I design and build complete software systems, bringing senior-level expertise across the full technology stack – from database foundation through user interface and deployment. I help businesses solve complex technical challenges while keeping solutions simple, scalable and efficient.
Background & Offering
My career spans agency and startup environments where I've solved complex technical challenges for diverse businesses. Agency work taught me to quickly understand business requirements and deliver reliable systems under pressure. Startup experience pushed me to master every aspect of software development and take ownership of complete technical initiatives.
As an independent contractor, you get senior-level expertise across the entire technology stack in a single engagement. Rather than managing separate specialists for different parts of your system, I can assess your complete technical needs, design optimal solutions, and build everything from data storage through user-facing applications. This eliminates coordination problems, reduces communication overhead, and ensures all technical decisions work together seamlessly.
My unique advantage is deep expertise across the complete technology stack – while most developers either specialize in one area or have surface-level knowledge across many, I've developed senior-level proficiency in every layer. From advanced database optimization through complex API design to frontend performance and infrastructure management, this comprehensive depth allows me to make optimal architectural decisions across your entire system.
Career Highlights
Scalable Content Pipeline
Architected and implemented an end-to-end content generation system processing hundreds of articles daily. Designed the database architecture for content templating, built internal APIs for content management and implemented React dashboards for editorial oversight. This system drove our primary user acquisition channel for multiple years with near-zero operational overhead.
Multi-Brand Fulfillment Platform
Built a complete order aggregation platform from database design through frontend interfaces. Architected complex data schemas handling inventory across multiple brands, designed REST APIs for real-time order processing, created React dashboards for warehouse operations, and implemented automated deployment pipelines.
API Architecture Transformation
Led organization-wide migration from REST to GraphQL, encompassing schema design, federation architecture, CI/CD integration, and developer tooling. Designed type-safe code generation workflows, implemented performance monitoring, and created comprehensive documentation.
Role History
Simply Wall St
Oct 2017 - Present
My original responsibilities at Simply Wall St were within the growth team, where I was able to help design and then take on the development work of software that drove the lion's share of our user acquisition over multiple years.
I have since transitioned onto the platform team, where I look after much of the foundational architecture that the business runs on, such as GraphQL. I am responsible for developer experience across engineering teams and driving discussions and decision making for new and improved ways to deliver technical work that help the team and our customers alike.
My long tenure combined with my involvement and exposure to most of the systems that Simply Wall St runs on puts me in a unique position of being a go-to resource for newer and longer serving staff alike, which allows me to act as a strong force multiplier.
Neat
Sep 2021 - Present
I work with clients ranging from individuals to large corporations to streamline internal processes with software solutions designed, developed and maintained by myself. Examples of this include:
- Bespoke CRM software for teams who want a specific experience for their staff and to avoid the ongoing cost of using off the shelf enterprise products.
- Fulfilment software to streamline the packing and shipping process for orders across multiple brands and points of purchase.
- Consolidation of third party products and tooling into one optimised workflow.
My clients are able to access the full breadth and depth of my agency and software startup experiences for anything from consultation on new software business ideas through to the complete orchestration and execution of those ideas.
Ensemble
Feb 2015 - Sep 2017
Worked within a small development team of less than 5 people that sat within the broader Ensemble business, enriching their marketing projects with digital elements including bespoke self-service software for Nestlé pop-up stores. As the sole developer with backend and infrastructure experience on the team, I was responsible for the overall technical execution of these projects, which included setting up and managing the on-site hardware and cloud infrastructure, bug fixes and improvements often during business hours, and ensuring a smooth experience for the client, their customers and their staff.
I was also responsible for more typical web-based projects such as small business websites built on WordPress or Craft CMS and tooling for both internal use and for our clients to improve business operations and streamline clunky processes.
Latest Articles
My 2024 Tech Stack
As a full-stack developer, I use a broad range of languages, frameworks, tools and other solutions to do my work both within my full-time employment as well as for freelance projects.
JavaScript Game Development Engine Ideas
I've wanted to develop an engine for building 2D games with JavaScript for a while now. This will basically be a brain dump of some ideas I have and how they might work.
Thoughts on GraphQL After 2 Years
GraphQL has become my favourite technology to work with across my 12+ year career so far. I would recommend it to any organisation looking to build a large API since it can easily scale with the team and the requirements of the business.