Matthew Kempa

Engineering Manager @ Paddle | Prev. Spotify, IBM, Just Eat

Bristol, England, United Kingdom

About

A highly driven and organized individual with expertise in software and web development, having used a variety of languages to architect, develop, and maintain several platforms. Knowledgeable across all stages of the software development cycle, ensuring efficient delivery of high-quality, maintainable products. Combining empathy-driven design with an analytical mindset to build targeted and complete solutions for clients. An effective leader and a team player.

Experience

  • Engineering Manager at Paddle
    Mar 2025 - Present · 1 yr 4 mos

    Engineering Manager for the Settlement team.

  • Engineering Manager at TrustedHousesitters
    Mar 2024 - Mar 2025 · 1 yr 1 mo

    Engineering manager for two squads: Monetise and Content. Across 2 squads, I managed 12 engineers across multiple disciplines and in different stages of their careers. Drove the relationship with AWS account managers to build out the company cloud infrastructure roadmap and drive cost savings to our AWS bill. Led the delivery of a new checkout experience with zero downtime and a significant improvement in conversion rate. Introduced calibration within the engineering org to ensure fair pay and promotion decisions were being made. Designed the hiring process for new data engineering roles within the company.

  • Spotify (Full-time · 2 yrs 11 mos)
    • Engineering Manager
      Aug 2023 - Mar 2024 · 8 mos

    • Engineering Manager (Interim)
      Jun 2023 - Aug 2023 · 3 mos

    • Engineer II - Backend
      Sep 2022 - Aug 2023 · 1 yr

  • Just Eat Takeaway.com (2 yrs 10 mos)
    • Software Engineer
      Mar 2020 - Jun 2021 · 1 yr 4 mos

      Backend-engineer, focusing on the storage, processing, and delivery of complex restaurant Menus. Leader of multiple workstreams, delivering on large scale projects, including globalization and third-party integrations. Specialized in AWS API Gateway, Lambda, Step flows, and Dynamo in conjunction with Serverless framework. Wrote unit, integration, and end-to-end tests across the platform to ensure that releases were performant and resilient. Trusted on-call engineer, ensuring the platform is healthy and serving customers, 24/7. Creator and leader of the JET lightning talks, a global, multi-disciplined knowledge-sharing platform with over 100 regular attendees. Active in the recruitment process, both advocating for the company and interviewing candidates.

    • Graduate Software Engineer
      Sep 2018 - Mar 2020 · 1 yr 7 mos

      Rotated amongst different teams and disciplines to gain comprehensive full-stack knowledge. I specialized in Backend/.Net Core, Android development, and building the Just Eat API Gateway/API Specification. Completed extensive training modules in communication, high performing teams, and leadership. Winner of 3 consecutive company-wide hackathons, with 2 products being developed further by the business. Highly Commended at the UK STEM inspiration awards for my work promoting engineering careers and teaching. Took sole-ownership over a product and fully implemented it over a period of two months, liaising with numerous stakeholders, undertaking architectural design, building, and testing the product. Accrued a strong skill set in AWS services from architecting and implementing new solutions through to production.

    • API Engineer, Integration Services (Rotation 4)
      Sep 2019 - Feb 2020 · 6 mos

  • ID Ward (3 yrs)
    • Co-founder & Lead Front End Engineer
      Jul 2019 - Jan 2021 · 1 yr 7 mos

      Co-founder of the company, bringing ideation, intellectual property, and enterprise development experience. Grew the business through from idea to POC to MVP to Seed funding, exercising a large amount of control in both business and technical decisions. Delivered on contracts with large media publishers, including Dias Media, the largest media group in Cyprus. Worked closely with external stakeholders, presenting the technical progress regularly to non-technical stakeholders and investors. Demo’d the product at WebSummit 2019, leading to an increased interest in the product and leads on investment. Designed and implemented highly-scalable Web, Android, and iOS applications.

    • Software Developer and Partner
      Feb 2018 - Jul 2019 · 1 yr 6 mos

      - Worked in a small team to establish a scaleable technology stack that could be efficiently run and maintained. - Worked closely with the director, presenting the technical progress regularly to non-technical stakeholders. - Single-handedly designed, implemented and deployed Web, Android and iOS applications. - Active in code reviews and deployments in both my own components and my colleagues’ components