As Head of Technology at JOE Media, I drive technological transformation for enhanced audience engagement and business growth. I personally architected and led the migration of 8 content-driven websites to a cost-effective, serverless AWS infrastructure, streamlining operations and reducing cloud expenses by 33%. I excel in hands-on backend development (PHP) while mentoring a team member for increased capacity. To optimize internal processes, I implemented a new support system, boosting team efficiency. My passion lies in crafting scalable solutions that support JOE Media's content innovation and market leadership.

Led the technical direction for Kaplan Pathways' digital properties, including CMS-driven platforms (WordPress, Moodle), Angular applications, and custom integrations. Successfully managed 3 remote development and QA teams in Vietnam, optimising collaboration to deliver high-quality solutions. Championed scalable tech strategies, ensuring site stability, performance, and alignment with business goals. Built strong cross-functional relationships with product owners and key stakeholders.

Maintained and developed new functionality for the existing large multisite WordPress installation for both The Tab and babe.net. Initially joined on a short-term contract for an interim position, covering the role between the outgoing and incoming permanent developers, liaising with editorial, creative and sales teams in the UK and US. Was approached towards the end of the summer to join their team full-time as it hadn’t worked out with their previous full-time lead developer, and were very impressed with my skills, attitude and results during my brief spell earlier in the year as a contractor. Maintained a library of node.js microservices and a React app which complemented the main sites, providing tools for editors, advertising and analytics. Manage infrastructure on AWS (EC2, S3, Elastic Beanstalk, Cloud Deploy) and CircleCI for continuous integration.

Formed Spark Development to formalise my experience in creating and extending Wordpress themes and plugins, as well as stand-alone PHP applications.Within a few weeks of being formed, I was involved in the redevelopment of the website of a multinational financial services industry and the internationalisation of the UKs leading meat-free alternative foodstuffs.

I was brought on-board to provide lead back-end development and maintenance to Tab Media's existing sites and infrastructure. I was tasked with developing new features, ensuring the sites were stable and that the Node microservices that support the site were functional and in good health.

I was responsible for developing and maintaining numerous properties within News UK, both internal and public facing. I managed technical architecture within the context of each site, including interfacing with third-party APIs and developing our own internal APIs. I streamlined workflow and enhanced portability and reusability of developers across all projects through creating a common way of working across the team of developers.

I was selected to lead the project after the original developer left abruptly. I have rewritten back-end code into a more structured and manageable form. I have implemented a custom MVC structure, using Mustache to render the templates and created a consistent site-wide data layer to manage the various data sources (static, CMS, internal and external APIs) and caching strategy. I optimised the code for performance by reducing external calls and expensive database queries using transients and object caching

Successfully developed a website to host details of a new author’s books, and an accompanying Facebook page. I produced a responsive site based on professional designs and provided occasional support, and maintained renewal of domain and hosting annually

I delivered executive-level support and advice to design and develop a website for a new babywear label

I architectured and developed the theme and plugins required for a new intranet to replace the outgoing site. I wrote a suite of plugins to provide an API to power the search and supported GovSpeak, a fork of Markdown, utilised by other Government CMSs. I pulled all data in using our custom API and heavily customised the back-end to provide a stripped-down interface for content owners, including controls for our custom templates. I led transitioning of numerous of sites from the outgoing CMS to WordPress, including developing new functionality and updating the design of the sites, developing new sites from provided designs, and providing some wireframing/design services. I have collaborated with internal/external clients to develop requirements and provided guidance on site structure and functionality. I conducted maintenance of existing and new WordPress installations. I developed themes and plugins for reuse within MoJ as well as managing the GDS blog platform for the Digital Services blog. I improved the performance of the site administrators by providing training and coaching.

Requested to troubleshoot and optimise a poorly working WordPress site. Identified and resolved various issues regarding site structure and configuration. I mitigated all issues which resulted in massive speed increase with the long-term goal of increasing the company’s position in search engine results pages. I successfully reduced some problematic page loading times by over 90%.

I developed a multifunction website for a company that rents mobile phone mast across various country locations

I streamlined and enhanced visual elements for a restauranteurs website

I optimised a WordPress website dedicated to classic film posters, including improving the site for mobile/tablet displays and correcting some display issues. I successfully mitigated the site to a new host, and implemented large number of changes to improve performance and SEO/social sharing, in accordance with the clients’ expectations

I provided consultation services to a start-up, allowing musicians and composers of all levels to highlight their work for inclusion in film, television, advertising, and theatre. Spearheaded all functions of the outgoing WordPress site. I transitioned the site to a new platform and aided with other technical issues regarding hosting and email. I improved the current site by troubleshooting and debugging. Overhauled the complete implementation, improving both the UX and back-end/front-end performance of the site

I delivered support to the WordPress-based site for promoting hair and beauty providers in Essex, including the development of new features, troubleshooting problems and checking WordPress core and plugin updates before putting them live. I was selected to help rectify issues added by the previous developer, and incorporated membership and advertising functions which resulted in increasing significant revenue

Developed a WordPress site for The Economist & EE, and provided some front-end development for Disney/Weetabix HTML5 project (non-WP)

I managed a WordPress site for Unilever, with 2 locales, utilising Agile methodology, that also used custom post types and a custom-built AJAX interface to register article votes, Facebook sharing and tips. Took part in testing the site with the Ogilvy QA team to ensure passed all strict requirements

Responsible for all elements of My Kids TV including design, writing, promotion and overall management

IT Services company, specialising in Wordpress and PHP development, intranet design, implementation & support, network design & support, Microsoft Office applications support and customisation (VBA), website and blogsite design.

Part-time writer for last100.com, a website dedicated to news about our modern, digital lifestyle. Provided a number of stories for the site, some of which made the front page of digg.com

Designed, procured and managed new computer network for the new East London office for Howden Service

Modernised the computer network, growing from 1 NT server, 1 Unix server, 6 terminals and a handful of PCs to 5 Windows Servers, 60+ PCs (including laptops), over 2 locations plus remote support and network access to our field sales team across the UK. Also key player in implementing new MRP system which increased manufacturing efficiency and reduced materials stocks significantly.

Entered CVs into a recruitment database (MS Access) which powered the website