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https://github.com/thisislawatts/cv

Curriculum Vitæ or Résumé
https://github.com/thisislawatts/cv

curriculum-vitae cv resume

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Curriculum Vitæ or Résumé

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README 

          
# Luke Watts



* [+31 (0) 624 882 690](tel:0031624882690)  

* [luke@bestemployeeever.com](mailto:luke@bestemployeeever.com)

* [linkedin.com/in/thisislawatts](https://www.linkedin.com/in/thisislawatts)



I am a creative problem solver with 15 years experience in product and agency environments. I thrive on learning new tools and technologies, whether for critical business projects or exploratory research.



I particularly enjoy projects where I can contribute from inception to completion, starting from loose requirements or a quick sketch and working collaboratively to create valuable and impactful solutions. I am happy working collaboratively or independently, my primary focus is on creating something useful that brings value to people.



## Tools & Technologies



* __Ways of Working__ – Agile, scrum, mentoring, coaching, design thinking, TDD & RDD 

* __Languages__ – Typescript, Javascript, Go, Python, PHP, Ruby 

* __Frameworks__ – Node.js, Express, React, Vue, Laravel, Slim, Kirby, PHPUnit, Vite, Jest & tap 

* __Datastores__ – PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB, Redis & BigQuery 

* __Tooling__ – Git, Infrastructure as Code  & zsh 

* __Operations__ – Kubernetes, Docker, EC2, Openshift, Azure, Docker & Vagrant 



## Experience



### Staff Software Engineer, Snyk Ltd

October 2022 – Present



Snyk provides software security tooling for developers, helping companies use open source software and stay secure.



* Collaborated across engineering units within the organization to prioritize, plan and deliver strategic business value.

* Coded in TypeScript and Go, deployed in a CI/CD workflow, and automated infrastructure configuration for our services and distributable applications.

* Exploratory design and architecture work to support the growth of the platform.

* Improved platform API performance, reliability, and usability through observation and analysis.

* Mentorship and coaching of engineers within the organization unit.

* Integrated our tools and products with partner systems.

* Participated in on-call rotation to maintain and support production services



#### Highlights

* 0 day gameday - a company wide event to simulate a zero day vulnerability affecting one of our dependencies and simulating far reaching consequences for our customers. 

* Working with engineers across the company to secure their career development and growth.



### Interim Engineering Director, Snyk Ltd

October – December 2023



* Responsible for the security intelligence and data engineering teams behind the open source security products.

* Worked with the wider engineering leadership team to shape the future direction of the group.

* Supported the engineering and product teams through a period of transition.



## Previous Experience



### Senior Software Engineer, Snyk Ltd

December 2021 – October 2022



* Shaped our product and guided the team across multiple components and projects.

* Innovated strategic design improvements for short-term gains and long-term advantages.

* Contributed code, prototyped, and developed testing strategies with a focus on iterative delivery.

* Fostered inclusion and growth through pairing, feedback, and mentoring.

* Collaborated with Product and Design teams to translate requirements into functional features.

* Ensured consistent developer experience across all Snyk products.



#### Highlights

* Introducing support for `critical` severity across the entire Snyk platform. This involved working with the product and design teams to ensure the information was presented in a clear and actionable way.



### Software Team Lead, Snyk Ltd

September 2019 – October 2020



* Providing team members with regular feedback, mentoring, and coaching.

* Hiring the right people to support the team's growth.

* Organizing and facilitating quarterly team planning sessions for our distributed team.

* Working with your team’s product manager to plan and achieve goals to ensure the team communicates proactively and sets realistic expectations with their stakeholders.

* Balance feature delivery with ongoing technical investment.



#### Highlights



* Introduced an experiments based methodology for the team which offered us the opportunity to explore and enhance the engagement and adoption of our features.

* Leading planning sessions as part of the annual all-hands meeting and presenting the results back to a 200 strong audience. 



### Developer, Snyk Ltd

October 2017 – September 2019



* Designing features with the product team based on user needs and outlining their implementation. 

* Deliver a SaaS application incrementally in a full CI/CD workflow.

* Working as part of a distributed team, communicating clearly and proactively. 



#### Highlights



* Introducing Vue to begin the migration from a server rendered application to one with more client side components to support more interactive user experiences. 

* Migrated the e2e test suite from Nightwatch to  Cypress making it easier for developers to run and author additional tests locally. 



### Technical Lead, Bravo Charlie Mike Hotel

January 2015 – October 2017



Design and branding agency working internationally to deliver projects for clients across a wide variety of sectors.



* Lead delivery of all digital projects within the company. This covers each step of a typical project life‑cycle and managing client relationships.

* Project scoping and management with clients to ensure their systems are delivered on time.

* Accompany the company directors to new business pitches, providing bid‑winning technical ideas.

* Work closely with designers to implement prototypes which demonstrate how their visuals can be achieved across devices. 

* Provide documentation and training during the project completion process.

* Design and implement feedback cycles with client’s to enable sprint based approach on larger projects.



Alongside the demands of client work I have also:



* Built bespoke invoice software for the company and introduced specialist accounting software to automate most of the financial tasks.

* Maintained the studio's suite of machines (primarily OSX)

* Introduced offsite backup procedures to ensure ultimate resilience for the company's data.



#### Highlights



* Working with the estates team at Kings Cross to put together a performance piece with fountains, powered by GIF imagery, to accompany a string quartet at Kings Cross Granary Square. As part of the designjunction event, it attracted over 25,000 visitors over the weekend. 

* Introducing the team to new methodologies and techniques, such as weekly sprints, mobile first and responsive design patterns. 



### Director, LA Code & Design Ltd

December 2012 – 2014



Worked as full stack web developer on a contract basis with a number of London based design firms. 



* Working alongside designers from the earliest stages of prototyping and scoping out projects through to completion, troubleshooting and handover.

* Providing in-office training as part of the hand-over with the client teams.



#### Highlights



* Working alongside multiple teams across different studios. This offered me the chance to experience different working methodologies. 

* Being able to have the flexibility to attend industry events in the UK and abroad.  



### Developer, Signal Noise

September 2010 – November 2011



As the first hire at this data design agency, I worked directly with the design directors in building out web projects and physical prototypes. 



### Sessional Lecturer, University for the Arts London & University for the Creative Arts

September 2010 – June 2012



I focused on introducing web technologies as a medium for editorial output, across a few undergraduate and postgraduate level courses. The short course was split between introductory sessions and workshopping on a one to one level with individual students.



### Developer, Inventive & Co

Summer 2010



Worked alongside a senior developer to design and build out a bespoke CMS for a production studio. Notably this system handled video uploads and transcoding of video formats for playback a custom Flash media player.



## Volunteering



### Board Member, One Army Foundation

January 2024 – Present



### Maintainer, Community Platform for One Army Foundation

October 2021 – December 2023



## Interests



Away from the computer, I’m a keen cyclist and can often be found meandering around the Dutch polders looking for a hill to roll down. I enjoy longer endurance rides, the longest one to date being ~250km.



I’m also in the early stages of learning Dutch, maar het is langzaam proces



## Education



### University for the Creative Arts

September 2007 – June 2010



BA Hons - Graphic Design New Media 2:1