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Experience

An overview of my work across media, sport and technology — from front-end development and live global platforms to senior engineering leadership and platform strategy.

Financial Times — Principal Engineer (Engineering Manager)

November 2021 – Present

I currently lead and develop a 30+ engineer organisation at the Financial Times, directly managing Engineering Managers and Senior Individual Contributors (Senior & Staff Engineers) across multiple teams.

My role spans technical strategy, people leadership, delivery accountability and stakeholder alignment across core editorial and publishing platforms used by FT editors, journalists and product teams around the world.

Key areas of focus include:

  • Defining technical strategy and architectural direction across both in-house and third-party editorial platforms supporting global publishing.

  • Introducing and evolving engineering standards, hiring practices and growth frameworks to improve capability and consistency at scale.

  • Driving improvements across content management workflows, metadata systems, analytics tooling and editorial interfaces.

  • Leading adoption of modern frameworks and tooling to improve reliability, developer productivity and delivery velocity.

  • Partnering closely with product, design and editorial leadership to scope complex initiatives and align engineering delivery with newsroom priorities.

  • Owning vendor strategy and commercial relationships — managing 15+ vendors, negotiating major contracts, evaluating tooling and running regular business reviews to ensure performance and value.

  • Recently contributing to the FT’s AI-assisted engineering strategy, including:

    • Work on agentic tooling

    • Defining guardrails and governance

    • Team enablement

    • Presenting findings and recommendations directly to the CTO

This role sits at the intersection of engineering leadership, platform strategy, people development and modern delivery practices.

Financial Times — Engineer → Senior Engineer I → Senior Engineer II

December 2016 – November 2021

Before moving into Principal Engineer / EM leadership, I progressed through multiple senior engineering levels at the Financial Times.

During this period, I:

  • Delivered platform features and improvements in various content publishing tools.

  • Worked primarily with React, Node.js, MongoDB and GraphQL.

  • Collaborated daily with design, product and editorial teams on user-facing experiences and publishing workflows.

  • Contributed to architecture discussions, documentation, standards and developer experience initiatives.

  • Provided technical leadership across multiple projects.

  • Line-managed 10 engineers (at different times), supporting:

    • Growth and career progression

    • Performance and wellbeing

    • Hiring, onboarding and coaching

This phase grounded my later leadership in hands-on delivery, engineering craft and team development.

Financial Times Logo
Linked entry
Financial Times

Nine years shaping the engineering platforms behind one of the world’s most trusted news organisations — spanning front-end architecture, editorial tooling, platform strategy, AI-assisted engineering, and large-scale team leadership.

Haymarket Media Group — UI Engineer → Senior Engineer

August 2012 – November 2016

At Haymarket I worked across major global brands, most notably World Athletics (IAAF) and Volkswagen Group UK.

Highlights include:

  • Delivering the World Athletics website and mobile apps (Android & iOS) with real-time global results systems.

    • Ensuring live competition data reached users within seconds, supporting world-stage moments like the 100m final.

    • Providing on-site engineering support globally at major championships:

      • World Championships

      • World Indoors

      • World Relays

      • World U20 / U18

  • Leading front-end engineering for Volkswagen Group UK’s internal intranet platform (“Desktop”):

    • Used by 16,000 employees across:

      • VW

      • Audi

      • Škoda

      • SEAT

      • VW Commercial

    • Delivering features that enabled:

      • Role management

      • Access to brand updates

      • Training and internal communications

    • Supporting the redesign and rebrand of the VW intranet, improving:

      • Usability

      • Clarity

      • Access to business-critical information

  • Building and maintaining digital products across multiple Haymarket brands, improving experiences for large editorial and commercial teams.

This period defined my experience in live data systems, global event delivery, editorial platforms and enterprise intranets.

A stylised illustration of Usain Bolt in mid-stride celebration, set against the bold World Athletics emblem. Rendered in sharp vector form with vivid championship colours, the image captures speed, dominance, and the global spectacle of athletics at its peak.
Linked entry
World Athletics, formerly known as the IAAF

A behind-the-scenes look at my time with World Athletics, powering live global coverage of athletics events. This page shows the tech architecture, UI design, and pressure-tested launches that delivered real-time sports data to millions.

A VW Golg glows under electric pink and cyan light at the edge of a neon-lit harbour, with a towering skyline shimmering across the water. The scene blends retro synthwave aesthetics with modern automotive design, turning the quiet waterfront into a stage of light, speed, and reflection.
Linked entry
Volkswagen Group

Empowering Volkswagen Group UK — Rebranding and modernising their internal “Desktop” intranet platform to deliver critical updates, training and communication to 16,000+ employees across VW, Audi, Škoda, SEAT and commercial divisions.

A high-impact vector illustration capturing hurdlers suspended mid-air over a bold yellow track, frozen in a moment of speed, precision, and explosive power. The composition distils elite sprinting into pure motion — muscle, momentum, and milliseconds separating victory from defeat.
Linked entry
Spikes Magazine

A look at my work on Spikes Magazine, the digital editorial platform for World Athletics — blending long-form storytelling, athlete profiles and culture-led coverage of the global athletics scene.

Syrox eMedia — Front-End Developer

September 2006 – July 2012

At Syrox eMedia I focused heavily on digital asset management, photography platforms, eCommerce and editorial sites.

Key projects included:

  • Developing platforms for Getty Images, including:

    • Reportage by Getty Images

    • Global Assignment

  • Leading front-end development for editorial and eCommerce clients

  • Building accessible, intuitive interfaces with a strong emphasis on:

    • Visual storytelling

    • Usability

    • Performance

This role laid the foundation for my long-term work in media-heavy, content-first digital platforms.

screenshot-www.gettyimagesgallery.com-2016-06-08-20-34-37-1612x961
Linked entry
Getty Images

A look back at my early front-end work with Getty Images — one of my first major clients — where I helped build large-scale digital platforms for visual storytelling, image discovery and creative collaboration.

Metropolitan Police Service — ITSD Support (Placement Year)

September 2004 – September 2005

I completed a university placement year within the Directorate of Information, where I:

  • Supported critical incident software

  • Provided technical assistance to officers and staff

  • Worked within a high-responsibility, operational IT environment

This gave me early exposure to mission-critical systems and public-sector technology operations.

Education

Kingston University — BSc (Hons) Computer Science

September 2002 – September 2006

Studied Computer Science with a strong foundation in:

  • Software development

  • Systems design

  • Mathematics and computing theory

  • Practical engineering through industry placement