Your Next
CTO
Engineering Manager
Full Stack Developer
Data Analyst
Your Next
Tech Lead
Hi! I'm Kam.
I'm a Tech Lead, Full-stack Software Engineer and Data Analyst based in Kobe, Japan ready to work on your next software development project.
Clients I work with
"Kam is my go-to collaborative partner for all my biggest ideas. He has that hardest-to-find quality in a software developer: a keen business sense and a nose for what the customer wants and how the customer thinks. In addition to his robust technology solutions and elegant coding style, his business acumen can save projects tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars and months of time lost chasing the wrong path."
"For a long time I was scared of developers and tech engineers. That was until I met @kam. He has this innate ability to take complex ideas and problems and explain them to marketers like myself in simple and easy to understand terms, ultimately making me look better to my clients and to help my projects perform to their full potential. I would recommend Kam to any small to mid sized brand or agency that just needs to get their digital products in order."
"Several years after our departures from iProperty, Khamsouk remains a loyal and inspiring colleague that truly has his finger on the pulse of emerging web technology. Kam is business savvy and his input on projects from a marketing, design, development and business perspective demonstrates that his overall view in the digital realm transcends typical programmers. Having developed numerous large scale Ruby web applications and content management systems, I recommend Kam to anyone after a solid technical lead, Ruby expert and/or front end web developer. He's a pretty cool guy to have a chat with too."
How I'll accelerate your business
It starts off with a technical advisory service. I'll help you work out what you are really trying to achieve with tech. From understanding and implementing Artificial Intelligence into your business, web application development using Ruby on Rails, Website builds using Webflow or Framer, CRM implementations, Analytics dashboard development or managing your offshore and onshore engineering teams.
Ensure you choose the right technology
I'll research the right software to implement; whether it is a CRM, web app, analytics dashboards or AI agents. Choosing the wrong software for your needs can result in lost time and increased costs for your business. I can save you from that.
Ensure project success
With decades of experience developing software for startups and enterprises, I know the right approach and methodology to guide you to success and the deep technical skills to make it work.
Manage your engineering teams effectively
With over 20 years experience leading and managing local and remote teams, I can help you optimise their performance and reduce project risk.
Help you solve a difficult problem
I can help you resolve technical issues on your project that your current developers can't such as performance optimisations, streamline cloud costs or fix those hard to find bugs.
The Right Experience
Before becoming a freelance Tech Lead, I've worked at several startups, led engineering teams and worked for companies and clients in Australia, Japan, USA and the UK.
Freelance Tech Lead
Self-employed. 2024-Present
I help small business and startups to implement a variety of software development projects:
- Implemented a full marketing and sales funnel and back office for Australia's leading mental health training organisation; from the website, CRM, contact centre through to analytics and student management systems
- Used Machine Learning to anlayse and inform the best lead sources, courses and agents for clients to invest in
- Saved tens of thousands in yearly Salesforce license fees by building a customer portal in Ruby on Rails for a financial institution
- Launched a digital travel magazine from scratch
- Built informative analytics dashboards using Looker Studio to help clients optimise their marketing spend
Chief Technology Officer
Alkhemy, Australia. 2010-2023
Technical Lead for all technology and infrastructure projects at Alkhemy. I helped it grow from a startup to a multi-million dollar company with over 30 staff. Led a team of 5 to build the Sales and Marketing analytics SAAS (Ruby on Rails) used by clients such as James Cook University, Swinburne Online, Publicis, Bike Exchange and Bendigo Bank to help them optimise tens of millions in marketing spend and over $1B in revenue.
CTO and Co-Founder
MonikerWear, UK. 2007-2019.
Bootstrapped an online store using Ruby on Rails and Spree Commerce for custom menswear with an interactive user interface enabling shoppers to completely customise and preview the fabric, components, and styles of their made to order clothing in a 2D model before ordering.
Senior Ruby Developer
iProperty, Australia. 2007-2010.
As one of the lead developers at iProperty, I helped build a Real Estate SaaS to manage the lease and sale of properties and management and outreach to vendor and tenants that served over 400 real estate agencies in Australia; this was one of Australia's first large scale Ruby on Rails projects and was used by clients such as Ray White, the Professionals and Raine and Horne.
Of my own initiative, I turned the website development arm of the business from a loss leader to high profitability by developing a hierarchical, multi-tenant CMS using Ruby that sharply decreased costs in building new real estate websites and property portals
Senior Development Manager
GulfNet, Japan. 2002-2006.
One of the senior developers/architects of the Applications Group building web and desktop software for the Japanese market. Built an intranet platform consisting of e-mail, calendaring, discussion, and document storage features serving thousands of users and an online food ordering system serving over 900 restaurants in Japan.
Systems Integration Consultant
Novell, Australia. 1997-2002.
Became a technical lead for the development of web applications using Java application servers, relational databases and search engines at Novell (formerly Cambridge Technology Partners). Involved in the design and development of several high profile websites such as the Australian Yellow and White Pages Online.
Student Pay
Developed a Portal for Student Pay's clients to view and manage student payment plan data stored in Salesforce, saving thousands of dollars in Salesforce Partner and user license fees per month.
Website, CRM and data analytics using machine learning built for Hader Institute of Education. Workflow automation to Monday.com and Axcelerate. Dashboards analyse performance of marketing channels, courses and agent performance.
Web application for musicians, podcasters and journalists to share and annotate audio online. Website built in Webflow, application built using Ruby on Rails and UI/UX tracked with mixpanel.
Digital travel mountain magazine with guides, tips, and stories for adventurous travellers. Built on Webflow and Analytics using Looker Studio.
Service to help you create dashboards for marketing, sales and financial performance of your business ... or anything else really!
Webflow website connecting to a Shopify store to sell Australia's first and award winning Australian grown and bottled agave sprit.
Built for Top Shelf International.
How we'll work together
It all starts with your great idea.
I'll guide you to understand what you are really trying to achieve, and provide you with options, pricing and timing for implementation. We'll review the pros and cons and work out what's right for your organisation at this point in time.
I'll then design and prototype the idea.
Either with wireframes or a working prototype, we'll iterate towards a common understanding of key features and a phased timeline for implementation so you can get something usable quicker.
I'll convert the prototype into a working system.
Usually in phases containing major sets of features, I'll release regularly for you to review and provide feedback on. Depending on the product, I can add user analytics to help you track how your website/app is being used and monitoring to make sure it's always up and running.
We'll have a virtual high five
At the end we'll celebrate with a virtual high five and bubbles. If you'd like to continue working with me, we can organise a support contract and retainer to maintain the solution; or I can provide documentation and do a hand-over with a staff member.
FAQs
Answers to questions that clients commonly asked me about how we'll work together.
What do you specialise in?
My key strengths are in software development and team leadership of web applications (such as SAAS or internal tools), websites, CRM implementations, AI agents, and Data Analytics projects.
How will we work together?
I take on one-time projects with the option to extend with a support contract, or you can pay a monthly retainer for a portion of my time with discounts for the length of the contract. Contact me to find out more.
How do you handle communication, especially across time zones or with non-technical stakeholders?
I'm a strong proponent of asynchronous communication using tools like Slack and Clickup (or whichever tool you want to use); but I also recommend regular online meetings.
Which time zone do you work in?
I currently live and work in Japan as a Freelancer (but am an Australian Citizen) and primarily work in the APAC/Asia time zones. However, I have taken on clients in the UK and USA with asynchronous communication.
How much does it cost to work with you?
It all depends on the complexity and size of the project. With over 25 years developing software and managing teams, I will get them done faster and you'll have a higher chance of success. Contact me to find out more.
What type of business do you run?
In Japan, I am setup as a Sole Proprietor (or Sole Trader equivalent in other countries). I will work for you as a Contractor.
How will I pay you?
For one-time projects, I will send you a 50% up front invoice with bank details for either USD, AU, JPY or GB at the start of the project – which must be paid before commencing – and 50% upon project completion. For support contracts or retainers, I will invoice at the start of each billing period.