Accomplished senior software engineer based in Cheshire with a proven track record of excellence. Adept at guiding development teams across diverse projects and programming languages, leveraging over two decades of experience in software development for a wide array of platforms, including desktop, browser, tablet, mobile, TV, and Set Top Box (STB) applications.
Currently specializing in IPTV/OTT technologies, with notable achievements encompassing:
- Orchestrated the successful implementation of Chicken Soup for the Soul’s Crackle streaming service on the Roku platform.
- Pivotal role in developing NBCU’s Peacock streaming service for Roku users.
- Led the development efforts for CraveTV, CTV and Discovery Go platforms for Bell Media.
- Orchestrated the successful implementation of the BBC’s Events app which delivered the BBC’s coverage of Radio 1 Big Weekend, Glastonbury, Reading & Leeds and The Proms to Virgin TiVo users.
- Designed and developed a robust media player for the BBC which improved the experience of users across the BBC’s core applications.
- Contributed significantly to the development of the BBC’s iPlayer, News and Sport apps.
- Key involvement in designing an Electronic Program Guide (EPG) for Sky Deutschland, enhancing user navigation and experience.
Demonstrating an unwavering commitment to crafting top-tier software, I am deeply dedicated to producing meticulously tested, scalable solutions that adhere to recognised software engineering principles and design patterns.
October 2021 – Present
Independent Contractor (Remote) @ UI Centric, London
- Developing Crackle (US VPN may be required) and Chicken Soup for the Soul – Crackle’s new streaming services – for Roku devices.
- Developed several key application features, both alone and while leading others.
- Introduced best practice and consistency to the project and codebase.
- Mentored junior members of the team – both contractors and permanent staff.
- Developed shell scripts to help automate the optimisation of the codebase and the repository.
- Split the Crackle repository into two so that the common code could be used to power more apps, starting with Chicken Soup for the Soul.
- Extensive use of Roku BrightScript, SceneGraph, RALE, Roku memory management tools and shell scripts.
- Consistently most significant contributor to the project’s Github repository: 1, 2, 3 & 4.
October 2020 – March 2024
Independent Contractor (Remote) @ Accedo, London
- Directed the redevelopment of Accedo One for Roku, focusing on enhancing application performance and stability.
- Designed and engineered a robust framework employing established design patterns, significantly improving speed, efficiency and promoting extensibility and reusability.
- Oversaw and provided mentorship to junior team members, fostering skill development and professional growth.
- Oversaw the application’s performance and responsiveness, ensuring optimal user experience across various Roku devices.
- This application and framework is now being used for brands including Australia Channel, Bloomberg, Goalcast, GoNoodle, GoUSA, HMN, Hallmark TV, HYFI, Janson, MotoAmerica & TVO.
- Extensive use of Roku BrightScript, SceneGraph, RALE, Roku memory management tools and shell scripts.
- Worked up to 40 hours per week in evenings and weekends alongside an existing full-time contract.
April 2020 – October 2021
Senior Software Engineer (Remote) @ Sky, Osterley
- Developing Peacock (US VPN may be required) – NBCU’s new streaming service – for Roku devices.
- Designed and implemented many framework-level features.
- Developed several key application features, both alone and while leading others.
- Mentored several junior members of the team.
- Developed shell scripts to help automate the optimisation of the codebase and the repository.
- Responsible for the overall performance and responsiveness of the application across a broad range of Roku devices.
- Extensive use of Roku BrightScript, SceneGraph, RALE, Roku memory management tools and shell scripts.
- Consistently most significant contributor to the project’s Github repository.
September 2019 – April 2020
Independent Contractor (Remote) @ Sky, Osterley
- Developing Peacock (US VPN may be required) – NBCU’s new streaming service – for Roku devices.
- Designed and implemented many framework-level features.
- Developed several key application features, both alone and while leading others.
- Mentored several junior members of the team.
- Developed shell scripts to help automate the optimisation of the codebase and the repository.
- Extensive use of Roku BrightScript, SceneGraph, RALE, Roku memory management tools and shell scripts.
- Consistently most significant contributor to the project’s Github repository.
September 2016 – September 2019
Senior UI Engineer (Remote) @ Massive Interactive, London
- Development lead on CraveTV, a Netflix-style application for browser, tablet, mobile and Samsung TV.
- Development lead on CTV Go, a live and on-demand entertainment application for Samsung TV and Apple tvOS.
- Development lead on Discovery Go, a live and on-demand educational video application for Samsung TV and Apple tvOS.
- Development lead on TSN Go, a live and on-demand sports application for Samsung TV and Apple tvOS.
- Assumed many business analyst responsibilities.
- Assumed some project manager responsibilities.
- Part of an international team who developed a number of such applications for Sony and Comic-Con HQ for use in the USA, Latin America and Eastern Europe.
- Extensive use of Haxe, Java, Objective-C & Swift languages; Robotlegs, Signals, Promise & MVC design patterns.
March 2016 – September 2016
Independent Contractor @ Cisco Systems, Southampton
- Part of a team delivering EPG and middleware for Sky Deutschland.
- Responsible for delivering key features involving HDR and Dash.
- Developed an automated, behaviour-driven (BDD) test harness for testing the EPG and the AS2/C API.
- Developed a manual test application to assist in the development of ABR (adaptable bitrate) functionality for HSS and Dash.
- Improved the EPG build process with a bespoke Java application that removed dependencies on bloated 3rd party tools.
- Improved the quality of the EPG codebase by introducing and implementing unit tests.
- Extensive use of ActionScript 2 (AS2) & Java languages as well as the Bluestreak MachBlue environment.
- Consistently most significant contributor to the project’s repositories.
June 2014 – March 2016
UI Engineer (Remote) @ Massive Interactive, London
- Part of an international team who developed CraveTV, a Netflix-style application for Bell Media of Canada across browser, tablet, mobile and TV.
- Lead developer on the iOS target.
- Solely responsible for Chromecast integration on the iOS target.
- Extensive use of Haxe & Objective-C languages; Robotlegs, Signals & Promise design patterns.
- Consistently most significant contributor to the project’s repositories.
November 2011 – June 2014
Senior Software Engineer @ BBC, Salford
- Development lead with a team of 4 on Events app which delivered Radio 1 Big Weekend, Glastonbury, Reading & Leeds and The Proms on Virgin TiVo.
- Solely responsible for the MVC framework on which the Events app was built. It used half as much memory as the framework used to build Connected Red Button (CRB).
- Part of a team who developed the Sports app which delivered the London 2012 Olympics on Virgin TiVo with up to 24 simultaneous live streams.
- Then led the continued development of the Sports app to deliver Wimbledon & F1.
- Developed a new media player spike in my own time which had 10x the performance of the previous media player. Impressed managers gave it the green light as a full-blown project and it became the media player now used by several BBC products like iPlayer, News, Sports and Events on Virgin TiVo, Popcorn, WD and Boxee devices.
- Part of a team who developed ‘Sportacus’ – the Java back-end that powered the Flash and JavaScript front-ends.
- Identified and documented a number of issues with Virgin TiVo’s StageCraft implementation which were later fixed by TiVo in the US.
- Identified, documented and helped to diagnose issues with Virgin Media’s TiVo network relating to the Akamai CDN.
- Contributed to the HTML version of the Sports app when development was complete on the Flash version.
- Extensive use of ActionScript 2 (AS2), ActionScript 3 (AS3), JavaScript & Java.
March 2008 – September 2009 | Software Developer @ Oliver Wyman, Wilmslow
- Worked in both a leading and supporting capacity on a number of £50,000-£250,000 eLearning projects for clients such as AstraZeneca, Betfair, Cambridge-Hitachi, Diageo, Fujitsu Services, Heinemann, Hilton Hotels and SpecSavers.
- Designed and developed eLearning courseware that allowed the creation of eLearning materials purely from XML which allowed clients to update and maintain the content themselves.
- Said courseware was directly responsible for the company winning at least two major contracts.
- Sole developer on a client-server business simulation used by SpecSavers to train their staff.
- Extensive use of ActionScript 2 (AS2).
January 2007 – March 2008 | Software Developer @ RM Education, Cheadle
- Worked on a number of £50,000-£250,000 eLearning projects for clients such as BNF, Bowland Trust and the BBC.
- Extensive use of ActionScript 2 (AS2) & ActionScript 3 (AS3).
September 2001 – January 2007 | E-learning Developer @ Meirion-Dwyfor College, Dolgellau
- Designed and implemented a database-driven, multi-user, 5-campus Interactive Desktop that staff would use to communicate with students.
- Developed hundreds of hours of eLearning content from teacher’s notes for use on Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) and Interactive White Boards (IWBs).
- Solely responsible for the creation, maintenance and deployment of 12 specialised computer hard drive images over 700 computers.
- Deputy network manager, responsible for managing the network of the second largest of the four campuses.
- Developed over 50 hours of learning resources for the North Wales tourism sector under a KEF-funded project.
- Extensive use of ActionScript 2 (AS2), PHP, MySQL, Apache & Linux.