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Shane · Technical Lead

I build dependable platforms.

20+ years building scalable systems, greenfield products, and stronger engineering teams.

Technical leadership, grounded in delivery.

I design scalable web platforms and distributed systems, then help teams turn the architecture into dependable delivery. Clear constraints, proportionate complexity, and a direction the whole team can execute.

My experience spans greenfield products, business-critical integrations, platform modernisation, hiring, mentoring, and performance development. I work with stakeholders to turn ambiguity into realistic plans while balancing speed, reliability, and maintainability.

What I do best.

The tools matter, but the value is in how they are applied: shaping architecture, protecting delivery, and helping teams make better technical decisions.

20+years in software delivery
2 monthsmulti-tenant, marketing concept to production
10,000registered users on a greenfield platform
100,000'smonthly visits at scale

Architecture & Platforms

Scalable backends, distributed services, multi-tenant products, and clear API contracts.

Experience Defined the architecture and roadmap for a greenfield advertising platform at J.A.M.E.S; supported a monolith-to-microservices migration at Sixt.

Engineering Leadership

Technical direction, stakeholder alignment, hiring, mentoring, and standards that make delivery more predictable.

Experience Owned final technical decisions, designed hiring processes, and led performance development.

Reliability & Integration

Production ownership, automated testing, resilient integrations, CI/CD, and performance-first engineering.

Experience Built rate-limit and retry strategies for major travel providers and supported business-critical systems on call.

Product Delivery

Turning ambiguous requirements into working products, self-service workflows, and measurable adoption.

Experience Took a multi-tenant platform from concept to production in two months, scaling to 10,000 users and 100,000 monthly visits.

Technology supports the outcome.

A practical toolkit selected to fit the product, its constraints, and the team responsible for it.

Core Engineering

  • PHP, Laravel & SymfonyBackend platforms, product logic, and modular application architecture.
  • MySQL, JavaScript & HTML / CSSData-backed interfaces and dependable web foundations.
  • Python, Java & Spring BootComplementary ecosystems for analysis, tooling, and services.

APIs & Systems

  • REST APIs, OpenAPI & SwaggerClear contracts for internal and partner-facing integrations.
  • JSON & XMLReliable data exchange across modern and legacy systems.
  • Distributed ServicesClear boundaries, ownership, and resilience across connected systems.

Delivery & Quality

  • Docker & CI / CDRepeatable environments and safer paths to production.
  • GitHub & GitLabCollaborative review, version control, and delivery workflows.
  • PHPUnit & Automated TestingConfidence in change through focused, repeatable verification.

Documentation & Strategy

  • JiraRefinement, prioritisation, and visibility across delivery.
  • ConfluenceShared technical context, standards, and delivery documentation.

“You’ve been the No. 1 developer that’s connected to this API.”

A. Blake, Virgin Australia

Work Experience

Creator and Lead Developer

PhosPy

SEP 2025 – Current

  • Built a Python package for phosphoproteomics preprocessing, kinase analysis, and selected PhosR-style workflows
  • Designed a validation-first processing flow covering input loading, schema enforcement, preprocessing, and phosphosite matrix generation
  • Implemented both a public Python API and CLI for reproducible file-based workflows and downstream analysis
  • Defined a narrow, fixture-backed parity strategy against selected PhosR seams to keep scope explicit and technically defensible
  • Produced user-facing documentation and release packaging to support adoption by researchers working in Python

Lead Software Engineer

J.A.M.E.S

OCT 2022 – JUN 2025

  • Delivered a greenfield multi-tenant advertising platform from concept to production in 2 months, scaling to 10,000 users and 100,000 monthly visits
  • Defined system architecture and technical roadmap, making final technical decisions across the platform
  • Owned planning and refinement of stakeholder initiatives, translating business requirements into structured engineering delivery
  • Represented engineering in leadership discussions, aligning software strategy with company objectives
  • Managed stakeholder expectations and prioritisation to protect delivery focus and execution stability
  • Designed and executed hiring processes, including technical assessments and team selection
  • Conducted performance reviews and mentored engineers, fostering growth and accountability
  • Built a partner-facing CMS and analytics dashboards enabling self-service campaign management
  • Established performance-first engineering practices through UX refinement, framework modernisation, and page-speed optimisation

Full Stack Developer

Metzler Vater Digital

DEC 2021 – JUN 2022

  • Contributed to the development of a multilingual conference platform for Daimler Buses
  • Implemented modular templating engine and live-streaming features

Software Development Engineer III

Sixt

APR 2017 - SEP 2021

  • Led development of business-critical rental and fleet systems serving global operations
  • Mentored developers and defined engineering standards for code quality and documentation
  • Designed REST APIs and supported migration from monolithic architecture to microservices
  • Owned production stability as an on-call engineer for critical systems

Full Stack Developer

Travel Online

NOV 2012 - MAR 2017

  • Architected internal APIs integrating major travel providers (Virgin Australia, Expedia, Qantas, Travelport)
  • Implemented resilient rate limiting and retry strategies using asynchronous job processing
  • Normalised third-party errors into consistent internal API contracts
  • Coordinated delivery across distributed international teams

"Thank you very much for all your hard work – you have been a pleasure to deal with!"

L. Wright, Digital Distribution Specialist, Tiger Airways, Australia.

Study

Bachelor of Information & Technology Majoring in Games and Creative Technologies

University of Southern Queensland

2008

Studied externally, part-time, while working, and gained accreditation toward a Bachelor of Information and Technology majoring in Games and Creative Technologies.

  • High Distinction: Foundation Programming in C
  • Distinction: Object-Oriented Programming in C++

Diploma of Multimedia

Southern Queensland Institute of Technical and Advanced Further Education

2001

  • Design, Planning and Project Management
  • Video, Sound and Virtual Reality
  • Multimedia Authoring
  • 2D and 3D Animation

Cert. III in Computing and Multimedia

Armidale Institute of Technical and Advanced Further Education

1998

  • Image Capture and Manipulation
  • Screen Design for Interactivity
  • Business and Presentation Graphics
  • Writing for the World Wide Web
  • Sound and Vision Integration

Diploma of Business Management

Southern Queensland Institute of Technical and Advanced Further Education

1995

  • Group Problem-Solving and Decision-Making
  • Managing Information
  • Managing Effective Working Relationships

Let’s build something dependable.

For technical leadership, platform architecture, or a difficult delivery problem, start with the context.

Share what is changing, the constraints around it, and what a successful outcome needs to look like. Email is the best place to begin.

Email Email address The best place to start a conversation GitHub github.com/falconsmilie Code, experiments, and open-source work PhosPy phospy.com Current open-source project