The Digerati

Contract engineer · Singapore

I join your team and help it ship.

Available now for full-time contract work in Singapore, on-site or hybrid. Twenty years across the stack, currently building in Python, FastAPI and Next.js.

See the work
Python FastAPI Next.js React TypeScript PHP Azure AWS PostgreSQL

Useful at every layer

The layers I work across Front end: Next.js, React, Tailwind; API: FastAPI, PHP, REST; Data: PostgreSQL, MySQL, Redis; Payments: Stripe, webhooks, ledgers; Ship & run: Docker, CI, monitoring Front end Next.js, React, Tailwind API FastAPI, PHP, REST Data PostgreSQL, MySQL, Redis Payments Stripe, webhooks, ledgers Ship & run Docker, CI, monitoring

Available now for contract work in Singapore

Currently taking on full-time contract engagements, on-site or hybrid in Singapore, and fixed-scope projects delivered through The Digerati.

Available now Singapore, on-site or hybrid Full-time contract engagements Fixed-scope projects Day rate on request

Track record

Twenty years of production work for teams that cannot afford downtime.

Directly, through agencies, and as a contractor — from BBC services to a Yahoo! Sports platform migration.

BBC
Yahoo! Sports
Colgate-Palmolive
EA Games
DART Enterprises
RE/MAX Cayman Islands
Cable & Wireless

What I’m hired for

The work clients keep bringing me in for.

Most engagements are a mix. The common thread is shipping something that still works after I leave.

Python & FastAPI back ends

Typed, tested services and the data pipelines behind them — APIs, background workers, queues and the operational tooling that keeps them honest.

Python contract work

Next.js & React front ends

App Router and server components used properly: fast first loads, honest caching, SEO that survives contact with a crawler, and no data leaking into the client payload.

Next.js contract work

AI & LLM engineering

Retrieval, evaluation and cost control around real models — including multi-provider routing, vision input and the deterministic scaffolding that keeps output reliable.

AI assistant development

Platform & legacy modernisation

Twenty years of PHP and SQL means I can work on the system you already have: migrations, integrations and the unglamorous parts that block everything else.

PHP contract work

Leadership & delivery

Some projects don’t need another pair of hands.

Sometimes what’s missing is someone to set the direction — or to work out why a build that should have shipped months ago still hasn’t.

Lead the team

Technical direction, and the unglamorous job of saying no to the right things.

  • Architecture decisions the team can actually live with
  • Standards, code review and mentoring that raise the floor, not just the ceiling
  • Estimating and backlog prioritisation alongside product
  • Stakeholder communication, including the awkward updates

Unstick the delivery

Projects rarely stall for one dramatic reason. Usually it is unclear ownership, scope nobody has the standing to cut, or an architecture decision everyone is working around instead of fixing.

  • Find which of those it actually is, and say so plainly
  • Cut what is not earning its place in the release
  • Re-sequence so something shippable reaches users early
  • Hand it back running — a rescue that still needs me afterwards has not worked
Technical Architect at the BBC Led delivery for globally recognised brands at BB&P Cross-timezone teams at The Digerati
About me

Selected work

Recent work.

Three of many. The rest are on the work page and in conversation.

Design-to-code SaaS

Weld

Drop in a Figma file, get production-ready Tailwind back. Launched as a paid product, later acquired.

3

breakpoints verified

4

LLM providers

Live

Stripe billing

  • Reverse-engineered Figma’s undocumented binary format
  • Deterministic pre-bake first, so the model only handles what needs judgement
Python FastAPI React Stripe

weldhtml.com

Football analytics

Long Shot Merchants

Football predictions that publish their own accuracy record instead of claiming one.

218

leagues, nightly

~200

model features

6

betting markets

  • Calibrated models, so 70% confidence means 70% in practice
  • Paid content gated server-side, not hidden in the client
Next.js 16 React 19 XGBoost MySQL

longshotmerchants.co.uk

Colgate-Palmolive

GenAI agent platform

An internal platform for building and running AI agents, delivered inside the client’s own product team.

  • Loose business briefs turned into shippable technical specs
  • Estimated and prioritised against the annual roadmap
Python FastAPI Next.js PostgreSQL
See all work

“Simon is one of the most capable engineers we have worked with. He takes a brief, asks the right questions, and comes back with something that works.”

Ben Leftwich

VP Marketing, Dart

Simon Cruise

The Digerati

Need a delivered outcome rather than a pair of hands?

Fixed-scope work runs through The Digerati, with additional engineers where the scope needs them. The most common starting point is AI assistant development grounded in your own documents and systems.

Services AI assistant development

Next step

Available now
let’s talk about the role.

Send over the brief or the job spec and I’ll tell you honestly whether I’m the right fit. Day rate on request.

Email simon@thedigerati.sg
Singapore skyline