Available to hire
I’m a freelance staff-level software architect and agentic developer, with 20+ years of experience designing, building, and documenting full-stack, enterprise web applications. I work across the whole delivery lifecycle, from requirements gathering and technical specification, via design and construction, to testing and release.
I’ve worked across a range of tech stacks including Java/Spring, PHP/Laravel, and modern front-end frameworks like React/Next.js and Vue/Nuxt. My experience is varied, with projects ranging from niche startups to global enterprise scale.
Skills
Experience Level
Expert
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Intermediate
Intermediate
Beginner
Language
English
Advanced
Work Experience
Independent R&D Software Architect & Developer at Freelance
January 1, 2025 - PresentBuilt a proof-of-concept commercial newswire platform for journalists. • Used an agentic specs-to-code workflow, backed by a library of agent skills and custom prompts. • Implemented GitHub Actions CI/CD, with Dockerised services deployed to AWS ECS. • Developed event-driven microservices in Java on Spring (Boot, Data JPA, Security) with a unified API gateway and a dedicated JWT-based SSO service. • Managed versioned PostgreSQL schema via a custom Bash migration tool. • Strong testing emphasis including system-level tests and high coverage.
Software Developer III at LexisNexis Risk Solutions
January 1, 2024 - January 1, 2026Redesigned and rebuilt a flagship identity verification service. Built new HTTP API services in PHP on Laravel with role-based access controls, and integrated third-party identity data sources via REST and SOAP. Designed and implemented webhook notifications for real-time updates, plus validation services for passports, driving licences, and National Insurance numbers. Created scripts to aggregate and analyse data from a sharded database. Maintained high test coverage using Pest, instrumented services with OpenTelemetry feeding the Elastic stack and Grafana, and produced production runbooks. Automated SAST/DAST with Checkmarx and ZAP, and facilitated STRIDE-based threat modelling workshops and data flow diagram reviews.
Software Developer III (extended contract) at LEXISNEXIS RISK SOLUTIONS
January 1, 2024 - January 1, 2026Redesigned and rebuilt an identity verification service, creating new HTTP API services in PHP on Laravel with role-based access control. Integrated third-party identity sources via REST and SOAP APIs. Designed and built webhook notifications for real-time updates, implemented validation services for passports, driving licences, and National Insurance numbers, and wrote scripts to aggregate and analyse data from a sharded database. Maintained unit and integration test coverage using Pest, instrumented services with OpenTelemetry feeding the Elastic Stack and Grafana, and produced production runbooks. Automated SAST/DAST with Checkmarx and ZAP, and facilitated STRIDE/data-flow threat modelling workshops.
Contract Software Developer
January 1, 2024 - PresentSenior Software Developer at BJSS
January 1, 2021 - December 31, 2021Built a static web front-end in Nuxt with a custom Vue/TypeScript component library. Automated accessibility tests with axe and visual regression tests with WebdriverIO. Performed manual accessibility testing with assistive technologies such as NVDA, achieving WCAG 2.1 Level AA compliance.
Senior Software Developer at MOORFIELDS EYE HOSPITAL
January 1, 2021 - December 31, 2021Built a static web front-end in Nuxt with a custom Vue and TypeScript UI component library. Automated accessibility testing with axe and visual regression testing with WebdriverIO, including manual testing with assistive technologies such as NVDA. Achieved WCAG 2.1 Level AA compliance.
Senior Software Developer at BJSS (now CGI)
January 1, 2021 - January 1, 2023Replatformed a monolithic Java desktop application to cloud-native services on Azure. Implemented a micro front-end architecture using single-spa supporting parallel work streams. Maintained a Vue/TypeScript UI component library documented in Storybook. Extended back-end services in Java on the Spring Framework and designed GraphQL API services with established client-server contract standards. Worked with BAs on requirements, QA on Selenium UI tests, and platform engineers on Azure DevOps, and coordinated cross-team alignment on technical standards.
Technical Lead (rolling contract) at TimeTrack
January 1, 2020 - December 31, 2021Led a proof-of-concept automated time logging system research initiative, coordinating a remote team of contractors and freelancers. Established an RFC process to manage technical proposals and record key design decisions. Designed the core data processing algorithms with the business owner, planned an Express back-end as a modular monolith to enable decomposition to a service-oriented architecture, and built a layered architecture with an isolated domain model at its centre. Developed a React/TypeScript single-page app with a simple HTTP API, built Chrome/Firefox extensions from a single codebase, designed a scalable MySQL schema, offloaded CPU-intensive work to Node workers, and scheduled long-running jobs using Agenda backed by MongoDB.
Technical Lead at TIMETRACK
January 1, 2020 - December 31, 2021Led a proof-of-concept automated time logging system and coordinated a remote team of contractors and freelancers. Established an RFC process to manage technical proposals and record design decisions. Designed core data processing algorithms with the business owner and planned decomposition from an Express modular monolith. Built a layered architecture with an isolated domain model, developed a React/TypeScript single-page application with a simple HTTP API, and created Chrome and Firefox extensions from a single codebase. Designed a scalable MySQL schema, offloaded CPU-intensive work to Node workers, and scheduled long-running jobs with Agenda backed by MongoDB.
Technical Lead at REDGATE SOFTWARE / Helastel
January 1, 2018 - December 31, 2019Forward-deployed an engagement to migrate SQLServerCentral.com to a WordPress fork. Gathered requirements via discovery workshops and reverse engineered the legacy system, prototyping quickly to estimate cost and timelines. Established monthly checkpoints to build trust, introduced weekly integration cycles, and wrote Bash scripts to migrate 17 years of editorial and user-generated content. Switched over with minimal downtime and no subsequent production issues.
Technical Writer at CURRENCYCLOUD
January 1, 2017 - December 31, 2017Rewrote all user documentation to improve accuracy, completeness, and readability. Reverse engineered CurrencyCloud’s HTTP API into a formal OpenAPI specification.
Full-Stack Web Developer at DENGRO
January 1, 2017 - December 31, 2017Helped launch a startup B2B SaaS platform built on Laravel, designing critical user journeys with UX designers and redesigning onboarding after beta testing to improve conversion. Optimised performance by improving time-to-first-render, moved heavy processing to Laravel job queues, and managed platform localisation with translations in Phrase.
Full-Stack Web Developer at ZAPMAP
January 1, 2016 - December 31, 2017Transitioned an inherited tightly-coupled legacy system to a modular, scalable design. Administered bare-metal Linux servers (CentOS), added Nginx load balancing and Redis caching, and designed and built a new PHP HTTP API to decouple the web client from the server. Led development of a replacement React web UI and supervised native Android and iOS clients. Optimised slow MySQL queries to reduce latency using indexing, denormalisation, and simplified joins.
Front-End Web Developer at investUP
January 1, 2014 - December 31, 2016Freelance Web Developer
January 1, 2006 - January 1, 2014Technology Writer, Deputy Editor at Future Publishing (PC Plus magazine)
January 1, 2004 - December 31, 2005Technology Writer, Deputy Editor of PC Plus magazine at Future Publishing
January 1, 2004 - December 31, 2005Technology Writer at Information & Technology Publishing Co.
January 1, 2001 - December 31, 2003First-class BA (Hons) Student at University of Leeds
January 1, 1998 - December 31, 2000First-class BA (Hons) in Human Geography at University of Leeds
January 1, 1998 - January 1, 2001Education
First-class BA (Hons) in Human Geography at University of Leeds
January 1, 1998 - January 1, 2001First-class BA (Hons) in Human Geography at University of Leeds
January 1, 1998 - January 1, 2003Qualifications
iSAQB Certified Professional for Software Architecture - Foundation Level (CPSA-F)
January 11, 2030 - September 25, 2026AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
January 11, 2030 - September 25, 2026GitHub Actions Certification
January 11, 2030 - September 25, 2026Terraform Associate
January 11, 2030 - September 25, 2026iSAQB Certified Professional for Software Architecture - Foundation Level (CPSA-F)
January 11, 2030 - September 25, 2026AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
January 11, 2030 - September 25, 2026GitHub Actions Certification
January 11, 2030 - September 25, 2026Terraform Associate
January 11, 2030 - September 25, 2026Industry Experience
Software & Internet, Financial Services, Media & Entertainment, Government, Professional Services, Healthcare
Skills
Experience Level
Expert
Expert
Expert
Expert
Expert
Expert
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Expert
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Expert
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Expert
Expert
Expert
Expert
Expert
Expert
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Expert
Intermediate
Intermediate
Beginner
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