I am a Senior PHP Developer with over 20 years of experience designing and maintaining backend systems, API-driven architectures, and modernising legacy platforms. I specialise in scalable, secure, and maintainable solutions, RESTful APIs, and production-grade reliability. I lead teams through regular code reviews, mentoring, and coaching to raise engineering standards and confidence, while staying hands-on with development in Agile environments. I hold an active Security Clearance (SC) and thrive in permanent senior roles where I can mentor engineers and contribute lasting value to organisations. In recent years I’ve led multi-team deliveries on government and public-sector programs, improving performance, governance, and DevOps practices. I value automated testing, secure coding, and building teams that can maintain and evolve systems long-term. I’m passionate about pragmatic delivery and clean code, and I enjoy shaping both technology and people to achieve long-term business objectives.

Dennis Nowland

I am a Senior PHP Developer with over 20 years of experience designing and maintaining backend systems, API-driven architectures, and modernising legacy platforms. I specialise in scalable, secure, and maintainable solutions, RESTful APIs, and production-grade reliability. I lead teams through regular code reviews, mentoring, and coaching to raise engineering standards and confidence, while staying hands-on with development in Agile environments. I hold an active Security Clearance (SC) and thrive in permanent senior roles where I can mentor engineers and contribute lasting value to organisations. In recent years I’ve led multi-team deliveries on government and public-sector programs, improving performance, governance, and DevOps practices. I value automated testing, secure coding, and building teams that can maintain and evolve systems long-term. I’m passionate about pragmatic delivery and clean code, and I enjoy shaping both technology and people to achieve long-term business objectives.

Available to hire

I am a Senior PHP Developer with over 20 years of experience designing and maintaining backend systems, API-driven architectures, and modernising legacy platforms. I specialise in scalable, secure, and maintainable solutions, RESTful APIs, and production-grade reliability. I lead teams through regular code reviews, mentoring, and coaching to raise engineering standards and confidence, while staying hands-on with development in Agile environments. I hold an active Security Clearance (SC) and thrive in permanent senior roles where I can mentor engineers and contribute lasting value to organisations.

In recent years I’ve led multi-team deliveries on government and public-sector programs, improving performance, governance, and DevOps practices. I value automated testing, secure coding, and building teams that can maintain and evolve systems long-term. I’m passionate about pragmatic delivery and clean code, and I enjoy shaping both technology and people to achieve long-term business objectives.

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Experience Level

Expert
Expert
Expert
Expert
Expert
Expert
Expert
Intermediate
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Language

English
Fluent

Work Experience

Delivery Manager at CGI – Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) Account
August 1, 2025 - November 1, 2025
Directed delivery across multiple Platform and Data teams, improving productivity and managing dependencies. Facilitated Agile ceremonies, provided structured sprint updates, and maintained real-time risk dashboards. Monitored team velocity and capacity to support forecasting and roadmap planning. Established transparency through stakeholder dashboards and reporting.
Agile Coach / Senior Scrum Master at CGI – Northern Ireland Courts & Tribunals (NICTS) Account
August 1, 2024 - August 1, 2025
Led Agile transformation across three cross-functional teams and Scrum of Scrums across two time zones. Implemented governance for dependencies, risks, testing, and change requests; designed executive dashboards for sprint progress and system change tracking; coordinated quarterly Iteration Planning and backlog prioritisation.
Senior Delivery Manager at CGI – Central Government Smart Meters (SmartDCC) Account
November 1, 2023 - August 1, 2024
Championed Agile adoption and embedded Definitions of Ready and Done. Promoted structured backlog refinement, improved estimation accuracy, and established programme-wide communication frameworks and dashboards. Partnered with senior stakeholders to maintain strategic workflows and introduced Git-based release practices.
Agile Coach / Scrum Master at CGI – Central Government Courts (CDE) Account
January 1, 2022 - November 1, 2023
Led a 16-member project; Optimised Jira and Confluence workflows; provided Agile coaching and stakeholder collaboration; shielded development team from distractions to maintain focus. Oversaw cross-team delivery and governance to meet delivery targets.
Agile Coach / Scrum Master at CGI – Central Government Courts (DCF) Account
August 1, 2022 - January 1, 2023
Led the discovery backlog, aligning work with the Definition of Ready; directed the project to surpass delivery targets, completing 12 tickets (vs 10). Used Kanban for requirements breakdown and coached teams in Scrum practices and stakeholder collaboration.
Project Manager/Team Lead at CGI – Programme (M&T)
January 1, 2022 - August 1, 2022
Handled initial reporting stage for CGI-owned program, delivering 12 reports for Educational staff. Used Kanban for requirements breakdown, set up Jira, and coached 14 junior members in Agile ceremonies; engaged stakeholders using Fail Fast methods to improve productivity.
Senior Software Engineer at CGI – Glasgow Council Refuse Service (OBS21) Account
January 1, 2022 - April 1, 2022
Led UI for the Refuse service, introduced Jira as the main backlog item; transitioned project from waterfall to Agile, expanding the development team and delivering all requirements; established Epics, User Stories, Tasks, and Defects for clear visibility.
Team Lead / Senior Full Stack Developer at Singula Decisions
January 1, 2013 - April 1, 2022
Joined a fast-growing startup delivering PPV event services; built and evolved the platform from CodeIgniter to Laravel; managed performance monitoring, traffic analysis, and real-time optimization to support 50,000+ purchases per hour during live events; led Agile ceremonies and maintained high engineering standards.
Freelance Web Development at Nowland Designs
January 1, 2003 - April 1, 2013
Full-stack development with PHP and C#, front-end work in HTML/CSS/JS; conducted regular client meetings, reviewed progress, and produced user documentation; managed business finances and project administration while building a broad freelance portfolio.

Education

BSc Software Engineering at Fife College, Kirkcaldy
January 1, 1995 - January 21, 2026
HND Computer Science at Fife College, Kirkcaldy
January 1, 1993 - January 21, 2026

Qualifications

Certified Scrum Master – Scrum Alliance
January 1, 2022 - January 21, 2026
SAFe Scrum Master v6 – SAFe Foundation
January 1, 2025 - January 21, 2026

Industry Experience

Software & Internet, Government, Professional Services, Education