Richard – PHP, React, Laravel

A platform providing white-label solutions and inventory management for selling auxiliary travel products such as airport parking, fastrack, and other add-ons that enhance the passenger experience. The team was mainly responsible for the search and inventory microservices, as well as for implementing new features to expand the platform's functionality.

• Scoped and planned a solution to introduce a flight lookup feature, integrating with a third-party API to simplify the process of finding a suitable car park and the times required for the customer's stay;
• Lead the introduction of a parking extension feature across multiple teams and the head of architecture to allow customers to increase the length of their stay, should they miss their return flight;
• Worked with the team to improve the backlog refinement process within the squad to help understand user journeys better and reduce misunderstandings and unstated assumptions;
• Introduced a fortnightly lean coffee session to encourage the team to engage and self-organise better, and work collectively to improve team processes and communication;
• Debugged and resolved application issues.

A web-based portal supporting clinical and public health research by enabling analysts to generate anonymized synthetic datasets using AI. Built with Drupal 10, the platform allows users to upload sample data, track submission status, and access AI-generated outputs to support clinical studies and trials.

• Developed a complex multi-step form to collect user input and files for submission to the CPRD API;
• Integrated with the client's REST API to provide users with real-time feedback and access to generated datasets;
• Collaborated with the client to define and agree upon the API contract;
• Applied Domain-Driven Design (DDD) and clean architecture principles to manage data flow effectively throughout the application;
• Built a service layer for external API communication using Guzzle service descriptions to accurately parse response data into domain entities;
• Ensured the architecture supported easy extension for future API endpoint integrations.

A project for a client in the HVAC sector focused on delivering a new Drupal-based website to showcase their range of heating and cooling solutions for residential and commercial markets. The aim was to create a modern, responsive web presence aligned with the brand's identity, with particular attention to performance, accessibility, and ease of content management for future updates.

• Worked with the head of engineering to build the remaining components required for the custom Drupal theme;
• Built a custom Drupal module to provide a layout builder library to help realise the web design for the new website;
• Added components such as a carousel, sliders, and call-to-action blocks linking to other content on the website, which the client could add to pages at their discretion through Drupal's layout builder;
• Identified and fixed application issues.

A higher education institution focused on training students to become certified personal trainers. The project involved developing a lead generation website integrated with NetSuite. It was created in collaboration with marketing and sales teams to attract a high volume of quality prospects into the sales funnel.

• Collaborated with cross-functional teams across the business for requirements gathering and to understand the domain using agile methodology;
• Designed the landing page in Figma through a component library based on atomic design principles;
• Built the landing page application in Next.js with TypeScript, leveraging reusable React components to enhance UI consistency and efficiency;
• Configured and leveraged TailwindCSS to implement a responsive front-end;
• Built an analytics module to help accurately capture the lead sources to provide better data on what channels were more profitable;
• Architected a Node.js backend in the Next.js application, incorporating clean architecture/domain-driven design concepts, SOLID and the Gang of Four design patterns to model the business domain concepts in a modular and extensible manner;
• Configured and integrated with NetSuite CRM's REST API and OAuth authentication system with JWT to manage lead data integrity, and incorporated Upstash's QStash message queue system to process form submissions and mitigate slow API responses asynchronously;
• Built custom logic through custom React hooks in addition to external packages like React Hook Form and Zod for validation and improving data integrity.

A leading UK online retailer specializing in musical instruments and equipment, operating primarily in the B2C market. The business manages various aspects of e-commerce, including marketing, platform development, logistics, and distribution. The project involved leading an engineering team of eight, including project management, business analysis, testing, and software development. The role focused on improving team performance through requirements gathering, planning, mentoring, and supporting engineers, as well as facilitating collaboration across multiple teams.

• Improved the squad output through collaboration with the team to improve our agile implementation, boosting morale and working more closely with the UX team;
• Redesigned cookie controls to ensure data privacy compliance and improve user consent management;
• Scoped requirements and planned the integration with a new logistics provider to give more delivery options to customers;
• Mentored developers to consider how to improve solution design and adopt a mindset towards more reusability in the system;
• Debugged and resolved the application issues;
• Wrote tests to ensure application features function correctly.

A platform serving as an airport transfer booking agent for ski, golf, and cruise holidays. The business sold directly to customers and provided partner companies with white label solutions, widgets, and REST APIs to enable transfers booking through their own platforms. The project involved analyzing and understanding existing platform components, identifying strengths and weaknesses, and improving cohesion, feature set, redundancy, and reliability.

• Designed and migrated the platform to a new AWS infrastructure, significantly increasing concurrent user capacity;
• Refactored applications to be stateless for horizontal scaling;
• Containerized applications using Docker to enable CI/CD pipelines with immutable images, incorporating static analysis (SonarCloud/SonarQube) and automated testing;
• Improved local development environments, supporting testing workflows across multiple applications;
• Built and expanded the in-house development team, reducing reliance on external agencies;
• Facilitated agile ceremonies, conducted code reviews, and mentored developers to implement best practices and minimize production bugs;
• Analyzed application performance using tools like Blackfire, reducing API response times from several seconds to under 500 milliseconds;
• Led the design and implementation of a new search widget to simplify query processes and improve matching transfers for customers;
• Optimized database queries to speed up result delivery and automated transaction exports for the finance department, reducing reporting time from a week to under a minute.

A digital agency specializing in software solutions for a variety of clients across multiple sectors. The projects primarily involved developing marketing websites based on open-source content management systems like Drupal and WordPress. These sites featured custom functionality built from scratch or integrated with various third-party APIs to meet client needs.

• Led development for a portfolio of high-profile websites, collaborating with clients and teams to build hosting infrastructure;
• Developed key features, including automated content imports through API integrations;
• Streamlined deployment processes using CI/CD tools such as Docker, Jenkins, Capistrano, and Bamboo;
• Built backend integrations, including a SOAP API connection to CRM systems for user account management and payments;
• Provided 24/7 managed services support to ensure uptime for critical sites during major events with thousands of concurrent users;
• Led development on sports club websites, delivering time-sensitive features like fixture importers to boost fan engagement;
• Debugged applications, upgraded frameworks, and handled migrations to maintain security and reliability.