I had the pleasure of working with Simon Bradford for over three years, during which he built our EMEA solution engineering team for ITSM and Enterprise Agility. Simon's leadership was instrumental in securing some of our most strategic ITSM and Ent Agiliity client wins. He is incredibly hard-working and demonstrates a strong commitment to driving outcomes. Simon is knowledgeable, structured, and meticulous, with deep expertise in ITIL, ITSM, and ESM. His team-centric approach fosters collaboration, and he is always open to creative ideas and diverse views. Simon's client-centric focus ensures that customer needs are always prioritized, making him an invaluable asset to any organization.
“Simon is one of the best (Top 3) managers I've worked with and he has a positive impact on my role in several
ways:
• Feedback and Guidance: Simon has provided continuous constructive feedback to me and has had an active role in
guiding and mentoring (challenging me to pick up the Domain Lead role)
• Collaboration on initiatives: We have worked on various initiatives, like for example Making Bank and the Solution
Selling Framework which is now adapted globally by our sales teams. Simon collaborated on these articles by giving feedback and coaching on how we could make these initiatives and make these fly.
• Team profiles: Simon has helped the team understand each other better and become more effective at communicating by facilitating the team personality workshop”
“I have had the pleasure of working with Simon Bradford at Atlassian, where he serves as the Solutions Engineering
Manager for ITSM. Simon is an exceptional leader and a highly skilled professional in the IT Service Management
domain. His ability to navigate complex challenges and deliver innovative solutions is truly impressive.”
Simon has been the rock that has kept the EMEA ITSM Specialist Team stable and productive throughout the wider organisational changes and unexpected leadership changes. I have found him to be a pragmatic and empathetic individual and manager. He has to walk the fine line between doing what’s right for the team and the customer and what is right for Atlassian (and the two can be at odds!) One recent example was his support of the CSI KR that he inherited when Lei left. He quickly recognised the work that I had completed, and helped secure the relevant feedback and guidance from other interested stakeholders before closing off the KR as successfully completed. In doing so, he was able to motivate, acknowledge, and reward individual contribution while ensuring that wider organisational goals and commitments are met.
“It was a pleasure to work with Simon at Atlassian. Simon led the Solution Engineer team in EMEA,while I managed the solutions specialist sales team in EMEA
East/DACH. Simon is a highly professional individual with extensive experience in enterprise and IT service management.
He always focuses on contributing to sales outcomes and approaches challenges with an open mind, creating innovative solutions to drive business growth.
Simon actively supports his team in sales situations and serves as a strong backbone for them. He is a strategic thinker who develops comprehensive strategies to enhance the Solution Engineer team's effectiveness and aligns these strategies with sales and company goals.
Beyond his professional expertise, Simon is a wonderful and humble person who brings a lot of joy to the workplace. I look forward to crossing paths with him again.”
I have known Simon for a number of years in a professional capacity as both a councillor and Chairman of Coldharbour Parish Council.
During his tenure as local councillor, Simon was instrumental in strengthening the council’s relationship with the local Thames Valley Police neighbourhood team. Before Simon stepped into this role, our relationship with TVP had stagnated and Simon managed to reinvigorate and refresh this working partnership. With regular meetings, Simon forged a strong bond that strengthened the community policing presence in our area.
Simon’s organisational skills and previous policing knowledge were to the fore in the planning and execution of local events, which are host to upwards of 500 people. In all of his dealings with individuals, be them public or professional, Simon displays upmost courtesy and respect whilst at the same time being firm in his ideas and proposals.
Being an experienced public speaker, Simon is a great ambassador for both himself and any organisation he represents. His warm, engaging manner make people like him and his persuasive style of speech can force through a point without it seemingly happened.
I was personally sorry to lose Simon as a member of our parish council and of our community. To any community he goes to, he will serve diligently and professionally. His perseverance in attempting to set-up a Thame Parkrun is testament to his commitment to his new hometown.
I whole-heartedly recommend Simon Bradford for the role and am more than happy to speak to you about him at any point.
Kind regards Adam Poland-Goodyer Buckinghamshire Council Councillor for Aylesbury West Adam.poland-goodyer@buckinghamshire.gov.uk 07917042857
Simon has been good at bridging the gaps between the AEs and SE teams as this is a group that he has grown.
He is an active listener and quick to act when needed.
He is pragmatic in his approach and has shown far more flexibility to work with some of the things that come up that aren’t quite so clear cut.
Simon qualifies well the reasons for doing things and the likely benefit and brings good intelligence from the data available to him.
Simon is great at documenting and capturing appropriate, relevant points and following through on the actions. He advocates well for sales solutions such as Gong so that the wider groups can benefit from the recordings.
Simon and I have know each other very well now so can have open conversations to get things resolved quickly when needed.
I really appreciate Simon’s effort in aligning with his stakeholders and making sure we are on the same page.
I have seen this being demonstrated in asking for clarity & context on work requests coming to his team, sharing feedback on people in my team as well as in business planning across our two teams.
I believe his collaborative behaviour and making sure him and his team sit close to the AEs have contributed to better business results.
Simon’s strength lies in documenting his strategy and business planning but I’ve noticed it doesn’t always get the traction it needs. I’d like to see him practice his stakeholder management to make sure he has buy in from his leadership (and other stakeholders) before he puts a plan together, so that he can successfully implement some of the good business initiatives he comes up with.