Tom Spiers' CV

Senior Full Stack Engineer

Clapton, Hackney, London, UK

"Senior engineer and technical leader with 14 years' experience in full-stack software development and 8 years in leadership. Now focused on modern full-stack engineering with TypeScript, React, Next.js and Node.js — open to senior engineering roles where I can stay hands-on while also coaching teams. I enjoy tackling complex engineering problems, modernising legacy systems, and shaping clean, maintainable architectures. My leadership experience gives me an added perspective on fostering good practices and helping squads deliver at a sustainable pace — while staying close to the code myself."
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Work History

  1. Senior Engineering Manager

    • Line-managed two squads (12 engineers) across Poker.
    • Led development of a high-traffic React/Next.js frontend for Replay Poker, decoupling from a legacy Rails app.
    • Stabilised and restructured teams during redundancies, stepping in to replace existing engineering leadership.
    • Sourced and onboarded contracted Next.js engineers; provided technical leadership and delivery management.
    • Significantly improved Core Web Vitals across key pages.
    TypeScriptReactJSNext.jsNode.jsTailwindPHPWordpressPostgreSQLSnowflakeGitHub ActionsTerraformGCPAWSRabbitMQGIT

    Senior Engineering Manager - Data Engineering

    • Led engineering for internal data platforms spanning end-to-end commercial data collection, affiliate ad optimisation, tracking, analytics, and data management.
    • Line-managed two squads (~8 engineers) and mentored an EM managing a third squad (5 engineers).
    • Served as technical lead and area architect.
    • Managed senior stakeholders across Commercial, including Founder, CEO, CFO, and GMs.
    • Consolidated commercial data from two legacy systems into a single platform for entity management.
    • Delivered the new platform with Node.js and React, replacing PHP/Symfony back ends.
    • Ran seasonal planning workshops that improved squad health scores by ~15%.
    • Introduced Scrum for product iterations and Kanban for BAU-heavy workflows, boosting velocity and cycle time by ~30%.
    • Restructured squads around domain ownership rather than applications, eliminating 'orphaned' work.
    TypeScriptReactJSNext.jsNode.jsTailwindGraphQLPrismaPythonData ScrapingAirflowPHPSymfonyPostgreSQLSnowflakeGitHub ActionsTerraformAWSRabbitMQKafkaGIT

    Engineering Manager - Commercial Data

    • Introduced Airflow DAGs and contributed to Python/Node.js workflow design, increasing data collection frequency from every three days to once daily.
    • Contributed to the design and rollout of services in Node.js and Python for internal data pipelines, enabling more reliable affiliate tracking and analytics.
    • Line-managed a squad of five engineers.
    • Introduced Kanban and reduced cycle time by ~15%.
    • Established a service-desk model to monitor pipeline and scraper failures.
    • Raised scraper coverage across ~800 accounts from ~50% to ~90%.
    • Owned hiring plans and performance management.
    Data ScrapingPythonAirflowTypeScriptNode.jsPostgreSQLGitHub ActionsTerraformAWSRabbitMQGIT
  2. Technical Lead

    • Led development on multi-tenant CMS platform hosting 120+ websites (Nestlé, etc.)
    • Implemented Drupal/PHP solutions and integrated ReactJS SPAs
    • Collaborated with stakeholders and content teams to design a flexible, component-based content model for consistent publishing across clients.
    PHPSymfonyDrupalComposerTypeScriptReactJSCSS3GitHub ActionsApache SolrPantheonAWSGIT
  3. Senior Full Stack Engineer

    • Spearheaded MyGov project digitising government services
    • Built Ionic apps as PWAs and native apps with PHP GraphQL API backend
    • Acted as Scrum Master for 4 developers, led daily code reviews
    • Established testing and CI/CD practices, introduced DORA metrics
    TypeScriptReactJSIonicPHPSymfonyGraphQLComposerCSS3Azure DevOpsAWS AmplifyGIT
  4. Senior Web Developer

    • Designed central user REST APIs and authentication services.
    • Documented endpoints with Swagger and established governance for core vs. app-owned user data.
    • Senior engineer on React front-end rebuild for Inflight and Redelivery (millions of daily users).
    • Lead engineer on the Parcelforce blog.
    • Senior engineer on the Drupal 8 rebuild of the Royal Mail website.
    • Spearheaded shift left testing, introducing E2E and integration tests.
    PHPSymfonyDrupalJavaScriptReactJSApache SolrOpenAMCapistranoAnsibleJenkinsGITCSS3
  5. Technical Lead

    • Technical lead for all software engineering within the NEU.
    • Built the NEU website in Drupal 8.
    • Oversaw IT systems consolidation during the ATL-NUT merger, working with General Secretaries and stakeholders to unify membership data, CRM, and marketing tooling.
    • Managed the CiviCRM implementation on Drupal 7.
    PHPSymfonyDrupalCiviCRMElasticsearchMySQLOracle SQLLAMPVMWareGIT
  6. Senior Full Stack Developer

    • Became lead developer for the Drupal platform, overseeing module development, release management, DevOps, and infrastructure.
    • Owned the Drupal upgrade process and DevOps using Aegir, PHP, and Bash to automate deployments.
    • Implemented Varnish reverse-proxy caching and Memcached to improve platform stability.
    • Led the introduction of new verticals for Friday-Ad clients (e.g., boats, horse dealers).
    PHPDrupalJavaScriptjQueryCSS3Zurb FoundationMySQLVarnishMemcachedBashGIT

    Full Stack Developer

    • Helped rebuild the platform into a central Drupal distribution.
    • Rebuilt client sites onto the new Drupal platform.
    • Built custom modules, themes, and install profiles.
    PHPDrupalJavaScriptjQueryCSS3Zurb FoundationMySQLVarnishMemcachedBashGIT

    Junior Front End Developer

    • Built websites for car dealers.
    • Owned end-to-end delivery: design in Photoshop, front-end build, small back-end tweaks, and deployment to IIS.
    • Joined sales on client pitches and requirements gathering.
    • Collaborated with engineering to maintain 300+ sites and resolve support tickets.
    Classic ASPJavaScriptjQueryCSS3Microsoft SQL

    Junior Data Engineer

    • Built web-scraping robots with Regex, Kapow, and Classic ASP to ingest client website content into Friday-Ad.
    • Monitored and resolved defects in data pipelines.
    • Managed data in Microsoft SQL Server.
    Data ScrapingMicrosoft SQLRegexHTMLClassic ASP
Get in Touch

You've seen my experience across engineering, leadership, and data — from rebuilding front-ends in React/Next.js to designing scalable architectures and leading high-performing teams. Based in London, I'm available for projects across the UK with travel, and I also take on fully remote work worldwide. If my skills align with what you're looking for, I'd love to connect.