Guelph, Ontario, Canada
I am a Software Development Leader with 16+ years of experience specialized in building high-performing teams and resilient, distributed systems. I bridge the gap between business strategy and deep technical execution, having played a pivotal role in a startup’s journey to a $1.1B Series C valuation. I thrive at the intersection of long-term planning and high-velocity delivery. My leadership focuses on organizational design, establishing technical governance, and aligning engineering roadmaps with organizational goals. My leadership philosophy is built on autonomy with accountability. I believe in providing my people the trust and curiosity-driven environment they need to innovate, but I anchor that freedom to clear business outcomes and data-driven results. Success isn’t just about shipping software—it's about fostering a culture of continuous growth and innovation. What I Deliver: ✅ Scalable Systems – Modernized legacy platforms, achieving 40% scalability improvements and 23% infrastructure cost savings while maintaining 99.9% uptime. ✅ High-Performing Teams – Cultivated a culture of innovation, inclusion, and mentorship, driving a 96% success rate on quarterly commitments. ✅ AI & Process Innovation – Leveraged AI-driven tools and Agile methodologies to optimize workflows, improve team efficiency, and enhance CI/CD pipelines. ✅ Business Impact – Helped propel a startup to a $1.1B Series C valuation, boosting client satisfaction by 17% and reinforcing market leadership. Technical Growth & Innovation (2024 – Present) During a recent strategic sabbatical, I intentionally modernized my toolkit to stay ahead of the 2026 tech landscape. This period of "technical research and consulting" allowed me to dive deep into: AI & LLMs: Built custom LLM implementations in Python, exploring RAG pipelines and agentic workflows and orchestrations within Multi-Agent Systems (MAS). Modern Architecture: Learning Go (Golang) and GCP for low-latency, high-concurrency systems. FinTech Research: Studied the inner workings of equity trading systems, blockchain protocols, and order-matching engines. Hands-on Consulting: Provided architectural guidance for a real estate SaaS platform, focusing on robust SQL database design, RESTful API architecture, and modernizing front-end delivery via React. Currently exploring my next challenge in Engineering Management or Senior Technical Leadership. Let’s connect if you’re looking for someone to build resilient systems and the teams that run them.
Strategic Engineering Research & Systems Development | Independent | July 2024 – Present Following an 8-year tenure at Benevity, I pivoted into a dedicated period of independent technical research and systems development. My focus has been on exploring new AI workflows and the intersection of Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) and Cloud-Native Architecture to drive higher operational efficiency in the next generation of software delivery. AI Orchestration & MAS: Researched and implemented agentic workflows and RAG pipelines, focusing on the practical application of Multi-Agent Systems to automate complex SDLC tasks. High-Concurrency Systems: Developed distributed systems using Go and GCP, evaluating performance gains of modern cloud-native stacks against legacy architectural patterns. Security & Governance Frameworks: Advanced my expertise in Application Security (AppSec) and OWASP governance standards, integrating these protocols into a modernized "Security-by-Design" leadership model. Technical Portfolio Labs: Designed and built a suite of personal passion projects, including a custom home automation assistant and cloud-native SaaS prototypes, to maintain deep technical currency with the latest backend frameworks. Engineering Leadership Evolution: Refined data-driven management strategies centred on FinOps, DORA metrics, and an "Autonomy with Accountability" framework to maximize engineering ROI.
Organizational Leadership: Directed two high-performing cross-functional teams (13 engineers), achieving the highest quarterly delivery rate in the engineering organization through a culture of "Autonomy with Accountability." Scale & Valuation: Played a key role in technical delivery during a hyper-growth phase that reinforced a $1.1B+ valuation, ensuring system stability for millions of global users. FinOps & Efficiency: Optimized infrastructure and backend workflows, resulting in 23% infrastructure cost savings while maintaining 99.9% uptime for mission-critical services. Innovation: Spearheaded the integration of AI-driven development tools into the SDLC, boosting team velocity by 30% and modernizing CI/CD pipelines.
Infrastructure Modernization: Led a team of 8 through a multi-year Legacy Modernization effort, transitioning from a monolith to a Cloud-Native Microservices architecture that increased release frequency by 3x. Engineering Standards (TDD): Established Test-Driven Development and automated quality gates as departmental standards, resulting in a 45% reduction in production incidents. Operational Excellence: Re-engineered Agile workflows to prioritize Technical Debt Reduction alongside feature delivery, securing executive buy-in for long-term platform health. Talent Development: Scaled the team through Technology Recruitment and active mentorship, with three direct reports successfully transitioning into Senior/Lead roles.
Platform Transformation: Architected and executed a major Legacy Modernization overhaul of the core product, transitioning the stack to support high-growth market demands and securing several Tier-1 enterprise clients. Agile Transformation & Scrum Mastery: Acted as the founding Scrum Master for newly formed teams, establishing a predictable high-performance delivery rhythm that increased sprint velocity by 63% within the first 6 months. Scalable Architecture & CI/CD: Designed and implemented robust CI/CD pipelines and automated testing frameworks, reducing manual deployment overhead and ensuring 99.9% environment stability. Technical Governance: Led the adoption of Code Review standards and Refactoring initiatives that reduced technical debt in core modules, improving overall system maintainability for the wider engineering org.
Enterprise Solution Delivery: Engineered and maintained high-performance, web-based applications for a portfolio of medium to large enterprise clients, utilizing PHP (Symfony) and SQL to solve complex business automation challenges. Full-Lifecycle Ownership: Acted as the primary technical point of contact, leading projects from initial ideation and database schema design through to deployment and client handover. Legacy Modernization & Optimization: Optimized large-scale MySQL and MS SQL databases for performance, ensuring data integrity and scalability for high-traffic enterprise systems. Technical Consulting: Bridged the gap between technical requirements and business goals, providing project management and leadership to ensure seamless execution and high client satisfaction scores. Frontend Architecture: Developed responsive, user-centric interfaces using JavaScript (AngularJS) and Bootstrap, ensuring cross-browser compatibility and modern UX standards.