Jason Rylands

AI Security GTM Leader | Head of Firewall for AI, EMEA | Akamai Technologies

Frankfurt Rhine-Main Metropolitan Area3.6k followers
Akamai Technologiesex-Amazon Web Services (AWS)ex-German Edge Cloud

I lead the go-to-market strategy for Firewall for AI across EMEA at Akamai Technologies, helping organisations adopt AI securely while navigating an evolving threat landscape and regulatory

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Over the past 20+ years, I’ve worked across infrastructure, telecommunications, data centres, cloud computing, cybersecurity, and now AI security. This broad background allows me to connect technology strategy with real business outcomes, from the underlying infrastructure through to modern AI Today my focus is on helping enterprises secure AI models, applications, APIs, agents, and data against emerging threats such as prompt injection, data leakage, and misuse, while aligning with evolving frameworks including the EU AI Act, ISO/IEC 42001, OWASP LLM Security, NIS2, and I enjoy building new markets as much as growing existing ones. Throughout my career I’ve led go-to-market strategy, launched new technologies into EMEA, developed partner ecosystems, and worked closely with enterprise customers across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific, and the Nordics to accelerate adoption of emerging Before joining Akamai, I held specialist go-to-market roles at Amazon Web Services across Hybrid & Edge Computing and Security. I led AWS Outposts and Local Zones across Europe before moving into cloud security, where I worked with customers on Zero Trust, identity, threat detection, vulnerability management, governance, and compliance. That experience continues to shape how I think about securing AI: not as a standalone technology, but as another critical workload requiring strong identity, networking, infrastructure, and runtime I’m particularly interested in how AI is reshaping enterprise architecture, cybersecurity, and digital transformation, and I enjoy working with customers and partners to turn emerging technology into practical business outcomes.

Career Timeline

JobSchool

GTM Index

  1. AKAMAI TECHNOLOGIESJOB
    1. Head of GTM
      5M
  2. AMAZON WEB SERVICES (AWS)JOB
    1. Cloud Security, Identity,…
      5Y 6M
  3. GERMAN EDGE CLOUDJOB
    1. VP International Sales and…
      2Y 10M
  4. RITTAL GMBH & CO. KGJOB
    1. Dir Data Center and Open C…
      1Y 1M
    2. Head of Data Center System…
      11M
  5. EMD - ENERGY MANAGEMENT DISTRIBUTIONJOB
    1. Country Mgr
      1Y 8M
  6. DPSA - DELIVERING DATA CENTRE SOLUTIONSJOB
    1. Northern Region Mgr
      4Y 6M
  7. POWERFIRMJOB
    1. National Enterprise Sales…
      6Y
  8. APC BY SCHNEIDER ELECTRICJOB
    1. Network Sales Eng
      5Y 7M

Time in market 26Y 11MOpen 6Closed 8Stints 14

gtmindex.io/p/jasonrylands

  1. Job: Akamai Technologies — Head of GTM – Firewall for AI, EMEA (Head of GTM Engineering) · 2026-05 – present · 3 mo — Leading go to market for Firewall for AI across EMEA, focused on securing enterprise AI adoption and establishing a new category at the intersection of AI and cybersecurity. Own GTM strategy and execution for Firewall for AI across EMEA, working with enterprise customers, partners, and internal teams Build pipeline and drive revenue growth through targeted GTM plays, partner ecosystems, and enterprise engagement Support organisations in securing AI models, applications, and data, addressing risks such as prompt injection, data leakage, and model abuse Align AI security strategies with regulatory frameworks including EU AI Act, NIS2, DORA, and ISO/IEC 42001 Drive engagement across regula…
  2. Job: Amazon Web Services (AWS) — Cloud Security, Identity, Compliance & Observability | GTM Specialist at AWS · 2020-11 – 2026-05 · 5y 6mo — At AWS, I lead go-to-market strategy for security, identity, compliance, and observability services across Europe Central. I help customers strengthen their security posture, meet regulatory requirements, and adopt cloud-native security solutions at scale. I work closely with AWS field teams, enterprise accounts, and strategic partners to drive adoption of services aligned to Zero Trust, compliance automation, threat detection, and observability. I also collaborate with independent software vendors, managed security service providers, and AWS Marketplace sellers to scale these solutions through partner-led and co-sell motions. Previously, I built and executed AWS go-to-market for Hybrid E…
  3. Job: German Edge Cloud — VP International Sales and Strategy · 2018-01 – 2020-11 · 2y 10mo
  4. Job: Rittal GmbH & Co. KG — Director Data Center and Open Compute · 2016-12 – 2018-01 · 1y 1mo
  5. Job: Rittal GmbH & Co. KG — Head of Data Center System - International Projects · 2016-01 – 2016-12 · 11 mo
  6. Job: EMD - Energy Management Distribution — Country Manager · 2014-04 – 2015-12 · 1y 8mo — DPSA Trading as EMD - Energy Management Distribution PNG.
  7. Job: DPSA - Delivering Data Centre Solutions — Northern Region Manager / Data Center Practice Manager Asia Pacific Region · 2011-06 – 2015-12 · 4y 6mo
  8. Job: Powerfirm — National Enterprise Sales Manager · 2005-06 – 2011-06 · 6y
  9. Job: APC by Schneider Electric — Network Sales Engineer · 1999-11 – 2005-06 · 5y 7mo
  10. School: University of South Australia — Bachelor of Information Systems, Information Technology
  11. School: Open Universities Australia — Graduate Degree of Business Administration, Management Information Systems and Services
  12. School: Open Universities Australia — Master's degree, Management Information Systems and Services
  13. School: Open Universities Australia — Certificate, Introduction to Machine Learning for Executives - Data to Decision
  14. School: Torrens Valley Institute — Associate Diploma of Management, Information Systems

Skills

Technical SalesAccount PlanningMEDDIC Sales MethodologySales ExecutionOpportunity QualificationTeam ManagementInternational MarketingVertical MarketCRM SoftwareSales MetricsGenerative AIData CenterSolution SellingPre-salesHigh Performance Computing (HPC)Customer Segmentation StrategyCross-Cultural Communication SkillsBusiness-to-Business (B2B)Amazon Web Services (AWS)Objection Handling (Sales)

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