While working in wireless communications, Dr Marcus Perrett decided to pursue an EngD in Telecommunications at UCL to deepen his technical understanding of networks and signal systems. Under the supervision of Professor Izzat Darwazeh, his research provided the platform for a career that has since taken him from engineering and FPGA development to senior leadership roles, including CTO and now CIO at the London Stock Exchange. Here, he shares his experience of combining deep technical expertise with business strategy and what he has learned along the way.
What initially attracted you to UCL EEE for your PhD (EngD) in Telecommunications, and how did the programme shape your career path?
I was working in the field of wireless communications as part of a government-funded project. One aspect of the project required a high-performance specialised routing capability, and that necessitated a more fundamental understanding of networks at the physical layer. Professor Darwazeh was providing oversight of the project and suggested to me that an EngD would be a perfect way to further my understanding of the subject in a structured way. I immediately took up the opportunity based on UCL’s brand, the relevance to my industry field, and the ability to work directly with Professor Darwazeh and his extended team. During that time, I experienced a lot of change in my work life, but UCL anchored me to my field and provided continuity during that period. By the time I was close to completion, I was already in a new location (having moved to London) and had a senior role in a high-frequency technology company that served as the springboard to my first CTO role. All of this is largely due to the opportunity UCL gave me and the guidance of the UCL staff during that period and still today.
Your doctorate focused on FPGA and wireless communications. How have those technical foundations influenced your work in financial technology and high-performance computing?
I was very lucky to find a niche field where finance and FPGA converged. As it was a new area, I was able to bring my full technical experience to the problem and shape the solution in what, at the time, was a totally new field. As such, the approach was grounded in solid engineering principles combined with the specific deep technical experience gained from my time at UCL. I was able to leverage the breadth and depth of my previous work experience and combine it with the engineering discipline from UCL, to build a market leading platform still in use today.
You’ve held senior leadership roles including CTO and now CIO at the London Stock Exchange. What skills from your UCL research and training do you still rely on in these positions?
These positions generally require a lot of context switching, the fast consumption of technical material, and most importantly, decisions based on a combination of the material available, past experiences, and engineering discipline. My experience at UCL allowed me to practice and perfect my ability to read, understand, and summarise large amounts of material to focus on what was relevant to move my area of research forward. Ultimately, senior positions are about making decisions, and the more data-driven you can be, the better. But time is always limited, so it’s important to be able to absorb as many data points as possible as quickly as possible to arrive at the optimum outcome. Hence, this skills UCL provided me are used every day.
Financial technology is one of the fastest-moving industries. How did UCL prepare you to adapt to constant innovation and disruption?
There are two areas that stand out above others. The first is to be able to go very deep into a specific area of technology, while giving you the benefit of understanding the underlying principles of the field to a much greater degree than I had previously. This meant that as new technology has come about, you can identify the fundamentals that it is built upon and where it may be applicable to the industry I’m in. An example of this would be cache coherent CPU/FPGA platforms that started to emerge in 2016, which I could immediately see would have relevance and benefit to financial applications. I was able to make that connection because I had been able to spend significant time understanding the fundamental concepts of both FPGA and CPUs at UCL. The second would be that UCL taught me to be curious and not assume I know all the answers and to continue to research the things that interested or challenged me.
Looking back, what was the most valuable project, collaboration, or experience during your time at UCL?
To be involved in the new area of SEFDM under Professor Darwazeh is the standout opportunity during my time. I had the pleasure of working with the smartest people in the field and collaborating on papers and conferences, which really pushed me to ensure I understood not just my field but also the mathematical concepts that underpinned it. I also enjoyed the break from industry during the last two years of my EngD, which was both my first break in 15 years and my first time as a full-time student. Alongside the social benefits, it really facilitated a change in my approach to learning and collaboration.
What advice would you give current EEE students considering a career that blends deep technical expertise with business and leadership?
I would recommend they understand the commercial aspects of their chosen technical field to give context to the work they are performing. Research demands you go very deep into a subject, but that can mean the bigger picture is not clearly understood. In industry, the more senior you go, the more you must understand the application of your work, the market it serves, and most importantly, how it generates value. As a CTO, I have run finance, sales, marketing, and business management teams, all of which require a commercial focus alongside the technical demands of the role.
You’ve worked extensively in ultra-low-latency trading systems and FPGA development. How do you see these technologies evolving, and what new opportunities might they create for today’s graduates?
It continues to be an exciting field and it’s evolving in two distinct ways. The first is that the platforms available are changing from a traditional CPU-based architecture to a memory-based architecture. This means that FPGA cards, GPUs and CPUs can communicate on an equal footing via memory, rather than via the CPU. The second is AI and machine learning. These concepts are being leveraged in the high-frequency trading space to fine-tune latencies or algorithms, based on real-time market predictions.
Many prospective students want to know how their UCL degree can translate internationally. How has your UCL experience been recognised and valued in your career across different companies and sectors?
I’m very proud to be a part of the UCL alumni. There is no question that UCL is internationally recognised and respected, and often is the talking point when I meet industry peers; this is true for the UK but also worldwide. I have worked extensively in Canada, the US, Japan, and more recently Sri Lanka and Romania, and the common factor is the prestige of UCL whenever I mention where I studied. In my experience, it’s every bit as influential as Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, or MIT.
What has been your biggest challenge in moving from technical engineering roles into executive leadership, and how did your education help you make that transition?
Generally, the higher up you go in an organisation, the less opportunity you have to showcase your technical skills. Therefore, the biggest challenge is to maintain a baseline of technical input and leadership as you move forward. Sometimes, it means taking on technical teams from an area you are not familiar with - an example was at a previous role where I took on an Infrastructure team, which is not my core competency. However, this pushed me to learn about that area and I quickly realised how my specific sphere of knowledge could be expanded to cover it. Sometimes, it means taking on something you don’t think is valuable, like visiting clients on sales trips or running a budget. But there is always an opportunity to bring your technical skills to bear, even when it appears on the surface that it’s a non-technical area. Overall, my advice would be to take on all opportunities and make it your own by leveraging your technical capabilities in as many creative ways as you can.
Do you have any advice for a prospective student who is deciding whether to study at UCL EEE?
The quality of the staff, the culture, the heritage, and the prestige of UCL is highly regarded globally. UCL opened so many doors for me and I also made some lifelong friends along the way. UCL has a wonderful approach to learning, managing to ensure students have both deep technical training but are commercially aware. If a CTO or CIO role is the objective of a student today, I believe UCL offers the best possible pathway to success.
