Lead engineer with experience in fullstack system design, development and delivery.
Proven track record leading global products and cross-functional teams.
Contact
- GitHub: github.com/ryanachten
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/ryanachten
Employment
Lead Engineer – Xero
February 2024 – Present
- Defined architectural direction and technical strategy across multiple high-impact initiatives.
- Led technical discovery and design for complex, ambiguous problem spaces.
- Provided senior technical leadership across multiple teams (~6 engineers), driving alignment and delivery.
- Designed and delivered globally scalable tax platforms across the UK, New Zealand, and Canada.
- Led modernisation of legacy monolithic systems into cloud-native, service-oriented architectures.
- Remained hands-on across distributed systems using .NET, React, SQL Server, and AWS.
Senior Engineer – Xero
November 2021 – February 2024
- Designed and delivered full-stack tax products for the US and UK markets in regulated domains.
- Owned end-to-end development across distributed systems using .NET and React.
- Established performance test suite using k6, introducing load, stress, and soak testing to improve system reliability at scale.
- Built cloud infrastructure using AWS and infrastructure-as-code (Terraform), integrated with CI/CD pipelines.
- Designed and optimised data models across DynamoDB and SQL Server to support scalable workloads.
- Acted as a quality advocate within the team, coaching engineers on automated testing and quality-driven development practices.
Engineer – Xero
March 2021 – November 2021
- Full-stack development of US and UK tax products using .NET and React.
- Modernisation of legacy monolithic .NET Framework systems into .NET Core microservices.
- Built serverless components using AWS services including Lambda and DynamoDB.
Senior Frontend Developer – AKQA
2019 – 2021
- Led frontend development for client products using React within large, cross-functional delivery teams.
- Drove frontend modernisation initiatives, migrating JavaScript to TypeScript and CSS to SCSS.
- Mentored frontend engineers, uplifting automated testing practices and overall code quality.
UI/UX Developer – Certus Solutions
2018 – 2019
- Built web and mobile products using React, Ember, and React Native across public and private sector clients.
Design Researcher – Victoria University of Wellington
2014 – 2018
- Designed and developed web applications using PHP-based platforms (SilverStripe, WordPress).
Current Technology
I take pride in being language and framework agnostic; adopting tooling best suited for a given project. Frequently used technologies include:
| Languages | C#, TypeScript, JavaScript, SQL |
| Backend | .NET Core, .NET Framework, Docker, Kubernetes, Node.js |
| Frontend | React, Redux, SCSS |
| Databases | Microsoft SQL Server, DynamoDB |
| Quality | K6, Playwright, XUnit, Jest, SonarQube |
| Infrastructure | AWS, Terraform, Octopus, TeamCity, GitHub Actions |
| Monitoring | New Relic, Sumo Logic |
Education
- Master of Design Innovation (Specializing in Media Design - Data.mine stream)
- Graduated with Merit, 2017
- Victoria University of Wellington, 2014-16
- Bachelor of Communication Design
- Graduated with Distinction, 2013
- Otago Polytechnic, 2011-13
Awards
- Formway Design Award: Best Project in Master of Design Innovation, Victoria University of Wellington (2016)
- VicLink Award: Project with the most commercial potential, Victoria University of Wellington (2016)
- Master of Design Innovation Completion Scholarship: Funded by MBIE, Victoria University of Wellington (2015)
- VUW Summer Scholarship: National Library of New Zealand & Victoria University of Wellington (2014)
- Creative Excellence Award: Top Overall Student, Otago Polytechnic (2013)
- Design Achievement Award: Otago Polytechnic (2011)