I'm a data engineer and Chartered Accountant with a background in financial services reporting. Last year I transitioned into a dedicated data engineering role, designing and building cloud data pipelines using Azure Databricks, Apache Spark, and Delta Lake — and recently completed the Azure Databricks & Spark Core for Data Engineers course on Udemy to formalise those skills.
The move from accountancy to data engineering gives me an edge few engineers have: I understand the business context behind the data as much as the technical infrastructure that moves it. Earlier in my career I built reporting infrastructure and ETL workflows for an alternative investment platform, which gave me a strong foundation in data modelling, SQL, and stakeholder-facing analytics.
Outside of work I enjoy travel and documenting experiences on the road. I'm always looking for the next thing to learn — whether that's a new cloud technology, a side project, or a better way to build the tools I already use.
A responsive portfolio with a full backend authentication system — passkey (WebAuthn/FIDO2) as the primary login method, email magic links as a fallback, JWT sessions, and a PostgreSQL data layer. Admin dashboard for managing travel content and private notes.
Developed comprehensive reporting infrastructure for eFront alternative investment platform. Created automated ETL workflows, complex SQL queries for portfolio analytics, and Excel dashboards for stakeholder reporting.
Built and published a VS Code extension adding SAS language support — syntax highlighting via a custom TextMate grammar, a colour theme, and language configuration. Scratched a real itch: SAS had no good editor support at the time.
I use Claude (by Anthropic) as an AI pair programmer — a collaboration that drove the build of this portfolio and its backend authentication system. The approach is deliberate: I define the architecture and requirements, Claude proposes code and solutions, and I review, adapt, and take full ownership of everything that ships. AI handles the scaffolding; the engineering decisions are mine.
This is an honest, transparent account of how the site was built — which is exactly why this section exists. Being able to work effectively with AI tools, knowing what to ask, what to trust, and what to verify, is increasingly a skill in its own right on engineering teams.
Requirements, structure, and technical decisions are defined before any code is generated.
Every generated file is read, understood, and tested. Nothing ships as a black box.
A backend with WebAuthn, PostgreSQL, and JWT auth built and debugged in a single session — without cutting corners on quality.
Began career at KPMG, qualifying as a Chartered Accountant (ACA) — passing all exams first attempt, one of only two in an intake of ~15. Handled Guernsey tax compliance, UK Fund Reporting Status, and US tax reporting. Developed advanced Excel and VBA skills to automate processes that previously took many hours manually.
Joined Aztec and rapidly learned SAS and T-SQL from scratch — teaching SAS to others within six months. Became responsible for producing financial and non-financial reports from eFront and other systems. Began involvement in the eFront FIC → FIA migration project.
Promoted to Technical Reporting Lead for the eFront FIA migration — designed and built a new reporting framework and managed a team of developers to deliver it. Progressed to Enterprise Applications Manager, overseeing BAU operations, increasing automation, and introducing Azure DevOps Boards and Git for version control across the team.
Transitioned into a dedicated data engineering role, building and maintaining ETL/ELT pipelines using Python, SQL, and Databricks on Azure. Focused on designing scalable data workflows, improving data quality, and supporting the shift from legacy reporting systems to a modern lakehouse architecture.
Completed the Azure Databricks & Spark Core for Data Engineers: Hands-on Project course on Udemy — 20 hours of project-based learning covering distributed computing, structured streaming, and the Medallion architecture.
View certificateBuilding this portfolio as a deliberate exercise in full-stack and infrastructure engineering — WebAuthn/passkey auth, JWT sessions, PostgreSQL, Node.js backend, self-hosted on a Raspberry Pi with Nginx, Let's Encrypt SSL, and dynamic DNS. Developed collaboratively with Claude as an AI pair programmer.
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