# Kevin Gounden

> Kevin Gounden is the Chief Executive Officer of Buildkite, the CI/CD platform trusted by Airbnb, Uber, Shopify, Slack, and Canva to ship software at scale. Appointed in August 2025, he brings over two decades of experience founding and scaling SaaS ventures, most recently as Chief Product Officer at Lightcast and Randstad where he drove product strategy across 70+ countries. His mandate at Buildkite: lead the platform's next chapter at the intersection of AI and software delivery.

- **Role:** CEO at Buildkite
- **Organizations:** Buildkite, Lightcast, Randstad, Randstad Risesmart, RiseSmart, Mojospark, Teamery, bizTorque, Taurus Funds Management, Macquarie, Craton Capital, Knight Capital Management, Accenture, Economic Modeling Specialists International
- **Nationality:** South African-Australian
- **Education:** BScEng, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Master of Science, University of Cape Town
- **Known for:** Appointed CEO of Buildkite, the CI/CD platform serving Airbnb, Uber, Shopify, Slack, Canva, Block, and Wayfair, Drove product strategy and innovation across 70+ countries as CPO at Lightcast and Randstad, Founded and scaled multiple successful SaaS ventures over a 20+ year career

## Career timeline

- **Early career** — Engineering roles at Accenture, Macquarie, and financial services firms including Taurus Funds Management, Craton Capital, and Knight Capital Management
- **Early career** — Technology roles at Skytech and Intervid
- **Mid-career** — Founded and led multiple SaaS ventures including bizTorque and Teamery
- **Mid-career** — Board Advisor and Co-Creator at Mojospark
- **2014-2020 (approx)** — Product and leadership roles at RiseSmart (acquired by Randstad) and Randstad Risesmart
- **2024 (approx)** — Appointed Chief Product Officer at Lightcast, leading product strategy and innovation
- **2025-08** — Appointed Chief Executive Officer at Buildkite, succeeding co-founder Keith Pitt

## Achievements

- Appointed CEO of Buildkite, the CI/CD platform serving Airbnb, Uber, Shopify, Slack, Canva, Block, and Wayfair
- Drove product strategy and innovation across 70+ countries as CPO at Lightcast and Randstad
- Founded and scaled multiple successful SaaS ventures over a 20+ year career
- Joined Buildkite's newly expanded executive team alongside CTO James Wilson, CMO Jay Wampold, and CFO Francine Hackett

## Latest updates

- **2025-08** — Appointed Chief Executive Officer of Buildkite
- **2025-08** — Joined Buildkite's expanded executive leadership team alongside new CTO, CMO, and CFO hires

## Links

- Website: https://buildkite.com
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/kevingounden
- Twitter/X: http://twitter.com/buildkite
- Facebook: http://facebook.com/buildkite

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/kevin-gounden
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-05-16