Hello, my name is

glenn[ji]

and I make things

I lead great engineering teams, and we build amazing products.

I am an unrepentant geek with experience in big data, cloud, devops, and API design. I love helping to shape engineering culture, building a great developer experience, and supporting individual and team growth.

Read on, or get in touch below!

About

Glenn J. Mason

Sydney, Australia
0434-87-8088

My name is Glenn J. Mason and I’m based in Sydney, Australia.

I’m a passionate technologist and engineering leader with 20 years experience finding pragmatic and adaptive solutions to the most complex and difficult problems in the world. Currently I’m turning our consumer fintech business into an API-first BaaS platform that provides accounts, cards, share trading, crypto, a merchant payment gateway, rewards programmes, fraud controls, KYC and more.

My list of interests is too long to share, but here are a few of technologies I've been working with recently:
  • Python
  • Django/DRF
  • AWS
  • Kotlin
  • Node
  • Kafka
  • Snowflake
  • Terraform
  • Rust
  • Kubernetes
  • Airflow
  • Celery

Experience

Head Of Engineering @ Douugh
May 2020 - present

Douugh is a forward-thinking fintech company dedicated to revolutionizing personal finance management. Founded on the principle of empowering individuals to achieve financial freedom, Douugh combines innovative technology with expert financial guidance to simplify and enhance the way people manage their money. With a focus on automation, Douugh offers intuitive financial management solutions that adapt to users’ unique financial goals and habits. By providing personalized insights, automated savings tools, and intelligent budgeting features, Douugh is reshaping the landscape of personal finance, making it more accessible, transparent, and rewarding for users worldwide.

  • As Head of Engineering, I lead a small but dynamic team of software engineers in the development and implementation of cutting-edge financial technology solutions.
  • With a focus on innovation and excellence, I spearhead the design and execution of robust software architectures, ensuring scalability, reliability, and security in our products.
  • Through effective leadership and collaboration, I have fostered a culture of continuous improvement, driving the team towards achieving key milestones and exceeding customer expectations.
  • Leveraging my expertise in software engineering and strategic vision, I play a pivotal role in driving Douugh’s technological advancements and positioning the company as a leader in the fintech industry.
Cloud Platforms Lead @ Domain
Aug 2018 - Feb 2019

As the technical team lead, I helped set the direction of the Cloud Platforms team. We provide robust and intelligent platform solutions to empower barrier-free development and innovation for our internal customers at Domain. Whilst with Domain I was able to:

  • Implement the Kubernetes-based platform consisting of several purpose-built clusters running on EC2
  • Drive a number of initiatives focused on developer experience, configuration management and “SlackOps” (self-service)
  • Establish regular reporting and cross-team collaboration
  • Mentor and consult with members of my team regarding best-practices for software development and devops.

By championing best practices and fostering a culture of collaboration, I empowered my team to deliver exceptional results, driving Domain towards its strategic objectives.

Consulting Developer @ ASX
Mar 2019 - May 2020

As a consulting engineer for the ASX CHESS Replacement UI project, I undertook a pivotal role in revolutionizing the user interface for the blockchain-based replacement of the CHESS clearing system, a critical component of the ASX. Collaborating closely with stakeholders and technical teams, I contributed expertise in software engineering to deliver an adaptive, stream-based solution built on RxJava and React. By harnessing the power of reactive programming, we crafted a dynamic and responsive UI that provided users with real-time access to transactional data and market updates.

Throughout the project lifecycle, I played a multifaceted role:

  • architecting the backend and UI framework.
  • facilitating integration with the underlying infrastructure.
  • leading the backend team, and contributing to the frontend.
  • conducting performance testing and optimisation.

Through meticulous attention to detail and a commitment to excellence, I ensured that the UI met the stringent requirements of the ASX CHESS Replacement system, delivering a user experience that was intuitive, efficient, and secure. Leveraging an understanding of Digital Assets blockchain and services, I ensured interoperability and reliability in a distributed environment.

Consulting Developer @ Atlassian
Oct 2017 - May 2018

We engaged with Atlassian to assist in the refactor of the core billing system (HAMS), designing and implementing a Spring Boot microservice for delivery of customer invoices and financial documents, deployed to AWS and integrating with several internal systems.

Renowned for its well-established yet sprawling complexity, HAMS posed a formidable engineering challenge that demanded meticulous planning, a comprehensive understanding, and seamless execution, all while ensuring continuity of operations and minimal disruption to business-critical processes.

  • As one of the first of the microservice refactors, our work served as an example, providing a flexible and scalable foundation for invoice generation and delivery.
  • Through rigorous testing and validation, I ensured the reliability and accuracy of financial transactions, safeguarding Atlassian’s reputation for transparency and integrity in billing practices.
  • Additionally I facilitated seamless integration with several internal systems, including customer databases and billing platforms, leveraging APIs and event-driven architecture to enable real-time data exchange and process automation.
  • Throughout the project lifecycle, I collaborated closely with cross-functional teams, including software engineers, product managers, and analysts, to navigate the complexities of the HAMS ecosystem and drive alignment with business objectives.

My contract at Atlassian was defined by a relentless pursuit of excellence and a commitment to pushing the boundaries of innovation, ultimately contributing to the company’s continued success in delivering world-class software solutions to its customers.

Forward Deployed Engineer @ Palantir
June 2017 - Nov 2019

Be agile, adaptive, technically brilliant – and deliver.

As a forward-deployed engineer, I’m the face of Palantir (demonstrating brilliance and insight, determination to succeed, and commitment to the cause) and its arm and legs (getting things done). I know I’ve done my job when geeks respect me for my mad skills, management for my approachability and humbleness, and the team for delivering above and beyond expectations.

As a forward-deployed engineer, it’s my job to solve the world’s hardest problems:

  • Identify, scope and deploy sophisticated deployments
  • Develop data integrations, customisations to the Palantir platform and entirely new services using the best possible technology available
  • Independently break down and solve complex client problems with little direction

I have built and run a deployment all the way from the initial scoping to hardware installation, system integration, custom code and ongoing maintenance, using a combination of Java, Oracle, Elasticsearch, Cassandra and Gradle.

Get in Touch

My inbox is always open. Whether you have a question or just want to say hi, I’ll try my best to get back to you!