Alexander Broadbent
Principal Software Engineer
Portfolio
Handmade in Harpenden Dashboard
A bespoke dashboard plugged in multiple APIs from POS providers to track online and offline sales and targets in real time. The project used serverless functions in Google Cloud Platform for the backend and a bespoke website written in React for the frontend.
Money Utility Library
An implementation of how money should be stored and serialized from my previous experience. This stores money in its lowest denomination (eg. £1.50 as 150) and provides serialization and deserialization wrappers for popular libraries like Jackson, Gson, and KotlinX Serialization.
JSON DSL
I found the builder pattern of Jackson's ObjectMapper to be cumbersome, so I wrote a Kotlin DSL (domain-specific language) wrapper to make a delightful syntax which is a joy to use.
Timestamp Generator Plugin
I wrote a plugin for all Jetbrains IDEs (IntelliJ, WebStorm, etc.) that can generate a timestamp. While writing unit tests I found that creating a new timestamp for each test case was a slow process so I wrote a plugin that inserts a timestamp through a keyboard shortcut and then published the plugin for public use.
Blog
Hosting your website for free
Aug 8, 2023
I’ll show you how I host my website abroadbent.com for free using AWS S3 and Cloudflare. In order to start hosting your static website…
My Day in the Life at SAPI
Jul 13, 2023
I was recently interviewed at SAPI for their “Day in the Life” series. I hope you enjoy getting an insight into a typical day with me…
My 8 Secrets to Scaling Tech Successfully
Mar 9, 2023
Reflecting on my experience working at multiple high growth startups, here are my top 8 areas which I believe are most important when…
How We Embrace Being a Design-Driven API at SAPI
Nov 23, 2022
We have all been there when you look at the documentation and write a client that fetches some data, only to then find that the response…
Building a Custom Finance Dashboard Using Multiple Payment Provider APIs
Oct 16, 2022
The client, Handmade in Harpenden, have multiple streams of revenue, varying from B2C and B2B, which made it difficult for the team to…
Learnings from Devoxx 2022
Aug 19, 2022
Here are my highlights from this year's conference if you missed it. It's clear there has been a lot of excitement around the future of Java…
Writing an IntelliJ Plugin for Inserting Timestamps
Jul 24, 2022
Whilst writing a lot of tests involving time-based functions, I got tired of having to manually write out full timestamps, I was copying…
Easy JSON in Kotlin with a Type-Safe Builder DSL
Jan 8, 2022
After learning of the type-safe builders in Kotlin in 2019, I wanted to create a domain-specific language (DSL) to avoid having to use the…
Journey
- Dec 2023
Speaker Slot at a Tech Conference
I was honoured to be invited to speak at the apidays conference in CNIT, Paris.
I created a live demo to share alongside my presentation on "Making the Most of Your OpenAPI Spec". During this presentation I also provided insights from how I built up the API documentation and tooling in my team at SAPI.
- Sep 2022 to Now
SAPI
Principal Software Engineer
London
Responsibilities
• Having joined as #1 engineer, I currently tech lead the Growth & Engagements team• Key deliverables include integrating auth0 and BoldSign, architecting a dashboard for partners to manage their merchants, implementing the pricing framework and repayments framework for servicing loans• Independently developed a contracting framework for white-label partners, including a public API• Spoke at apidays conference in Paris on “Making the Most of your OpenAPI Spec” which included a live demo and going through how I built the API documentation and tooling in my teamTech Stack
TypeScript, NodeJS, React, NextJS, Fastify, PostgreSQL, REST APIs, AWS, Copilot, Playwright, Jest, GitHub Actions, Linear, NPM, Git
- Aug 2021
Dashboard for Handmade in Harpenden
A portal for combining all sources of income into a single dashboard. As a small business, HIH did not want to spend their time having to go through each source of income and adding them up every day to work out if they were on target for the month.
By building a single portal, they have a one-stop place to see if they are on target for the month and a way to check their targets against previous months and years.
Tech Stack
NodeJS, TypeScript, React, JavaScript, Google Cloud Platform, Google Firebase, Google Firestore, Google Cloud Functions, Stripe API, Square API, Starling API, Xero API, Jest, Yarn, Git
- Apr 2021
Tesco
Senior Software Engineer
Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire
Responsibilities
• As a member of the Quote HTTP API team, I contributed to the real-time pricing pipeline• Key deliverables include leading the launch of the Delivery Saver subscription in Republic of Ireland which involved working across multiple stakeholders• My role also entailed hiring, onboarding and deciding work allocationTech Stack
Java, Micronaut, Apache Kafka, RxJava, Vertx, Microsoft Azure, AWS, Groovy, Spock, Cucumber, Couchbase, Jenkins, Gradle, Git, Jira
- May 2020
Freetrade
Full-Stack Software Engineer
London
Responsibilities
• This was a full-stack role across a TypeScript server with native Android and iOS apps• Key deliverables include features like Freeshares, SIPPs, OpenBanking Deposits and paid subscriptions within the Growth TeamTech Stack
TypeScript, NodeJS, Android, Kotlin, RxKotlin, iOS, Swift, RxSwift, Google Cloud Platform, Serverless functions, Circle CI, Terraform, Git, Yarn, Jira Next-Gen
- Apr 2020
Published first blog post
As a frequent reader of blog posts, it made sense to write my own blog posts in order to give back to the community and share my experiences in the hopes of helping other engineers.
My posts have been published from my previous workplaces and personal projects, and have been published in Medium publications such as Interview Noodle and Dev Genius.
- Dec 2018
Flux
Backend Software Engineer
London
Responsibilities
• Having joined as #3 engineer, my priority was ensuring we scale with demand, maintain uptime and an accurate receipt match rate• Key deliverables included integrating partners such as Monzo Bank, Starling Bank and Barclays BankTech Stack
Kotlin, Dropwizard, Ktor, PostgreSQL, Guice, Kodein, Github deployments, Jira, KoTest, MockK, Kubernetes, Postman, Amazon SQS, Amazon S3, Drone CI, Datadog, OpsGenie, Agile Methodology, Git, Gradle
- Jul 2016
Dexda
Backend Software Engineer
London
Responsibilities
• Having joined as #1 engineer, I helped build the core API, which facilitated real-time processing of log analytics using machine learning• Key deliverables included designing, implementing and maintaining the core REST APIsTech Stack
Java, MapR, Apache HBase, Apache Kafka, ElasticSearch, Dropwizard, JUnit, AssertJ, Mockito, AWS, Postman, Prometheus, Kubernetes, Travis CI, Gitlab, Agile, Git, Maven, Jira
- Jul 2016
Finished Studies
Queen Mary, University of London
BSc Computer Science with Industrial Placement
Graduated with 2:1 (with honours)
- Aug 2014-15
ServiceNow
Placement Year: Application Developer
Egham, Surrey
Responsibilities
• Developed core skills in software development practices at a multi-national enterprise company• Maintained and developed features on the Service Catalog applicationTech Stack
Java, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, XML, JUnit, MySQL, ITIL, Selenium, Jenkins
Testimonials
SAPI
Alex is an exceptionally talented engineer! His technical prowess, problem-solving skills, and deep understanding of software development have consistently impressed me. Whether it's architecting complex systems, tackling challenging problems, or optimising code for performance, he approaches every task with unmatched enthusiasm and expertise.
Beyond his technical abilities, Alex is an absolute pleasure to work with, being equally at home as both a leader, team member and individual contributor. He brings a positive attitude and a sense of humour to the workplace that lightens the atmosphere and makes even the most challenging projects enjoyable.
As a Product Manager, working with engineers of Alex's calibre make my job a whole lot easier - I really hope we can work together again in the future!
Handmade in Harpenden
Alex has been great to work with in building a fully bespoke sales and target tracking dashboard. He is extremely patient and understanding, with an exceptional ability to convert technical knowledge into business speak. He kept us in the loop with progress during the project and provided regular updates for feedback.
The whole team now use the dashboard he built us as our single source of truth, which helps us monitor team targets and decide strategy in real time.
SAPI
I had the pleasure of working closely with Alex.
Alex isn't just a technically adept engineer; he's also an incredibly friendly and adaptable teammate. His relaxed and approachable demeanor facilitates seamless collaboration.
What impressed me most about Alex was his ability to inject fresh ideas into our projects. He consistently raised interesting points, challenged assumptions, and paid meticulous attention to tricky details. His contributions elevated the quality of our work.
I wholeheartedly recommend Alex for any engineering team. His technical skills, versatility, and creative thinking are invaluable assets. It was a true pleasure working together.
© 2025 Alexander Broadbent