Alec Doran-Twyford

Senior Software Engineer

📍 Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire

I build reliable, high-scale software and enjoy turning tricky problems into simple, well-tested systems. Currently at Deliveroo.

View my work Email me

🙋 About

A bit about me

I'm a Senior Software Engineer at Deliveroo, working on high-scale backend systems. I care about clean, well-tested code, and about the people I build it with — I've picked up a Scrum Master certification along the way and enjoy the team side of engineering as much as the code.

My route in was a little unconventional — a First-class Computer Science degree, a year in Sydney working on VoIP software, and a spell in London food-tech before settling into engineering across public-sector (HMCTS, HMPPS via Solirius), Rightmove and now Deliveroo. It left me with a product mindset I still bring to every system I build.

🛠️ Skills

What I work with

💚 Love it 👍 Like it 💔 Prefer to avoid

Languages

Java Go Ruby TypeScript

Backend & Microservices

Spring Boot Ruby on Rails gRPC Kafka Postgres Redis

Cloud & Infra

AWS Docker Terraform

Ways of Working

Agile / Scrum TDD Code Review Mentoring Cross-team Collaboration

📈 Experience

Where I've worked

Deliveroo
Mar 2021 – Present

Senior Software Engineer (since May 2023) · previously Software Engineer
- 5+ years on the Consumer Pricing team — from IPO through profitability to DoorDash acquisition — the go-to domain expert for fees across the organisation
- Built internal tooling that cut fee configuration from days of careful manual checking to minutes, saving significant engineering hours
- Designed and coordinated co-pricing, a core microservice managing fees, benefits & pricing across the consumer journey (home, menu, basket, checkout)
- Now supporting the migration of pricing systems to the unified Wolt / DoorDash / Deliveroo platform, bringing Deliveroo's pricing framework to the wider organisation
- Cross-functional partner to Product, DS, Strategy, MLE & Engineering — stewards the backlog, PR reviews and on-call rota (Rootly) while keeping core repos on the latest libraries
Deliveroo joined the DoorDash group in 2025, following DoorDash's acquisition of Deliveroo.

Go TypeScript gRPC GraphQL REST AWS Terraform
Rightmove
Nov 2018 – Mar 2021

Software Engineer — Vendor & Evaluate teams
- Migrated code from the monolith into microservices
- Upgraded services to Spring Boot 2 and Elasticsearch 6 & 7
- Full-stack work across Java 11, Node.js and React, with Kafka, Docker and Jenkins
Java 11 Spring Boot 2 Elasticsearch React Node.js Kafka Docker Jenkins
Solirius Consulting
Sep 2016 – Nov 2018

Junior Software Engineer — contracted to HMCTS & HMPPS
- HMCTS Reform: built common components for Document & Evidence Management, also acting as Scrum Master. View my 30+ open-source PRs
- HMPPS: delivered the Strategic Partner Gateway on Java 8, ServiceMix, ELK and AWS
- Java 8, Spring Boot, Postgres, Docker, Terraform, Jenkins and REST APIs
Java 8 Spring Boot Postgres Docker Terraform Jenkins ServiceMix ELK AWS

Past work experience (2009–2016)

Before I moved into engineering full-time: startups, a year in Australia, and the retail and hospitality roles that built my work ethic, organisation and customer focus.

Sky
Feb 2016 – Aug 2016

VB Analyst
- Gathered requirements and worked with stakeholders to refine processes
- Designed and built scalable VBA solutions, introducing better team practices
VBA
GLEAT
Nov 2015 – Jan 2016

Product & Mobile Developer
- Picked up the codebase in days and shipped first features within two, learning JavaScript and Meteor on the job
- Applied lean-startup principles and drove UI/UX improvements
JavaScript Meteor
Welcome Break × Waitrose
Mar 2015 – Feb 2016

Waitrose Team Leader (Operations)
- Ran the shop floor on shift — planning tasks and breaks, mentoring staff and coordinating product launches
- Owned a store sub-section, analysing sales trends to drive ordering and reduce wastage
- Represented the store at Partnership Council to shape future business plans
Team Leadership Operations Customer Service
Food Startup School
Feb 2015 – Aug 2015

Social Marketing Intern
- Generated leads and partnerships for a London food-tech events startup, running market research and social campaigns
- Oversaw on-the-day operations for events
Marketing Market Research Events
IVSTEL — Sydney, Australia
Sep 2013 – Dec 2014

Technical Product Manager & Support Engineer
- Owned features for Adaptiv, a Java EE VoIP routing platform (Linux, MySQL, OpenSIPS, Radius)
- Rebuilt the OS image, cutting setup from hours to minutes and removing 98% of human error
Java EE Linux MySQL OpenSIPS Radius
Waitrose
May 2009 – Feb 2013

Senior Customer Sales Assistant
- Nearly four years as a customer-facing partner — the foundation of my work ethic and a lasting commitment to superior, customer-focused service
- Trained partners and managed shifts, planning tasks and breaks for the team
- Full accountability for a store sub-section: analysed sales trends to drive ordering strategy, stock management and reduced wastage
- Represented the store at Partnership Council meetings on future business plans
Customer Service Organisation Strategy Training

🎓 Education

Where I studied

General Assembly
2014

Product Management (part-time course)
- Product discovery, roadmapping, user research, MVPs and stakeholder communication
University of Hertfordshire
2009 – 2012

BSc (Hons) Computer Science — First Class
- Specialised in system architecture and networking; also covered AI/ML, databases and quantum computing
- Cisco CCNA certified through the course
Oaklands College
2007 – 2009

BTEC National Diploma — IT & Business Practitioner (DMM)
- Foundational IT and business skills

Certifications: Certified ScrumMaster® (Scrum Alliance, 2020) · Cisco CCNA (2012)

🚀 Projects

Things I've built

Deliveroo consumer fees breakdown showing delivery fee, small order fee, service fee, bag charge and priority delivery

Consumer Pricing & Fees Platform

Problem

Deliveroo's fee configuration required days of careful manual work, and the pricing system needed a scalable architecture to serve fees, benefits & pricing across multiple surfaces.

What I built

Internal tooling that reduced fee configuration to minutes, and co-pricing — a core microservice managing fees, benefits & pricing across home, menu, basket and checkout. Now leading migration to the unified Wolt / DoorDash / Deliveroo platform.

Tech used

Go gRPC GraphQL AWS Terraform

Deliveroo · 2021–Present

The legacy Rightmove property details page — Before — legacy page

The replatformed Rightmove property details page — After — replatformed microservice

Sold Property Page replatform

Problem

Rightmove's Sold Property Page lived in an ageing legacy codebase.

What I built

Replatformed the page into a standalone microservice, migrating from the legacy monolith. Upgraded services to Elasticsearch 6/7, integrated Kafka, and utilized CDC Pacts. This involved building and migrating across several microservices including sold property search, sold property web, and property details.

Tech used

Java Spring Boot Elasticsearch Kafka Node.js Docker React

Rightmove · 2019–2020

HMCTS Reform — Document & Evidence Management

Problem

Courts & Tribunals digital services needed shared, reusable components for handling case documents and evidence.

What I built

As a junior engineer on the Reform programme, I built common components for the platform and acted as Scrum Master.
View my 30+ open-source PRs for HMCTS on GitHub

Tech used

Java 8 Spring Boot Postgres Liquibase Docker Terraform Jenkins

HMCTS via Solirius · 2017–2018

HMPPS — Strategic Partner Gateway

Problem

Her Majesty's Prison and Probation Service needed a secure, reliable gateway for partner data exchange.

What I built

Built the Strategic Partner Gateway (SPG) leveraging Java and ServiceMix on AWS. Set up comprehensive monitoring with the ELK stack and infrastructure automation via Ansible.

Tech used

Java 8 ServiceMix AWS Elasticsearch ELK Ansible

HMPPS via Solirius · 2016–2017

More on GitHub

Check out my personal and open-source projects, experiments, and code samples.

github.com/alectronic0

🤝 Volunteering

Giving back

Goblins
May 2025 – Present

Community Volunteer
Good for Nothing
Mar 2014 – Dec 2014

Project Manager · Business & Technical Consultant
- Ran hackathon-style social-enterprise projects, providing technical consulting and branding for cause-led founders

🚀 Next Steps

What I'm looking for next

The Mission

I want to get involved in consumer-focused technology that makes everyday people's lives better. Whether it's helping people buy houses (Rightmove), get food delivered (Deliveroo), or navigate the public sector (HMCTS), impact matters to me.

Areas I'd love to try next: smart home & hardware, consumer or geo-based data (like rendering data onto maps to improve lives), and health tech to help people make better choices and understand their own data.

Hard no: Insurtech, Big Banks, Big Oil, or Gambling.

The Setup & Benefits

I work best in a Remote-first environment (no hybrid or mandated office days). If you are London-based, I'm happy to visit once a month and stay long if hotel accommodation is included — I just don't want to go back to 7am–9pm commutes.

Flexible working is crucial. It allows me to support my team to the best of my ability. I am not a 'quit at 5pm' person; I'm happy to be available to support the team beyond standard hours when needed, but that requires true two-way flexibility.

Must-haves: competitive holiday & bonus, health insurance, and a dedicated fund for training or AI software subscriptions (e.g. Claude Code, which isn't cheap!). I actively use Antigravity, Gemini, and Claude Code for my daily work.

Compensation expectations: I am targeting a base salary of £125,000. My current compensation package includes a recent equity grant of ~£110k GBP in RSUs. I am looking for roles that offer a competitive overall package in line with this.