About me

Alex Psarras Headshot

I’ve spent the last 15+ years helping organisations get genuine value from technology – starting in data analytics, building through automation and process mining, and now leading hands-on work in AI and agentic engineering.

Lead. Help set the AI agenda for internal audit across the UK – enablement, agent builds, training curriculum, the lot.

Advise. Work directly with C-suite audit and risk leaders at FTSE 350 and global financial institutions – on AI, but just as often on where automation or analytics is the better answer than AI.

Build. Hands-on across the stack – from SQL and Python analytics to RPA, process mining tooling, and now agentic AI and Copilot builds. I still write the code, not just the standards.

My Journey So Far

Director, Internal Audit and Financial Advisory, Protiviti

Mar 2022 - Present

Lead AI productivity, agentic AI and technology enablement within Protiviti’s Internal Audit and Financial Advisory UK practice. Hands-on builder and engineering leader, not a just pure advisor.

What I do day-to-day:

  • Set global frameworks, engineering playbooks and tooling standards for AI and technology assisted development
  • Continuously evaluate emerging agentic coding and coworking platforms (GitHub Copilot, Cowork, Claude Code, proprietary AI models and others) to balance velocity with engineering excellence.
  • Act as trusted advisor to FTSE-350 and global financial institution C-suites on AI strategy, governance, model risk and enterprise use-case prioritisation.
  • Facilitate executive workshops to design multi-year AI and automation roadmaps for boards and audit committees.

Senior Manager, Assurance and Finance Analytics, Deloitte

Jan 2018 - Feb 2022
  • Architected and scaled an audit analytics proposition, converting ad‑hoc project work into a recurring revenue stream; sold and delivered multi‑year analytics outsourcing contracts to major financial institutions.
  • Led business development across the audit client base, identifying “white space” to deploy analytics within traditional audit engagements and consistently exceeding sales targets.
  • Designed reusable analytics assets and apps for the wider audit practice, increasing margin on standard engagements.
  • Built and mentored a team of analytics specialists, bridging the cultural gap between data science and traditional audit methodology

Head of Professional Services, DataConsulting

Jul 2010 - Dec 2017
  • Strategic Alliance (Grant Thornton, 2014–2017): seconded as lead Subject Matter Expert and technical architect for the firm’s Technology Risk practice and audit analytics engagements, delivering high‑quality data assurance on its most complex clients.
  • Ran the Professional Services Group end-to-end – P&L oversight, resource planning, and delivery of technical training (ACL, Tableau) for internal staff and external clients.
  • Led end‑to‑end data analysis projects for international clients, bridging technical data extraction and executive stakeholder reporting.

Selected Projects

Internal Audit Innovation

FTSE 100 organisations: Advised Group IA leadership on AI roadmap and data strategy, including benchmarking, governance and use‑case prioritisation; delivered “AI for Internal Audit” enablement tailored to the audit lifecycle.

NextGen Internal Audit

Multinational Universal Bank: Led a team of audit analysts, process miners and digital auditors to build a suite of analytical assets that “data‑enable” the function’s methodology, planning and execution, aligning teams around the future of audit.

Copilot Audit Reporting Agent

FTSE-100 Insurance Group: Co‑design lead on a Microsoft Copilot agent that drafts audit reports directly from workpaper inputs.

Continuous Controls Monitoring

Multinational Alcoholic Beverage Group: Delivered a multi-year SAP‑wide Continuous Controls Monitoring programme across P2P, O2C and Vendor Master Data.

Skills & Tools

Microsoft 365 Copilot
Claude
Python
Power BI
UiPath
Alteryx
Celonis

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