Public profile

Johnny avatar

Experience

Founding Engineer | Head of Engineering | 0->1 product builder | Rails, AI-native systems, operational workflows

Career highlights

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Johnny - Founding Engineer | Head of Engineering | 0->1 product builder | Rails, AI-native systems, operational workflows

Founding-engineer style builder with 15+ years of experience turning ambiguous ideas into real products, scalable systems, and operational workflows. I work best at the intersection of product, engineering, operations, and commercial reality: shaping the wedge, spotting leverage, and building systems teams and users can trust. Most of my career has been in startup and scale-up environments, owning delivery end to end while staying hands-on in product shaping, architecture, implementation, and launch. More recently, I have focused on AI-native products and delivery workflows, including agent-friendly systems, AI-assisted operating models, and dark-factory ways of shipping that make execution faster, more testable, and easier to trust.

Top summary points

Selected experience

Founder / Founding Engineer at Explore My Profile

2026-03-01 to present

  • Built and launched a product designed to turn static professional profiles into richer, more interactive, and more inspectable experiences
  • Owned the product end to end across idea shaping, UX, Rails implementation, onboarding, integrations, and launch preparation

First Engineer -> Head of Engineering (hands-on) / Tech Lead, Ruby on Rails at Materials Market

2021-11-01 to present

  • Joined as the first technical hire and helped transition the business from agency dependence to an in-house engineering function
  • Built and evolved the platform across pricing, checkout, fulfilment, invoicing, supplier workflows, APIs, integrations, and post-order operations

Tech Lead, Ruby on Rails at Kudocs

2020-09-01 to 2021-11-01

  • Led development of a LegalTech SaaS platform, owning delivery across feature work and operational maintenance
  • Built and maintained APIs and integrations including Companies House and Stripe, while improving standards, release discipline, and collaboration with product and customer-facing teams

Tech Lead, Ruby on Rails at Happity

2018-02-01 to 2020-09-01

  • Owned the lifecycle of an e-commerce Rails product with subscriptions and complex back-office workflows
  • Focused on reliability, security, and user experience, and integrated services including Stripe, Intercom, SendGrid, and Google while supporting hybrid mobile apps built with web technologies

Ruby on Rails Developer (Contract) at CNS Group

2016-05-01 to 2018-05-01

  • Built a Rails benchmarking application for the cyber security industry with an on-prem deployment model using Ubuntu, Nginx, Puma, and Postgres
  • Implemented secure deployment and controlled release processes using GitLab CI and Capistrano

Tech Lead, Ruby on Rails at Clixifix

2013-01-01 to 2017-09-01

  • Led a small team building a SaaS platform for defect and repair management in construction
  • Owned delivery end to end across design, testing, deployment, support, and maintenance, while improving operational throughput and communication at scale

Ruby on Rails Developer at Beef (Contract)

2012-10-01 to 2012-12-01

  • Delivered Ruby on Rails development work on a contract basis, contributing to product delivery in a short focused engagement

Full Stack Ruby on Rails at Savantis Tech Ltd

2011-10-01 to 2018-02-01

  • Worked across full-stack Rails delivery for client and product work, building and maintaining web applications during a long period of hands-on consulting and delivery

Software Developer, Ruby on Rails at Savantis Ltd

2005-11-01 to 2011-10-01

  • Built experience across Ruby on Rails software delivery over multiple years, contributing to web application development and consultancy-led product work

IP Security Engineer (Placement) at O2 Ireland

2005-06-01 to 2005-10-01

  • Worked on IP security during an industry placement, gaining early experience in operational and infrastructure-focused engineering work

Applications Developer (Placement) at Procter & Gamble

2003-07-01 to 2004-09-01

  • Worked as an applications developer during a placement, contributing to software development work in a large enterprise environment