This Week's Album Picks
The past 2 weeks have been hectic with travel and work so I'm looking forward to finally catching up on some music.
Brett DeWoody
Engineering
Leadership AI-First Software Development
20+ years building and leading engineering teams, shipping products,
and crafting AI tooling and workflows
that help engineering teams do more.
Scotland-based, US-born.
Frontend architect turned engineering leader.
About
I'm an engineering manager and frontend architect based in Aberfeldy, Scotland (originally from the US). At Legatics I lead engineering on transaction management software — building the team, the process, and the product in equal measure.
My background is deeply technical: I've spent years as a lead frontend engineer and architect, which means I bring hands-on craft to the management role. Lately that's meant going deep on AI tooling and process — building the systems, workflows, and integrations that let engineering teams move faster without cutting corners. AI to enable teams to deliver faster.
Outside of work: cycling (Highland Perthshire is an absurd place to ride), music, and volunteering with Draft & Flow and Highland Perthshire Cycling.
Experience
Engineering Manager
Legatics- Managing a team of developers and QAs — 1:1s, sprint planning, backlog refinement, retros, and hiring.
- Key contributor to TechOS, an AI-native operating system for engineering teams with role-specific AI agents, automated quality gates, and a living standards library.
- Built a parallel multi-reviewer code review system that dispatches frontend, backend, security, and DevOps agent reviewers and consolidates findings into a single verdict.
- Designed new SDLC workflows around AI, including spec-driven development and a "Daily Relay" process for keeping work flowing when coding itself is fast.
- Created custom automation for hotfix workflows, git worktree creation tied to Jira tickets, and branch lifecycle management.
- Run AI Dev Experience sessions and lead an AI-native working group.
Lead Frontend Engineer
Legatics- Frontend technical lead on a legal transaction management platform used by top-tier law firms — TypeScript/React monorepo with 18+ microservices, GraphQL APIs, and MongoDB.
- Led frontend architecture decisions and set patterns across a large monorepo (pnpm workspaces, shared component libraries, GraphQL codegen).
- Led large-scale codebase migrations: 74-file GraphQL typed conversion, 50-file type safety cleanup, styled-components to MUI theme refactor.
- Scoped CI/CD pipelines to only lint, format, and test changed files, cutting merge request feedback time significantly.
- Pioneered AI-assisted development workflows, building custom Claude Code agents for automated code review and pre-merge quality validation.
Community
Director, Volunteer Mechanic
Draft & Flow- Co-founded Draft & Flow — a community cycle workshop in Aberfeldy offering tools, supplies, expertise, and support for riders of all abilities, budgets, and styles.
- As a founding Director, helped get the workshop off the ground: company setup, securing a commercial lease, and fundraising to cover start-up costs.
- Got hands-on in the workshop — fixing bikes, teaching maintenance courses, onboarding volunteers, and whatever else needed doing.
- By 2026 the organisation had grown to employ a full-time shop mechanic/manager and an apprentice.
Senior Frontend Engineer & Engineering Advocate
Theorem- Built custom web applications for start-ups and international brands on small, cross-functional teams — projects for Apple, AT&T, and other Fortune 500 customers, including apps to control digital displays in Apple retail stores, dashboards for tracking international cargo ships, and IoT platforms.
- Transitioned into an Engineering Advocate role, building relationships between Theorem and software engineers worldwide — conducting interviews, onboarding new team members, and supporting engineers in progressing their careers.
- Contributed to recruiting throughout: sourcing candidates, optimising job postings, reviewing applications, and leading candidates through the hiring process.
Code Mentor
Thinkful- One-on-one mentor for students in the Full-Stack Flex and Engineering Immersion courses, meeting 1–4 times per week to guide them through course material via examples, assignments, and encouragement.
- Conducted mock technical interviews and helped students optimise their CVs to prepare for careers in software development.
Founder & CTO
Digital Wax Works- Founded and ran a web and digital agency, delivering custom software and SaaS products for clients across a range of industries.
- Handled everything from client strategy and scoping through to architecture, development, and delivery.
- Notable projects included travel, hospitality, and non-profit work across the US.
Community
Chair / Trustee
The Birks Cinema- Served as Trustee on the Board of Directors of The Birks Cinema — a beloved independent cinema at the heart of the Aberfeldy community — including 2 years as Chair of the Board.
- Joined just before the pandemic and helped guide the cinema through lockdown and the subsequent cost of living crisis.
- Led technology initiatives: Google Workspace adoption, expansion into on-demand video, email marketing, and a migration from WordPress to a JAMStack-based website.
CTO / Tech Lead
Ideal Bite- Led the technical build of Ideal Bite — a pioneering green lifestyle media brand that delivered daily eco-friendly tips to hundreds of thousands of subscribers.
- Built and scaled the platform from early-stage product through to acquisition.
- Ideal Bite was acquired by Disney in 2008 — a notable exit for an independent green lifestyle brand.
Skills
AI Tooling & Workflows
Languages & Backend
Frontend
Architecture & Patterns
Leadership
Tooling & Platforms
Latest Writing
View all postsThis Week's Interesting Album Releases
Fall is here and music releases are picking up in both quantity and quality.
Statamic Add-on: Global Variable Editor
Based on feedback and requests I've updated my Global Variable Editor add-on for Statamic. Namely the ability to use Statamic's fieldtypes within the global var
Contact
Say hello.
Whether you want to talk engineering, have a question about something I've built, or just want to connect — I'm always happy to hear from people doing interesting work.
The best way to reach me is email. I'm also responsive on LinkedIn.