Engineering Leader & Founder
28 years building software. AWS event-driven serverless architecture at scale. Available for senior contract roles.
28 years building software, founding companies, and leading engineering teams. I run Apex Technology, a software consultancy I founded in 2001, where I hire, direct, and manage developer teams across multiple concurrent client engagements. I also operate Apex Technology Enterprises Ltd (UK, London, Companies House 15019510) for international contracting. Over three decades I have delivered across insurance, fintech, regulated lending, payments, health and biometric data, edtech and publishing, aviation, fleet and fuel, and marketplaces.
Senior backend architecture at scale. For a health and wearables company I contribute to a large AWS event-driven serverless health-data platform: 90+ Lambda functions with SNS, SQS, DynamoDB, API Gateway, and CloudWatch, provisioned through Terraform, using CQRS-style queue projections. This is biometric and wearable health data feeding major consumer-electronics partners. I also built the Flutter SDK and BLE wearable integration.
Regulated and identity-critical domains. On an insurance CIAM engagement I worked on a customer identity-platform migration to Microsoft Entra External ID with Yoti KYC identity verification, in a regulated insurance domain. On a regulated lending platform I built on loan origination, GL exports, month-end accounting, and NLR compliance.
Cross-platform at publisher scale. On an edtech and digital-publishing platform I built and maintain the eReader apps across iOS, Android, Desktop/Electron, React Native, and Flutter, serving major international publishers. The platform won an international literacy award in 2023 and the iOS apps hold 2,824 ratings at 4.1/5.
I build my own products from zero. Full ownership from concept through architecture, implementation, launch, and growth. DriverScan, an ALPR/driver-licence recognition SaaS, processes 500,000+ licences monthly on Node.js/AWS with OpenAI vision. TidyBill is a multi-tenant invoicing SaaS (React 19 + TypeScript, Laravel/PostgreSQL, Stripe, EU XRechnung eInvoicing). Earlier I founded and exited iTopItUp, a prepaid and vending distribution platform processing millions of transactions monthly across Southern Africa (exited 2013). Other products include VitaCal (AI calorie tracker), PolyBot (automated Polymarket trading bot), ProFlight (aviation training SaaS), PickMe (job-matching marketplace, ~98,000 LOC), and Profanity Remover (Whisper/FFmpeg video SaaS).
Technical depth across the full stack. TypeScript, JavaScript, Node.js, React, and React Native; AWS (Lambda, SQS, SNS, DynamoDB, API Gateway, S3, CloudWatch) with Terraform; serverless, microservices, event-driven architecture, and CQRS; Go; Python; PHP/Laravel; Flutter (6+ years in production); Swift/iOS (since 2010); Kotlin/Java Android (since 2008); Cloudflare Workers; PostgreSQL; OpenAI, Whisper, and vision AI; Solidity.
At Apex Technology I set engineering standards, hire developers, and manage delivery across multiple client engagements running in parallel. I work directly with founders and product leads to translate business priorities into shipped outcomes.
Every product I have built started with me alone: architecture, implementation, infrastructure, launch. I do not wait for a team to form or a spec to arrive. I ship, learn, and iterate.
Lightweight systems that increase throughput, not bureaucracy. I care about velocity, code quality, and whether the product works for users. Process exists to serve those outcomes.
Pre-PMF, early-stage, greenfield, or legacy rescue. I have operated in all of them. I make decisions with incomplete information, adjust fast, and keep shipping.
Production AWS at scale: Lambda, SQS, SNS, DynamoDB, API Gateway, S3, and CloudWatch, provisioned with Terraform. Event-driven design and CQRS-style queue projections on a platform spanning 90+ Lambda functions.
Serverless and microservice backends carrying biometric, payments, and regulated workloads. Decoupled, queue-driven systems built to scale and observe in production.
Node.js, Go, Python, PHP/Laravel, PostgreSQL. REST and event-driven APIs, Cloudflare Workers on the edge, Firebase, AWS, and Google Cloud.
CIAM identity-platform work on Microsoft Entra External ID with Yoti KYC verification. Regulated lending and insurance domains: loan origination, GL exports, month-end accounting, and compliance.
TypeScript, JavaScript, React 19, and React Native across front ends and backends. Modern type-safe full-stack delivery.
OpenAI APIs, vision models, and Whisper speech-to-text in production: ALPR/document recognition, image classification, and audio processing pipelines.
6+ years of production Flutter and Dart. SDKs, BLE wearable integration, enterprise apps, and consumer products across iOS, Android, and desktop.
iOS in Swift and Objective-C since 2010, Android in Kotlin and Java since 2008. Cross-platform desktop with Electron. Shipped at publisher scale.
Solidity smart contracts on Ethereum. Custom contracts for private chains and automated on-chain trading (Web3).
Founded and built this SaaS from scratch. ALPR and driver-licence recognition processing 500,000+ licences monthly. Node.js on AWS with OpenAI vision, REST API, and offline Android SDK.
Founded and built an AI calorie tracker for women. Photo-based meal logging using AI vision. Freemium subscription model, live on iOS App Store and Google Play.
Founded and built a multi-tenant invoicing SaaS. React 19 + TypeScript front end, Laravel/PostgreSQL API, Stripe billing, and EU eInvoicing (XRechnung) compliance.
Founded and built an automated Polymarket trading bot in Python and Web3, executing on-chain against 5-minute crypto prediction markets.
Contributing to a large AWS event-driven serverless health-data platform: 90+ Lambda functions with SNS, SQS, DynamoDB, API Gateway, and CloudWatch, provisioned via Terraform, using CQRS-style queue projections over biometric and wearable data. Also built the Flutter SDK and BLE wearable integration. Major consumer-electronics partners.
Insurance/fintech CIAM identity-platform migration to Microsoft Entra External ID with Yoti KYC identity verification, in a regulated insurance domain. Subcontract engagement.
Senior developer. Built and maintain the cross-platform eReader apps across iOS, Android, Desktop/Electron, React Native, and Flutter, serving major international publishers. The platform won an international literacy award (2023); the iOS apps hold 2,824 ratings at 4.1/5.
Founded and building an aviation training SaaS as a licensed pilot (PPL, night rating, complex aircraft rating). Built on Laravel/Filament, digitising flight school progress report forms.
Founded and built a job-matching marketplace, ~98,000 lines of code across Fastify, Flutter, and PostgreSQL with Firebase.
Founded and built a video audio censoring SaaS. Detects and bleeps profanity using Whisper speech-to-text and FFmpeg, with Cloudflare Workers on the edge. Built in Python.
Founded and built an AI-powered fitness platform generating personalised training plans. Integrates with Strava/Garmin, uses OpenAI for adaptive coaching.
Founded and built a vending and prepaid distribution platform. Millions of transactions per month, point-of-sale installations across Southern Africa. Exited 2013.
Regulated lending and loan-management platform: loan origination, GL exports, month-end accounting, and NLR compliance. Backend integrations and data-processing pipelines.
Led development of the full stock management and mobile ordering system in React Native. Deployed on iOS App Store and Google Play.
Built iOS and Android EMS tracking system for dispatch to locate responders in real-time.
Led engineering across three products: ephemeral social chat app (React Native), parental control solution (iOS/Android), and blockchain-based currency (Solidity contracts).
Fuel management and fleet tracking solutions for the logistics industry.
FFmpeg prebuilt binaries with proprietary codecs for NW.js/Chromium. Created and actively maintained. 99 forks, 219 releases, 744,000+ total downloads via npm. Referenced in the official NW.js documentation and used by the global NW.js developer community.
Template freelance developer contract. 28 forks. A community resource that developers actually use and share for their own client engagements.
Also: iOS-pkcs7-decrypt (PKCS7 S/MIME decryption, C/OpenSSL), EasyJSWKWebView (WKWebView JS bridge), PrinterBridge (React Native Bluetooth printer bridge), rn-crypto (RSA crypto for React Native), luno-fetcher (Luno exchange API), ZBar-android (Android barcode scanning).