Derek Lakin
Head Of Software Engineering at Marks and Spencer
London, England, United Kingdom
Summary
👤
Senior🎓
Top SchoolDerek Lakin is a seasoned software engineering leader with 20+ years of hands-on experience and a decade focused on scaling regulated fintech and VC-backed scale-ups. He builds engineering organisations that turn product-market fit into investor-ready, compliant platforms, balancing speed and control to minimise risk while driving growth. Derek has led multi-geo teams of 20–40+ to deliver measurable outcomes—scaling Open Banking API throughput 20x, launching multiple regulated investment products rapidly, and embedding operational resilience and cost discipline. His background spans Big Tech (Meta, Microsoft/Skype) and high-growth startups (Tarabut, Sidekick, Culture Trip, Skyscanner), giving him both product-led delivery instincts and large-scale operational rigor. Currently leading software engineering for M&S Supply Chain & Logistics, he modernises complex legacy estates while protecting uptime for millions of customers. He also mentors engineering managers, blending tactical delivery improvements with leadership coaching to create predictable, accountable engineering organisations.
10 years of coding experience
15 years of employment as a software developer
Old Swinford Hospital SchoolBSc, Software Engineering, BSc, Software Engineering at Leeds Beckett University
Stackoverflow
16,299reputation
1.0mreached
433answers
8questions
flutter
top-5%
dart
top-5%
silverlight
top-1%
xaml
top-5%
Github Skills (86)
mobile-development10
windows10
windows-phone10
passport-local10
silverlight10
flutter-plugin10
app-framework10
skiasharp10
skia10
dart10
speed-dial10
remember-me10
cross-platform10
android10
mobile10
Programming languages (4)
Github contributions (5)
dereklakin/new-site
Oct 2015 - May 2021
A simple NodeJS + Express site all set up and ready to go with username+password authentication using Passport and Passport-Local, persistent local cookies using Passport-Remember-Me-Extended, persistent session using Express-Session and MongoDB via Mongoose and view templates using EJS.
Contributions:10 commits, 7 PRs, 8 pushes in 5 years 7 months
expressmongoosejspersistentmongoosemongodb
dereklakin/passport-remember-me
Oct 2015 - Aug 2016
Contributions:10 commits, 2 PRs, 9 pushes in 10 months
node-jsauthenticationexpressstrategycookie-authentication
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