Snowboarder is new snow centres' marketing head

Daniela Giannini has been appointed as group marketing manager for the Ice Factor Group, which incorporates both Snow Factor Braehead and Ice Factor Kinlochleven in the West Highlands.

A keen snowboarder, Ms Giannini joins Ice Factor Group from AMG Group where she was assistant marketing manager for the Port Glasgow based distributor of leading outdoor and snow-sport brands.

As part of the senior management team, she will oversee all communications for the multi-award winning adventure tourism business across two locations.

Snow Factor is Scotland’s only indoor urban snow-sports centre and Ice Factor Kinlochleven, a five-star VisitScotland adventure tourism destination, incorporates the world’s largest indoor ice-climbing facility.

Ms Giannini said that "it’s a very exciting time to be joining the team" adding: "I very much look forward to applying my passion and knowledge for marketing and the snow-sports sector to help the business realise its ambitious plans for further growth and success.”

Nucleus attracts engineering chief

Edinburgh-based Nucleus, the adviser-built wrap, has recruited Sam Hampton-Smith as head of product development to add to the platform’s technology capabilities.

The move bolsters Nucleus’ fintech experience and the company said it plans to make further hires in the sector over the coming years as technology becomes more important to the finance industry.

Mr Hampton-Smith has joined Nucleus from cybersecurity firm ZoneFox, also based in the Scottish capital, where he was head of engineering and user experience.

The experienced technology professional brings a strong track record of "observing customer journeys and building technology propositions that subsequently improve upon the user experience for a range of different stakeholders".

Reporting into Andy Smith, chief technology officer, Mr Hampton-Smith will be responsible for leading the development team at Nucleus, managing regular software releases and upgrades, as well as handling the technical design and testing of new functions.

Mr Hampton-Smith said: “Financial services has often been criticised for being slow in implementing technology solutions that make things easier for both their customers and themselves.

"However, I am really looking forward to joining a company that not only understands this importance, but is also trying to use it to improve the customer experience.”