Sonny Taylor

Software Engineer

London, England · Get in touch

Full-stack engineer with 6+ years shipping production software across C#/.NET, TypeScript and PHP. I build distributed microservice APIs with TDD and REST APIs against OpenAPI schemas, and I design, build and run my own containerised SaaS product solo. I care about test coverage, clean delivery, and owning what I build from design through to production.

Experience

2Simple · Software Developer

Feb 2023 – Present

  • -Architected an LLM tool-calling service (Node.js/Express) that proxies Claude to backend operations via an internal API, letting non-technical staff restructure the platform's layout in natural language
  • -Designed and built a paired working feature for the platform's task-assignment tool, grouping pupils to share devices in class; pairings stored in Redis, with mutex locks guarding writes to the pairings map against race conditions
  • -Built a dedicated cache of pairable users to avoid expensive class/user lookups at scale, for tasks assigned to entire schools (thousands of pupils)
  • -Designed and developed Express APIs following OpenAPI schema definitions
  • -Wrote unit and integration tests across the stack (PHP & Node.js)
  • -Used Vue.js, Express.js and PHP to develop the frontend and backend of a product used by 8,000+ schools and 2M+ users globally
  • -Worked closely with project managers to organise and prioritise JIRA/ClickUp tickets, involved across all stages of the software development lifecycle
  • -Proposed a prototype-first change to the development lifecycle, building prototypes for iterative testing to surface user feedback earlier
  • -Continuously refactor legacy code as I touch it, boy-scout rule: Backbone.js/jQuery to Vue.js on the frontend, JavaScript to TypeScript on the backend, PHP alongside framework upgrades

Gamestake · Backend Engineer

Sep 2022 – Feb 2023

  • -Created and maintained a distributed microservice API in TypeScript/Node.js (Express framework, TDD)
  • -Wrote and maintained database queries (PostgreSQL) and designed the database architecture
  • -Decreased query times by over 85% by designing and implementing materialised view tables
  • -Implemented SSO using Apple ID, designing the schema to support multiple login providers in future
  • -Implemented caching with Redis to reduce load on hot paths

Wiltshire Council · Web Operations Officer

Jun 2021 – Sep 2022

  • -Used SQL, Node.js and Handlebars to build 15+ reports and visualisations to improve accessibility
  • -Created accessibility-compliant web forms (Node.js & Handlebars) integrating with third-party applications

GOSS Interactive · .NET Software Developer (Placement/Graduate)

Jul 2018 – Sep 2019Jul 2020 – Jun 2021

  • -Wrote bespoke website templates in C# (Razor syntax & MVC pattern), working on the core framework and templates used across client sites
  • -Increased efficiency of SOLR search algorithms, reducing load times from 2.5s to 300ms
  • -Created and documented form payment integrations (Civica payment processor)
  • -Acted as first point of contact for multiple Borough and County council clients, building working relationships directly with them

Formbreezy and the rest of what I've built are on the projects page.