Andrew grew up in Aberystwyth and then attended Swansea University in the mid-1990s. Upon graduating with a 2:1 BSc he moved to London and spent around 20 years working for BT. Throughout that period, Andrew worked in the finance function, progressing from junior management accountant to CFO of BT Expedite and head of finance for BT Global Customer Service Operations. As a senior finance professional in this organisation he was responsible for +£500m budgets with +5,000 people on the direct payroll. Andrew left in 2016 to join Colt Technologies, a privately owned communications provider, where he spent 3 years working in a similar customer service head of finance role.

It was whilst working in the customer services role at BT that Andrew began to plan towards starting his own business as it became clear that his business motivation was people and not process oriented. Working with individual and SME clients felt more natural and satisfactory than working with large corporate entities. This led to Andrew committing to a period of change, working through the St. James's Place Financial Adviser Academy and, ultimately, the creation of Varley Financial (Previously Andrew Varley Financial Planning) an Associate Partner Practice of St. James's Place in 2019.