George Lakas

Technology leader with 10 years' experience progressing from engineering to executive roles. Skilled in leading teams of 80+, cloud-native architectures, trading platforms, and compliance frameworks, with a strong focus on system reliability and scalability.

Senior Director of Technology at CFI Global Management Limited (2023-10 – Present)

• Lead a global technology organization of 80+ engineers and IT professionals across development, infrastructure, DevOps, QA, Security, and Data/AI Engineering, ensuring scalability, reliability, and compliance of all core platforms.
• Partner with the Group CPTO to align technology execution with business strategy, driving enterprise-wide digital transformation and supporting revenue growth.
• Defined and enforced engineering best practices and modern system architecture, improving development efficiency and platform resilience.
• Strengthened infrastructure, security, and DevOps functions, achieving 99.9%+ system uptime and ensuring regulatory compliance.
• Built and scaled high-performing teams through strategic hiring, mentoring, and talent development programs, improving retention and reducing external contractor dependency.
• Led innovation in Data and AI engineering, implementing next-generation analytics capabilities to support business intelligence and decision-making.

Head of Data, QA & DevOps at CFI Global Management Limited (2022-03 – 2023-09)

• Scaled Data Engineering, QA, and DevOps functions, building teams, mentoring staff, and introducing best practices.
• Modernized data infrastructure by migrating to Databricks Lakehouse, Apache Airflow, and MySQL master-slave architecture, cutting costs by 30% while improving automation reliability and analytics scalability.
• Led the adoption of microservices on Kubernetes and introduced Python/FastAPI standards, enhancing system resilience, scalability, and developer productivity.
• Designed and delivered executive dashboards in Tableau and optimized reporting across trading platforms (MT4, MT5, cTrader, Trader Evolution), enabling faster, data-driven decision-making.
• Oversaw CRM and database migrations, including the full HubSpot CRM rollout (users, teams, reports, permissions), improving sales and marketing alignment with zero data loss.
• Drove initiatives that improved system stability and cross-functional collaboration, reporting directly to the CTO.

Head of IT at FxPrimus (2021-08 – 2022-03)

• Led project scoping with stakeholders and C-level leadership, ensuring alignment with business goals.
• Directed cross-functional teams and schedules via Jira/Google Sheets, boosting project delivery efficiency by 20%.
• Co-designed and implemented microservices-based architecture on AWS with Kubernetes orchestration, introducing automated scaling, self-healing, and proactive monitoring; improved system resilience and reduced downtime by 30%.
• Oversaw the development of enterprise platforms that streamlined operations and improved client experience, including: Client/Partner Portal - fully adopted by all clients within six months. CRM/Backoffice System - reduced manual operations by 40% through seamless integration with the client portal. Partners Commission Backoffice - enabled real-time commission payments, reducing processing time from days to minutes.
• Strengthened system reliability by implementing DLP and deploying Grafana observability dashboards, lowering incident response times by 35%.
• Elevated engineering quality via GitLab code reviews and documentation, improving code reusability and onboarding speed by 25%.
• Collaborated with DevOps to ensure 99.9% uptime across core systems.
• Built and scaled high-performing teams through interviewing, hiring, and onboarding, reducing contractor dependency by 15%.

Deputy Head of IT at FxPrimus (2019-06 – 2021-08)

• Partnered with the CTO and business stakeholders to define project scope, design next-generation architecture (Microservices, Kubernetes, AWS), and deliver scalable, resilient systems.
• Directed development of enterprise platforms, including the Client/Partner Portal, CRM/Backoffice System, and Real-Time Partner Commission Platform, streamlining operations and enabling automation across the business.
• Strengthened system reliability and security by introducing Grafana monitoring dashboards and DLP tools, while working with DevOps to maintain high uptime and compliance.
• Built and led cross-functional teams, improving engineering standards through GitLab code reviews, structured documentation, and strategic hiring with internal and external partners.

Lead Project Coordinator at FxPrimus (2018-09 – 2019-05)

• Coordinated with stakeholders and the CTO to define requirements, scope, and objectives, ensuring delivery aligned with business goals.
• Planned and tracked project schedules through Jira/Google Sheets, broke complex initiatives into actionable steps and prepared documentation.
• Contributed to next-generation architecture design (Microservices, Kubernetes, AWS) and supported development of the Client/Partner Portal (Angular, NodeJS, MongoDB, Redis, RabbitMQ).
• Worked closely with DevOps to safeguard stability and uptime, introducing proactive monitoring and documentation via GitLab.

Full Stack Engineer at FxPrimus (2017-06 – 2018-08)

• Developed and maintained client-facing and back-office applications, delivering new features that improved usability and efficiency.
• Built a custom CMS with Symfony for Technical Analysts and developed the trade.io ICO website (HTML, AJAX, JavaScript, PHP, CSS).
• Modernized client area by migrating from Yii2.0 to Symfony, improving performance and scalability.
• Upgraded version control by moving from SVN to Bitbucket, and integrated back-office systems with a third-party affiliate platform.

BSc in Computer Science and Information Systems – University of Peloponnese, Department of Science and Technology of Informatics, Tripoli, Greece (2011-09 – 2014-09)