Phil Johnson

VP of Engineering

London, England, United Kingdom23 yrs 7 mos experience

Most Likely To SwitchAI Enabled

Key Highlights

23 years of software engineering leadership experience.
Expert in cloud-native and agile methodologies.
Proven track record in driving technological innovation.

Stackforce AI infers this person is a SaaS and Legal Technologies expert with strong leadership in cloud-native software development.

Contact

Skills

Core Skills

Microsoft AzureLeadershipJavaSoftware Development

Other Skills

Agile MethodologiesAgile Project ManagementArtificial Intelligence (AI)Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery (CI/CD)DevOpsEvent Driven ProgrammingGitJIRAJSPJUnitJavaServer Pages (JSP)MavenMicroservicesRequirements AnalysisSQL

About

I am a seasoned VP of Engineering and Senior Leader with over 23 years of experience in producing and maintaining software applications across diverse industries, from image capture and analysis to financial securities, derivatives, and more recently, legal technologies. My journey began with an MSc in Software Technology, and since then, I've been committed to driving technological innovation and excellence. For the past 15 years, I've been in managerial roles, leading large, multi-disciplinary teams in the development of enterprise-level applications and projects. I have a deep passion for driving continuous improvement across the entire development lifecycle. My approach is rooted in agile methodologies, cloud-first, and cloud-native development, always with a focus on integrating development and operations under a cohesive cloud engineering mindset. I thrive on introducing and managing change—whether it's implementing new technologies, refining processes, or fostering a culture of collaboration and innovation. My leadership style is centred around empowering teams, promoting a forward-thinking mentality, and ensuring that every project not only meets but exceeds expectations.

Experience

23 yrs 7 mos

Total Experience

4 yrs 8 mos

Average Tenure

6 yrs 6 mos

Current Experience

Imanage

VP of Engineering

Oct 2019 – Present · 6 yrs 6 mos · London Area, United Kingdom · Hybrid

In my role as Head of Software Engineering for Intelligence & SRG, I lead a talented team of around 90 engineers in the development of enterprise software solutions specifically designed for the legal industry. Our primary focus is on creating and maintaining applications that enable lawyers to effectively manage and leverage knowledge within their Document Management Systems (DMS) while ensuring the highest levels of security.
Key Responsibilities:
Overseeing the development and deployment of enterprise-grade software solutions within Azure, ensuring optimal performance and scalability in a cloud-native environment. Adhering to an operational first development model.
Driving the adoption of a security-first approach, safeguarding sensitive data and ensuring compliance with industry standards.
Leading my engineering departments, guiding cross-functional teams in delivering innovative solutions that meet the unique needs of legal professionals.
Introducing cutting-edge AI and Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) technologies to enhance semantic search capabilities, enabling more precise extraction of key data points from DMS without the risk of hallucinations.
Fostering a collaborative and agile working environment, promoting continuous improvement, and aligning engineering practices with business objectives.
Achievements:
Successfully led the transition to a cloud-first strategy, enabling more efficient and secure software deployment, with the successful launch of Insight+
Led the migration of a traditionally developed and operated product into a cloud-first, fully automated solution, operated within Azure. A significant milestone to becoming a world-class SaaS company.
Implemented key security protocols that significantly enhanced security and compliance across all departments.
Spearheaded initiatives that improved knowledge management capabilities, allowing legal professionals to access and utilize critical information more effectively.

LeadershipMicrosoft AzureArtificial Intelligence (AI)DevOpsSoftware DevelopmentJava+17

Cme group

3 roles

Senior Director Software Engineering

Promoted

Oct 2017 – Oct 2019 · 2 yrs · London Area, United Kingdom

Managing development of CME Direct, an application offered by the exchange to trade our listed futures, options, OTC and blocks.

JavaWeb ServicesSQLJUnitJIRAGit+14

Director Software Engineering

Oct 2015 – Oct 2017 · 2 yrs · London Area, United Kingdom

Managing the development of the enterprise credit risk solution for the CME Group.

JavaWeb ServicesSQLJUnitJIRAGit+12

Manager Software Engineering

Apr 2014 – Oct 2015 · 1 yr 6 mos · London Area, United Kingdom

Managing a development team working within the OTC IRS risk management application from CME Group's London office.
The risk and pricing team develop and support the company's enterprise risk system, performing margin calculations on our clearing member's IRS positions at end of day, and allowing for ad hoc margining risks intraday.

JavaWeb ServicesSQLJUnitJIRAGit+12

Icap

Java Developer

Jan 2014 – Apr 2014 · 3 mos · London Area, United Kingdom

ICAP is a dealer broker operating around the world carrying out transactions for financial institutes and on their own account. I was employed as a contractor working on a new market surveillance project for SEF compliance. The aim of which was to capture certain trading scenarios (such as layering, momentum ignition and front loading) that can occur in real time then alerting the compliance department to investigate.
Using Java SE and EE, Spring, JUnit, Mockito
Setup JIRA issue management
Setup Jenkins CI for release building and testing

JavaSQLJUnitJIRAGitTomcat+8

Jhc systems limited

4 roles

Java Development Team Leader

Jul 2011 – Dec 2013 · 2 yrs 5 mos · London Area, United Kingdom

Managed a Java Development team, working on various new and existing clients’ projects
Developing and supporting the Java backend, producing/supporting new websites using the many different technologies used at JHC
JHC have middleware using core Java technologies, exposing transactions as web services using JAX-WS & REST. Price feeds using JMS. Older websites using servlets and JSP, ones with Struts and more modern ones using Apache wicket
Programming in all Java projects belonging to the team
Taking ownership of complicated helpdesk jobs, where the team do not have the necessary knowledge and expertise
Provide estimates for development work, managing budgets for myself and the team
Consultation with clients, drawing up requirements, taking on the role as overall solution architect
Working on development projects using waterfall and Scrum
Managed the product roadmap, taking new ideas to the committee for approval
Maintained a profitable team, set in accordance with senior directors objectives
Day to day technical assistance to staff
Introduced a new issue management and planning tool to improve the team’s efficiency
Managed and developed eleven staff and their growth in line with objectives
Became an Associate of the partnership in 2010

JavaSQLJUnitJIRAGitTomcat+8

Front Office Development Team Leader

May 2010 – Jul 2011 · 1 yr 2 mos · London Area, United Kingdom

Team leader for a dedicated client team, looking after all their front office development projects
Multi-discipline team, Java, Delphi and QA staff
Fifty/Fifty split between management and Java programming
Provided consultancy and bespoke software solutions
Produced high and low level estimates, using these as a basis to track performance
Managed and developed six staff, budgets and growth in line with objectives

JavaWeb ServicesSQLServletsJUnitJIRA+16

Senior Analyst Programmer

Promoted

Apr 2009 – May 2010 · 1 yr 1 mo · London Area, United Kingdom

Same duties as an analyst programmer, but having responsibility to design a solution and be responsible for a project through to live
Project management on small projects requiring several resources and co-ordination
High learning curve, acquiring new skills to minimise risk on projects
Worked on equity trading, FX trading, corporate actions, extended settlements margins and real-time price feed requirements

JavaWeb ServicesSQLServletsJUnitJIRA+15

Analyst Programmer

Jul 2006 – Apr 2009 · 2 yrs 9 mos · London Area, United Kingdom

Software development and support for Figaro’s front office applications, middleware and websites
Seconded to a dedicated development/support team for a single client
Writing specifications, internal and external walkthroughs, development, unit testing, through to UAT and Live support
Programmed with Java, Delphi and RPG. Using the AS/400 as the back end server

JavaSQLServletsJIRATomcatRequirements Analysis+7

Precia molen

Senior Analyst Programmer

Oct 2004 – Jul 2006 · 1 yr 9 mos · West Midlands, England, United Kingdom

Support, maintain and develop their bespoke weighbridge management software
Visiting client sites implementing software enhancements, gathering requirements for new projects
Writing interfaces to electronic weighbridge instruments mainly though RS232 connections, recording weights from the client machine onto a Interbase and MySQL database
Programmed with Delphi, Visual C++, C++ Builder and Kylix
Managed and assigned help desk issues

Leadership

Pixoft diagnostic imaging

Software Developer

May 2002 – Oct 2004 · 2 yrs 5 mos · West Midlands, England, United Kingdom

Greenfield software design and development using Delphi and bespoke image capture hardware
Software developed for automotive research industry, providing high speed image capture and analysis tools

JavaSQLRequirements AnalysisXMLSoftware Development