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Ryan Lobban

@ryanlobban

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Founding Director pioneering tech innovation.

South Africa

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What I'm looking for

I seek a role that encourages itertative innovation, collaborative culture and affords me the opportunity and power to grow business value.

Hi, I'm Ryan — an engineering specialist and visionary founder passionate about building new tech. I unlock market opportunities with engineering innovations and enjoy mentoring ambitious, driven individuals.

I bring rapid-development culture and Agile philosophy.

I create and iterate tech products.

I support, inspire and grow talented individuals.

I transform ambitious ideas into disruptive, revenue-generating solutions.

At Battalion Technologies I advised and supported the founder for 3 years. I led all engineering and development, except mechanical, in the creation and delivery of South Africa’s first AGV product line, winning major tenders against global competitors and opened up the South African AGV market.

I architected proprietary automation and digitization solutions that cut AGV commissioning costs, developed disruptive AGV products & systems and enabled rapid product pilots & demos for leaders in manufacturing like Toyota, Ford and DHL.

I am an expert in engaging customers from factory floor to C-suite, educating, building trust and championing tech adoption. I navigate complex founder/investor/staff dynamics well and foster resilience in start-up and scale-up environments.

I am passionate about mentoring, growing and inspiring technical teams. I enjoy supporting and empowering engineers and leaders, building collaborative cultures and delivering under high pressure and uncertainty.

My strength comes from a combination of deep technical and business acumen. This helps me identify market gaps, de-risk new ventures and steer company direction for sustainable growth and long-term impact.

Let’s connect if you’re interested in leadership that delivers market impact, scales teams and technology, and turns bold ideas into operational and commercial reality.

Experience

Work history, roles, and key accomplishments

Current

Founding Director

Current

Iterate Engineering

Sep 2014 - Present (11 years)

Founded technology consultancy. Delivered 50+ web, engineering, and automation projects for SMB/industrial clients

Principal engineer/technical architect across wide range of client solutions: full-stack web development, cloud deployments and custom embedded/automation systems

Long-term client partnerships: delivering technical excellence, transparent communication and strategic advice

Start-up Builder

Battalion Technologies

May 2022 - Jun 2025 (3 years 1 month)

I supported and advised the founder/CEO for 3 years in start-up

Mentored junior engineers & technicians, building team capability, high-performance Agile culture

Est. eng. best practices, processes, culture enabling rapid iteration/scaling

Steered business strategy, ethos, brand, growth, rapid-dev culture

Bridged business, operations, engineering, aligning tech with business vision and goals

Industrial Engineering & Automation

Control Technology

Feb 2018 - Feb 2021 (3 years)

Identified opportunity and developed IIoT platform that introduced new SaaS revenue whilst delivering 50+ industrial engineering projects.

Designed, developed, and retrofitted PLC/SCADA/VFD/HMI solutions for heavy industry.

Led fault-finding and downtime minimization in high-pressure industrial environments that saved customers in the millions.

Firmware Engineer

CST SA

Jun 2011 - Jan 2013 (1 year 7 months)

Developed firmware for vertical axis wind turbines part-time whilst studying.

Enabled remote monitoring UI of weather and performance data over a mobile network.

Developed adaptive procedure to minimise wind-profiling time and cost.

Invited COP17 for innovations in wind turbine technology.

Firmware Development Parallax Propeller SIMCOM GPRS Remote Monitoring UI Design Wind Technology

Education

Degrees, certifications, and relevant coursework

University of KwaZulu-Natal

BSc Engineering, Electrical, Electronic & Computer Engineering

Completed a Bachelor of Science in Electrical, Electronic & Computer Engineering. Gained foundational knowledge in various engineering disciplines.

University of KwaZulu-Natal

MSc, Superconductors & HVDC Systems (Unfinished)

2017 - 2018

Activities and societies: Superconductors

Undertook postgraduate research focusing on Superconductors & HVDC Systems, authoring two SAUPEC conference papers. Delivered presentations to industry leaders on next-generation power engineering.