Darren Williams
Senior Backend Engineer
PHP · Symfony · Laravel · AWS
AWS Certified Developer with 15+ years building scalable APIs, distributed systems and high-availability platforms. Based in Newport, South Wales.
Building robust systems
at scale since 2009
I'm a Senior Backend Engineer based in Newport, South Wales with over 15 years of experience specialising in PHP, Symfony, Laravel and cloud-native AWS technologies. I design and deliver scalable APIs, distributed systems and high-availability platforms that real people rely on.
I combine hands-on engineering with technical leadership, driving architecture decisions, mentoring developers and raising engineering standards. I thrive in fast-paced start-up and scale-up environments, and I'm a strong advocate for AI-assisted development workflows that accelerate delivery and improve code quality.
My First-Class Honours degree in Digital Media grounds everything I build in user-centred thinking, accessibility and clear communication.
Backend Architecture
Designing scalable, event-driven systems with clean APIs and reliable data pipelines.
Cloud & DevOps
AWS-certified with hands-on experience across EC2, Lambda, RDS, S3, CI/CD and more.
Technical Leadership
Mentoring engineers, reviewing code, driving best practices and advising at board level.
Technologies & Expertise
Languages & Frameworks
Architecture & APIs
Cloud & DevOps
Data
Practices
Leadership
Professional Experience
PHP Backend Engineer
Coaches' Voice Ltd · London
Global football education platform supporting 50,000+ coaches across 2,000+ clubs worldwide. Backend ownership within a polyglot, Symfony-based LMS with a TypeScript frontend.
- Built and maintained a real-time notification and messaging system with WebSocket integration for live updates.
- Designed a flexible "content rails" system enabling hierarchical grouping of activities, powering personalised learning paths.
- Implemented scheduled and background processing systems including data-integrity checks, log-monitoring bots and automated Slack alerting.
- Led development of key product modules: events/webinars, announcements, translations, time zones, licensing and shared content libraries.
- Supported junior developers, contributed to DevOps pipeline improvements, and drove adoption of AI-assisted development workflows.
Senior Full-Stack Software Engineer
Streetwave Ltd · Newport
Geospatial SaaS start-up from the Alacrity Foundation. Sole senior engineer establishing the technical foundation for a scalable platform used by clients across the UK and internationally.
- Architected a high-performance web application using Laravel, Vue.js and Python, integrated with Google APIs and Uber H3 for spatial data processing.
- Implemented and managed full AWS cloud infrastructure (Elastic Beanstalk, EC2, S3, Glue, Lambda, RDS, Route 53, IAM, SES).
- Designed and executed a sophisticated CI/CD pipeline and enforced a 10-point application security audit.
- Mentored junior developers and National Software Academy (Cardiff University) students.
Software Engineering Manager
Wesley Clover · Newport
Managed and supported software development across nine technology start-ups from the Alacrity Foundation, spanning web and mobile platforms across diverse languages and frameworks.
- Reviewed early-stage proofs of concept and defined strategic support plans to assist start-up scaling.
- Contributed to application development, refactors and updates (predominantly in Laravel) with a focus on security, performance and scalability.
- Utilised AWS technologies for robust, scalable cloud infrastructure across all projects.
- Provided technical advice during stand-ups and board meetings; mentored Alacrity students in Laravel, UX and accessibility.
Tech Lead
Alacrity Foundation · Newport
Web Developer (Self-employed)
Phoenix1331 · Newport
GitHub Projects
Focused playground repositories exploring modern patterns and technologies, created as an example of how I would give junior developers hands-on insight into real-world backend concepts.
laravel-http-query-demo
Demonstrates RFC 10008's new HTTP QUERY verb in Laravel 12, contrasted against GET and POST with a live mock endpoint.
htmx-symfony-todo
Progressive todo app using HTMX with Symfony backend: live updates, inline editing and filtering without writing JavaScript.
postgres-playground
Exploration of PostgreSQL capabilities: JSONB, full-text search, CTEs, window functions and triggers.
laravel-test-playground
Reference comparing unit, feature and end-to-end testing in Laravel 13 using Pest and Playwright.
laravel-redis-playground
Laravel 13 demo showcasing Redis for caching, sessions, queues, rate limiting and pub/sub patterns.
Education & Certifications
AWS Certified Developer – Associate
Amazon Web Services · April 2024
Currently studying for AWS Solutions Architect – Associate (SAA-C03)
BSc (Hons) Digital Media – First Class
University of the West of England, Bristol · 2012–2015
- Dean's Award for Academic Excellence (2013 & 2014)
- Best Creative Technology Project (2015)
- Peer-Assisted Learning Leader – mentoring students (2013–15)
Open to new opportunities
Available immediately for Senior Backend Engineer, Senior Software Engineer, Lead Engineer and Platform Engineer roles. References available on request.