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Lawrence Hunt
Verified Expert in Engineering
Software Developer
London, United Kingdom
Toptal member since September 8, 2022
Bio
Lawrence is a full-stack engineer and AWS-certified solutions architect with a strong background in design and communications. He rapidly scopes and builds data-driven web platforms in Next.js, React, and Python. He took a prop-tech platform from 0 to 400 paying users in 3 weeks; was the first engineering hire at an AI platform, leading the product and front end; increased ad performance by 30% at a top UK prop-tech platform; and drove the launch of an eCommerce offering in the travel industry.
Portfolio
Macrocosmos
React, Next.js, Three.js, Python, Figma, AI Coding Orchestration, Claude Code...
Zipsmart Inc.
JavaScript, React, Data Visualization, Full-stack, Dashboards, Python, Node.js...
Calliper
Amazon Web Services (AWS), Python 3, TypeScript, Artificial Intelligence (AI)...
Experience
- React - 9 years
- Node.js - 9 years
- TypeScript - 8 years
- JavaScript - 8 years
- JavaScript Testing - 6 years
- GraphQL - 5 years
- Python 3 - 4 years
- AWS Cloud Computing Services - 2 years
Work Experience
Full-stack Product Team Lead
2023 - 2026
Macrocosmos
- Became the first engineering hire at a decentralized AI platform, leading product and front end to turn complex infrastructure into AI tools.
- Defined the MVP scope with founders and translated blockchain/AI infrastructure into features used by over 2,000 users.
- Built 3D UIs (Three.js, Next.js) enabling interaction with a distributed AI architecture for inference, AI training, data scraping, and processing.
- Recruited and led an 8-person product-focused team, establishing architecture and delivery processes for rapid idea to production cycles.
- Improved developer velocity through CI/CD, testing, and tooling.
Technologies: React, Next.js, Three.js, Python, Figma, AI Coding Orchestration, Claude Code, CI/CD Pipelines, Firebase, Marketplaces, Technical Architecture, Vercel, Claude, Business Intelligence (BI), Vibe Coding, TanStack Router, Server Sent Events (SSE), WebSockets, Front-end Development, User Experience (UX), User Interface (UI)
Data Visualization Developer
2023 - 2023
Zipsmart Inc.
- Designed and built the MVP for a map-based house price forecasting platform targeting estate agents.
- Owned the product and front end from concept to launch, working directly with founders to define scope, reaching 400 paying users in 3 weeks.
- Built an interactive map-based UI with dynamic forecasting overlays, making complex pricing models intuitive and explorable.
- Integrated real-time data pipelines and APIs to deliver up-to-date pricing insights.
Technologies: JavaScript, React, Data Visualization, Full-stack, Dashboards, Python, Node.js, D3.js, Highcharts, Chart.js, Plotly.js, PixiJS, Responsive UI, Webflow, Amazon RDS, Tableau, Storybook, Payment Gateways, Stripe, Amazon Web Services (AWS), SQL, Architecture, Web Usability, Tailwind CSS, JSX, Mapbox, Pixel Perfect, Full-stack Development, API Integration, CI/CD Pipelines, Firebase, Technical Architecture, Vercel, Business Intelligence (BI), TanStack Router, Server Sent Events (SSE), WebSockets, Front-end Development, User Experience (UX), User Interface (UI)
Founding Engineer (Contract)
2022 - 2023
Calliper
- Built the MVP for a data analytics platform delivering AI-driven insights to non-technical business users.
- Designed and shipped a clean, accessible analytics interface surfacing automated AI insights in 2 weeks.
- Built back-end workflows, including graphical Slack reports to deliver real-time insights connecting Stripe, Google Analytics, and social platforms.
- Delivered full-stack implementation including authentication, database design, and React component library.
- Added a user feedback system, enabling founders to iterate quickly.
Technologies: Amazon Web Services (AWS), Python 3, TypeScript, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Data Visualization, Storybook, MongoDB, Payment Gateways, Stripe, SQL, Web Usability, Tailwind CSS, JSX, Pixel Perfect, Full-stack Development, API Integration, CI/CD Pipelines, Marketplaces, Technical Architecture, Vercel, Dashboards, Business Intelligence (BI), TanStack Router, Server Sent Events (SSE), WebSockets, Front-end Development, User Experience (UX), User Interface (UI)
Lead Full-stack Engineer
2021 - 2022
Zoopla
- Led initiative to improve our advertising offering, increasing impressions by 30% and enabling the commercial team to negotiate a better contract with sponsors.
- Played a key role in migrating Zoopla's legacy front end to a modern NextJS app, deployed to Vercel, and using NX monorepo architecture.
- Guided the development of a new UI design system as the core contributor, working with designers to standardize and simplify the way pages are built using design tokens.
- Mentored junior engineers in React and GraphQL best practices and delivered a series of talks on system design.
Technologies: TypeScript, Node.js, GraphQL, JavaScript, Next.js, Mono, AWS Lambda, Technical Leadership, AWS DevOps, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Redux, Full-stack, React, HTML5, CSS, eCommerce, Front-end, REST APIs, HTML, Leadership, Web Development, Nx, Chakra UI, Webpack, Figma, Data Visualization, Storybook, MongoDB, Payment Gateways, Stripe, SQL, Architecture, Material UI, Web Usability, Tailwind CSS, JSX, Pixel Perfect, Full-stack Development, API Integration, CI/CD Pipelines, Marketplaces, Technical Architecture, Vercel, Dashboards, Business Intelligence (BI), TanStack Router, Server Sent Events (SSE), WebSockets, Front-end Development, User Experience (UX), User Interface (UI)
Lead Full-stack Engineer
2020 - 2021
The Culture Trip
- Helped launch the company’s first eCommerce product as an online travel agency, linking travel journalism to revenue-generating products.
- Built an eCommerce app and RevOps workflows, enabling a new revenue stream.
- Built a data ingestion service, making hundreds of thousands of experiences available for sale.
- Improved performance and SEO across high-traffic pages.
- Made key architectural decisions for linking products to travel content.
Technologies: TypeScript, JavaScript, GraphQL, Node.js, Next.js, AWS Lambda, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Redux, Full-stack, React, HTML5, CSS, eCommerce, Front-end, Jira, REST APIs, PostgreSQL, Redis, HTML, Web Development, Webpack, Figma, Storybook, MongoDB, Payment Gateways, Stripe, SQL, Material UI, Web Usability, JSX, Pixel Perfect, Full-stack Development, API Integration, CI/CD Pipelines, Marketplaces, Technical Architecture, Vercel, Dashboards, Business Intelligence (BI), TanStack Router, WebSockets, Front-end Development, User Experience (UX), User Interface (UI)
Senior Full-stack Engineer
2019 - 2020
Arkera
- Collaborated with a small team to deliver a new financial intelligence platform that efficiently processed around 200,000 articles per day, from source to user in minutes.
- Built several client-facing micro-front-end applications using React and TypeScript.
- Built a number of supporting core microservices in Python.
- Contributed several components to a React Component library hosted on Storybook and distributed by npm.
- Delivered numerous 'lightning talks' educating fellow engineers on subjects ranging from data visualization libraries to React performance optimization.
Technologies: JavaScript, Python 3, Microservices, TypeScript, AWS Lambda, Redux, Full-stack, Python, React, HTML5, CSS, Front-end, Jira, REST APIs, PostgreSQL, Redis, HTML, Web Development, Fintech, Webpack, Figma, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Storybook, Payment Gateways, Stripe, SQL, Architecture, Web Usability, JSX, Pixel Perfect, Full-stack Development, API Integration, CI/CD Pipelines, Technical Architecture, Dashboards, Business Intelligence (BI), Front-end Development, User Experience (UX), User Interface (UI)
Full-stack Engineer
2017 - 2019
Bright Analytics
- Skilled-up in full-stack JavaScript, including React, Node.js, and data visualization libraries such as D3 and Highcharts while working on this data visualization platform.
- Led the design and implementation of major new features to the platform, including an alerts notification system, an automated report builder, and a rewrite to the CMS.
- Created a UI component library, and helped introduce the team to modern front-end practices such as CSS-in-JS.
- Conducted detailed user research in sessions with clients.
- Mentored a new junior hire, teaching software design best practices.
Technologies: JavaScript, JavaScript Testing, Node.js, TypeScript, Redux, Full-stack, React, HTML5, CSS, Front-end, Jira, REST APIs, PostgreSQL, D3.js, HTML, Web Development, Webpack, Figma, Data Visualization, Storybook, MongoDB, Payment Gateways, SQL, Architecture, JSX, Mapbox, Pixel Perfect, Full-stack Development, API Integration, Technical Architecture, Dashboards, Business Intelligence (BI), Front-end Development, User Experience (UX), User Interface (UI)
Project History
Search Page for Zoopla
A Next.js and React application hosting the second biggest property portal in the UK, serving hundreds of thousands of visitors daily.
As part of the organization's re-platforming project, I led the team in rebuilding the search and listing pages in modern front-end technologies.
Working with the design team, we set standards and created new, modern React versions of various bespoke components, including the search bar, image gallery, and contact form. Working with the infrastructure and data teams, we safely transferred traffic to the new pages with zero downtime.
As part of the organization's re-platforming project, I led the team in rebuilding the search and listing pages in modern front-end technologies.
Working with the design team, we set standards and created new, modern React versions of various bespoke components, including the search bar, image gallery, and contact form. Working with the infrastructure and data teams, we safely transferred traffic to the new pages with zero downtime.
Zipsmart AI
https://www.zipsmart.aiA dashboard web application offering real-time property data to help users make better real estate decisions.
I designed and led the development of this site from scratch, implementing auth, an interactive choropleth map of the US, line and indicator charts, and a ChatGPT-connected chat UI. I also took on a leadership role as more engineers were involved in the project.
I designed and led the development of this site from scratch, implementing auth, an interactive choropleth map of the US, line and indicator charts, and a ChatGPT-connected chat UI. I also took on a leadership role as more engineers were involved in the project.
AI Training Platform with 3D Graphics
https://www.macrocosmos.ai/As a team lead, I worked with the founders to scope and build the minimum viable product for a platform that enables users to lend their compute to the decentralized training of frontier-level AI models.
The app features a 3D graphical interface built with Three.js that brings to life your position and contribution in the network. In addition to this, I also designed and built the main website for marketing it.
The app features a 3D graphical interface built with Three.js that brings to life your position and contribution in the network. In addition to this, I also designed and built the main website for marketing it.
Education
2016 - 2017
Master's Degree in Computer Science
Makers Academy - London, United Kingdom
2014 - 2015
Master's Degree in Advertising and Design
School of Communication of Arts - London, United Kingdom
2008 - 2011
Bachelor's Degree in English and Creative Writing
University of Warwick - Warwick, United Kingdom
Certifications
JULY 2022 - JULY 2025
AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Skills
Libraries/APIs
React, Node.js, D3.js, REST APIs, Stripe, Highcharts, Chart.js, Plotly.js, Three.js
Tools
JavaScript Testing, JSX, Claude Code, Jira, Nx, Webpack, Figma, Claude, TanStack Router, Tableau
Languages
GraphQL, JavaScript, TypeScript, HTML5, CSS, HTML, SQL, Python 3, Python
Frameworks
Next.js, Material UI, Tailwind CSS, Redux, Mono, PixiJS
Paradigms
Business Intelligence (BI), Microservices, Agile Software Development
Platforms
Vercel, AWS Lambda, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Mapbox, Firebase, AWS Cloud Computing Services, Webflow
Storage
PostgreSQL, Redis, MongoDB
Other
Creativity, Communication, Full-stack, Front-end, Web Development, Data Visualization, Dashboards, Storybook, Web Usability, Pixel Perfect, Full-stack Development, API Integration, CI/CD Pipelines, Marketplaces, Technical Architecture, WebSockets, Front-end Development, User Experience (UX), User Interface (UI), Architecture, Design, eCommerce, Leadership, Fintech, Chakra UI, Payment Gateways, AI Coding Orchestration, Vibe Coding, Server Sent Events (SSE), Technical Leadership, AWS DevOps, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Responsive UI, Amazon RDS
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