Senior Software Engineer & Technical Lead

Handson technical leadership across complex Next.js and React platforms, digital transformations, technical SEO, performance, migrations and platform architecture.

I'm John, an awardwinning independent software engineering specialist based in sunny Brighton, UK.

I am a friendly and enthusiastic senior engineer and technical leader backed by over twentythree years of handson experience.

I help teams and clients design, build and improve websites, applications and web platforms, pairing architecture, delivery judgement and handson TypeScript, React, HTML and CSS.

My portfolio is diverse; I work with global clients, solving real-world problems, including:

  • helping prospective car buyers find just the right configuration for their next sports car;
  • engaging businesses, politicians, academics, and world leaders to shape global agendas;
  • helping a major browser vendor explore AIdriven tools for clearer, more useful browsing experiences;
  • ... and enhancing the website of a local toyshop so that they could continue trading during lockdown.
More about me

Featured Projects

  1. Featured Project

    The World Economic
    Forum

    Senior JavaScript developer heavily involved in delivering a Reactbased rebuild of the World Economic Forum online platforms, including leading the introduction of new user features.

    Screenshot of The World Economic Forum website; part of John Kavanagh's development portfolio.
  2. Featured Project

    Polestar

    Senior developer working on this highly animated, interactive website and automotive configurators for Polestar, once Volvo's fledgling gofaster brand, now turned EV company. Built with Gatsby, React, and TypeScript.

    Screenshot of the Polestar website; part of John Kavanagh's development portfolio.
  3. Featured Project

    Virgin Atlantic
    & Holidays

    Lead engineer on this massive replatforming project, unifying twelve disparate applications under a new headless architecture with React and Next.js.

    Screenshot of the Virgin Atlantic & Holidays website; part of John Kavanagh's development portfolio.
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Previous Clients

Availability

I am currently leading a new digital transformation engagement. I have limited availability for selected consulting and engineering delivery from September 2026.

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Planning a platform change?

I help teams make difficult platform work clearer, from architecture decisions and migrations to launch recovery, performance, and search visibility.