Paul Gardiner, Fintech Executive
Technology executive in payments, financial infrastructure and applied AI. 25 years building, fixing and scaling the platforms that move money, from global payment acceptance to the world's largest ATM networks.
Built and ran mission-critical payment platforms at five nines availability, led global engineering organizations of more than 2,000 people, and delivered technology value through the full M&A cycle, from a $2.5B acquisition to a $2B divestiture.
Dual US and UK citizen. A career spanning US public companies and private equity backed firms, most recently inside the Bay Area technology ecosystem. Based in London, working between London, Paris and Atlanta.
Board member, advisor and multiple patent holder in payment innovation.
Paul Gardiner is Chief Technology Officer of Ingenico, the global leader in payment acceptance, where he leads a global engineering organization spanning four continents, with responsibility for platform, product engineering and technology strategy.
His career spans 25 years in payments and financial infrastructure, across three publicly traded companies and now a private equity owned global leader. As CTO of Cardtronics, he conceived and built a next-generation ATM operating system with a small engineering team, scaling it across the global estate and delivering recurring savings that contributed to NCR's $2.4B acquisition of the business. As CITO of NCR Atleos, he led a global engineering organization of more than 2,000 people, running one of the world's largest ATM networks at five nines availability, and delivered the full technology separation for the $2B divestiture with zero downtime.
Paul's work sits at the intersection of technology and commercial outcomes. He was part of the core team that invented the ATM-as-a-Service model, winning tier-one banks including Santander, and launched API-first products that opened legacy cash infrastructure to digital-native clients including Lyft and Uber. He has operated through the full M&A cycle, from diligence to integration to separation, and led AI-driven automation programs delivering significant run-rate savings. A regular presenter to boards and audit committees on technology strategy, cyber posture and operational performance, he has served as a board director himself and understands technology from both sides of the table. He holds three US patents in cardless transaction routing and payment innovation.
He began his career as a software engineer at NCR in Dundee, Scotland, writing early Chip & PIN ATM software, and rose from intern to the C-suite. A dual US and UK citizen, he has led teams across the US, UK, India, China and Eastern Europe, operated payments networks in more than 10 countries, and worked under US, UK and EU regulatory regimes. He is currently based in London and works between London, Paris and Atlanta.
About
Career Highlights
Conceived and built a next-generation ATM operating system from scratch with a small engineering team, scaling it across a global estate. The platform became a material factor in NCR's $2.4B acquisition of Cardtronics.
Platform invention to $2.4B outcome
The world's largest ATM network
Integrated and operated the largest multi-vendor ATM estate in the industry at five nines availability, spanning more than 10 countries with market launches in Spain, Greece and South Africa.
Led technology through diligence, integration and separation across multiple transactions, including a $2.5B acquisition integration and the complete technology separation for a $2B public divestiture, delivered with zero downtime.
Full-cycle M&A delivery
Part of the core team that conceived ATMaaS, transforming capital-intensive hardware deployments into recurring managed service revenue and winning tier-one banks including Santander.
Zero to one: ATM-as-a-Service
Launched cardless, API-based products that opened the cash ecosystem to digital-native clients including Lyft and Uber, creating new revenue streams on existing payment rails.
API-first revenue innovation
Applied AI at enterprise scale
Led AI-driven automation across engineering, field operations and supply chain, and presented AI-augmented engineering investment as a board-level decision. Holds three US patents in payment innovation.