"CTO in Focus" Julian Wheeler, SIS
- Kevin Jones
- Jul 28
- 6 min read
Updated: Aug 11
In this CTO in Focus interview, Julian Wheeler, Chief Technology Officer at SIS, reflects on the complexities of leading technical change inside a business shifting from long-established products to real-time global operations. Drawing on a career that spans telecoms, broadcasting, and betting, Wheeler unpacks how architectural decisions get made under pressure, why design for failure is often more valuable than elegant engineering, and how to build teams that can adapt without waiting for instructions. For technology and product leaders, the conversation offers a grounded look at how transformation plays out behind the scenes, where trade-offs, uncertainty, and execution matter more than slogans.
Gaming Eminence: You have led technology organisations through different eras of complexity and transformation. How has your personal philosophy of technical leadership evolved and what principles anchor it today, when navigating both the known and the unknown?
Julian Wheeler: "I have led a number of transformations with different businesses. One question I always come back to is, what problem are we trying to solve? There are often common themes though, such as how can a new product be built and launched and is the company historically good at this?
At SIS, we have shifted from supplying stable, long-standing products to launching new ones on a global scale. This is not just a tech change; it is a holistic business initiative demanding new capabilities across technology, operations, marketing, and sales. It is vital to realistically assess available resources, as businesses often have more ideas than they can execute. Therefore, we make value-based choices about which products and projects to pursue.
We have implemented new governance and processes, delegating decision-making to cross-functional teams. We provide frameworks, enabling them to build the ‘muscle memory’ for making consistently good decisions. This fosters leadership in decision-making and helps teams develop their capabilities.
SIS has evolved from a UK-centric retail business to a 24/7 international, multi-content operation. Our revenue-sharing model means product downtime impacts everyone's income. Thus, building reliable products with minimal downtime is fundamental. I have learned that successful methods from one organisation cannot simply be copied; they must be tailored to the specific environment to solve problems effectively.
When designing a transformation, you must balance listening to feedback with identifying resistance to change. This requires judgement, and sometimes you need to stay true to the original vision. It is also crucial to identify ‘knowns’ and ‘unknowns’ early, tackling unknowns promptly to prevent later issues.
After the initial significant change, the focus shifts to incremental change. I believe in the self-learning organisation, where the change leader's role evolves from leading directly to designing mechanisms that empower teams to own continuous change."
Gaming Eminence: When shaping architecture and systems at SIS, how do you weigh elegant engineering against the gritty realities of operational resilience and where do you deliberately bend convention to serve the business in ways others might not?
JW: "The only thing I can guarantee about technology is that it is going to break. It is about how the software reacts at that moment in time. Within certain customer journeys there will be peaks of performance. If it is a banking transaction or financial transaction, all of the right steps have to occur in the right sequence. It simply has to work. There are other parts of customer journeys where if something does not scale in the right way, there are circuit-breakers that act as protection. This is an example where you can design for failure to make it a good customer experience.
I also believe in the wisdom of crowds. Again, coming back to certainties, an individual will inevitably get some things wrong. I make sure that through collaboration, more people are involved in architecture from an early stage, including operations, security, development, testing and design. An architect does not live with an architect's decisions – but everyone else does. Without slowing down, you must have a lot of regular points where you can actually review and discuss the architectures, and at SIS, we make sure to do this on a weekly basis.
It is a lot cheaper to fix a problem at an early stage than it is to rewrite thousands of lines of code. Getting more people involved is key to that. I am not sure if it counts as breaking convention, but I always push to make sure that everything does not rest on the shoulders of just one person."
Gaming Eminence: Can you share a decision or pivotal moment where your instinct as CTO diverged from the expected path, whether in technology direction, organisational design, or product strategy? What shaped your choice, and what did you learn from the outcome?
JW: "I once led the implementation of a massive, industry-leading tech solution. While there was a strong, seemingly obvious choice for the solution — one preferred by executives and previously used successfully — I had reservations due to the sheer scale of data processing required – when doing something that is a first, groundbreaking or pushing the limits of technology, you know you will encounter risks and issues not tackled before. You have to look for them and tackle them early.
To mitigate risk, I added extra steps to the technical evaluation process, which extended the project's critical path by three months. The chief executive, initially concerned about this delay, questioned my decision. I argued that these three months upfront were crucial to avoid a potentially much longer and more costly failed project. I highlighted how often organisations continue to invest in failing projects and technologies rather than cutting their losses early.
Ultimately, this foresight paid off. The initially favoured technology proved unable to scale. Our thorough evaluation led us to choose an alternative that successfully met our needs. Despite immense pressure to rush, standing my ground for those three months on a two-year project was the right decision, and it ultimately saved us from a costly mistake."
Gaming Eminence: The balance between fostering innovation and maintaining rigour in governance is rarely clean. How do you personally approach this tension, especially in domains where compliance, risk, and data integrity are as critical as speed?
JW: "We believe in ‘shifting left’ and involving diverse teams from the outset. This means bringing in security, operations, compliance, product development, and even sales teams during the early planning stages, not just bolting them on at the end. As we prepare to launch new products at SIS, their early involvement is crucial.
If you consider regulatory clearance for new products, we create detailed handbooks outlining product specifications and operations. These crucial documents, along with other deliverables, must be updated concurrently. Leaving this until the last minute, or as an afterthought, inevitably delays product launches by months due to regulatory processes. While it can feel like more work upfront, involving more people early and frequently prevents significant delays later."
Gaming Eminence: Looking ahead, what technological shifts or undercurrents in your industry most intrigue you right now — not just as trends, but as puzzles that challenge your thinking as an architect and leader?
JW: "It is perhaps an obvious answer, but you cannot ignore AI and the impact it will have on the wider industry. At SIS, we are constantly pushing the boundaries of automation. For example, we already use computer vision AI to automatically track events in-video. We also rely heavily on remote, software-driven automation to minimise human involvement in building and operating a large number of 24/7 streaming channels.
While there are many useful applications of AI, from agentic AI to large-scale B2C uses, we understand that not all of them apply to our business. Our focus is on cutting through the noise and identifying precisely where the right technology can make a significant difference to our products. This involves working closely with our customers to understand consumers, so we can design great products with a strong on-screen presence.
An engaging on-screen product encourages dwell time, which is a win for both us and our partners. The days of simply ‘building it and throwing it out there’ are over. In today's world, consumers have countless options competing for their time. Our products must be exceptional and offer a superior customer experience. We leverage technology to achieve this, guided by our team's understanding of data. We combine our data with customer-shared data to inform a superior customer experience. The field of AI is evolving rapidly, and our constant desire is to deliver an excellent customer experience, prioritising improvement and enhancement over mere efficiency."
Gaming Eminence: In the quieter moments of your work — whether in reading, building, or reflection — what sparks your curiosity or helps reset your perspective as a technology leader?
JW: "Conversations are a reset button, sparking curiosity and often revealing something new. Beyond developing great products, a core part of our transformations at SIS is making it a great place to work. Our field, which blends gaming, data, broadcasting and media, is inherently creative. The technology we use and the products we build thrive in such an environment. We believe that being a great place to work is essential for building great products.
Achieving this is not always easy. We operate in multiple locations with a hybrid working model, which has both benefits and challenges. While remote work offers flexibility, we actively foster in-person collaboration because working together leads to better problem-solving and product development. However, we also recognise the need for individuals to have focused time for deep work. Our goal is to create an overall environment where people genuinely enjoy their work and thrive.
Personally, I also find inspiration in reading. I am currently reading Adrian Newey's autobiography, ‘How to Build a Car’. I love drawing inspiration from individuals who have achieved great things in different industries and consider how their approaches can be applied to my daily work."
