Bristol-based invoice finance provider Optimum Finance has appointed former Microsoft global director Gordon McIntosh as chief technical officer, furthering its specialism in the fast-growing fintech sector.
Scottish/American national Gordon, pictured, has extensive experience having spent 10 years working at Microsoft headquarters in Seattle in a variety of senior roles. 
He was most recently the tech giant’s global director of service engineering for its volume licensing and OEM businesses, where he established IT services for global brands and world governments.
He left Microsoft in 2015 to return to Scotland, where he set up a cycling business.
Optimum said his expertise in delivering IT projects at scale would be key to it achieving its goal of expanding invoice finance facilities to even more businesses.
Optimum, which was launched in 2017, provides a range of payment services to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across a range of sectors.
It has also been at the forefront of using the latest technology to assist firms in optimising operational efficiencies and effectiveness in areas such as working capital, growth and costs. 
The firm regards harnessing market-leading technology as a core pillar of its business along with a highly qualified and experienced senior leadership team.
Gordon said: “I can’t think of a more exciting time to be joining Optimum – the energy and passion of the team is fantastic.
“There is a huge opportunity to offer significant added value to SMEs through Optimum’s product suite. These highly performing products can be improved even further through technology, so I cannot wait to get stuck in.
“Obviously, there’s a huge difference in scale compared to Microsoft but the realities of successfully delivering on an IT programme don’t change. Getting a group of people pulling in the same direction towards a shared definition of success, that’s the same at any scale. There will be differences in terms of approach and priorities but there are also many commonalities too.”
Optimum CEO Ant Persse added: “Invoice finance is a fantastic product, and our brilliant team do a great job at delivering it.
“Technical enhancements across the entire market are still in their infancy and we aim to change this. Our vision is to reinvent invoice finance with focus on speed, simplicity and convenience.
“This is where Gordon and his team will come in. Gordon brings a huge amount of knowledge and experience from his roles with Microsoft but it’s his energy and passion to make a difference that will help catapult us to the next level.”
