Ash Austin

Proven Impact

1. 01

   Pioneered AI-Driven Application Modernisation

   Led the world's first GenAI application refactoring initiative, partnering with MongoDB to build custom AI tooling for secure in-house modernisation of core banking systems. Delivered: 90% reduction in development time, one-tenth the traditional migration cost, and testing reduced from 80+ hours to 5 minutes.

2. 02

   Led Response to CrowdStrike Global Outage

   Led the bank's response across 2,500 servers and 9,000 workstations when the July 2024 CrowdStrike outage disrupted Windows infrastructure globally. Recovered 442 of 450 branches to full customer service by Monday morning, ahead of every comparable Australian institution. Outcome: Established an incident response model that has since informed operational practice.

3. 03

   Accelerated Enterprise Cloud Adoption

   Orchestrated the "30 workloads in 30 days" AWS migration, training 50%+ of developers and establishing comprehensive risk and security frameworks. Outcome: Validated internal cloud capabilities and proved governance models, establishing the foundation for enterprise-wide transformation.

4. 04

   Led Major Enterprise Transformation

   Led the bank's largest transformation initiative, balancing innovation with regulatory compliance across cross-functional teams. Achieved: 50% reduction in business applications, 60% cloud hosting implementation, and significantly improved system resilience across the enterprise.

5. 05

   Built Australia's First Digital Bank

   Led the internal team that created UP! in partnership with Ferocia, operating as a FinTech startup within enterprise banking constraints — from strategic vision and regulatory approval through to cloud-native architecture and market launch. Achieved: 1 million customers, $2 billion in deposits, 29% annual growth, and Australia's highest-rated banking app.

Core Expertise