Buildkite Appoints Kevin Gounden as CEO Amid Executive Leadership Expansion

Kevin Gounden, CEO, Buildkite • Photo Credit: Buildkite

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SAN FRANCISCO, August 4, 2025 (BUSINESS WATCH GLOBAL) — Software company Buildkite has appointed Kevin Gounden as Chief Executive Officer. The appointment follows a series of recent executive hires, including James Wilson as Chief Technology Officer, Jay Wampold as Chief Marketing Officer, and Francine Hackett as Chief Financial Officer.

Gounden brings more than 20 years of experience leading high-growth technology and product organizations. He most recently served as Chief Product Officer at Lightcast and Randstad, where he led innovation and expansion efforts across over 70 countries. His background also includes founding multiple SaaS ventures and managing complex software platforms.

"I’m extremely excited to be joining Buildkite at such a pivotal moment for the company, the developer ecosystem, and the software industry as a whole. Buildkite’s software delivery platform has become the gold standard for the world’s top companies and engineering teams, and I look forward to working with this talented team to accelerate our product innovation, extend our global impact, and help more customers of every size and type deliver world-class software with confidence," said Kevin Gounden, Chief Executive Officer, Buildkite.

Buildkite’s CI/CD platform is used by companies such as Airbnb, Uber, Pinterest, Lyft, Slack, Shopify, and Twilio. The platform supports diverse use cases including AI/ML workloads and mobile application development.

Board Member Barry Crist, who previously served as acting CEO, commented on Gounden’s appointment: "Kevin brings a remarkable combination of technology vision, long-proven SaaS product execution and customer-centric leadership to Buildkite. His focus on building solutions that drive real value for customers will be instrumental in guiding Buildkite’s continued growth and innovation."

Wilson, Wampold, and Hackett each bring decades of leadership in engineering, marketing, and finance, respectively. Their previous roles span organizations including Apple, AWS, WooliesX, Amazon Web Services, Pulumi, Cloudability, Tractor Ventures, and Pearson.

Crist added: "We welcome Kevin, James, Jay and Francine at a time when the board has never been more confident about Buildkite’s future. Our expanded leadership team brings unparalleled expertise and a shared passion for empowering developers everywhere. Together, we are uniquely positioned to accelerate innovation, drive global growth, and help customers of every size deliver world-class software with greater speed, scale, and confidence."

For more information, visit www.buildkite.com.

Source: Buildkite