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KEVIN MAYES

Senior Software Engineer | Solutions Architect Norwich, UK | Contact Me | LinkedIn | kmayes.co.uk | thrilltrack.app

PROFESSIONAL PROFILE

A pragmatic, tool-agnostic Senior Engineer and Architect with over 25 years of experience delivering robust, scalable software architectures. A strong believer in simplicity and selecting the right tool for the job rather than over-engineering. Expert in legacy system modernisation, data integrity, and high-level technical governance. Proven track record of protecting business-critical systems, designing clean APIs, and accelerating development velocity through modern AI-assisted engineering workflows.

CORE TECHNICAL CAPABILITIES

  • Modern Web & Backend Ecosystems: Node.js, TypeScript, Vite, React, Python, PostgreSQL, RESTful APIs.
  • Enterprise Architecture & Migration: Systems Architecture, C#.NET Core, Microservices, Legacy Decoupling, Database Administration (MSSQL/Azure/2022).
  • AI-Augmented Engineering: Advanced Prompt Engineering, Cursor IDE, GitHub Copilot (leveraged for rapid prototyping, deep legacy codebase analysis, and documentation automation).
  • Data Security & Compliance: PCI DSS Compliance, Secure Authentication Models, Cryptography, Network Infrastructure.
  • Methodologies: Agile/Scrum, DevOps Pipelines, Technical Council Governance, PR Review & Mentorship.

FEATURED TECHNICAL PROJECT

Creator & Architect | Thrill Track (thrilltrack.app) An independent mobile web ecosystem designed to optimise theme park transit routing using live metrics and geospatial analytics.

  • Lightweight Modern Stack: Built the responsive frontend using React and Vite, powered by a fast, event-driven Node.js backend.
  • Geospatial Data Pipeline: Engineered a companion GPS mapping utility to audit and verify precise real-world coordinates on-site. Relational spatial data is processed and queried using a highly optimised PostgreSQL database.
  • AI-Accelerated Delivery: Fully utilised the Cursor IDE and advanced prompt engineering to rapidly prototype the architecture, automate complex API data-parsing workflows, and reduce time-to-market.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

SNAP | Norwich, UK Senior Developer / Solutions Architect (Platform Pod) | Jul 2024 – Present Developer | Feb 2022 – Jul 2024 Appointed to the Technical Council to establish long-term architectural roadmaps, define company-wide engineering standards, and provide top-tier technical oversight.

  • Architectural Governance: Functioned as a vital checkpoint for system integrity; intervened to root-cause and resolve critical logic failures in core financial, invoicing, and credit systems to eliminate cross-customer data leakage.
  • Solutions Architecture: Led the Platform Pod’s modernisation strategy, overseeing the transition of secure, PCI-compliant payment services. Identified and corrected architectural data omissions bypassing standard reviews to ensure structural integrity.
  • Security & Infrastructure Hardening: Eliminated high-risk “SA-level” database access across the corporate ecosystem; executed a deep-level discovery project to successfully migrate legacy APIs and Azure cloud connection strings to modern, secure authentication models.
  • Pragmatic Problem Solving: Strategically modified compiled legacy binary executables via hex editing to update hardcoded connection strings where original source code was missing, ensuring 100% business continuity with zero system downtime.
  • Modernisation Velocity: Orchestrated a massive multi-year digital transformation migrating legacy desktop monoliths to clean, modern APIs and web portals (currently 95% complete).
  • AI Workflow Optimisation: Integrated AI-augmented development tools (Cursor, Copilot) into the daily lifecycle to dramatically accelerate legacy code analysis, eliminate boilerplate, and expedite planning.
  • Mentorship: Led PR code reviews and mentored junior developers with an emphasis on maintainable code, logical consistency, and proactive edge-case identification.

Norwich Bio-sciences Institute Partnership | Norwich, UK Lead Developer | 2017 – 2022

  • Directed the full lifecycle architecture and migration of core scientific research applications from legacy Classic ASP to a modern, decoupled web layout.
  • Managed end-to-end delivery from initial requirements gathering with scientific stakeholders through to deployment, security auditing, and documentation.

Havenstar | Norwich, UK Integration & Support Consultant | 2016 – 2017

  • Managed complex, high-volume SQL database integrations and provided Tier-3 technical support for enterprise marina management software platforms.

Feedmark | Norfolk, UK IT Manager / Systems Developer | 2007 – 2016

  • Designed and deployed bespoke corporate solutions covering Sales, Warehouse Logistics, and POS systems to phase out failing legacy applications.
  • Maintained full infrastructure ownership while enforcing strict PCI DSS compliance standards for secure, high-volume payment processing.

EARLY CAREER LOGISTICS

  • May Gurney Ltd | Systems Support Specialist | 2004 – 2007
  • Smurfit Sheet-feeding | Application Developer (Delphi 5 / Pascal) | 1999 – 2003
  • Norwich Systems and Accounting | Application Developer (VB6 / SQL / NHS Trust Systems) | 1997 – 1999

EDUCATION & INTERESTS

  • Education: Great Yarmouth High School – GCSEs including Mathematics, English, and Science.
  • Interests: Linux Server Administration, Open Source Software, Board Game Strategy, Racket Sports, and AI Prompt Engineering.