Nicola Ironside-Skene — CEO

Experienced professional with over 15 years in Quality Engineering, Test Strategy, and Cybersecurity, combining leadership in QA with hands-on expertise in offensive security, remediation, and business risk management. My career spans global information security roles across banking and defence (6 years combined), alongside senior QA leadership positions including Senior Test Manager, Programme Test Manager, QA Architect, and Software Developer in Test. I bring a unique perspective at the intersection of offensive security and shift-left quality practices, ensuring that security and risk mitigation are embedded into the software development lifecycle from the outset. By aligning technical delivery with business risk, I help organisations strengthen resilience, accelerate delivery, and maintain customer trust. Career Highlights Global Information Security (Banking & Defence): 6 years of experience spanning offensive security, remediation, and risk-driven cybersecurity initiatives across sensitive and highly regulated industries. Skilled in embedding shift-left security testing and QA strategies within the software development lifecycle, enabling earlier detection of vulnerabilities, reducing remediation costs, and strengthening overall security posture. Experienced in collaborating with developers, testers, and business stakeholders to integrate secure coding practices, automate security checks in CI/CD pipelines, and align security controls with business risk. QA & Security Integration: Champion of shift-left practices, embedding security into QA strategies to proactively identify and mitigate risks earlier in the lifecycle. Global Delivery: Defined and executed enterprise-wide test strategies with professional stints in India and Copenhagen, blending diverse cultural insights into collaborative, outcome-driven testing environments. Defence Sector: Delivered senior test and management expertise for multi-supplier defence projects, enhancing strategies for both functional and non-functional delivery. Banking & Finance: Led QA functions within global foreign exchange and payments programmes, driving digital transformation, expanding automation and non-functional testing capabilities, and aligning test approaches to business risk. Certifications INE EWPT - Web penetration testing certification ISTQB Advanced Test Manager

Stackforce AI infers this person is a Cybersecurity and Quality Assurance expert with extensive experience in regulated industries.

Location: London, United Kingdom

Experience: 17 yrs 6 mos