Profile
A senior engineering leader with a wealth of experience and a proven track record of designing,
delivering, and modernising data‑driven systems. Hard‑working and committed to producing high‑quality
results. Expert in MySQL, PHP, and JavaScript. A true full‑stack developer and a valuable asset to any team.
Key Technical Skills
Database Development
- MySQL and PostgreSQL
- Table & relation design and normalisation
- Performance optimisation
- Stored procedures & functions
Backend Engineering
- PHP
- xDebug
- NodeJS (Promises, async/await)
- OO design patterns
- Event‑based architecture
Frontend Engineering
- HTML / CSS / JavaScript (vanilla, jQuery, React)
- Modular UI design
- View templating and separation from backend
Systems & DevOps
- Virtualisation (Docker, Docker‑compose, Kubernetes, Vagrant)
- Cloud architecture
Technical Leadership
- Identifying critical paths and dependencies
- Cross‑team collaboration
- Requirement analysis
Other
- Git and SVN for source control
- Jira administration
- AI tools (MS Copilot, Junie) as productivity boosters
Education
- BSc Computer Science with Artificial Intelligence, University of Sussex (2:1)
- A‑Levels: Physics, Computing, Mathematics (B, C, C)
- 9 GCSEs: A*, A*, A, B, B, C, C, C, D
Career History
Lead PHP Developer — OnBuy
November 2021 – July 2026
- Led a team of full‑stack developers working on a legacy monolith and Laravel services.
- Pioneered a service‑based approach to refactoring the monolith to enable scalable cloud architecture.
- Wrote financial ledger and cashback ledger services which became the reliable source of truth for buyer and seller balances.
- Co‑wrote invoicing, subscription, payment, and media management services.
- Wrote internal libraries for pub/sub usage and international context management, saving hundreds of developer‑hours.
- Worked efficiently in multiple multi‑terabyte MySQL databases.
Development Team Leader — Ageas
June 2018 – November 2021
- Led a team of full‑stack developers working on React front‑ends and Java API service layers.
- Pushed adoption of modern application health and error monitoring practices to reduce downtime.
- Provided technical mentoring for apprentices and junior developers.
- Scheduled team work, contributed to impact assessments, prioritisation, and requirements analysis.
- Initiated a working group to holistically address systemic barriers affecting multiple teams.
Senior Software Engineer — Maru/EDR
May 2017 – June 2018
- Overhauled theming repositories and codebases to improve clarity and maintainability.
- Co‑designed and co‑authored a plugin system to allow integration of 3rd‑party tools.
- Optimised and improved a custom click‑map application, enabling efficient visualisation of insights.
- Engaged with “Quality Guild” work to set standards for the full development lifecycle.
Developer / Product Lead — JDI / Webzai
July 2015 – May 2017
- Overhauled reporting structures to improve accuracy and transparency.
- Influenced reporting decisions across parent‑owned companies to improve consistency for analytics.
- Became the team’s MySQL expert, supporting colleagues with complex subqueries.
- Configured Jira for use by multiple departments with complex needs.
- Improved the team’s Git workflow and practices.
Lead Web Application Developer — Wildern School
June 2005 – July 2015
- Created an online school management system relied upon by staff, students, and parents.
- Analysed and implemented security and permission measures for varied user roles.
- Consulted with stakeholders to analyse requirements and determine project direction.
- Worked with the technical team to design and implement features while preserving existing functionality.
- Managed team performance, set goals, and provided training.
- Interviewed new applicants and onboarded new team members.
- Jointly created custom JS libraries to progressively load data supporting JSON/AJAX workflows.
Interests
Tabletop gaming including chess, go, Warhammer, and strategy games.
Ran an after‑school gaming club at Wildern School.