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 (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.
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.
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.
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.
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