Meet Dennis, our Lead Developer

You’ve been with ai for over a decade; can you take us back to the beginning? What first drew you to this field, and what convinced you that ai was the right place to build your career? 

I actually remember the moment quite vividly. My official start date at ai was a Monday, but the real story began three days earlier. 
The Friday morning before, I told my recruitment agency that I’d accepted an offer elsewhere and thanked her for her effort with The ai Corporation opportunity. I genuinely thought that chapter was closed. Then, around 3pm, the agency called again: ai’s CTO wanted to meet me that day - even if it meant after working hours. 
I met Tom at 5pm. That conversation changed everything. He didn’t just offer me a better role; he made it clear that I was someone they genuinely wanted on their team. That feeling - being needed, being recognised - was the spark. It drew me to ai and convinced me this was the right place to build my career. 
In the first week that I joined ai, I was sent to Exeter to do a handover of the newly acquired aiRiskNet^® fraud management product. This level of trust and responsibility that was bestowed on me right from the beginning made me feel that I was an important part of the team. 
Before ai, I had been a Senior .Net developer for 10 years within the telecommunications industry. The move to a full-stack developer at ai meant more responsibility, and I was up for the challenge. 
 

How has your career evolved over the years, and what have been the biggest turning points in your journey? 

A major turning point in my career came on 4 July 2016, the day I rejoined the company. Coming back the second time, I had absolute clarity about the direction I wanted to take. Instead of splitting my time between management tasks and technical oversight, I made a deliberate choice to focus deeply on the technical side of the product. 
 
That decision shaped everything that followed. It allowed me to specialise, build real expertise, and become the person the team relied on for technical leadership. Over the years, that focus naturally evolved into broader responsibility, and eventually into my promotion to Lead Developer. It wasn’t just a change in title — it was the result of a long, intentional shift toward technical excellence and ownership. This helped me to focus on the core technical aspects of aiRiskNet^®, our fraud detection product. 

What does a typical day look like for you now, and how different is it from when you first joined? 

A typical day now looks very different from what it was when I first joined 10 years ago. We have moved from a more ad hoc way of working to a much more structured approach, with clear processes and development rhythms in place to manage urgent customer releases effectively. This has allowed the team to focus more consistently on building high-quality features, working efficiently and delivering value for our customers. While the pace remains fast, there is now a much stronger sense of focus, structure and collaboration in how we work. Today, the team operates with a much more mature agile methodology.  

My day includes regular stand‑ups, sprint planning, refinement sessions, and clear rules around prioritisation and delivery. There’s a stronger rhythm to how we collaborate, review work, and make decisions. It’s more disciplined, more predictable, and ultimately more effective. 

The biggest shift is that my role now involves guiding the team through these frameworks, ensuring we stay aligned, unblocking issues quickly, and maintaining momentum. It’s a very different pace and set of responsibilities compared to when I first joined, but it reflects how both the team and my own role have evolved. 

Tell us about your team. What makes it special, and how do you work together to drive innovation? 

I’d say what makes our team special isn’t just the people — it’s the environment the company has created around us. We’re encouraged to experiment, to try out different ideas, and to stay curious. Innovation isn’t something we squeeze in around deadlines; we’re actually given dedicated time and space to explore new technologies, test concepts, and challenge how things are currently done. 

That freedom to think, prototype, and iterate together is what keeps us breaking the boundaries of innovation. It creates a culture where everyone feels comfortable contributing ideas, and where innovation becomes a shared responsibility rather than a top‑down directive. 

How have you kept up with changes in the industry? Have you done any training at ai? 

Yes — there are plenty of opportunities for training at ai, and I make full use of them. We have access to platforms like Pluralsight, which is great for deep technical learning, and I regularly attend Microsoft online events to stay up to date on new technologies, best practices, and industry trends. Having that continuous learning culture built into the company makes it much easier to keep pace with how fast the industry evolves. 

Looking back over the past 10+ years, what achievement or moment stands out as your proudest, and why? 

One of the moments I’m most proud of is the release of aiRiskNet^® V8 in 2022. On the surface, converting a classic WinForm application into a modern web application might not sound like the most difficult challenge, but in reality, aiRiskNet^® is a comprehensive, powerful fraud detection platform that screens millions of transactions per day. Due to aiRiskNet^®'s complexity, moving clients to a new version of the software was a significant undertaking.  

To migrate it successfully, I had to deeply understand the existing logic — every rule, every edge case, every workflow that had evolved over the years. Then came the hard part: rewriting that logic in a modern, scalable way while ensuring that all existing functionality remained intact. It wasn’t just a technical upgrade; it was a careful balance of innovation and preservation. 

Seeing aiRiskNet^® V8 released, stable, and trusted by users was incredibly rewarding. It represented not just a successful migration, but a major step forward for the product and a milestone in my own career. 

What do you love most about your role today?

What I enjoy most today is the sense of ownership and influence I have over the product. I’m able to dive deep into technical challenges, guide the team, and help shape decisions that move the product forward. It’s rewarding to see how far we’ve come and to know that the work I do each day directly contributes to that progress. 

If you had to describe ai in three words, what would they be, and why? 

In an industry that moves quickly, what has kept you at ai for more than a decade? 

What has kept me at ai for more than a decade is the genuine feeling of being looked after. Throughout my time here, the management team has consistently listened to my needs — not just the professional ones, but sometimes even the personal ones. That level of trust and support is rare, and it’s something I’ve never taken for granted. I’d like to take this opportunity to express my appreciation again; it’s a big part of why ai has remained the right place for me all these years. 

How would you describe the culture at ai to someone considering joining the team? 

The company supports personal and professional growth, the team works closely together, and everyone is encouraged to bring ideas forward and make an impact. 

What advice would you give to someone starting their career in this field? 

My advice is simple: feel free to pursue your dreams. This industry rewards curiosity and ambition, and at ai you’ll be supported as you grow. Whether you want to deepen your technical skills, explore new technologies, or shape innovative ideas, this is a place where you can stretch yourself and be backed along the way. 

Where do you see the industry heading in the next 5 years? 

Over the next five years, I see the payments industry shifting even further away from traditional credit and debit cards. New methods like Pay by Bank, digital wallets, and BNPL will continue to grow, especially as consumers look for faster, more seamless, and more secure ways to pay. 

But no matter how the payment landscape evolves, fraud detection will remain a critical area with strong demand. Every new payment method introduces new risks, new behaviours, and new attack patterns. Our job is to adapt — to evolve our products so they can meet these new requirements, protect customers, and stay ahead of emerging threats. 

The technology will change, but the need for intelligent, reliable fraud prevention will only increase. 

What’s something people might be surprised to learn about you? 

I have glaucoma, and my eyesight can worsen quite a bit in dim environments. There are moments when I genuinely can’t see someone’s face clearly, especially in low light. So if I ever seem to overlook someone in the office, it’s never intentional or impolite — it’s simply that I may not have seen you properly.