I am Edward Whitehead
Architect, Developer Leader, & Start-up Founder.
Edward is a strategic technical leader with over 20 years of commercial experience bridging business strategy and engineering execution. Expert in directing complex legacy modernisations, defining enterprise product roadmaps, and architecting mobile applications.
- RemoteWorldwide
- South East AsiaThailand, Malaysia, Vietnam
- South AfricaCape Town
Core Skills & Key Highlights
Core capabilities that drive real-world delivery
Strategic Leadership
Technical Due Diligence, Vendor Management, Remote Orchestration, Board-Level Reporting.
Architecture & Cloud
Enterprise Modernisation, Microservices, Azure DevOps, Firebase, Serverless Architecture.
Product Strategy
SaaS Products Developed, Dashboards, CLIs, Mobile Apps
Technical Stack
.Net, C#, Next.js, React, Node.js, MongoDB, Postgres, Flutter
Key Highlights
- Product Development & SaaS: Technical Leader with 20+ years of commercial experience turning ideas into scalable products. Founded and led ventures such as Qirvo, Violt, and PayBee while driving product strategy, roadmap execution, modernization programs, and end-to-end SaaS delivery across startups and enterprise environments.
- Full-Stack: Hands-on Full-Stack Engineer with deep expertise in TypeScript, React, Next.js, Node.js, C#, .NET, Firebase, MongoDB, PostgreSQL, Azure, AWS, Docker, CI/CD, and cross-platform mobile development including .NET MAUI, Xamarin, Kotlin, Flutter, and Jetpack Compose. Proven record delivering production systems across web, cloud, and mobile.
- AI & Systems Architecture: Architect and enterprise-grade systems design, with a strong focus on modular design, APIs, microservices, layered memory systems, and scalable cloud-native infrastructure. Experienced building command platforms, smart home ecosystems, fintech solutions, and high-performance operational systems.
- Open-Source & Developer Advocacy: Builder of developer-first ecosystems including SDKs, plugin frameworks, automation tools, and CLI platforms such as Echo CLI. Strong communicator who creates technical documentation, onboarding assets, and product narratives that accelerate adoption and grow engaged communities.
- Fractional CTO & Strategy: Led technical vision, architecture governance, hiring direction, delivery execution, investor materials, and go-to-market strategy for multiple ventures and consulting engagements. Trusted to align business goals with pragmatic engineering outcomes and sustainable growth.
- Creative & Marketing: Combine technical depth with commercial storytelling through brand strategy, landing pages, product messaging, pitch decks, explainer campaigns, and growth-focused content. Experienced translating complex products into clear value propositions that attract users, clients, and investors.
Experience
Principal Mobile Software Architect
- Legacy Modernisation Strategy: Spearheaded the high-risk migration of core mobile infrastructure from Xamarin to .NET MAUI, extending the product lifecycle by 5+ years and ensuring long-term OS compatibility.
- Product Innovation (AI/IoT): Conceptualised and delivered "Sentinel," a security product integrating Deep Learning (Facial Recognition) and NFC technology, opening new revenue streams in the security sector.
- Operational Excellence: Overhauled a stagnant release pipeline by implementing Azure CI/CD workflows, reducing deployment friction and ensuring consistent delivery to App Stores.
- Stakeholder Management: Served as the primary bridge between business stakeholders and engineering, translating complex operational requirements into executable technical specifications.
Skills: Legacy Modernisation Strategy · Product Innovation (AI/IoT) · Operational Excellence · Stakeholder Management
Notable Achievements: - Directed the technical roadmap for an enterprise mobile workforce management SaaS, focusing on legacy modernisation.
Senior Mobile Lead
- Project Turnaround: Diagnosed and resolved critical architectural bottlenecks in a client-facing application, eliminating frequent crashes and performance lags that were jeopardising the client relationship.
- Architectural Standardisation: Enforced MVVM design patterns and refactored legacy codebases to support complex features like NFC integration and AI-driven beauty recommendations.
Skills: Project Turnaround · Architectural Standardisation
Notable Achievements: - Recruited to rescue a failing mobile initiative for a client in the beauty industry (IIAA).
Technical Delivery Lead & Subject Matter Expert
- Enterprise Architecture: Served as the Subject Matter Expert (SME) for cloud-based insurance solutions (Sanlam), designing scalable architectures for high-volume booking systems.
- DevOps Transformation: Engineered Azure DevOps pipelines using YAML, automating build processes that significantly reduced manual deployment errors and increased release velocity.
Skills: Enterprise Architecture · DevOps Transformation
Notable Achievements: - Led technical delivery and cloud architecture for major insurance and on-demand service clients.
Career Break
- Took planned time off to start an events business and upskill in Angular, .NET Core and cloud technologies.
Mobile Software Architect / Senior Application Developer
- Strategic Roadmapping: Oversaw the end-to-end product lifecycle for national logistics applications, prioritising features based on regulatory constraints and operational impact.
- Performance Optimisation: Architected backend improvements that increased data transfer speeds by 200%, directly supporting rapid operational scaling.
- User Experience Impact: Delivered a comprehensive UX overhaul that resulted in a 70% increase in application adoption and usage.
- Vendor Management: Directed external vendors in the complex porting of legacy Windows Mobile applications to modern platforms, ensuring delivery within scope and budget.
Skills: Strategic Roadmapping · Performance Optimisation · User Experience Impact · Vendor Management
Notable Achievements: - Managed the product roadmap and technical execution for national courier applications.
About Me
Edward is a strategic technical leader with over 20 years of commercial experience bridging business strategy and engineering execution. Expert in directing complex legacy modernisations, defining enterprise product roadmaps, and architecting mobile applications.
Core Expertise:
- Full-Stack Engineering: TypeScript, React, Next.js 15, Node.js, Firebase, MongoDB, PostgreSQL, AWS, Azure, Docker, Kubernetes
- AI & Systems Architecture: Multi-agent AI systems, plugin ecosystems, modular microservices, and enterprise-scale automation
- Product Leadership: End-to-end SaaS platform development, go-to-market strategy, team leadership, and thought leadership positioning
- Fractional CTO Services: Technical vision, roadmap planning, investor relations, and organizational scaling
Notable Ventures:
- SubSeat: AI-enhanced subscription booking platform for beauty services (SaaS, early 2026 launch)
- Qirvo: AI command platform with plugin marketplace and Echo CLI agent for developers
- Orchestra-AI: Commercial certification framework for AI-integrated software delivery lifecycle (U-ASDLC)
I have a proven track record architecting scalable, and building multi-agent AI systems, publishing open-source SDKs, and managing investor relations. I excel at leading distributed teams, integrating emerging technologies (AI, IoT, blockchain), and transforming product vision into market-ready solutions.
Team Leadership
Product & GTM
Architecture
AI Innovation
Total
Featured Projects
A snapshot of initiatives, product launches, and architecture work.
Qirvo - AI Life Dashboard
An AI-powered life dashboard designed to manage various aspects of life. It uses AI to deliver intelligent analysis of tasks, health, projects, and more.
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Violt – Unified AI-Powered Smart Home Platform
A unified AI-powered smart home automation platform combining local control and cloud-based intelligence for privacy-first, predictive home automation.
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Echo AI Dev Agent – Autonomous Developer Assistant
An autonomous AI developer agent that analyzes, repairs, tests, and commits code automatically through GitHub PRs and n8n workflows.
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Violt Robotics
Integration of the Hugging Face Reachy Mini robot into the Violt Core ecosystem, enabling voice, gesture, and AI-based control through ROS2 and MQTT.
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Command Agent – AI Productivity CLI & Dashboard
AI-powered CLI and dashboard that unify development, automation, and project orchestration.
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API Nexus – Universal API Management Platform
API Nexus unifies API management, monitoring, and monetization into one developer-first SaaS platform.
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Comeback Dashboard — Demo Admin Dashboard
A responsive, accessible admin dashboard demo showcasing modern Next.js architecture, TypeScript, Tailwind CSS, server actions, and production-ready deployment on Vercel.
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Viola – Cross‑Platform Motivational Wellbeing App
Viola is a bubble‑pop styled wellbeing platform for gratitude journaling (with photos), motivational quotes, and mental health tracking—delivered across web and a companion Expo mobile app.
View projectFeatured Blog Posts
Latest insights, tutorials, and thoughts on technology and development.
AI Governance for Engineering Teams, Making Automation Safe and Useful
How to introduce AI into complex delivery environments without increasing risk or chaos.
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Stability Before Speed, Why Busy Teams Stall and How to Fix It
Why delivery velocity collapses under complexity and how stabilisation unlocks sustainable speed for engineering teams.
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I Am a Self-Taught Software Engineer — And That Is Not a Weakness
A candid reflection on impostor syndrome, self-taught engineering, and why building real systems matters more than perfect interviews.
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Building Subseat: Subscription Booking for Beauty & Wellness
A behind-the-scenes look at the product and engineering work I’m leading at Subseat: subscription-based booking that helps customers keep their favourite slots and helps businesses grow predictable recurring revenue.
Read moreLet’s Build Something Together
Available for remote engagements across time zones.
Ready to modernize your platform, ship an AI-driven product, or accelerate a multi-platform rollout? Drop a note and I’ll follow up with a tailored plan and next steps.
