I am a highly motivated Principal Engineer with 18+ years of experience. I have a proven track record in driving technical excellence and modernizing large-scale codebases. I lead high-performing teams, define technical roadmaps, optimize performance, and foster a culture of learning and teaching. I am passionate about solving complex user needs with robust, reusable, and scalable solutions, mentoring engineers, and building engaged, positive work environments within product-led organisations.

Kenese Lautusi

I am a highly motivated Principal Engineer with 18+ years of experience. I have a proven track record in driving technical excellence and modernizing large-scale codebases. I lead high-performing teams, define technical roadmaps, optimize performance, and foster a culture of learning and teaching. I am passionate about solving complex user needs with robust, reusable, and scalable solutions, mentoring engineers, and building engaged, positive work environments within product-led organisations.

Available to hire

I am a highly motivated Principal Engineer with 18+ years of experience. I have a proven track record in driving technical excellence and modernizing large-scale codebases. I lead high-performing teams, define technical roadmaps, optimize performance, and foster a culture of learning and teaching. I am passionate about solving complex user needs with robust, reusable, and scalable solutions, mentoring engineers, and building engaged, positive work environments within product-led organisations.

See more

Experience Level

Expert
Expert
Expert
Expert
Expert
Expert
Expert
Expert
Intermediate
See more

Language

English
Fluent

Work Experience

Principal Engineer at Atlassian
November 1, 2023 - April 1, 2026
Led delivery of Jira's AI Workflow Builder Agent, enabling in-context knowledge configuration and automation of repetitive tasks. Guided department-level initiatives including Experimentation Platform migration, feature flag management, and A/B testing, while uplifting engineering practices. Mentored engineers toward promotions and fostered cross-team collaboration, contributing to scalable frontend architectures and higher developer efficiency.
Principal Engineer at Xero
January 1, 2021 - November 1, 2023
Founded and owned a frontend product component platform, leading a seven-person team to build reusable 'smart' product components, reducing build duplication and increasing cross-team consistency. Migrated to shared component sharing to improve load performance, mentored engineers across product teams, and provided architectural guidance to uplift frontend state management and data fetching, achieving notable performance improvements.
Principal Frontend Engineer at Trade Me Ltd
July 1, 2019 - January 1, 2021
Led frontend engineering initiatives across product teams, driving modernization, performance improvements, and best practices. Played a key role in architecture decisions and cross-team collaboration to deliver scalable frontend solutions.
Frontend Evangelist / Tech Lead at Trade Me Ltd
January 1, 2018 - July 1, 2019
Provided comprehensive technical guidance and evangelism for ~70 engineers during the modernization of the Frontend stack. Developed training resources, ran sessions, and facilitated cross-office collaboration to accelerate adoption of modern frontend practices.
Developer Chapter Lead at Trade Me Ltd
July 1, 2015 - January 1, 2018
Managed a Developer Chapter of engineers, allocating leadership time to hands-on technical guidance and driving a multi-year modernization program for the frontend stack (monorepo, Angular2, Redux, RxJS Observables, Design System). Implemented cohesive coding standards and onboarding. Built strong cross-team relationships to align with product goals.
Developer at Trade Me Ltd
November 1, 2011 - July 1, 2015
Progressed from junior to senior developer, contributing to core frontend initiatives and building the new frontend stack. Led hands-on technical leadership and collaborated across product units to improve reliability, performance, and developer productivity.
Frontend Evangelist / Tech Lead at TradeMe Ltd.
January 1, 2018 - July 1, 2019
Provided comprehensive technical and architectural training and guidance for ~70 existing engineers transitioning to a modernized frontend stack. Developed diverse training resources (classroom sessions, mobility and peer programs, self-directed materials). Travel between offices to build relationships bridging central platform teams and product units; advised on complex/risky projects.
Developer Chapter Lead at TradeMe Ltd.
January 1, 2015 - January 1, 2018
Managed and mentored a team of 7 engineers; led a multi-year modernization program for the frontend stack (Monorepo, Angular2, Redux, RxJS Observables, Design System). Established coding and architectural best practices and onboarding tools for the new stack; 70% of time spent on hands-on technical leadership.
Developer at TradeMe Ltd.
January 1, 2011 - January 1, 2015
Progressed from Junior to Senior Developer; worked on the Mobile Touch site using Backbone.js and .NET API.

Education

Bachelor of Science at Victoria University of Wellington
January 1, 2005 - January 1, 2009
Bachelor of Science at Victoria University of Wellington
January 1, 2005 - November 1, 2008

Qualifications

Add your qualifications or awards here.

Industry Experience

Software & Internet, Professional Services, Media & Entertainment