Damian Szulakowski

Senior IT Project & Program Manager

15+ years delivering enterprise-scale IT projects across finance, defense, and digital transformation

Professional Summary

Senior IT Project & Program Manager with 15+ years of international experience in banking, defense, and digital transformation. Expert in hybrid methodologies (PRINCE2/PMP + SAFe/Scrum), managing teams of 60+ and budgets up to $9M. Track record of zero-downtime enterprise migrations and building Poland's first Combat Management System.

Core Competencies

Complex IT Project Management Digital Transformation Data Center Migration Combat Management Systems (C4) M&A IT Separation Cybersecurity & Compliance (NIS2, GDPR, DORA) Team Leadership (60+) International Delivery (EU, US, Asia) Vendor Management PMO Setup Risk Management Stakeholder Management

Professional Experience

Owner & Principal Consultant

Szulakowski.PL

Jul 2017 – Present
  • Independent IT consulting — project management, digital transformation, security advisory
  • Clients across finance, defense, energy management, technology sectors
  • Global delivery: Poland, EU, USA, Asia (Singapore, Shanghai)
  • Program management at Solwena: Energy Management Center (IT&OT), BEMS/EEMS implementation for major Polish retail chain
  • Active mentor on ADPList.org; organized first Gdańsk meetup (Mar 2024)
  • Speaker: InfoShare 2023, Admin Days 2024

Head of Software Engineering Department

OBR CTM S.A.

Mar 2021 – Apr 2024
  • Led 60+ engineers and consultants building SCOT (Ship COmbat Tactical) — Poland's first Combat Management System
  • Managed annual portfolio budget ~30M PLN across multiple defense programs
  • SCOT: Bursztynowy Medalion (Balt Military Expo 2018), Presidential Award for soldier safety
  • Security clearance holder; represented department at conferences and business meetings
  • Responsible for vulnerability management and internal security processes

Senior IT Infrastructure Project Manager

Nordea

Aug 2019 – Mar 2021
  • Complex infrastructure projects across T24 Core Banking Platform ecosystem
  • Cross-border team coordination: Poland, Nordics, Singapore
  • Supported Nordea Liv & Pension (Velliv) operational separation

IT Infrastructure Project Manager

Nordea

Dec 2017 – Jul 2019
  • Data center migrations with legacy system virtualization
  • Zero unplanned downtime across all migrations
  • Agile delivery in multinational Nordic environment

Consultant

Diverse Consulting Group

Jul 2017 – Jul 2019
  • IT consulting and project management advisory

IT Project Manager

Alior Bank S.A.

Nov 2016 – Sep 2017
  • IT infrastructure project management for one of Poland's fastest-growing banks

IT Project Manager

Bank BPH / GE Capital

Oct 2011 – Nov 2016
  • BPH Office Park Migration: 3,500+ employees, full IT infrastructure, zero downtime
  • Insurance & pension business separation (pan-European M&A regulations)
  • Board-level reporting and regulatory governance

Lead Analyst, IT Infrastructure

Bank BPH

Dec 2009 – Sep 2011
  • Infrastructure optimization and analysis

Analyst, IT Infrastructure

GE Capital

Dec 2008 – Nov 2009

IT Service Desk Assistant

GE Money Bank

Sep 2007 – Nov 2008
  • Career start in IT; rapid progression from helpdesk to infrastructure analysis

Certifications

PRINCE2 Practitioner
PMP Project Management Professional
SAFe 5 DevOps Practitioner
Scrum Master
AgilePM
Kanban
TOGAF Enterprise Architecture
ITIL

Education

Wyższa Szkoła Bankowa w Gdańsku

B.Sc. (Mar 2026)

Wyższa Szkoła Zarządzania w Gdańsku

Centrum Kształcenia Kadr PROFESJA

Technik Informatyk

Zespół Szkół Morskich w Gdańsku

Eksploatator Portu

Technical Skills

Infrastructure

Windows Server, Linux, macOS, Active Directory, Entra, AWS, Cloudflare

Security

EDR/XDR/NDR, DLP, PKI, SIEM/XSIEM, ISO 27001, NIS2, GDPR, DORA

Tools

Jira, Confluence, MS Project, Azure DevOps, Zoho, Docker, PowerShell, Bash, Python

Methodologies

PRINCE2, PMP, SAFe 5, Scrum, Kanban, AgilePM, DevOps, TOGAF, ITIL

Languages

Polish Native
English Professional working proficiency