Reduced page load times from 12-30 seconds to 2-3 seconds for a French airline logistics platform through strategic caching implementation, while identifying deeper database architecture issues that would require significant restructuring to fully resolve.
Michael Card
15+ years experience 16 engagements
Experienced Fractional Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Architect, and .NET developer with a strong background in leading technical strategy and building scalable applications across diverse industries
About
An experienced and results-driven Chief Technology Officer (CTO) with over a decade of technical leadership and 15 years of experience in various technology roles.
My mission is to drive innovation by aligning technology with business goals, delivering scalable solutions that enhance user experiences and business outcomes while fostering agile, empowered teams. I have a proven track record of securing funding, including $10M for Spa Space Inc. through a scalable technology strategy, and delivering measurable results such as 300% deployment efficiency with CI/CD pipelines, 25% code quality improvement through rigorous assurance practices, and 300% SEO footprint growth by launching an optimised MVP for Holiday Caravans Direct.
Specialising in leveraging cutting-edge technologies like cloud-native architecture (Azure, Kubernetes), microservices, and CI/CD pipelines, I excel in technology roadmapping, stakeholder engagement, and team building. With expertise in integrations such as Stripe, Auth0, and SendBird, I consistently deliver high-performance solutions that balance business value, risk management, and scalability.
Experience
2025 - 2026
Technical Architect for the UK's leading property transaction platform (PropTech), designing relational authorisation for complex multi-party workflows, automating documentation across 390 repositories, and building AI-powered codebase intelligence using MCP and RAG - delivering enterprise-scale architecture while mentoring teams and establishing standards.
Built event-driven sensor integrations for a Ministry of Defence security contractor, implementing MQTT-driven workflows for hardware-based security systems that support automated drone deployment at sites including decommissioned nuclear facilities and Heathrow Airport.
2024
Transformed a struggling US startup's backend from minimal implementation to production-ready architecture, implementing CQRS patterns, integrating Stripe/SendBird/SendGrid/Auth0, and resolving critical issues including memory leaks - expanding from a scoped Auth0 integration into full backend development.
Conducted independent technical due diligence for Medecins Sans Frontieres, analysing their existing codebase, challenging a development agency's modernisation proposal, and delivering executive reports that enabled leadership to make informed vendor decisions - with a follow-up engagement expected in 2026.
2022 - 2024
Rose from contract developer to fractional CTO for a US wellness marketplace startup, architecting a 45+ microservice platform, managing teams of up to 20 developers across three agency engagements, and learning critical lessons about authority, title, and technical leadership in volatile business environments.
2022
Contributed to Greggs' digital platform modernisation as Senior Frontend Developer, integrating StoryBlok headless CMS with their Vue.js frontend and gaining first exposure to the Mediator pattern in their C# backend architecture.
2021
Brief engagement with a US-based enterprise security company, integrating a new video feed vendor into their Vue.js platform - an early exposure to security hardware integration that would inform later work at Operational Solutions.
Migrated a well-established Silverlight application to Vue.js for a property management company while advising leadership on Agile adoption - delivering 90% of the migration before the internal team took over for completion.
2021
First introduction to true microservices architecture - built web scraping infrastructure for an Innovate UK-funded sustainability comparison platform, working with Docker and Kubernetes on Google Cloud while the startup attempted to solve the challenge of sourcing reliable sustainability ratings.
Served as sole technical resource for an Isle of Wight-based online retailer, reverse-engineering and rebuilding their warehouse management system from VB6 to C#/WPF, migrating from Microsoft Access to MongoDB, and implementing predictive stock analytics - all while balancing this fractional engagement alongside Holiday Caravans Direct.
2019 - 2022
Stepped in as sole technical lead to rescue and rebuild a UK holiday caravan marketplace, modernising a legacy .NET Framework platform to .NET Core and Vue.js while designing an SEO pre-launch strategy that outranked competitors before pandemic-related funding constraints ended the project.
2016 - 2017
Transformed from contract developer to recognised frontend authority for a B2B insurance platform, building a component-based jQuery framework that predated modern patterns, migrating 20+ screens from WinForms to MVC, and upskilling a 15-person development team through dedicated training and pair programming.
2014 - 2016
Worked as Senior C# Developer at JLT Group on BenPal - a pioneering pensions and benefits platform serving major UK employers including McDonald's. Designed event-driven architecture using BizTalk for automated document generation, built white-labelling with Less CSS just-in-time compilation, and worked within what remains my benchmark for professional Scrum implementation.
2013 - 2014
Applied SOLID principles to dramatically reduce code duplication in a law firm's legacy codebase, building a reflection-based database access framework that cut typical class sizes from 4,000 lines to 400 lines and demonstrating the business value of clean code practices.
2011 - 2013
Began professional career as a C# Developer at a major insurance company, building a distributed test automation system that reduced UAT execution from half a day to 30 minutes, integrating with price comparison platforms, and learning the foundations of object-oriented design, SOLID principles, and professional software development.