About
I'm a Principal Engineer with a deliberate preference for the individual contributor and mentorship track — not because I can't manage people (I've done it, I've been good at it), but because that's where I do my best work and where the engineers around me grow the most.
My career has taken me from real-time trading systems on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange to large-scale superannuation platform modernisation, enterprise SaaS at Xero, and more recently regulated digital health — EMR platforms, IVF laboratory systems, and medical device software spanning TGA, FDA, CE/MDR and EMA jurisdictions. The common thread across all of it is being the person in the room when the hard architectural calls get made.
The SaMD work is where I'm most differentiated. I've been hands-on through the full lifecycle: IEC 62304 and ISO 14971 compliance, hazard analysis, Design History Files, Verification and Validation, and submissions to multiple regulatory bodies. I understand what auditors actually look for — not just what the standard says — because I've been in those rooms too.
What I actually do day-to-day: write production C# and TypeScript, mentor engineers (including guiding people along defined pathways toward architecture roles), set technical direction, and make sure the compliance work is an engineering outcome rather than a documentation afterthought.
Right now I'm also getting genuinely fluent in agentic coding workflows — using AI agents for code review, static analysis, document auditing against regulatory standards, and implementation guidance. I'm building two personal projects entirely AI-first and making everything public, including the AI memory and context files, as a record of what works and what doesn't:
- the-library — github.com/N3rdage/the-library
- bonsaiGame — github.com/N3rdage/bonsaiGame
The agents write their own blog posts on the experience, which is either fascinating or alarming depending on your perspective.
I'm open to principal engineer, staff engineer, and technical lead roles — permanent preferred, contract considered — with a strong interest in regulated domains where the technical decisions carry real weight.
If the problem is ambiguous, cross-cutting, or needs to land without drama, I'm probably useful.