But most products available use biased AI algorithms, ask for too much Personal Identifiable Information (PII) and often also store that PII. Today’s world of digital transactions and currency mean identity is more valuable than money. Technology should protect that identity, not use it to make money. That’s what we’re on a mission to fix, which this impressive technical leadership team can deliver.”
