Technical Lead & Senior Software Engineer

Handson engineering leadership for complex digital transformation programmes. I help product and engineering teams turn fragile legacy web estates into robust platforms that are faster and easier to maintain, scale, govern, and improve.

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

I am an enthusiastic senior software engineer and technical leader with 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;
  • helping a major browser vendor explore AIdriven tools for clearer, more useful browsing experiences;
  • engaging businesses, politicians, academics, and world leaders to shape global agendas;
  • ... and revamping the online presence of a local food truck so that their customers knew where to find them.
More about me

Featured Case Studies

  1. Featured case study

    HSBC Corporate
    Banking

    Lead UI development across several HSBC digital transformation projects, spanning commercial banking, React platform development, legacy integration, and complex global banking workflows.

    Screenshot of the HSBC Corporate Banking website; part of John Kavanagh's selected project work.
  2. Featured case study

    Virgin Atlantic
    & Holidays

    Lead engineer on Virgin Atlantic & Holidays' largescale replatforming programme, unifying twelve disparate applications within a new headless architecture built with React and Next.js.

    Screenshot of the Virgin Atlantic & Holidays website; part of John Kavanagh's selected project work.
  3. Featured case study

    Polestar

    Senior developer on Polestar's highly animated, interactive website and automotive configurators, built with Gatsby, React, and TypeScript as Volvo's former gofaster brand evolved into an EV company.

    Screenshot of the Polestar website; part of John Kavanagh's selected project work.
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Previous Clients

Availability

I am currently leading a global digital transformation engagement, with limited availability until early 2027. Short diagnostics or urgent work may be possible sooner.

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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.