Interim Tech Lead & Head of Engineering
Oosterhout, North Brabant, Netherlands
I'm the first layer of engineering leadership for companies with roughly 3 to 15 developers: I build the team, the delivery process, and the roadmap — and I stay hands-on enough to review the code. At Routescanner I led a team of five with real personnel responsibility: hiring and selection, performance reviews, and the occasional hard goodbye. I helped grow what began as an internal Port of Rotterdam project into a product that was transferred to Royal Dirkzwager. And at the Port of Rotterdam I built the team rhythm from scratch — rituals, ICE prioritization, GIST planning — as a senior developer who saw it was needed, not because anyone handed me a mandate.
Right now I'm building the AI sandbox for the Routescanner codebase, at the request of the platform's new owner: an environment where business stakeholders prototype features with LLMs directly on the codebase, and developers harden the results for production through testing and code review. I'm also end-responsible for the Routescanner repository during the ownership transition. My own workflow has been AI-first for a while, honed on 15+ shipped side projects — including an AI content pipeline that generates and validates 1,000+ pages across four sites, and a self-hosted AI agent that builds mini-apps and deploys them to live subdomains straight from a chat window. They're deliberately small: my lab for de-risking new tech before I bring it to a team. And I review every line — exactly the discipline a team needs to get faster with AI without losing quality.
My way of changing organizations is proof over persuasion. At bol.com I built an AngularJS proof of concept between the regular work, brought a junior along, convinced four engineering leads, and then built a component library — with its own catalog, before Storybook existed — for teams that grew from 4 to 8. As a certified Scrum Master and Product Owner, the agile layer comes built in: teams I lead don't need a separate coach. And I ask the uncomfortable commercial questions — why are we building this, what's the evidence, what should it earn? The stack underneath (TypeScript, React, Node.js, PostgreSQL, AWS) is the part I take for granted.
Hiring and selection, performance reviews, and the hard goodbyes at Routescanner. Onboarded and trained juniors at the Port of Rotterdam and bol.com. Builds teams that deliver — and stick around.
Introduced rituals, ICE prioritization, GIST planning, Kanban, and Scrum at the Port of Rotterdam across 4 product teams — as a senior developer who saw it was needed, not from a mandate.
Building Routescanner's AI sandbox at the new owner's request: business stakeholders prototype with LLMs, developers harden the results for production via testing and review. AI-first personal workflow honed on 15+ shipped side projects — including an AI content pipeline (1,000+ validated pages) and a self-hosted coding agent. Every line reviewed.
Owned the digital assets roadmap at Routescanner. Asks the uncomfortable commercial questions: why build this, what is the evidence, what should it earn.
Frontend architecture mandate across 4-5 teams (25+ people) at Alphabet International (BMW). 17 years hands-on with TypeScript, React, Node.js, PostgreSQL, AWS — leads from the work, not from slides.
Technical Co-founder
Breda, Netherlands
Sole technical decision-maker for multi-brand e-commerce SaaS platform. Defining technology strategy, building the product before scaling the team. Key lesson: don't overbuild until you have paying customers.
Managing Partner
Dorst, Netherlands
Co-founded IT consultancy. Managing client relationships, hiring (conducted interviews, made offers, onboarded staff), and overseeing delivery quality across engagements.
Full Stack Engineer & Digital Assets Team Lead
Rotterdam, Netherlands
Led a team of 5 with real personnel responsibility: hiring and selection, performance reviews, and exits. Owned the digital assets roadmap and resource allocation. Initiated hackathons and research sprints. Sat in commercial meetings for technical impact assessments. End-responsible for the repository during the transition to Royal Dirkzwager, and building the AI sandbox at the new owner's request: business stakeholders prototype with LLMs, developers harden for production.
Frontend Staff Engineer
Rotterdam, Netherlands
Staff engineer title granted by Sunweb. Shipped 4 greenfield apps to production and got multiple architecture decision records approved for one of Europe's largest travel companies. Mentored developers and shaped the frontend technology strategy.
Node.js TypeScript Developer
Remote
A team-doctor assignment in developer clothing: brought in to reconnect a skeptical pricing team, senior enough in code to be credible. Closed with a frank assessment to management about what the team needed next.
Software Engineer & Scrum Master / Agile Coach
Rotterdam, Netherlands
Built the team rhythm from scratch as a senior developer: introduced rituals, chaired meetings, introduced ICE and GIST and facilitated them in Jira. Onboarded 3 people and trained 2 juniors. Championed the project line from Avanti via Pathfinder and Navigate to Routescanner — from internal project to production.
Lead Frontend Developer & Architect
Breda, Netherlands
Architecture mandate across 4-5 teams (25+ people): set the direction in the first phase, which the teams then followed. Drove two agile pivots — away from big-upfront requirements engineering, toward short feedback loops close to users. Learned first-hand where influence ends and top-down mandate begins.
Interface Developer — Seller Dashboard & Webshop
Utrecht, Netherlands
Sole frontend specialist across 4 teams that grew to 8 — teams held meetings to divide my time and prioritize epics. Built an AngularJS proof of concept between the regular work, brought a junior along, convinced four engineering leads, then built a shared component library with its own catalog (before Storybook existed). Coached developers across all teams.
Frontend Developer
Netherlands
6-person team without a team lead: I initiated the rituals and set the tone. Management routed the hardest, high-pressure assignments to us, and other teams came to study our way of working. Broke complex assignments into achievable pieces, shipping MVPs the agile way.
Interface Developer
Utrecht, Netherlands
First stint at bol.com on the Plaza / Seller Dashboard team. Frontend development in a Scrum environment.
Senior Consultant
Netherlands
Enterprise consulting at Philips, FrieslandCampina, and Kadaster. Client relationship management and junior consultant mentoring.
AI-generated directory of 1000+ lighthouses worldwide. Built the content pipeline, SEO strategy, and automated generation. Sister sites for castles, mills, and churches.
Personal AI lab. Includes chat.mslabs.tech: a chat interface on top of a self-hosted Claude Code agent (Hetzner VPS) that builds mini-apps and deploys them straight to live subdomains.
Multi-brand e-commerce SaaS platform I co-founded as technical founder. Built from scratch with Next.js, TypeScript, and cloud infrastructure.
Animated historical map visualization platform. Custom GIS tooling with Mapbox, complex polygon animation algorithms, and historical boundary data.
My IT consultancy, co-founded in 2023. Focused on fullstack development and agile coaching for clients across the Netherlands.
EU tax comparison tool for freelancers and entrepreneurs. Compare tax regimes across European countries with real-time calculations.
AI-powered service that generates tailored professional websites and CVs for each job application, built from your LinkedIn profile.
AI-driven personality assessment with 48 archetypes. Features LLM-powered deep dive conversations that uncover authentic patterns beyond professional conditioning.
AI photo apps: see yourself in 1974 World Cup style — with sister apps for the 1982 World Cup and Oktoberfest. Image generation pipeline built on FAL.
Financial planning tool for Dutch entrepreneurs (DGA). Models wealth accumulation across company, pension, and personal savings with interactive scenarios.
Interactive scrollytelling platform tracing 4 billion years of brain evolution. Hands-on simulations designed for ages 11-14.
Real-time northern lights forecasting app. Predicts aurora visibility based on solar activity, cloud cover, and darkness hours at your location.
Time travel through weather — look up historical weather conditions for any location and date. Interactive tool for exploring past weather data.
Fun multiplication tables practice app for kids. Choose which tables to practice, set the number of questions, and learn through movement.
Interactive mapping tool visualizing the world's official languages across countries and regions. Built for educators, linguists, and geography enthusiasts exploring global linguistic patterns.
Compare transportation methods by CO₂ footprint, cost, and time across travel options. Helps environmentally and budget-conscious travelers make informed choices.
Compare business versus private car ownership in the Netherlands. Helps entrepreneurs and employees figure out which option is most tax-efficient for their situation.
Interactive map of PFAS contamination sites across the Netherlands. For environmental professionals, researchers, and citizens tracking "forever chemicals" pollution.
Interactive molecule builder where you drag atoms onto a canvas and bond them together, with live octet-rule feedback. Build real compounds and discover what they are. Designed for chemistry learners.
Interactive world map for tracking the countries you want to visit. Pin destinations with flags and build your personal travel bucket list.
Geography guessing game where you pinpoint cities around the world on a satellite map. Scored on distance and speed across multiple rounds.
MSc, Computer Science — Management & Application
2006 — 2008
BSc, Computer Science
2001 — 2006
“He has an eager, initiating, and pragmatic approach and a real prototyping mindset. Feels responsible for the output of the entire team. Has a strong eye for the people part of team operations. 10/10, would work together again!”
“As our first and lead front-end engineer, Chris architected the technical foundations of our design and development tooling. With 100% focus and dedication, he was a key player in two major pivots in our project organization to adopt true Agile principles.”
“Chris is a highly skilled frontend engineer. He knows how to balance technological solutions with delivering actual business value. He has a very strong drive to work agile and in the spirit of the lean start-up. Delivering business value is his main driver.”
“He was able to quickly learn our technology stack and immediately perform as a productive team member. Chris brought real leadership to the team. He was able to coach his peers and work with the bigger context of the scrum team to manage expectations and make better informed decisions.”
“What stood out to me is his pragmatic approach to product development. Chris also took the responsibility in mentoring me in the front-end field. Besides learning together, narrowing down the most important features to quickly build software that adds value and solves problems is something non-technical I learned from him.”
“Chris is an experienced front-end developer with excellent technical skills. Has a good view on important developments in the industry and is capable of translating these to concrete, usable solutions. Chris has a strong personal drive to deliver, on time and with high quality.”
