Self-Directed Engineering - git.lair.cafe

Founder & Principal Engineer - Remote

2026 ~ present

A deliberate period of independent R&D. Building production-grade systems from first principles across LLM inference, distributed infrastructure, and low-level systems programming. Every project ships as open source under self-hosted CI/CD, packaging, and deployment, exercising the full stack from io-uring syscalls to multi-node GPU orchestration. The through-line is the same one I've followed for two decades: hard problems in domains without a ready-made playbook.

• cortex: A Rust reverse-proxy and fleet-management layer for multi-node GPU inference clusters. Presents a unified model catalogue across heterogeneous nodes, routes requests with transparent cold-load and eviction, translates between OpenAI and Anthropic API formats, and runs in-process inference via Candle with a dedicated CUDA thread per GPU.
• cichlid: A decentralised observability and orchestration mesh for bare-metal fleets. Each node independently discovers and monitors peers with no central coordinator, gates privileged operations (IPMI power, certificate provisioning) on x509 trust, and integrates step-ca, WireGuard, and OPNsense.
• gongfoo: Ephemeral, autoscaling Gitea Actions runners on Podman. Scales with queue depth, spawns single-use isolated containers, balances placement across hosts, and uses per-host label restrictions to protect specialised hardware. Replacing static, long-lived bare-metal runners with mTLS-secured, on-demand capacity.
• beat: An inference-powered video description platform. Segments video into variable-length "beats" by contextual change rather than fixed intervals, decodes frames in-process via libav bindings (no subprocess calls), and delegates scene understanding to LLM endpoints while owning segmentation and orchestration internally.
• monsoon: A fast BitTorrent client for the GNOME desktop and headless servers, built on a custom io-uring engine. Ships as both a Tauri/GTK desktop app and a headless REST server with WebSocket metrics streaming and webhook automation, from one shared Rust core.
• swym: An automated trading strategy backtester and paper-trading engine built on barter-rs. Defines strategies through a JSON rule DSL (composable EMA/RSI/Bollinger conditions, no Rust required), computes indicators at tick granularity, and uses content-hash strategy identity to compare performance across instruments.
• tidal: A CPAP/PAP therapy data analysis tool: own your breathing data. Parses every event and waveform sample from device SD cards (EDF decoding, Löwenstein and ResMed) behind a stateless HTTP API with an embedded web UI and 30-language localisation including RTL. A modern alternative to legacy clinical tooling.

Stack: Rust, TypeScript, Svelte, React | Axum, Tokio, Candle, Tauri, GTK | PostgreSQL, SQLite, libSQL | Podman, io-uring, CUDA, systemd, Gitea Actions

Quantus - quantus.com

Infrastructure & Operations Lead - Bali, Indonesia

November 2024 ~ December 2025

Quantus is building a post-quantum blockchain. A domain where almost nothing is off-the-shelf. I owned the full infrastructure stack: bare-metal servers, networking, cryptographic key management, CI/CD, and observability. The challenge was making bleeding-edge cryptography run reliably in production on self-hosted hardware.

• Built and operated geographically distributed validator infrastructure with automated provisioning, upgrades, and fault recovery, no cloud provider, no safety net.
• Designed secure networking and key lifecycle management around post-quantum signature schemes (ML-DSA), including cryptographic agility for future algorithm transitions.
• Integrated AI tooling into daily engineering workflows, design review, code generation, incident analysis, materially accelerating a small team's output without sacrificing rigour.
• Developed GPU-accelerated Proof-of-Work mining implementations in Rust and C++ (CUDA), including kernel-level performance tuning.

Stack: Rust, TypeScript, Python, Bash | Linux, systemd, bare-metal | PostgreSQL, MinIO | Substrate, CUDA

Omantel - omantel.om

Application Lifecycle Management - Muscat, Oman

November 2023 ~ February 2024 (4 month contract)

Brought in as a senior advisor to help Oman's national telecom modernise its application delivery and cloud practices. The organisation had hundreds of applications at varying levels of cloud readiness, and no consistent framework for assessing or prioritising them.

• Designed and delivered an Application Maturity Matrix, a structured assessment of cloud readiness, security posture, and automation maturity across the application portfolio, with visual dashboards that gave leadership a clear modernisation roadmap.
• Ran hands-on workshops and one-to-one mentoring with application and project leads, improving alignment between development teams and platform capabilities.
• Built AI-driven CI/CD automation prototypes that reduced manual deployment overhead and improved consistency across teams.
• Advised on Kubernetes and OpenShift container strategy across AWS and Azure, focusing on portability and operational standardisation.

Stack: AWS, Azure, OpenShift, Kubernetes | Docker, Jenkins, GitLab CI | Bash, Git

Manta - manta.network

Infrastructure and Security Lead - Remote

April 2021 ~ November 2023 (2 years, 9 months)

Manta builds privacy-preserving blockchain protocols. I led infrastructure, security, and DevSecOps for a fully remote team, responsible for everything from cloud architecture to threat mitigation across a platform handling millions of daily inbound network events.

• Defined and evolved a multi-provider infrastructure spanning AWS, Hetzner bare-metal, and private data centres, hundreds of continuously deployed services with unified Infrastructure-as-Code orchestration.
• Embedded security controls directly into CI/CD pipelines, so infrastructure changes met production and compliance standards by default rather than by review.
• Architected and operated a high-volume network protection system processing millions of daily events, significantly improving availability and reducing operational risk.
• Mentored infrastructure engineers and served as the technical bridge between protocol, application, and operations teams, translating platform capabilities into practical delivery guidance.

Stack: Rust, TypeScript, Python, Bash | AWS, Hetzner, Docker, Terraform | React, Git

Mozilla - mozilla.com

Infra-Ops Cloud Engineering Lead - Remote

April 2015 ~ April 2022 (7 years)

Seven years as permanent staff, leading cloud and platform engineering for the infrastructure behind Firefox's build, test, and release pipeline — systems that validated every release shipped to hundreds of millions of users across Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android.

• Drove successive multi-cloud migrations across AWS, GCP, and Azure as part of ongoing cost optimisation and vendor risk management for a multi-million-dollar monthly cloud spend. Designed architectures that prioritised portability and provider-agnostic patterns so the next migration would be less painful than the last.
• Built an end-to-end automated pipeline for producing Windows CI build images from unattended OS install through software orchestration, security hardening, and integration testing, eliminating days of manual work per image refresh.
• Created observability and status platforms providing real-time visibility into infrastructure health across regions and providers, enabling blue/green deployments for critical CI infrastructure changes.
• Collaborated across a fully remote, globally distributed organisation, contributing to architectural design reviews, operational standards, and long-term infrastructure roadmaps.

Stack: Rust, Go, Python, PowerShell, Bash, C# | AWS, GCP, Azure, Kubernetes, Docker, Terraform | React, AngularJS | Git, Mercurial

Bank for International Settlements - bis.org

Software and Infrastructure Lead - Basel, Switzerland

October 2014 ~ March 2015 (6 month contract)

Built bespoke applications for monitoring incoming collateral and securities data from Bloomberg at the world's oldest international financial institution.

• Designed workflow orchestration using BizTalk with FIX/ML entry points and Web API endpoints for data validation and processing.
• Built an AngularJS front-end consuming a RESTful API to provide real-time views of securities moving through the processing pipeline.

Stack: AngularJS, Bootstrap, Web API 2, Entity Framework 6 | SQL Server 2012, TFS | PowerShell

IHS - ihs.com

Software Developer - Kingsbridge, United Kingdom

May 2014 ~ October 2014 (6 month contract)

Returned to IHS to build ASP.NET web applications and NServiceBus messaging systems supporting the IHS Connect risk platform, working in an agile/scrum environment with geo-spatial data processing.

Stack: JavaScript, ASP.NET MVC, NServiceBus | SQL Server 2008, TFS, TeamCity

Beazley - beazley.com/uk

DevOps Architecture Engineer - London, United Kingdom

November 2013 ~ April 2014 (6 month contract)

Led the DevOps transformation for Beazley's flagship insurance application suite.

• Migrated the organisation from Perforce to GitHub Enterprise, bringing modern branching workflows and code review practices to the development teams.
• Built an internal Hyper-V cloud with automated multi-VM environment creation, enabling developers to spin up complete deployment environments on demand.
• Streamlined .NET deployment tooling using Chocolatey and NuGet, with validation and auditing tools to manage rapidly changing configurations across NServiceBus, WCF, and ASP.NET MVC services.

Stack: Git, GitHub Enterprise, Perforce, TeamCity | PowerShell, AngularJS, Bootstrap | Web API 2, NServiceBus | SQL Server 2008

Maersk Line - maersk.com / UST Global - ust.com

Transition Manager - Copenhagen, Denmark / Bangalore, India

April 2013 ~ November 2013 (9 month contract)

Managed the knowledge transfer of Maersk Line's DevOps functions — CI, release management, source control, environment provisioning — from their Copenhagen team to UST Global's offshore operation in Bangalore.

• Led a DevOps team of build engineers using lean/scrum to distribute a diverse workload across the team while maintaining quality through the transition.
• Built and maintained a cross-platform Python automation framework (inspired by Chef/Puppet) that orchestrated interactions with SSH, Git, SVN, Hudson, Maven, Nexus, WebLogic, Oracle, Vagrant, and the ELK stack.
• Spent an extended period in Bangalore hiring, training, and onboarding the new offshore team, translating the mature working practices of the departing Copenhagen team into a dynamic new operation.

Stack: Git, SVN, Hudson | Python, Bash | Vagrant, VirtualBox | Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kibana

RWE Supply and Trading GmbH (RWEST) - rwe.com/trading

Continuous Integration Architect - Essen, Germany

February 2011 ~ April 2013 (2 years, 3 months)

Owned release management and CI/CD across the risk development teams at one of Europe's largest energy trading firms.

• Championed and administered the DVCS and CI stack (Atlassian Stash, Crucible, FishEye, TeamCity, Jira, Confluence) and built integrations between them.
• Developed database snapshotting, promotion, and migration tooling for Oracle Exadata, enabling safe, repeatable database releases alongside application deployments.
• Set up NuGet and Nexus artifact repositories, bringing dependency management discipline to the .NET and Java teams.
• Contributed to the delivery of the company's first globally consolidated risk reporting platform. Integrated, real-time views of risk indicators across multiple granularity and aggregation levels.
• Piloted migration of project infrastructure to AWS/EC2 as a cost-saving initiative, including automated spin-up of complete virtual environments.

Stack: TeamCity, Git, SVN | ASP.NET MVC, C#, PL/SQL | Oracle Exadata, AWS/EC2 | PowerShell, Bash | VirtualBox

Keane Switzerland

Technical Architecture Consultant - Fribourg, Switzerland

July 2010 ~ February 2011 (8 month contract)

Built SharePoint and Windows Workflow Foundation interfaces to large SAP ERP systems for clients including Nestle. Introduced continuous integration and test-driven development practices while mentoring the team and client stakeholders in C#/.NET architecture and design patterns.

Stack: TeamCity, WPF | SQL Server 2008 | C#, .NET

Visa Europe - visa.co.uk

Technical Architecture Consultant - Reading, United Kingdom

March 2009 ~ July 2010 (1 year, 5 months)

Built geo-tagged, location-based fraud profiling and real-time monitoring systems for Visa Europe's mission-critical transaction infrastructure.

• Developed near-real-time fraud mapping using ArcGIS and Dundas Maps, giving analysts visual location data on fraudulent transactions as they happened.
• Led the .NET development programme, introducing C# 4.0 language features and modern patterns (MEF, WPF, Silverlight, ASP.NET MVC, WCF) to the team.
• Championed CI practices using MSBuild and Team System, and promoted scalable enterprise architecture patterns across the development organisation.

Stack: jQuery, ASP.NET MVC, WCF, WPF | TFS, MSBuild | SQL Server 2008, IBM DB2

Charteris PLC

Associate - Basingstoke, United Kingdom / San Jose, Costa Rica

March 2007 ~ December 2008 (1 year, 9 months)

Served as technical architect, team lead, and senior developer on Charteris' associates programme, working on ecommerce platforms and integrations.

• Played a key role in restructuring the game.co.uk and gamestation.co.uk brands. Building the ASP.NET/WCF white-label platform and the WCF services layer that unified warehousing, stock control, and catalogue management across Game Group's acquired companies.
• Led a team of 6 developers building a new ecommerce checkout and order fulfilment application for Game (2007).
• Relocated to Costa Rica (2008) to set up and manage Charteris' offshore operation: recruited and managed a development team of 12 and a testing team of 5, coordinating budget, logistics, and the full project lifecycle with clients and partners.

Stack: ASP.NET, WCF, jQuery | SQL Server 2005/2008

British Telecom (BT Exact) - bt.com

Build Manager - London, United Kingdom

January 2007 ~ February 2007 (2 month contract)

Delivered deployment and staging environments for a high-profile ecommerce website, managing automated deployments across complex, secure environments using TFS, Commerce Server 2007, SharePoint, BizTalk, and Verified by Visa.

Stack: ASP.NET, TFS | SQL Server

Health Protection Agency - gov.uk/hpa

Technical Architect - London, United Kingdom

August 2006 ~ December 2006 (5 month contract)

Designed and built an advanced tuberculosis surveillance and reporting system at the Centre for Infections, monitoring disease outbreaks and patient care across the UK.

• Delivered GIS-based geographical analysis of disease trends, giving public health teams visual insight into outbreak patterns.
• Owned system architecture, build/release infrastructure, and requirements negotiations with clinical stakeholders.

Stack: ASP.NET, C#, AJAX | SQL Server 2005, Reporting Services | GIS/Mapping

Atos Origin - atos.net

Associate - Reading, United Kingdom

February 2006 ~ July 2006 (6 month contract)

Built a flagship quotation engine for Vanco PLC on .NET 2.0, handling solution design and configuration management. Introduced the team to continuous integration with CruiseControl.NET and MSBuild, and advocated agile methodology and test-driven development across the business.

Stack: ASP.NET, C# | SQL Server | CruiseControl.NET, MSBuild

Conchango

Lead Developer - Nottingham, United Kingdom

October 2005 ~ February 2006 (5 month contract)

Led development of mission-critical pharmacy dispensing systems for Boots PLC — one of the UK's first large-scale .NET 2.0 implementations at this level of complexity. Worked in a high-calibre agile/scrum team with Conchango, Boots, IBM, and Microsoft, integrating NHS and commercial enterprise systems with a SQL Server 2005 back-end.

Stack: WinForms, C#, .NET 2.0 | SQL Server 2005 | TFS

M-Corp

Senior Developer - Ringwood, United Kingdom

August 2005 ~ October 2005 (3 month contract)

Built bespoke web solutions for clients including Motorola and the RNLI, using M-Corp's Continuity CMS framework. Ported the existing .NET 1.1 codebase to run on Linux and macOS via Mono, and developed complex PDF generation using the iTextSharp libraries.

Stack: ASP.NET, C#, XSL/XSLT | SQL Server | Trac, SVN

British Telecom (BT Exact) - bt.com

Senior Developer - Exeter, United Kingdom

June 2005 ~ August 2005 (3 month contract)

Developed transaction-based messaging applications enabling simultaneous PSTN and ADSL provisioning for UK broadband customers — essentially, the systems behind all BT broadband delivery. Migrated legacy C++ and VB.NET code to C# with comprehensive NUnit test coverage, and formalised enterprise integration patterns using a pipes-and-filters message handling architecture.

Stack: C#, ASP.NET, MSMQ | SQL Server | MSBuild, NAnt, NUnit

Centrax Ltd - centraxgt.com

Business Process Manager - Newton Abbot, United Kingdom

October 2004 ~ April 2005 (7 month contract)

Led development of stock forecasting and ERP systems at a gas turbine manufacturer, managing a small team. Built bespoke PHP and Perl web applications integrated with Crystal Reports and an AS/400 DB2 back-end. The manufacturing environment demanded flexibility and a hands-on, problem-solving approach.

Stack: PHP 4/5, Perl, C++ | DB2, AS/400 | Crystal Reports

Devon County Council - devon.gov.uk

Senior Developer - Exeter, United Kingdom

June 2004 ~ October 2004 (5 month contract)

Designed and maintained the reporting infrastructure for Devon's eGovernment programme, building complex Oracle/Crystal Reports solutions and advising staff and contractors on SQL, PL/SQL, and Business Objects administration.

Stack: Java, Crystal Reports | Oracle, PL/SQL

Txtnation LLP - txtnation.com

Technical Architect - Plymouth, United Kingdom

September 2002 ~ June 2004 (1 year, 10 months)

First developer at this mobile solutions startup. As the company grew, I took on responsibility for a team of developers, building the PHP applications that powered mobile service delivery, payment gateways, and internal reporting. Managed the migration from MySQL to Oracle as the platform scaled.

Stack: PHP, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle

BSc (Hons), Computer Systems and Networks (2:1) - plymouth.ac.uk

University of Plymouth, United Kingdom

1999 ~ 2003

Completed my studies with honours and received an upper second class bachelor of science. This was a four year sandwich course which meant that I took a year out to complete an industrial placement. The course included a strong programming element in c and c++. My final year project and dissertation was centred on web service technologies and their use in the commercial dissemination of information across the world wide web.

Foundation Engineering - plymouth.ac.uk

University of Plymouth, United Kingdom

1998 ~ 1999

A one year course, completed with distinction. The course included modules from a variety of disciplines, notably, computer science, civil engineering & environmental sciences. It also featured some fairly intense maths and stats.