Carson Bruce

View at https://carson.kiwi
I am a seasoned software engineer with 13 years of experience, passionate about creating beautifully simple applications.
Throughout my career, I have successfully navigated the entire software development lifecycle, from conceptualization to deployment.
My diverse roles have equipped me with valuable problem-solving skills and a passion for continuous learning and collaboration. I excel in JavaScript development, leveraging its capabilities to explore new technologies and processes.
Known for my open-minded approach, attentive listening, and strong teamwork ethic, I am committed to driving innovation and exceeding expectations in every project I undertake.

Experience

Forsyth Barr

Nov 2022 - Mar 2024 (1 year)

As a Senior Platform Engineer at Forsyth Barr, I played a key role in developing a new platform aimed at accelerating FinTech product development. This platform eases the integration of commonly used industry services, enhancing efficiency and functionality. My responsibilities included managing the design and implementation of critical components such as Identity and Access, SDKs, Event Framework, and API Gateway.

See here for my key achievements with Forsyth Barr.

Trove

Jan 2022 - Nov 2022 (10 months)

As a Senior Financial Engineer at Trove, I contributed to the launch of Tempo, a FinTech product, by developing Financial Services and supporting tools for the mobile app. Utilizing AWS services, I quickly gained proficiency in Python and serverless development.

One notable achievement was the creation of a performance testing suite, which significantly enhanced our confidence in the system's ability to handle loads well beyond launch expectations. This suite not only pinpointed areas for enhancement but also provided valuable insights that informed design decisions within and between teams.

See here for my key achievements with Trove.

Middleware NZ

Feb 2019 - Jan 2022 (3 years)

As a Senior Developer at Middleware NZ, I transitioned my focus towards API and microservice development to diversify my technical expertise. Working on multiple projects across different teams, technologies, and processes, I adeptly tackled each challenge, delivering positive outcomes for both internal and external clients.

While at Middleware NZ, a significant focus of my role involved spearheading the delivery of the Open Banking Accelerator. This product has been effectively integrated across several New Zealand banking clients, streamlining the implementation of APIs and Security Profiles in alignment with the New Zealand Open Banking specification.

See here for my key achievements with Middleware NZ.

Properly

Oct 2017 - Feb 2019 (1 year)

At Properly, I joined a 14-member team working globally to provide property owners and managers with tools and support. Following our successful Series-A funding, I witnessed the company's expansion to over 50 members. As the lead for the front-end team, I oversaw the development of multiple web apps. In addition to this role, I actively participated in various engineering, design, and testing activities.

See here for my key achievements with Properly.

Solnet

Jul 2012 - Oct 2017 (5 years)

I began my career at Solnet, where I joined their delivery team after graduating. While there, I gained diverse experience working with various clients, primarily as a front-end developer. However, I also frequently ventured into other roles such as DevOps, API developer, and automation tester. During my tenure, I also took on the responsibility of mentoring team members in JavaScript tooling and best practices through one-on-one sessions and group presentations.

See here for my key achievements with Solnet.

Education

Bachelor of Engineering, Software Engineering, First Class Honours

Victoria University of Wellington

2007-2012

Products and Projects

Platform

Forsyth Barr

Forsyth Barr is a leading investment firm in New Zealand and committed to advancing its technology capabilities. I applied my experience from developing Tempo to contribute to the implementation of a new platform product. Within 8 months, our team successfully launched the platform, marking its first integration. My role primarily involved design, direction, and implementation of the platform, with a significant portion of my time dedicated to remote collaboration across time zones between Canada and New Zealand.

  • Lead the delivery of JavaScript and Python SDKs.
  • Moved rapidly from conception to first integration.
  • Collaborated in The Platforms Security, API and eventing architectures.
  • Rooted myself in AWS thinking and its ecosystem.
  • Provided feedback on product direction and scope.

Tempo

Trove

Tempo, New Zealand's pioneering guided retail investment app, emerged with the goal of expanding the customer base and fortifying the technological capabilities of its parent company, Forsyth Barr. Successfully launched to market, Tempo now serves customers across New Zealand. In this role, my responsibilities were diverse and adaptable, encompassing implementation design, mentoring, providing on-call support, and addressing various needs of the team and product.

  • Rapidly up-skilled in Python and AWS development.
  • Assisted with hiring phases of new recruits.
  • Championed performance testing steering the direction of several optimizations.
  • Delivered the foundation of a web version of the native apps.
  • Mentored junior and intermediate team members.

Open Banking Accelerator Product

Glueware (MWNZ)

The Open Banking Accelerator offers a standardized set of APIs that banks can leverage to make conformance simpler. Developed by a compact internal team, the product builds upon years of prior experience within the open banking domain. In my role, I took ownership of design, implementation, and testing tasks, while also delegating additional responsibilities within the team. Additionally, I provided reviews and support for other team members' work.

  • Owned technical leadership of microservice development and testing.
  • Succeeded to prove value through delivery into multiple banks.
  • Promoted strong testing culture throughout team.
  • Applied feedback from customers to improve experience and quality of the product.
  • Worked closely with product owners to ensure team tasks and focus was aligned.
  • Designed scalable and modular application using cloud and microservice patterns.

NZ COVID Pass Integration

MoH (MWNZ)

As part of the ministry's COVID response, this project aimed to provide a verifiable COVID pass to residents and visitors in New Zealand. Challenges included managing forecasted demand and ensuring the security of sensitive APIs. In my role, I supported team members and ensured alignment of our work with project delivery objectives.

  • Balanced quality of development under extreme time pressures.
  • Enabled other team members through code reviews and pair programming.
  • Communicated with ministry teams and other vendors to ensure alignment of delivery.
  • Supported design and achieved implementation of a highly available solution.

Lending and Onboarding

BNZ (Solnet)

I joined BNZ's product team to contribute to the transformation of their Lending and Onboarding systems, with the goal of enhancing the experience for both customers and bank users. This transformation embraced a new delivery approach, emphasizing modular system design and implementation, supported by platform development and DevOps processes. Within the team, I co-led the front-end implementation of two significant applications and a component library.

  • Lead app design and development using a new front-end technology.
  • Promoted and adapted a UI component library for multiple applications.
  • Guided front-end developers through best practices, process and tooling.
  • Guided UI Integration testers through best practices, process and tooling.

Employment Agreement Builder (EAB)

MBIE (Solnet)

EAB is an application designed for small to medium businesses to generate new employment agreements while providing educational content on employment law in an easily understandable format. EAB successfully surpassed its objectives and was developed, tested, and deployed within a three-month time frame.

  • Practiced BDD and TDD creating a suite of feature-complete integration and unit tests.
  • Created a reusable forms solution, reused for a second MBIE policy builder app.
  • Promoted a full-stack JavaScript solution supported by docker.
  • Implemented NodeJS micro service handling 10x expected load.
  • Implemented a pipeline that performed automated testing and releases.

Online Banking

Westpac (Solnet)

I was a member of a Westpac team dedicated to enhancing their online banking experience. Initially, I supported project developers by facilitating communication between development teams and enhancing automation in local, development, and test environments, fostering developer autonomy. After two months, I transitioned into a technical leadership role, overseeing a team of five and spearheading feature development within the middleware.

  • Trusted as the custodian of environments relied on by a team of 60+.
  • Lead and mentor of a team of five.
  • Proposed and owned developer tooling and experience improvements.
  • Implemented a JavaScript framework that supported other teams.
  • Took ownership for the security features of the client.

Interests

  • Netball
  • Hiking
  • Cycling
  • Photography
  • Gaming
  • Sound Systems
  • Beer Brewing
  • Adventure