Scott Shearman

Scott is one of our go-to Hotties in the IT team. Having worked with the company for 24 years (yeah, we know!!), Scott is an asset to House of Travel and we really value his contribution. He goes above and beyond for us back, resulting in him being awarded our2024 HOT HQ Hottie of the Year! 

Tell me about your journey, how did you get to be a Hottie?

I was living in London, and my wife and I were expecting our first child. While London is a fantastic city, it was going to be challenging to raise a child where we were, and all our family was back in Christchurch, so we moved back to NZ. I looked at a variety of roles, but nothing seems to click until I went to House of Travel. It was a young company then, with a huge amount of change going on and I was excited about the chance to be part of that, plus the people I met during the interview process seemed great to me.

When I started 24 years ago, it was as an Infrastructure Engineer. Subsequently I have been the Infrastructure Manager, then Systems, Infrastructure and Security Architects roles, to now being the Chief Information Security Officer.

Can you tell us a little about your role?

My role is to oversee the group’s information, cyber, and technology security, ensuring we have policies and procedures in place to protect the group’s data and systems, comply with compliance frameworks, incident response and disaster recovery planning, and continuously monitor for potential threats and devise strategies to mitigate them.

Take us behind the scenes - what does a day in your life look like?

A little tedium and a lot of thought-provoking work. In ensuring the groups systems and information are safe there is an element of reviewing the monitoring systems, dull, but necessary. Then there is working with other parts of the business on their projects etc. applying the security lens to ensure we are keeping our customers data safe. Bad actors work constantly to find ways to broach systems we need to be alert of new threats and respond accordingly.

What advice would you give someone just starting their career or is interested in your role?

Do what excites you – you spend a lot of you awake time doing your job so don’t waste that by doing something you’re not passionate about. For my role in particular, I think you need to be curious, not afraid of asking the obvious questions, have strong puzzle solving skills and interested in how people think/operate.

Is there anything people don’t understand about your job that you wish they did?                            

Sometimes I feel a little like Chandler from Friends where no one can describe what I do. Having said that, the culture at House of Travel is very strong and I find people trust what I do and so are happy to heed my advice. All my colleagues having amazing skills and they do what they do well and trust me to do the same.

What do you enjoy most about your role?

The variety of work. As a group, House of Travel is unusual globally, and widely regarded in the industry, for the breadth of self-developed technology. This means there are constant changes as we innovate and there is always interesting work going on.

How would you explain to your friends and family what working here is like?

Amazing. There seems to be an unofficial competition to which team has the most fun/best culture.

What is it about House of Travel that keeps you coming back?

In a word – culture. The company language includes terms like the House of Travel Family. This is not lip service. Employees are genuinely valued by the company – we celebrate success, but we also support those who may be going through some challenges. Maybe that’s why I’ve been here for 24 years now.

What are you looking forward to currently, in your role and personally?

I have recently stepped into this particular role so am excited to add value to the group. Personally, my wife and I are currently planning a 10 week trip around Europe next year, in particular, cruising down the Canal du Midi for a week!