Robin Whittleton

Kamrervägen 5,
26873 Billeberga
Sweden
Phone:
+46 70-308 93 64
Email:
Nationality:
British / Swedish

Employment

  1. IKEA IT

    Lead Software Engineer

    – present

    • Internal advocate for front-end quality across many areas of the organisation, including but not limited to accessibility, performance, and sustainability
    • Visible ownership of accessibility for front-end engineers inside the organisation, with a focus on moving away from post-facto audits towards automated assessment and better core competence
    • Deeply involved in the definition and promotion of engineering quality standards that are easily consumed by both teams and individuals
    • Supporting engineering leadership to get the specific metrics and information required for strategic decisions, including the prototyping of initial solutions for quick feasibility testing

    Engineering Manager

    • Technical ownership of Skapa – the IKEA design system – growing it from a small Ingka web system to an approved IKEA-wide solution for all digital platforms. Skapa has the dual goals of enhancing the consistency of user experience for IKEA’s digital systems, and improving the developer and designer experience
    • Started and ran the Market Engineering team to enable the delivery of the modern web channel by reducing unnecessary local systems. Market Engineering which works to improve the overall performance and security of IKEA.com by providing guidance and engineering capability to franchisee markets
    • Line management of many engineers, prioritising their career growth
    • Co-defined and sat on the engineering progression board
    • Internal advocate for the importance of accessibility as part of the engineering process
  2. inUse

    Front-end Developer (contracted to IKEA)

    • Development of IKEA’s global ecommerce checkout client, using iterative development and integration of user research findings to boost conversion
    • Taking an active role in cross-cutting work such as design systems and common components, to increase knowledge sharing and the overall speed of delivery
    • Mentoring and support of co-workers in my specialist skills
  3. Government Digital Service

    Head of Front-end Development, and Senior Developer

    • Head of the community of front-end developers, with responsibility for learning and development, developer allocation, and community outreach
    • Started the GOV.UK Design System, and collaborated on the build-out of GOV.UK’s shared front-end tooling
    • A single internal and external point of contact for GDS’s front-end development, including conference speaking
    • Managing recruitment and retention of front-end developers in a complex organisation
    • Line manager, with responsibilities for career and performance management, pastoral care

    Developer

    • Front-end developer on GOV.UK Verify, the authentication and sign-in platform for UK government services
    • Collaboration with user research to increase the percentage of people able to access and complete identity verification
    • Identifying and implementing points of improvement that span multiple services to meet user needs and reduce overall technical debt
    • Blogging and working on GDS’s open source projects, with the aim of making the web better for all while increasing GDS’s profile
  4. Kyan

    Senior Web Developer

    • Development of a wide range of accessible and performant user interfaces for startups and established businesses
    • Project scoping and management with clients, to bring their systems in on time and in budget
    • Close collaboration with designers to realise their layouts in a way that is accurate to their intentions across a range of devices
    • Mentoring of interns and providing in-office training in my specialisms
  5. Abacus eMedia

    Senior Web Developer

    • Development of the front-end of large county council and publishing sites to strict accessibility requirements
    • Direct management and training of a team of front-end developers
  6. Hemscott Group

    Web Developer

    • Styling and integration of investor relations tools for large companies (including FTSE 100s)
  7. Freelance

    Web Developer

Skills

Management

  • Team lead from both product owner and engineering management perspectives
  • Core skill in seeing the bigger picture, enabling collaboration across teams, domains, and organisations
  • Presenting technologies and technical approaches in an interesting and understandable way, both as a conference speaker and in internal briefings
  • Direct line management of engineers from junior to senior to help them advance in their careers while covering their pastoral needs

Technology

  • Fluent in the core front-end web technologies used to build performant and accessible web sites and applications
  • Broad understanding of the wider technical landscape that comes together to build modern web systems
  • Deep knowledge of accessibility and the creation of accessible user interfaces, both from a technical and compliance perspective

Other

  • Native English and near-fluent Swedish
  • Proof-reading and copy-editing, with an emphasis on readable typography
  • Full EU driving licence

Education

  1. University of Exeter – BSc Computer Science 2:2 Honours