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Professional experience

Three cycles.

Founder-led and contracted executive mandates ran in parallel: a portfolio.

  1. Beginning · 09/2013 – 02/2018

    The beginning.

    The first leadership seat: heading IT at Cosmic Gold Trading, before the international contracting vehicle existed.

    IT Department Head at a South African trading and procurement group: SAP ERP / Ariba, procurement automation and real-time analytics.

    • Trading
    • Procurement

    09/2013 – 02/2018

    IT Department Head

    Cosmic Gold Trading 179 CC

    South African trading and procurement group.

    South Africa

    Read the story

    • Headed IT and directed the SAP ERP / Ariba migration, procurement automation and real-time analytics.
    • Reduced procurement errors by ~40%, improved compliance outcomes by ~25%, reduced downtime by ~20% and cut storage costs by ~20% through AWS/Azure work.

  2. Building · 03/2018 – 03/2025

    What he built next.

    Ciberbuy held overlapping international mandates. The houses below ran in that stretch: founder work and contracted seats in parallel.

    Overlapping international seats held through Ciberbuy: product, cloud, cybersecurity, payments, SaaS and digital transformation.

    • Hospitality
    • Digital health
    • Airport retail
    • Enterprise software

    03/2018 – 03/2025

    Founder & Chief Executive Officer

    Ciberbuy (Pty) Ltd

    International contracting vehicle for concurrent executive and delivery mandates across product, cloud, cybersecurity, payments and SaaS.

    International

    Read the story

    • Founded Ciberbuy to hold overlapping international mandates spanning product, cloud, cybersecurity, payments, SaaS and digital transformation.
    • Led cross-border work from discovery and solution design through implementation, stakeholder communication, adoption and operational handover.

    08/2021 – 11/2024

    Chief Technology Officer

    Concierge Atlas

    Hospitality digital services company in the London area.

    London, United Kingdom

    Held while Ciberbuy remained the contracting vehicle.

    Read the story

    • Directed IT and operations and oversaw a digital map and services portal in Next.js and PostgreSQL/MySQL, reducing property setup time.
    • Directed white-label serverless architecture, PWA offline access, Kubernetes migration to AWS, CI/CD and hotel PMS integrations.

    04/2020 – 07/2024

    Vice President Technology

    Vitacheck Health / Certyfly

    Digital health and PCR-testing platform serving luxury hospitality.

    Geneva / London / International

    Read the story

    • Directed a scalable AWS booking platform and full-stack digital health products, integrating PCR testing with hotel systems through secure APIs.
    • Strengthened HIPAA/GDPR security and supported partnerships with 25+ luxury London hotels.

    03/2018 – 02/2021

    IT Retail Operations Director

    Concourse Display Management Ltd

    Global airport retail operator.

    London / Global

    Read the story

    • Directed global IT transformation across 14 locations and reduced mean time to resolution by ~20% through hybrid cloud and zero-trust security.
    • Reduced phishing risk by ~30% through DMARC, DKIM and SPF, directed PCI-DSS-aligned airport payments, and oversaw RFID, IoT and ERP across airport retail.

    Selected additional engagements

    • Food Lover's Market Holdings

      Advised on the Freshservice migration across 400+ stores, oversaw AI-assisted automation, owned training for 80+ staff and completed delivery in approximately two months.

    • Charis Global Alliance

      Advised on payment gateway, e-commerce, Shopify, Square POS, Stripe, localization and real-time commerce delivery.

    • GYMSOX

      Advised on payment gateway, e-commerce, Shopify, Square POS, Stripe, localization and real-time commerce delivery.

    • OWN Media Group / CANVVS

      Advised on payment gateway, e-commerce, Shopify, Square POS, Stripe, localization and real-time commerce delivery.

    • SWIFT Holding LDN Ltd

      Headed technology and directed the investor portal and admin tools for the London office of a European asset-management house, with authorised access and no direct client-side database writes.

    • Salibo Security Solution Ltd

      Headed mobile from 11/2023: directed a six-person development team and oversaw React Native, Expo, TypeScript and Firebase delivery across iOS and Android.

  3. Now · 01/2025 – Present

    What Armand is doing now.

    Armand is founder, managing director and product lead in this cycle, including mandates that run alongside each other.

    Founder and CEO, Managing Director, and Head of Product & Development running in parallel.

    • Defense technology
    • Public safety
    • Family office
    • Fintech
    • Payments

    01/2026 – Present

    Founder & Chief Executive Officer

    SAFEZA AVA-X

    Sovereign and on-premises AI video intelligence for defense, public safety and critical infrastructure.

    Cape Town / International

    Read the story

    • Own commercial strategy, product commercialization, fundraising narrative, brand, partnerships, operations and international expansion.
    • Owned the adoption case for Swiss on-premises AI video intelligence across defense, public safety, critical infrastructure, road safety, retail and hospitality.
    • Won SelectUSA Defense 2026 by creating and delivering the sovereign-AI pitch; supported U.S. entity presence and coverage across 22+ outlets.

    04/2025 – 04/2026

    Managing Director (Geschäftsführer)

    SWIFT17

    Family-office and real-estate group based in Frankfurt.

    Frankfurt, Germany

    Ran in parallel with founder and product mandates.

    Read the story

    • Directed IT operations, internal and commercial platform development, security posture and cross-functional technology delivery for the group.

    01/2025 – 07/2026

    Head of Product & Development

    Big White Crypto

    Fintech payments company building white-label crypto acceptance.

    Payments / Fintech

    Concurrent product mandate alongside executive roles.

    Read the story

    • Headed product and development and directed a 40-developer delivery of a multi-location crypto payments platform spanning Clover POS, Android, centralized controls, fiat settlement and enterprise compliance monitoring.