Kmart Australia appoints new head of cloud

Kmart Australia has appointed Sam Hallawall as its head of cloud, responsible for driving the cloud infrastructure strategy across the Kmart and Target retail brands.

Source: LinkedIn

The scope of the role includes establishing a cloud architecture team, developing cloud operations and security, implementing best practices governance and executing large-scale migration and adoption of Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Hallawell is the founder of a consulting company called CloudsCombine which specialises in AWS cloud services.

Prior to consulting he was the CTO of Intelematics and an AWS practice lead at Bulletproof Group.  

Hallawall announced the move on LinkedIn, adding that the retailer is currently recruiting for multiple technology roles including architects, tech leads, senior DevOps engineers and automation testers. 

A Kmart spokesperson told iTnews its cloud team will be creating new roles and expanding significantly. 

“We know that we need a diverse range of skills and we see this spanning multiple disciplines including architecture, engineering, operations, security and supporting non-technical roles,” a Kmart spokesperson said. 

Kmart plans to accelerate a large-scale cloud migration for Kmart and Target applications, which are currently hosted in multiple data centres.

“Kmart’s cloud strategy is multi-faceted and growth in this space will enable our businesses to accelerate product development and reduce operating costs," the spokesperson said.

“We are establishing a new platform, the key foundations of our AWS environment, which will provide the guardrails around security, operations and financial management."

Earlier this year Kmart announced it has trained and certified its entire IT team in cloud skills after establishing an academy program to train 1400 employees in cloud skills.

“We will continue to develop and invest in people and knowledge, to increase awareness and to help accelerate adoption of AWS cloud,” the spokesperson said.