Per Hammer

Career Profile

I have 25+ years of experience from hands-on software engineering roles, most of them with system design, management, and leadership responsibilities. I have managed diverse, dispersed teams of anywhere from 5 to 85 members, and have always focused on creating the conditions to maximise collaboration between all team-members.

I have worked within a number of agile frameworks, and am an experienced agile coach frequently invited to spend time with development teams to help them improve their ways of working together.

From 2016 to 2022 I ran and supported JPMorgan’s 200+ Communities of Practice, and in 2022 I completed my Certificate in Social Learning Leadership. I developed and have been teaching the ‘Advanced Software Engineering Practices’ course for 4th year Computing Science at the University of Glasgow since 2015.

Experience

Executive Director
J.P. Morgan Chase 2024-present
As an Agility Transformation Director in Wholesale Credit Risk Technology, I have been leveraging my expert agile knowledge and extensive management experience to lead the development and implementation of innovative strategies that push continuous improvement, foster collaboration, and enable optimal delivery of high-quality product solutions. The role gives me the opportunity to exercise creativity, foresight, and judgment and is critical in shaping the future of our business practices. Expert facilitation skills help ensure that all team members feel engaged, valued, and empowered to excel in their performance, improving the ongoing growth and development of our teams and the achievement of our strategic activities.

Honorary Professor
University of Glasgow 2024-present
As an Honorary Professor of Computing Science at the University of Glasgow, I continue to contribute to the academic community, collaborating on research projects and mentoring students in the field of collaborative software engineering. I also teach an Honours course on Software Product Release Engineering.

Professor in Practice
University of Glasgow 2021-2024
3-year posting supported by the Royal Academy of Engineering, I was a Visiting Professor of Collaborative Software Engineering. The role involved developing and teaching two courses for MSci and final-year BSc (Hons) students.

Senior Director
GitHub 2022-2023
As Senior Director of Developer Platforms and Programs for Education at GitHub, my team and I worked with students and educators worldwide to help onboard more learners to the world of collaborative software development.

Vice President
J.P. Morgan Chase 2010-2022
As Social Learning Lead for JPMorgan’s 50K+ employees in Global Technology, I was responsible for the creation and continued growth of our 200+ active and vibrant Communities of Practice. This was my main role from 2018 until I left in late 2022.

Prior to 2018, I had various roles mixing hands-on software engineering with day-to-day running of development teams of varying sizes (from 5 to 85), system architecture, and product ownership.

Associate
J.P. Morgan Chase 2007-2010
I was the Build Manager for a geographically dispersed team of software developers delivering core functions in the JPMorgan Global Derivatives world.

Product Development Manager
Vamosa, Ltd. 2005-2010
I was the head of software engineering department combined with hands-on software design and implementation duties. Vamosa has since been acquired by T-Systems.

Senior Developer
Various start-ups 2001-2005
Mostly Java back-end development for a range of interactive media experiences ranging from simple advertising to complex gaming experiences and web- based chat-support systems.

Software Engineer
IBM 1995-2001
Software development on bespoke systems for running the EMEA Tech Support Centre, and the Greenock assembly plant. Also worked on features and plug-ins for Tivoli products.

Publications

Darren Cambridge, Etienne Wenger-Trayner, Per Hammer, Phil Reid, and Lab Wilson
Framing Futures in Postdigital Education, 2024
Gillian Daniel, Chris Hall, Per Hammer, Alec-Angus MacDonald, Hollie Marwick-Best, Emma McKenzie, George Popa, Derek Somerville, and Tim Storer
ITiCSE 2025 - Proceedings of the 30th ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education, 2025

Volunteering

Education Advisory Board Member
The DataLab 2022-present
The Data Lab Education Advisory Board is responsible for advising on education activity including our educational partnerships, continuous personal development and skills development programming.
Industry Advisory Board Member
University of Glasgow, School of Computing Science 2016-2022
The Industry Advisory Board consults with industry representatives on issues of skills, research and strategy. The Board meets three times a year and includes representation from global technology companies, financial service organisations, public sector, and innovative SMEs.
Affiliate Lecturer
University of Glasgow, School of Computing Science 2015-2021
I developed and taught the Advanced Software Engineering Practices course for 4th year Computing Science at the University of Glasgow from 2015 to 2021.
Student Mentor
Career Ready 2016-2018
Careeer Ready is a national social mobility charity at the heart of a network of educators and employers who all believe that every young person deserves the opportunity to kickstart a rewarding future.

Through a 2-year mentoring engagement, I helped empower a young person by connecting them with the world of work, providing workplace experiences, career insights, and a network of support.