Software Combined names first Chief Technology Officer

Software Combined has appointed Brent Maxwell as its first Group Chief Technology Officer, creating a group-level technology role across the acquirer's 13 software businesses.

He will oversee AI readiness, development speed and technical leadership across the portfolio, while supporting technical due diligence on future acquisitions. The group's businesses operate independently and are at different stages of adopting AI tools and development methods.

The appointment marks a structural shift for Software Combined, which has built a portfolio of business-to-business software companies in Australia, New Zealand and the Benelux. Until now, it had no dedicated senior technology executive working across all its holdings.

Software Combined describes itself as a permanent capital acquirer that does not integrate or sell the companies it buys. Instead, it leaves leadership teams and cultures in place after acquisitions, so each business keeps its own operating model.

That model has created a need for central technical support without imposing a single platform or engineering structure. Maxwell's remit is to work with each business individually and tailor support to its requirements.

He brings more than a decade of experience in senior technical roles across software companies, including three previous appointments as Chief Technology Officer. He also held a senior architecture role at AWS, where he worked on cloud adoption with strategic partners across the Asia-Pacific region.

Most recently, Maxwell worked at FinTech company Synthetix, where he rebuilt the technology function and reorganised it around AI-led software development. That work included delivering a high-frequency derivatives exchange in four months, which Software Combined said was far faster than comparable projects in the sector.

Growth focus

The hire comes as Software Combined expands a portfolio assembled since its founding in 2020. The group has completed 13 acquisitions and has focused on profitable B2B software businesses.

Co-Founder and CEO Evert den Hollander outlined the rationale for the appointment in the context of that expansion.

"We've acquired 13 businesses. In every one of them, the founders built something genuinely worth growing, not just maintaining. Our job is to continue their mission and take it further. Brent's job is to make sure the technical and innovation capabilities of these businesses keep pace with the opportunity ahead of them," den Hollander said.

The new role also reflects a wider debate across software companies over how quickly AI should be embedded in product development and engineering processes. For portfolio owners, that question can be harder to answer when businesses differ widely in size, technical maturity and product roadmaps.

Stefan Jansen framed the issue as one of execution rather than basic adoption.

"The conversations happening across the tech community right now aren't about whether to adopt AI, they're about pace and depth. How fast, how embedded, how real. Brent has lived and delivered on those questions. His job is to bring that into our group: not as a future initiative, but as the work we're doing right now," Jansen said.

Technical remit

For Software Combined, creating a group-level technology office suggests a more formal operating layer as the number of portfolio companies grows. While the businesses remain separate, the group now has a senior executive tasked with raising engineering standards and helping management teams assess where AI-led development is practical.

Maxwell is expected to work alongside portfolio companies rather than direct them centrally. That distinction matters for an acquirer whose model depends on preserving the autonomy of founding teams after a deal.

His comments point to organisational change as much as new software tools. He linked the current shift in product development to a broader redesign of how engineering teams work.

"Product development is going through its largest transformation since the compiler. AI increases velocity, but realising the real gains requires changing how teams work, not just what tools they use. Software Combined backs its businesses and the people inside them for the long term, that's not common in this space. My job is to work alongside teams that are already excellent and help them move faster, bring the pace and depth of AI development into businesses that are ready for it. Thirteen portfolio companies and growing. That's a real opportunity," Maxwell said.

Maxwell is based in Sydney. His background spans FinTech, healthcare software and cloud, with a focus on building and rebuilding engineering organisations.