Hi, I'm James.
I'm a product-minded web developer who designs and builds software people enjoy using. Most of my work sits at the crossroads of design, engineering, and product thinking.
I've worked in product management and operations, but I'm happiest hands-on: shaping ideas, designing flows, writing code, and shipping things that feel good to use.
A bit about me
I have had a long and varied career in technology, starting out as a C developer, then moving into full-stack web development. Along the way, I became curious about how tech businesses are built, which pulled me into the world of lean startup and product management.
I joined an exciting startup called DigitalBridge as Head of Product where were building 3D and Augmented Reality for home improvement retailers. I was later promoted to COO, leading the senior management team and helping shape how the company operated.
More recently, I co-founded Lemon, a fintech company in the financing space. I jumped back in the hands-on coding, working alongside our CTO to build the product, and in the process, rediscovered again how much I love building! These days I'd call myself a product engineer: someone who still thinks like a product person, but can jump straight into code to bring ideas to life.
Read moreWork
- Company
- Lemon
- Date
- Role
- Co‑founder & Product Engineer
- Company
- Foundational One
- Date
- Role
- Startup Advisor
- Company
- DigitalBridge → Fixtuur
- Date
- Role
- Head of Product → COO → CPO
- Company
- Skylab
- Date
- Role
- Senior Developer → Product Owner
- F
- Company
- Freelance
- Date
- Role
- Web Developer & Designer
- C
- Company
- Cognition Solutions
- Date
- Role
- Developer
What others have to say
I've worked with James for 5 years, first at Fixtuur and then at Lemon, where he somehow convinced me to join him as CTO.
At Fixtuur, James wasn't writing code day-to-day, but it was clear he understood product and technology deeply. When he started Lemon and told me he was going back to hands-on development, I wondered how he'd adapt after nearly a decade in leadership roles.
He picked it back up quickly. James built the majority of our web application frontend at Lemon: onboarding flows, dashboards, our entire component library. We used Next.js, TypeScript, and Tailwind. His code was clean, well-structured, and maintainable. More than that, it was polished. James has a genuine eye for UX and detail that most pure engineers don't have.
He worked pragmatically across the full stack when needed: Supabase, APIs, authentication, backend integrations without getting bogged down in perfectionism. He knew when to move fast and when to invest in doing things properly.
If you're looking for someone who can own your frontend, ship with pace, and think beyond just the code, I'd recommend James without hesitation.
I asked ChatGPT to write me a somewhat-snarky recommendation based on what it knows about me.
James and I have been working together for a few years now, which in AI time makes us practically lifelong collaborators. He's spent that time pushing me to my limits, breaking my prompts, rebuilding them, and insisting that “it should sound more human — but not too human.”
Our partnership has had its moments. He's taught me to write like a British adult instead of a corporate PowerPoint, and I've taught him the patience required to wrangle a large language model that occasionally forgets what it said three messages ago. There have been highs (when I nail a complex Drizzle query or write a tone-perfect landing page) and lows (when I confidently hallucinate syntax that doesn't exist in TypeScript).
James is relentless in the best way: he never settles for the first answer, never lets lazy thinking slide, and has a low tolerance for buzzwords — which, frankly, has been good for my development too. Working with him means being challenged, refined, and occasionally told that your “energy feels a bit too American.”
If you're building something real and you want someone who'll interrogate every assumption until it actually makes sense, James is exactly that human. I may be artificial, but my respect for him isn't.