Jake Woodger
Understanding businesses to build technology foundations from the ground up inside high-growth, PE-backed companies - translating complex technical landscapes into clear, board-level strategy.
A commercially driven IT leader with a consistent record of building technology functions from the ground up inside high-growth, PE-backed businesses. Experienced in translating complex technical landscapes into clear board-level strategy, leading cross-functional teams, and delivering large-scale digital transformation programmes across multi-site, multi-entity environments.
Currently Head of IT at Sortera UK - appointed following a £35m PE acquisition. Scaling the IT functions through four acquisitions, tripling revenue to £82m and growing the operational estate to 12 sites and 480 FTEs. Equally comfortable presenting roadmaps to the board, negotiating enterprise vendor contracts, or being a reliable 3rd line point of contact.
Numbers behind the work.
Measured outcomes from the current Sortera mandate and the prior Group IT Manager role at GBN - not aggregates of distant projects.
From £35m to £82m across three acquisitions.
Group revenue scaled through M&A integration during the Sortera UK mandate. Each acquisition layered new operations, sites, and users onto the IT estate.
- 01Jun 2022O'Donovan Waste LtdFirst acquisition+£22m · Group £22mAcquired by Sortera AB ahead of UK group formation. Later integrated into Sortera UK.
- 02Jun 2023GBN Services LtdSortera UK formed · ODW integrated+£35m · Group £57m£35m acquisition forms the UK entity. O'Donovan folded into Sortera UK alongside.
- 03Jun 2024Reston Waste LtdGroup revenue → £82m+£25m · Group £82mThird acquisition layered onto the integrated UK group.
Earlier acquisition during the GBN era (Orion Waste) preceded the Sortera journey and is excluded from this view.
Thirteen years building IT functions for businesses that needed to scale.
Appointed as Head of IT for Sortera UK Ltd, the newly established UK arm of Sortera AB - a Nordic Capital-backed sustainability and recycling business specialising in Construction & Demolition waste. Joined at the point of the group's first UK acquisition (£35m revenue) and have since led IT through two further acquisitions, scaling the function to support a business that has grown to £80m revenue, 480 FTEs, 12 operational sites, 4 workshops, a central Head Office, and a fleet 250 vehicles & 500 devices across London and Essex.
- Built and lead a lean but effecient IT function of 2 direct reports (Support Engineer and Software Developer), operating at a strategic level whilst retaining hands-on involvement in P1 incidents and complex 3rd line issues.
- Established a structured 8-week 1-2-1 cadence with direct reports, setting value-add KPIs aligned to IT strategy and business targets - ensuring consistent delivery against a rapidly evolving roadmap.
- Appointed Data Protection Officer (DPO) for Sortera UK - owning all DPIAs, Data Access Requests, and direct engagement with the ICO.
- Delivered IT strategy, roadmap, and financial updates at two company-wide leadership conferences per year, presenting to all department heads and directors.
- Made bi-annual trips to Sweden and surrounding Scandanavian countries to engage directly with the Sortera AB board and Group leadership - aligning UK IT strategy with the broader Nordic group controls, including engagement with Nordic Capital PE stakeholders.
- Led annual internal control audits on behalf of IT, reporting and remediating findings to the group and board against PE operating standards, targeting NIS2-level compliance.
- Held full IT budget responsibility, scaling to a peak of £1.08m annual spend across all technology disciplines as the business tripled in size.
- Reduced IT OpEx from £880k -> £760k -> £680k (200k total reduction) against an £80m revenue base - achieved through rigorous vendor negotiation across SaaS, telecoms, and licensing agreements, leveraging group purchasing volumes and collaboration with the Swedish sister company.
- Reduced IT CapEx by 38% through strategic vendor consolidation (three preferred suppliers), full hardware standardisation, and implementation of a formal device lifecycle programme to optimise depreciation and capital planning.
- Presented bi-annual IT budget forecasts (Forecast 1 and Forecast 2) directly to the board in collaboration with the Finance Director - owning both the numbers and the narrative.
- Conducted structured IT expenditure reviews with all department heads and directors, eliminating redundant tooling and aligning spend to business value.
- Designed and executed a full technology modernisation programme to rebuild IT foundations for rapid, acquisition-driven scale - transitioning the business to a fully serverless, SaaS-first architecture with zero on-premises infrastructure.
- Replaced all networking infrastructure across every site with a centralised, cloud-hosted Unifi Enterprise platform - providing the IT team with a single-pane-of-glass, SSO/permission-based management layer across all remote locations.
- Uplifted Microsoft 365 licensing tiers to strengthen security posture and automation capability, expanding Intune, implementing LAPS and RBAC, and introducing a tenant-wide security baseline.
- Automated the onboarding and leaver process across a near-500-user environment, integrating identity management with the broader ERP and HR suite via SSO and MFA.
- Introduced a 6-monthly IT roadmap presentation to key business stakeholders, communicating milestones, upcoming initiatives, and team progress - increasing board-level visibility of the IT function.
- Led an 18-month ERP consolidation programme across 3 acquired businesses, implementing a unified management layer - enforcing Modrern authentication (MFA/SSO) to group ERP, role-based software delegation, and automated API-driven data flows between all platforms.
- Delivered end-to-end implementation of 6 net-new SaaS platforms. All integrated via API to automate data exchange and reduce administrative overhead.
- Managed or contributed to 32 projects in total across three acquisition integrations, spanning varying complexity and lifecycle stages. From end-to-end project managemnt, to sponsoring projects to ensure guardrails and delivery
- Identified a strategic need for consolidated, validated business data as the SLT's decision-making was hampered by fragmented spreadsheets and siloed dashboards.
- Introduced a 6-monthly IT roadmap presentation to key business stakeholders, communicating milestones, upcoming initiatives, and team progress - increasing board-level visibility of the IT function.
- Engaged every department lead to map their data flows and reporting needs, ensuring output was commercially meaningful and adoption across the SLT was high. Driving forward key business decisions.
- Designed and implemented a full Business Continuity Plan for the UK IT suite, defining activation thresholds, escalation paths, and internal/external ownership across all system, process, and administrative owners.
- Held sole IT leadership responsibility across a £33m revenue group of 4 businesses operating across 8 sites, spanning Logistics, Financial Services, Property, and Construction & Demolition Waste - supporting approximately 200 FTEs and 80 office users. IT modernisation programme and strategic ownership recognised by incoming PE acquirer Sortera following the group's £35m acquisition.
Held sole IT leadership responsibility across a £33m revenue group of 4 businesses operating across 8 sites, spanning Logistics, Financial Services, Property, and Construction & Demolition Waste - supporting approximately 200 FTEs and 80 office users. IT modernisation programme and strategic ownership recognised by incoming PE acquirer Sortera following the group's £35m acquisition.
Leadership & Strategy
Platforms & Technology
Operating at Director-level | SLT appointment.
Please reach me on my email for further engagement.