Kerry O Donnell

Experienced Delivery, Release, and Implementation Readiness professional with a proven track record of coordinating complex software releases, leading client testing programmes, and driving business readiness. Skilled in release planning, stakeholder management, UAT governance, defect management, Agile delivery, and cross-functional collaboration. Recognised for building strong stakeholder relationships, proactively managing risks, and delivering continuous improvements that enhance release quality, predictability, customer adoption, and business outcomes.

Senior Implementation Readiness Manager at ESG Global (2026-04 – Present)

• Led release coordination, business readiness, and stakeholder communications to ensure successful product releases.
• Managed release plans, milestones, dependencies, risks, and issues, ensuring delivery remained on track.
• Oversaw UAT activities, including planning, execution, defect management, testing progress, and sign-off readiness.
• Collaborated with Product, Development, Testing, and Operations teams to ensure successful testing and release outcomes.
• Drove continuous improvement by developing release management standards, best practices, governance, reporting, and supporting stakeholder decision-making.

Product Owner at ESG Global (2018-01 – 2026-04)

• Managed and prioritised the product backlog through refinement sessions and sprint planning, ensuring delivery aligned with business priorities.
• Coordinated work across cross-functional teams, collaborating with developers, testers, and stakeholders to estimate effort, resolve issues, and deliver solutions on time.
• Gathered and translated business requirements through workshops and stakeholder engagement, defining solutions and monitoring progress against strategic objectives.
• Facilitated user walkthroughs, training, product demonstrations, and client-facing presentations to support adoption and maximise product value.
• Applied Agile methodologies (Scrum and Kanban), to deliver complex projects, align stakeholders, and support strategic business objectives.

Business Analyst Team Manager at ESG Global (2023-01 – 2023-03)

• Provided temporary management cover for a team of 18 Business Analysts and Product Owners, ensuring continuity of service, delivery, and performance.
• Led, coached, and developed team members through one-to-one meetings, performance reviews, and development planning to achieve departmental objectives and performance targets.
• Managed day-to-day operations, workload allocation, resource planning, and prioritisation to deliver projects and business priorities effectively.
• Collaborated with senior stakeholders to manage capacity and resources, communicate organisational strategy, remove delivery blockers, and drive continuous improvement.

Lead Business Analyst at Energy Assets (2017-01 – 2018-01)

• Developed functional specifications and requirements for mobile applications, producing and maintaining functional and non-functional documentation to support product delivery.
• Created As-Is and To-Be process maps, working closely with clients and stakeholders to gather requirements, validate solutions, and support the full project lifecycle from analysis through to implementation.
• Facilitated user walkthroughs, delivered training, conducted product demonstrations, and produced client-facing presentations to drive successful user adoption.
• Collaborated with developers and test analysts to resolve defects and system issues, while providing nationwide client support through training, demonstrations, testing, and implementation activities.

Contract Business Analyst/Trainer at London Borough of Barnet (2016-02 – 2016-09)

• Gathered, analysed, and documented business requirements, developing As-Is and To-Be process maps using Microsoft Visio and facilitating stakeholder workshops to validate solutions.
• Developed system test plans and data scripts for UAT and Beta testing, working with business and technical teams to ensure solutions met requirements and quality standards.
• Produced and delivered training materials, user guides, presentations, classroom training, one-to-one coaching, and onsite support, driving successful user adoption, stakeholder engagement, and project delivery.

BA (Hons) in Leisure Management – Manchester Metropolitan University