Keith Pitt steps down as CEO of Sydney-based Buildkite

Keith Pitt, the founding chief executive of Sydney-based software delivery provider Buildkite, is stepping down as CEO.

Pitt will remain engaged with Buildkite as founder, but the Buildkite board of directors has begun the search for a new CEO, with board chair Barry Crist leading the company during the search process.

Crist has more than 20 years of related developer tools experience, including as CEO and chair of Chef Software.

Buildkite has also appointed James Wilson as CTO.

He most recently served as chief digital technology officer at WooliesX, the digital division of Australia’s biggest retailer, Woolworths.

In 2019, he joined, the Commonwealth Bank to build the engineering teams at its in-house venture scaler, x15ventures. Before that, Wilson spent seven years at Apple in Cupertino, where he was responsible for the software engineering teams that developed productivity apps, the device setup experience and data privacy systems.

Crist said on behalf of the board, he wanted to express sincere gratitude to Pitt for his numerous contributions over the past 12 years.

“In recent years, the company has built out a strong, experienced management team, including new CTO James Wilson, to ensure a strong foundation for Buildkite’s future growth,” he said.

“We’re delighted to have attracted someone of James’s calibre to take on this important role. With James’s appointment to our already strong executive leadership team we are excited about our next stage of growth and innovation.”