Kyle Hudson
Summary
I am a highly experienced PHP developer, API architect and DevOps-focused software engineer with over 21 years of commercial experience building secure, scalable and high-performance web applications, APIs and bespoke business platforms. My background spans everything from full-scale e-commerce systems, CRMs and ERP platforms through to large-scale microservices, cloud-native and serverless environments.
I specialise in backend engineering, API design and development, application security, systems integration and infrastructure architecture, with strong expertise across PHP, MySQL, JavaScript, Redis, Memcached, HTML5 and CSS3. My work focuses heavily on scalable API-first platforms, authentication systems, cloud infrastructure, performance optimisation and information security best practices.
Throughout my career, I have designed, developed and maintained platforms used by organisations including BBC, HSBC, NHS, Viagogo, Arriva, Capita, Legal & General, MuscleFood, Mazda, BMW and Marriott International.
Overview
17
17
years of professional experience
3
3
years of post-secondary education
1
1
Certification
Work history
Freelance / Contractor
Self Employed
2009.06 - Current
- Freelance PHP developer & information security specialist with expertise in scalable APIs, secure systems, Laravel, cloud infrastructure, and performance-focused backend engineering.
Head of Technology / DevSecOps Lead
Rhino Group, Oceros and Rhino Events Europe
2023.09 - 2024.05
- Leading all things technical and security related, including implementation of centralised password management, mobile device management, federated login.
- Design, development and implementation of advanced AWS infrastructure, utilising Kubernetes (EKS, ECR), Cloudfront, S3, Route53, Lambda, RDS, SES and Elasticache.
- Recruiting and mentoring team members
- Reason for leaving: Company diversified, and split into new companies, decided the direction was not for me.
Senior Software Engineer
Accu Limited
2022.10 - 2023.08
- Implementation of the corporate ERP system, into internal and public facing applications, designing and implementation of QA testing pipelines. Redesign and implementation of infrastructure to enable massive scale.
- Recruiting and mentoring team members
- Reason for leaving: Unfortunately Wilko's has entered administration.
Lead Developer / DevOps Lead, Huddersfield
Bulk SMS / VoodooSMS
Huddersfield
2018.07 - 2022.05
- I led a team of eight developers across two countries, reporting directly to the Technical Director and/or Managing Director. I am incharge of re-development of the company's legacy monolithic system into a distributed microservices solution built on Laravel and Lumen. I am also involved in the day to day infrastructure decisions and maintenance.
- Helped to achieve ISO 27001.
- Reason for leaving: Conflict of interest, company had same clients as me as a freelancer.
Education
BSc (hons) - Forensic and Computer Security
Sheffield Hallam University
2005.09 - 2008.06
Skills
- PHP 5, 7 & 8 with strong object-oriented design principles and extensive backend development experience
- MySQL database design, optimisation and performance tuning
- JavaScript development across Vue, React, jQuery, Alpinejs, Inertiajs and vanilla JavaScript
- Modern frontend development using HTML5 and CSS
- Linux server administration across CentOS and Ubuntu, alongside macOS development environments
- Infrastructure provisioning and configuration management using Terraform, Ansible, Bash and Python
- Web server configuration and optimisation with Nginx, Apache, Caddy and Cherokee, with working knowledge of IIS
- Amazon Web Services (AWS), including the architecture and deployment of scalable, highly available systems
- Experience designing serverless architectures, microservices and API-first platforms
- Containerisation and virtualisation using Docker, LXC and LXD
- Test-driven development (TDD), automated unit/feature testing and CI/CD pipeline implementation
- Extensive Laravel experience across all major versions since Laravel 3
- Commercial experience with Symfony 2 and Symfony 3
Certification
- CISSP - Certified Information Systems Security Professional (expired in 2020, currently studying to renew)
- CEH - Certified Ethical Hacker (expired in 2020, currently studying to renew)
- LPT - Licensed Penetration Tester (expired in 2020, currently studying to renew)
- Currently working towards various AWS certifications, hopefully completing late 2023, early 2024.
References
References available upon request.
Timeline
Head of Technology / DevSecOps Lead
Rhino Group, Oceros and Rhino Events Europe
2023.09 - 2024.05
Senior Software Engineer
Accu Limited
2022.10 - 2023.08
Lead Developer / DevOps Lead, Huddersfield
Bulk SMS / VoodooSMS
2018.07 - 2022.05
Freelance / Contractor
Self Employed
2009.06 - Current
BSc (hons) - Forensic and Computer Security
Sheffield Hallam University
2005.09 - 2008.06