20+Years shipping
200+Projects delivered
20M+Users served
2Acquisitions
I embed with growth-stage SaaS teams to unblock delivery, own architecture, and ship AI features. I stay in the codebase myself. 20+ years building production systems, two CTO roles, and a studio I co-founded and sold. Remote from GMT+2, full EU and US East overlap.Experience
Role & organisationPeriod
FounderJan 2024 – Present
Underwulf · Cape Town · Remote
- Custom software studio for MVPs, web applications, API integrations, and AI products.
- Embedded engineering lead work: I own delivery, architecture, and write production code.
Co-founderSep 2022 – Present
Machine Republic · London · Remote
- Technical leadership for custom software, API integrations, and LLM features.
- Led architecture, set CI/CD standards, mentored the team; delivery measured on client ROI.
Founder · Lead ArchitectMar 2020 – Present
Indiemaker · Remote
- Built and scaled the largest marketplace for buying and selling side-projects and micro-SaaS.
- Led platform migration from Laravel to Rails; 1,000+ new makers monthly at 99.9% uptime.
Senior Software Engineer & Solutions ArchitectOct 2020 – Sep 2022
Code Maven · Cape Town · Hybrid
- Led architecture and full-stack delivery for Pepkor NexTech, one of Africa's largest retailers.
- Drove cloud migration, CI/CD, and integration across Java, Go, Python, PHP, and JavaScript.
- CTO through the acquisition (Oct 2021 to Jan 2022). Owned strategy and stakeholders.
CTO & Co-founderDec 2018 – Mar 2021
MyPerks · Cape Town
- Built mobile apps (Flutter) and Ruby on Rails backend for B2B perks and rewards platform.
- Integrated Google Cloud Vision, payment processing, and infrastructure. Exited via acquisition.
Co-founder & Senior EngineerJul 2010 – Oct 2019
Wixel · Stellenbosch · Remote
- Co-founded and led a profitable studio. 200+ projects across fintech, gaming, and big data.
- Architected BLU Loyalty, an enterprise platform serving 9M users for a major MENA retail group.
- Won Frost & Sullivan Excellence Award; studio sold (2019).
Senior Full-Stack EngineerJan 2008 – Sep 2010
Yola.com · Remote
- Early engineer at one of the first no-code website builders.
- Built the core PHP framework, payment system, and APIs; scaled from 10K to 11M users.
Products & open source
CraaftFounder · Kanban SaaS for teams that plan and ship without bloat.craaft.io EckoCreator · Rust-based programming language with AI as a primitive.ecko.sh NitroCreator · Python static site generator and UI toolkit.nitro.sh DesignClipboardCreator · Chrome extension that copies colors, fonts, and styles.Chrome Web Store Open sourceNitro CLI · Nitro UI · GUMP · Amethyst · Nitro DataStoregithub.com/sn Capabilities
- Engineering leadership & delivery
- Software architecture & platform design
- AI / LLM integration & agentic workflows
- Cloud infrastructure & reliability
- Technical due diligence
- Legacy modernisation & scale-up
Stack & credentials
LanguagesPython · Ruby · PHP · Rust · JavaScript · TypeScript · Go · Java
PlatformRails · Django · FastAPI · Flutter · PostgreSQL · Redis · AWS · GCP · Stripe
CertifiedGoogle Cloud Certified Professional Cloud Architect (2025) · AWS Certified Solutions Architect (2017)
“At Wixel we always joked that we do the impossible — and much of that was possible because Sean was our CTO.”
Beverley Merriman · Founder, IndiemakerAvailable for contract engagements, embedded leadership, and senior engineering roles.[email protected]