Brian Spurling

Twenty years turning complex data into usable products for social and environmental change.

Background

Data practitioner, product leader, behavioural change specialist, activist. Roughly in that order, but with a lot of overlap.

01

Senior leadership and hands-on delivery

Senior product and commercial leader with a technical foundation in data engineering and analytics. Comfortable at the board table and in the codebase (I still build things - even more so now with Claude Code). Currently Managing Director of a climate tech business in the UK.

02

Product strategy and behavioural design

Strategic product leader and advocate for multi-disciplinary product development. Experienced in applying behavioural science to product and advocacy; partnerships with academics and specialists such as Behavioural Insights Team and Climate Outreach.

03

Career-long focus on social and environmental change

Two decades working on social and environmental change - climate tech, environmental and political campaigning, and third sector data. A solid grasp of how these organisations think, the constraints they face, and what good looks like.

My career

I got my technical grounding in enterprise data consultancy, before finding my way - via my own sustainability startup - into the social impact space. I've been building data products and leading campaigns there ever since.

Climate tech 2019–present
Head of Product / UK Managing Director

Built Cogo from pre-product startup to enterprise SaaS business - launching the world's first bank-integrated carbon tracker. Returned as UK Managing Director to lead the company's pivot from carbon tracking to home energy retrofit.

Third sector 2016–2019
Data Architect & Product Manager

Third sector digital product work and freelance data strategy. Self-serve data platforms for NGOs, e.g. UNICEF (washdata.org), PNGi, and IUCN, and data strategy for Children's Commissioner, Children in Need, and Addaction.

Enterprise data 2006–2014
Senior Consultant, Enterprise Data

Business intelligence, data warehousing, and large-scale enterprise delivery, e.g. leading a 30-person team to establish Ticketmaster as a data-first business.

Campaigning 2015–present
Campaign Leadership

Social, political and environmental campaigning has run in parallel to my career. Trustee and Data Lead for the 50:50 Parliament campaign and tech lead for Let Toys Be Toys. Senior operational role at Extinction Rebellion, establishing a research and data function and coordinating UK-wide operations.

2003–2006
BSc Computer Science (1st) Durham University