William Simpson | Senior Software Engineer — Frontend Architecture & Full-Stack Systems

The Story

Life is a long and exciting journey. We leave school hoping to meet the world and find a place in it. In my youth I was a nerdy teenager spending late nights hanging out with like-minded technical tinkerers, learning the lingo and the history of phreaking and hobbyist computers, whilst studying C/C++ on a home learning course.

I applied for an apprenticeship and joined BT (British Telecommunications) as an Advanced Network Engineering apprentice in 2004. I felt very fortunate to be in such a great program. Those 11 years in fibre networking and telecommunications infrastructure taught me how distributed systems really work — reliability engineering, fault tolerance, and the discipline of operational excellence. That foundation shapes everything I build today.

Eventually I transitioned from telecommunications engineering to youth work and education. A musician with a love for the community. Check out a playlist of the work I have been involved in .

Taking on new qualifications and shifting my focus, I crossed the Atlantic and landed in New York City. Here I reconnected with my nerdy teenage self and re-introduced myself into a world of technology and software development. A lot of self study and some community volunteering kept me busy before beginning the in-campus Full-Stack Engineering bootcamp at the Flatiron School in Brooklyn DUMBO.

I love software development — discovering and thinking about how all the complex pieces of the system fit together.

I still keep to my community engagement work in the education sphere and have enjoyed being part of some really amazing projects in NYC & the UK. In my creative pursuits, I build the bridge between creative artist and software development with live visual audio performances, producing original music and mixing with visual media.

Experience

CBRE

Sep 2022 – May 2026

Senior Software Engineer • Remote (NY / Dallas)

Hired full-time Sep 2022 after contracting through Motion Recruitment

AI-Powered Building Analytics Platform — Lead Frontend Contributor

Was part of a team architecting and building a multi-layered micro-frontend system from greenfield (NX, Vite, React, TanStack, Mantine UI), scaling from demo to 1000+ monthly users
Leveraged NX for fast micro-frontend development and parallel testing. Used TypeScript, TanStack, Mantine UI, and React with Docker-based CI/CD pipelines for fast, testable builds deployed to staging for quick feedback. Okta provided authentication across the platform.
Engineered real-time, data-dense interfaces consuming Kafka event streams and visualizing building occupancy data from GraphDB/MongoDB with sub-second latency, including an LLM chat interface with RAG
Diagnosed and resolved caching and rendering performance issues across a distributed system, using monitoring and testing to validate that changes measurably improved the user experience
Integrated AI/ML pipeline outputs (Azure ML, LangChain) into production dashboards, translating backend model output into clear, usable product decisions for non-technical facility teams
Mentored engineers through code review, pairing, and design discussions; gave cross-team presentations on tool usage and shared knowledge across teams

Enterprise Multi-Tenant SaaS Platform

Contributed to a mature multi-tenant web application with separate customer-facing and admin portals. Worked under strong technical leadership that shaped engineering practices and career growth. Architecture directly influenced later personal project design (kushtybuckrecords.com).

Greenfield Web Application

Early contributor on a small cross-functional team (2 FE, 2 BE, 1 PM) delivering initial product features and establishing development workflows.

TypeScript React Vite NX TanStack Query Mantine UI Module Federation Micro Frontends Kafka GraphDB MongoDB LangChain Azure ML GitHub Actions Docker Azure DevOps Datadog SonarQube

Earlier Roles

Daybreak Health

Dec 2020 – Jul 2021

Full Stack Software Engineer • San Francisco (Remote)

Built a React Native mobile app backed by a Ruby on Rails API, shipping accessible, sensitive-context scheduling tools used by 150+ young adults monthly — with close attention to visual polish and inclusive UX. Worked full stack across frontend and backend, optimizing query performance and building CI/CD pipelines to accelerate release cycles.

React Native Ruby on Rails Mobile App Full Stack

Books2all • Connective Realities

2020 – 2022

Lead Volunteer Software Engineer • Remote

Led development of a Django-powered mobile app end to end, building a TDD-first test suite that raised coverage to 90% and reduced production bugs. Onboarded and mentored 6 volunteer developers, establishing code review standards and deployment workflows — growing engineers across a fully volunteer org.

Django Python TDD Testing

BlueRica.com

Jun 2019 – Present

Freelance Web Developer & Consultant • Orlando, FL

Designed and maintained Shopify e-commerce integrations, increasing average store conversion rates by 30% through optimized checkout flows, UX refinement, and API automation.

Shopify E-Commerce

BBot

Nov 2019 – Apr 2020

Software and Test Developer • NYC

Wrote tests for a Django app powering a QR code menu system for restaurants.

Django Python Testing

Zyma Technologies

Jun 2016 – Jan 2017

Linux Systems Admin • Teesside, UK

Managed CentOS VM cloud infrastructure and DevOps workflows.

Linux CentOS VM Clouds DevOps

BT Group PLC

2004 – 2015

Telecom Network Engineer • England, UK

11 years in fibre networking and telecommunications infrastructure. Built foundational systems-thinking expertise in distributed systems, reliability engineering, and operational excellence. BTEC Level 4, NVQ Level 5 with Distinction.

Telecom Fibre Networking Network Infrastructure Systems Thinking

Key Projects

Autonomous systems, multi-tenant platforms, and products under formasimplex.com.

wunicorm

Production autonomous agent system running daily on macOS via launchd. A "society of mind" where specialized sub-agents collaborate through encrypted file-based communication, powered by a local LLM. Agents don't call each other directly — they leave notes and the next agent in the chain picks them up.

The Dreamer agent reads the day's output, writes a memory entry, and updates an encrypted SELF.md file that evolves the system's personality over time. Tomorrow's output sounds different than today's because the system learns about itself through structured reflection, not training. The Visual Dream agent produces encrypted GIFs each night, and the Morning Email agent ships a fresh message each morning.

Demonstrates deep expertise in LLM agent architecture, memory systems, and autonomous workflows.

Python macOS launchd LLM GPG Autonomous Agents Self-Evolving Systems

Research Agent

Work-in-progress LLM agent based project that investigates research topics, extracts entities and relationships, and builds navigable Neo4j knowledge graphs. The graph emerges from the research process itself rather than being predefined. Focus on Graph RAG patterns and knowledge extraction. The stack consists of a Go web server that interacts with the Neo4j instance all deployed inside a docker compose file. The agent uses a plugin system for different tasks, written in TypeScript and talks to the llama-server from llama.cpp following the OpenAPI specification.

Docker GOLang Neo4j LLM Knowledge Graphs Graph RAG Autonomous Agents

kushtybuckrecords.com

Live multi-tenant music label platform with ~6 active artists, partnering with a UK record label. Rails API backend currently porting to Rust, dual React apps (admin + customer), and a Rust tenant-configuration microservice. Full infrastructure management on Linux VMs with NGINX/Passenger and deployment pipelines. Example tenant: testing-customer.formasimplex.com.

Ruby on Rails Rust React Multi-Tenant Architecture NGINX Linux

swiftsignals.net

Live Python signal trading service performing continuous market analysis with Telegram API notifications. 5 paying customers generating real revenue.

Python Telegram API Market Analysis

lennoxand.co.uk

Shopify store selling merchandise for Kushty Buck Records.

Shopify E-Commerce

Technical Skills

Frontend

TypeScript React React Native Vite NX TanStack Query Mantine UI Module Federation

AI/ML Platforms

LLM Integration LangChain Knowledge Graphs Neo4j Graph RAG Azure ML

Backend & Data

Ruby on Rails Python Django Rust Kafka GraphDB MongoDB Cypher

Infrastructure & DevOps

GitHub Actions Docker Azure DevOps Datadog SonarQube Linux NGINX

Practices

TDD Clean Architecture Systems Thinking Remote Collaboration Technical Leadership

How I Work

Design-Driven Development

TDD's real value shines when it becomes design-driven development. Well-written tests and specs aren't just verification — they become the design document for the application. Maintaining 80%+ test coverage isn't about metrics; it's about making refactoring safe and keeping change cheap.

Separation of Concerns

Clean architecture isn't about layers for layers' sake. It's about making change cheap. When responsibilities are well-defined, refactoring is safe and features ship without cascading breakage. Micro-frontend architecture is this principle applied at scale.

Systems Thinking

Eleven years in telecom infrastructure taught me how distributed systems really work — reliability engineering, fault tolerance, and operational excellence. That foundation means I understand the data flows, event architectures, and infrastructure behind every API I build interfaces for.

Language Agnostic

A language is just a tool to get the job done. I work in TypeScript, Ruby, Python, C/C++, and I'm teaching myself Rust. The right tool depends on the problem, not personal preference. What matters is building systems that are correct, maintainable, and fit for purpose.

Community & Education

From 2014 to 2017 I worked across music education, youth development, and studio management, supporting young people and musicians in both the UK and New York.

TechRowFund.org

Oct 2019 – Jun 2020

Technology & Education Developer • NY

Taught climate change in NYC schools and built a React 360 app for demonstrating global warming issues.

Music Education, NYC

2017 – 2018

Music Production Instructor • New York City

Taught music production to students in NYC public schools, helping them develop creative skills through digital audio tools and studio workflows.

MyPlace Middlesbrough

2014 – 2016

Studio Manager • Middlesbrough, UK

Managed the music studio in the MyPlace youth centre, providing a creative space and resources for young people to explore music production and performance.

Music Teesside

2014 – 2016

Music Worker • Teesside, UK

Worked with children with special needs through music, using creative sessions to support development, expression, and inclusion.

Youth Music Programs, UK

2014 – 2016

Community Music Worker • Various, UK

Developed music programs for at-risk youth, creating pathways into creative education and providing constructive outlets through collaborative music-making.

Community & Creative

Creative projects, writing, and ongoing community involvement.

Music Saves the World

Community music project I started in 2015.

wixsite.com/musicsavestheworld →

Books2all

UK-based charity I'm involved with.

books2all.co.uk →

Will S — YouTube

Meet my artistic side.

YouTube channel →

MSTW — YouTube

Music Saves The World YouTube channel (projects I worked on).

YouTube channel →

will.simpson_ — Medium

Writing and ramblings.

Medium →

WillSimpson — ABCTales

More writings and ramblings.

ABCTales →

Get In Touch

william.simpson@owasp.org

+1 347-673-3717

github.com/WSINTRA