# Scott Galloway Hands-on Engineering Leader · Principal Engineer · Systems Architect · AI Systems Engineer Scotland, UK · [scott.galloway@gmail.com](mailto:scott.galloway@gmail.com) · [mostlylucid.net](https://www.mostlylucid.net) · [GitHub](https://github.com/scottgal) · [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-galloway-91608691/) ## Profile I build systems and lead the people who build them. Across more than 30 years in software, I have worked as a developer, architect, engineering lead, consultant and Microsoft ASP.NET Program Manager. I am most useful where a problem is unclear, an existing system is under pressure, or a product needs someone who can set direction and still get into the code. My work spans application architecture, hands-on implementation, performance, delivery, hiring and mentoring. I have worked with startups and large organisations, led distributed engineering teams, and run mostlylucid limited since 2012. C# and .NET are my deepest tools; I also work across Python, JavaScript, TypeScript and other ecosystems when the problem requires it. I build AI into systems where it earns its place: local inference, semantic search, retrieval-augmented generation, document and data processing, and behavioural inference. I keep source evidence available, measure behaviour, and use deterministic software where it is the better answer. ## Capabilities - Engineering leadership: technical strategy, architecture, product delivery, team building, hiring, mentoring, distributed teams, stakeholder communication and recovery of struggling projects. - Application engineering: C#, ASP.NET Core, .NET, REST APIs, microservices, event-driven systems, domain boundaries, background services, SignalR, Blazor, WPF and full-stack web development. - Cloud and operations: Azure, Azure Functions, Azure DevOps, GCP, Docker, Kubernetes, Bicep, infrastructure as code, CI/CD, GitHub Actions, observability, Application Insights, load testing and performance diagnostics. - AI and retrieval: LLM integration, agent workflows, local inference, ONNX, ML.NET, embeddings, NLP, semantic search, RAG, evidence-backed generation, OpenAI and Azure AI services. - Data systems: SQL Server, PostgreSQL, SQLite, DuckDB, Cosmos DB, MySQL, OpenSearch, Qdrant, Redis and data integration. - Web interfaces: JavaScript, TypeScript, HTMX, Alpine.js, React, Vue.js, Tailwind CSS and responsive user interfaces. ## Professional experience ### mostlylucid limited — Freelance CTO / Technical Consultant / Lead Developer January 2012–present · Remote - Provide hands-on architecture, engineering leadership and software delivery across fintech, healthcare, ecommerce, SaaS, government and charitable organisations. - Modernise legacy systems and design distributed applications around operational constraints, clear domain boundaries, robust APIs and measurable improvements. - Work across architecture, implementation, infrastructure, testing and support; help stalled products recover and teams establish sustainable delivery practices. - Deliver AI and data systems using language models, vector embeddings, semantic retrieval and conventional validation, with attention to accountable decisions and source evidence. - Founded and operated developer training programmes; more than 200 graduates achieved a placement rate above 90%. - Client assignments have included lead architecture and development for an Asian airline booking system, low-level telemetry research for an insurance platform, distributed-computing research for a UK government project, and technical consulting for eight UK and international charities. - Publish open-source .NET libraries, CLI tools and detailed engineering articles. The client roles below include overlapping consulting engagements. ### Mortgage Automator — AI Development Consultant January 2026–present · Canada / remote - Consult on the effective use of coding language models and design and build supporting systems around business requirements. - Combine hands-on product development with guidance on engineering workflows and the practical constraints of AI-assisted delivery. ### ZenChef Ltd / Formitable — Contract Lead Developer October 2024–present · Remote - Modernise a large distributed ASP.NET Core application on Azure, including migration to .NET 8, cost reduction, reliability and performance work. - Work across Cosmos DB, Azure Service Bus, SQL Server, microservices and event-driven processing. - Implement observability using Application Insights and custom telemetry to guide optimisation and operational decisions. - Provide technical leadership and rapid support during changes to a complex production platform. ### Jane.com / Very Jane Ltd — Contract Senior Backend Developer April 2024–August 2024 · United States / remote - Rebuild the backend for the new owners of a major US ecommerce platform using ASP.NET Core 8 and Entity Framework. - Deliver Stripe Connect and Hyperwallet integrations and customer-facing product-import workflows. - Establish a new platform with data validation, realistic test data and testing around imperfect customer-supplied data. ### Rooikat Investment Limited — Contract Head of Development May 2023–May 2024 · Remote - Lead the development team reworking an ERP and process-management application. - Combine hands-on coding with product architecture, technical direction and development planning. ### Seamcor Ltd — Head of Engineering (Contract) December 2022–April 2024 · Remote - Lead a team of more than ten developers through the rearchitecture of an enterprise production-management system. - Change the development process and team structure to support a safe, customer-focused product launch; continue as a technical consultant on architecture and platforms. - Design deployment options for cloud-native hosting and lower-cost on-premises installations. - Integrate Docker Compose, PostgreSQL and OpenSearch for customer-specific deployments, reporting and search. ### GBG Plc / Loqate — Lead Engineer August 2022–November 2022 · Remote - Lead engineering for a global search-as-you-type postal-address platform with responsibility for technologies across the system. - Architect high-throughput address-search and validation services using .NET microservices and Kubernetes on GCP, alongside Go and React applications. - Establish k6 testing infrastructure for rapid validation of changes and performance improvements. ### WCOM AB — Lead Developer (Contract) October 2021–May 2022 · Remote - Develop customer applications using Blazor Server, Azure Functions and SignalR for real-time collaboration. - Build WPF screen-mirroring and interprocess communication modules for logistics and remote-work scenarios. - Use Azure DevOps, ARM and Bicep for infrastructure deployment and CI, with .NET, SQL Server and SQLite. ### H3Space Ltd — Engineering Lead June 2021–September 2021 · Remote - Design the backend cloud architecture for a Unity-based SaaS platform with a React frontend, GraphQL APIs and a backend-for-frontend design on Azure. - Recruit and lead a globally distributed development team, delivering an MVP within 90 days. - Turn evolving requirements into an actionable delivery plan and establish the engineering approach around the product. ### Huozhi Ltd — Technical Consultant / Development Lead June 2018–March 2020 · Remote - Modernise a fintech platform through performance profiling and API scalability improvements. - Lead a distributed team using Scrum and CI/CD practices to deliver regular releases. ### Interactive Reporting Ltd — Lead Developer (Contract) December 2015–June 2021 · Remote - Architect and develop reporting products across classic ASP, JavaScript, ASP.NET MVC, WinForms and WPF. - Build a cross-platform reporting engine with SQL Server, MySQL and SQLite support for enterprise analytics. - Lead development of a next-generation single-page reporting interface and its backend services. ### Independent Consulting — Application Developer / Architect July 2011–September 2017 · Remote - Design and implement distributed applications using .NET and Microsoft technologies. - Work on cloud ecommerce connected to on-premises SAP, with Azure, Redis and SQL Server supporting availability and integration requirements. - Help startups resolve architectural and operational problems while keeping existing systems online. ### Dell — Senior Software Development Lead January 2011–July 2011 · Glasgow, UK - Provide technical leadership and mentoring within a multinational development team building Windows deployment and machine-customisation systems for factory and enterprise customers. - Architect an internal machine-provisioning platform using ASP.NET MVC and SQL Server; reduce setup time by 70%. - Improve architecture and engineering practices across WCF, MVC and ExtJS, introducing continuous integration and unit testing. ### Microsoft Corp. — Program Manager II, ASP.NET January 2007–October 2009 · Redmond, Washington, USA - Manage release planning and coordination across the ASP.NET product family, working with ASP.NET MVC during versions 1 and 2. - Initiate and direct platform features including ClientID functionality and CSS improvements. - Coordinate cross-functional work across Microsoft divisions and contribute to security infrastructure for Project Server. ### Microsoft Ltd. — Application Development Consultant II June 2005–January 2007 · Reading, UK - Advise enterprise customers on application design, architecture, development practices, performance and scalability. - Specialise in ASP.NET and SharePoint, delivering performance and scalability labs for systems ranging from smaller business applications to major enterprise platforms. - Conduct performance audits and architecture improvement planning for FTSE 100 customers. ### Storm ID — Lead Developer February 2003–June 2005 · Edinburgh, UK - Join the agency early and help build the development practice, delivering customer-facing websites with ASP.NET, classic ASP and SQL Server. - Build CMS and ecommerce platforms reused across client sites. - Design and build a scalable C# bulk-email system using coordinated servers and services to send Scottish Government emails to as many as 500,000 users. ### VisitScotland — Technical Architect February 2002–February 2003 · Scotland, UK - Lead architecture and migration planning for a large CORBA application moving to J2EE, including training, application development and hardware migration. - Plan skills development for a classic ASP team moving to .NET and lead the development of ASP.NET applications. ## Current independent projects and public work ### StyloBot — Behavioural bot detection Build a real-time bot-detection system using behavioural signals, request history, adaptive learning and vector representations. Work spans ASP.NET Core middleware, gateway and sidecar integrations, dashboards, performance, testing and long-running service behaviour. The system is designed to run within the customer's infrastructure. [Project articles](https://www.mostlylucid.net/search?query=StyloBot) ### StyloAgent and StyloMail — Agent workflows and behavioural inference Develop and document agent workflows, persistent specialists, decision policies, structured extraction and email-oriented behavioural inference. Explore how evidence, feedback and constrained decisions can make AI-assisted systems more useful and inspectable. [StyloAgent articles](https://www.mostlylucid.net/search?query=StyloAgent) · [StyloMail articles](https://www.mostlylucid.net/search?query=StyloMail) ### lucidRESUME — Evidence-backed career records and résumé compilation Build an open-source research tool that separates a complete career record from the shorter résumé tailored to a particular role. JobML connects claims to evidence; the compiler selects supported career material and produces conventional Word and PDF documents. Related work includes local inference, reusable prose, search and mapping job-form questions to published evidence. [Source](https://github.com/scottgal/lucidRESUME) · [How the web compiler works](https://www.mostlylucid.net/blog/lucidresume-web-compiler) ### Document, data and search tools Build local-first summarisation, profiling, semantic-search and retrieval tools using ONNX, DuckDB, Qdrant, SQLite, PostgreSQL, local models and cloud APIs. Combine parsing and validation with model-assisted steps and retain evidence for inspection. [Software and libraries](https://www.mostlylucid.net/software) ### mostlylucid.net — Public engineering lab Build and operate an open-source ASP.NET Core platform with search, analytics, translation, observability and a deployment pipeline. Develop a Python/PyTorch/FastAPI translation service from EasyNMT, including local inference and model-family fallback. Publish hundreds of technical articles explaining implementation choices, failures, tests and production constraints, alongside reusable NuGet and npm packages. [Blog](https://www.mostlylucid.net) · [Website source](https://github.com/scottgal/mostlylucidweb) · [NuGet packages](https://www.nuget.org/profiles/mostlylucid) ## Education University of Stirling — BSc (Hons), Psychology · Stirling, Scotland, UK The study of psychology informs my work on user behaviour, team dynamics and systems making decisions from incomplete signals. ## Availability Open to hands-on engineering leadership, principal-level roles, contract work and consulting. Contact: [scott.galloway@gmail.com](mailto:scott.galloway@gmail.com).