I'm Robin.
From code to boardroom.
About Me
I do two things most people separate: I build agents with my own hands, and I explain them to boards.
At Backbase I lead Customer Advisory: Solutions Engineering, Solution Architecture, POC and demo teams. 44 people globally, grown from just me. I have shaped 100M+ EUR in enterprise deals with Tier-1 banks including Deutsche Bank, ING, Standard Chartered and ABN AMRO, and the Backbase customer base I built the function for has included HSBC, Citibank, Lloyds Banking Group, Barclays and NatWest. I still sit in the frontline engagements myself.
Right now I lead several AI and agentic initiatives inside Backbase: putting agents into the technical sales motion, rethinking how proofs of concept get built and benchmarked, and working out what governed agent deployment actually looks like for a regulated bank. I am genuinely obsessed with this technology. Not the demo layer, the deployment layer: governance, integration, evaluation, and the moment a risk officer decides to trust it.
The hands-on part is not a claim on a slide. I build my own tooling, run an agent-driven workflow every day, and read the source when the docs are wrong. That is what lets me sit with an architect and a CIO in the same hour and lose neither of them.
From code to boardroom, the path was developer, teacher, presales, SVP. Every step added a lens, and none of them replaced the previous one.
My edge: finding an individual's strength and building the environment where it shows. Teams that thrive win deals, in that order.
Skills
Agentic AI Development
Solution Architecture
AI Agents
Solutions Engineering
Executive Storytelling
AI Governance
AI Strategy
Proof of Concepts
Technical Presenting
Value Selling
Team Leadership
MEDDPICC
Target Account Selling
Strategic Partnership Development
Hobbies
Music Production
Playing Drums
Enjoying My Family
Experiences
Backbase
November 2023 - Present
SVP Customer Advisory (Solutions Engineering & Solution Architecture)
Leading the technical go-to-market engine for Backbase's AI-native banking OS, a platform that powers digital banking for 150+ financial institutions worldwide. Owning Solutions Engineering, Solutions Architecture, Proof of Concept teams, and Demo teams across a 44-person global organisation. Selling the platform and the solutions on it: digital banking across Retail, Wealth, Business and Commercial, through to agentic banking, as platform deals and as solution deals. Leading Backbase's AI and agentic initiatives across the technical GTM organisation: agent-assisted presales, POC benchmarking, and governed deployment patterns for banks. Owning proof-of-concept and demo environment strategy: benchmark design, success criteria, and repeatable proof-to-contract standards across regions. Building the Solutions Engineering playbook used across the global function: discovery frameworks, technical qualification, reference architectures, and enablement. Still in the frontline with our largest customers, staying close to the work and the people doing it. My highest priority is the wellbeing of the individual; when people thrive, teams win and deals follow.
Backbase
January 2021 - October 2023
VP Solutions Engineering
Managed the global Solutions Engineering, Bid Management, and Innovation teams supporting all enterprise sales cycles worldwide. Scaled the function through Backbase's fastest growth period, expanding regional teams across the Americas, EMEA, and APAC while keeping win rates up as deal volume multiplied. Ran the org through remote-first selling during the pandemic and rebuilt the demo and POC motion around it.
Backbase
November 2017 - January 2021
Director of Solutions Engineering
Led the global Solutions Engineering team through Backbase's steepest growth years, building specialised sub-teams for Value Consulting, Solutions Architecture, and POC delivery to win complex enterprise cycles with Tier-1 banks. Scope grew from presales into the full technical deal lifecycle: qualification through proof through contract. Still flew out personally for the deals that mattered most.
Backbase
January 2015 - November 2017
Global Head of Solutions Engineering
Took the EMEA playbook global: assembled Solutions Engineering teams for every major market, supporting Regional Sales Directors across the Americas, EMEA, and APAC. Built the management layer and defined the hiring culture that would sustain the function through 10x growth. Stayed in the field throughout, demoing and workshopping with Tier-1 banks on the largest deals.
Backbase
January 2013 - December 2014
Head of Solutions Engineering EMEA
Built and managed the EMEA Solutions Engineering team, supporting every sales cycle across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa as Backbase accelerated its enterprise banking platform expansion. First regional presales leadership seat in the company: defined how deals were qualified, demoed, and proven, and hired the engineers who carried it out.
Backbase
October 2011 - December 2013
Presales Engineer
Front-line technical sales: pitching, demoing, and workshopping with prospects to close enterprise deals. Built the demos I presented. Supported winning sales cycles including Deutsche Bank, Nationwide, ING, ABN AMRO, Standard Chartered, Van Lanschot, PostFinance, and Bank Hapoalim. Ran the market feedback loop between prospects and product teams across all departments.
Backbase
September 2011 - April 2012
Project Manager
Responsible for delivery of multiple enterprise Backbase implementations, bridging product engineering and client expectations. Ran scope, planning, and stakeholder management for live customer projects while transitioning into the presales role where the platform knowledge paid off daily.
Casting Account
January 2011 - December 2018
Owner
Co-founded and ran an online casting distribution service for casting, modelling, and production agencies with two partners, in parallel with the Backbase career for eight years. Built the product and handled development, hosting, support, and customers end to end.
Virtual Fairground
January 2009 - June 2011
DevOps Manager
Ran backend engineering for a live MMO platform: browser-based virtual worlds serving thousands of concurrent players. Managed the backend team in Ukraine building real-time multiplayer server infrastructure, and owned the integration boundary with the client software built in the Netherlands, two codebases, two countries, one live product. Rolled out the company's cloud and development infrastructure company-wide. The company ceased operating in June 2011.
Rotterdam University (Hogeschool Rotterdam)
January 2007 - September 2009
Teacher, Media Technology
Taught programming as a working developer. Designed the ActionScript and object-oriented programming curriculum from scratch for first and third year students, built the continuous assessment model, set and supervised exams, and mentored students individually.
Eduvision opleidingen
January 2006 - May 2008
Teacher
Taught object-oriented programming to groups of working professionals: web designers, developers, and internet marketers. Small-group format with individual supervision, assessment, and exam duties. Teaching adult practitioners meant every abstraction had to survive contact with 'but why would I ever use this?', the best training a young developer can get in explaining technology.
Woedend!
September 2005 - February 2008
Flash Developer
Professional software developer from 2005. Built and shipped production ActionScript/Flash applications and interactive campaigns for national brands including Asics, Amstel, Venz, and Sponsorloterij. Owned projects end to end, from concept and architecture to launch.
VPRO 3voor12
2008 - 2008
Flash Developer
Built the video player for 3voor12, the Dutch public broadcaster's music platform, including its coverage of the Lowlands festival. Production Flash/ActionScript development for a national audience: one player, hundreds of thousands of viewers, no room for playback failures.
Education
-
2008
Bachelor Information and Communication Technology
-
2002
Mozaiek College, Arnhem
-
1983
I was born in Maastricht