Summary
Ralph Cowling is a Principal Software Engineer based in London with 13 years building web infrastructure and mission-driven systems across startups, government, and large tech companies. He specializes in the JavaScript ecosystem and has led or been first-engineer on projects that scaled from early-stage services (startup later acquired by Spotify) to national platforms like GOV.UK and NHS information standards. Ralph has recent senior technical leadership experience at Twitter and Yahoo rebuilding core web experiences, and he’s comfortable moving between hands-on implementation and architectural guidance. He favors agile delivery, continuous integration, and pragmatic ops (including Kubernetes), bringing a mix of front-end craftsmanship and back-end data experience. Unusually for a principal engineer, he also holds an MSc in Cognition and Computation, which informs a thoughtful, user-focused approach to technical design.
13 years of coding experience
15 years of employment as a software developer
MSc Cognition and Computaion, MSc Cognition and Computaion at Birkbeck, University of London
Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) English, Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) English at Queen Mary University of London