Open to opportunities

Julian Cheal

@juliancheal

Message

Senior Ruby on Rails developer building and maintaining SaaS products with AWS and DevOps expertise.

United Kingdom

Message

What I'm looking for

I seek roles where I can own backend development for SaaS products, contribute DevOps expertise on AWS, mentor engineers, and work in pragmatic, product-focused teams.

I am a senior Ruby on Rails developer with extensive experience building SaaS products from the ground up and maintaining existing applications as both an employee and a freelancer. I specialise in Ruby/Rails and associated tools including Hotwire, ViewComponents, Phlex and Tailwind, and I pair that with hands-on AWS DevOps responsibility.

As a solo owner and operator of a SaaS product, I manage application development, AWS infrastructure and customer support, demonstrating full-stack ownership and client-facing skills. In leadership roles I have guided engineering direction, managed relationships with external consultancies, and driven cost-saving measures to sustain products on lean teams.

I have a track record across startups, consultancies and large enterprises (including roles at Red Hat and Oracle) delivering integrations, migrations and feature work, while mentoring junior developers and leading teams. I hold an MEng in Software Engineering and consistently focus on pragmatic, maintainable solutions that align technical work with business needs.

Experience

Work history, roles, and key accomplishments

Current

Owner / Developer

Current

HookRelay

Nov 2024 - Present (11 months)

Owned and maintained the HookRelay SaaS, managing application development, AWS infrastructure, and customer support as a solo developer to ensure uptime and client satisfaction.

Ruby on Rails Hotwire AWS DevOps Customer Support Infrastructure as Code Tailwind Phlex

Current

Freelance Software Developer

Current

Freelance

Sep 2023 - Present (2 years 1 month)

Delivered Rails applications and feature work for a range of clients, including building new internal apps and maintaining an insurance comparison site to add features and fix issues.

Ruby on Rails Hotwire Tailwind PostgreSQL API Integration Testing DevOps Client Communication

Chief Technology Officer

Jute

Jan 2022 - Sep 2023 (1 year 8 months)

Led development direction for multiple SaaS products, coordinated with external consultancies, and implemented cost-saving measures to sustain product operations with a leaner team.

Technical Leadership Ruby on Rails SaaS Project Management Cost Optimization AWS Team Coordination Vendor Management

Senior Software Developer

Flagrant

Nov 2019 - Dec 2021 (2 years 1 month)

Worked on client projects as part of a consultancy, led development on several engagements and mentored junior developers to improve delivery quality and team capability.

Ruby on Rails Mentoring Client Engagement Agile Hotwire Deployment

Senior Software Developer

Red Hat

Sep 2015 - Nov 2019 (4 years 2 months)

Developed cloud infrastructure software, integrating external partners' APIs into Red Hat's platform to enhance interoperability and cloud service capabilities.

API Integration Ruby on Rails Distributed Systems Partnering DevOps Linux

Senior Software Developer

Oracle

May 2015 - Sep 2015 (4 months)

Contributed to migrating Oracle's internal cloud/server management systems to a Rails-based platform to modernize tooling and improve maintainability.

Ruby on Rails Cloud Management Backend Development API Design Legacy System Modernization

Freelance Developer

Freelance

Jan 2012 - Sep 2015 (3 years 8 months)

Served as main developer and tech lead for local startups, building products from the ground up and guiding technical direction during early-stage growth.