# Mike Thomas

> Technical Director. Engineering Manager. Software Developer.

Mike Thomas is a technical leader and engineering manager with over 20 years of web programming and infrastructure experience. He specialises in building and shaping high-performing software development teams, working across creative digital marketing agencies, recruitment marketing, and HR software in the professional services sector.

## About

Mike helps small to medium-sized businesses — typically those experiencing rapid growth — take control of their engineering teams. He optimises processes, improves team dynamics, and aligns technical delivery with business goals. He has deep experience in both the human and technical sides of software engineering leadership.

He prefers short to medium-term contracts but is open to all types of opportunity.

## Current Role

Technical Director at Blend (Nov 2020 – Present), a B2B marketing agency, leading engineering strategy and delivery.

## Services & Expertise

- Technical direction and engineering leadership
- Building and scaling high-performing development teams
- People and performance management (1:1s, peer reviews, mentoring)
- Infrastructure as code and DevOps culture
- Product architecture and technical decision making
- Agile process introduction and improvement
- Stakeholder and executive communication
- Recruiting, retaining, and mentoring diverse talent
- Digital marketing and employer branding industry expertise

## Technologies

PHP, Ruby on Rails, SQL, JavaScript, HTML/CSS, Laravel, Lumen, WordPress, Linux (RHEL/CentOS), Apache, Azure, AWS, Rackspace, Git, HubSpot, Mailgun, Campaign Monitor

## Career History

**Blend** – Technical Director (Nov 2020 – Present)
Technical Director at a B2B marketing agency, leading engineering strategy and delivery.

**ObjectiveManager** – Head of Technical (Mar 2019 – Sep 2020)
Led 9 software developers and testers building performance management software. Introduced 1:1s, peer reviews and pairing. Drove infrastructure migration from Rackspace to Azure. Made initial Ruby on Rails hires to accelerate PoC development.

**ThirtyThree** – Head of Technical Operations (Oct 2018 – Feb 2019)
Reported to CEO and Divisional CIO. Managed IT systems transition and line managed both IT and development teams.

**ThirtyThree** – Head of Web Development (Feb 2014 – Oct 2018)
Built and led a new team to rejuvenate the digital product offering. Increased deployments from 22 to 315 per month, reduced build times by weeks, brought avoidable data loss to zero. Retained key employees through the Capita acquisition.

**Earlier career** at Taylor/Thomas and Jellyfish in digital marketing and employer branding.

## Notable Clients

Brands: McDonald's, The Guardian, National Grid, Rough Trade, Aviva, WorldPay, EE, Capita

## Writing

- [The joy of rejecting interview candidates](https://michaelthomas.co/blog/the-joy-of-rejecting-interview-candidates) — On delivering constructive rejection feedback and mentoring candidates outside your organisation.
- [When to leave the best job ever](https://michaelthomas.co/blog/when-to-leave-the-best-job-ever) — On the difficult conversation with good engineers when there's no path left to run.
- [In search of lost teams](https://bitfieldconsulting.com/blog/in-search-of-lost-teams) — Published on Bitfield Consulting.

## Contact

- Email: mike@michaelthomas.co
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelthomas-/
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/determinedmoth
- Substack: https://bemoremike.substack.com/
- Website: https://michaelthomas.co