01 / Front ends, design systems and motion
User Design
- UI / UX engineering
- Design systems & component libraries
- Heavy-duty CSS & motion design
- Accessibility (WCAG)
- Rapid prototyping
Nic Defaux — Senior Software Engineer & Technical Strategist. A scroll-driven gallery in seven rooms.
open to contract workSC Cleared
Nic Defaux TheImitation
Defaux is French. And what is faux, if not an imitation? The code is real, though.
Room iNic Defaux, backlitthe site’s accent colour comes from this sunset
❯ whoami
Nic Defaux. Senior Software Engineer & Technical Strategist.
❯ cat origin_story.txt
BSc Biology (2:1), then Software Engineering Apprenticeship, Level 5 (Distinction), then MSc Digital Technology Solutions Specialist (First). The long way round.
❯ history | grep IBM
2024 – now Lead Engineer, agentic · 2024 – 2026 GAIL, GenAI platform · 2022 – 2023 NINO citizen service · 2022 Citizen Interaction R&D
❯ echo $PERSONALITY
Laid-back, nerdy, heart on sleeve. Ask me about system design and I will talk for longer than you planned.
5 years
engineering at IBM
1st of its kind
successful AI platform for public sector clients
MSc first class
Digital Technology Solutions Specialist, Northeastern University
the route here
- MSc Digital Technology Solutions SpecialistNortheastern University · First · 2024 – 2026
- Software Engineering Apprenticeship, Level 5Distinction · 2021 – 2023
- BSc BiologyUniversity of York · 2:1 · 2016 – 2019
Room iiThe human behind the handleradial-gradient, oklch(), scroll-linked hue
02 / Cloud systems, mostly on AWS
Architecture & Technology
- Cloud architecture (AWS)
- TypeScript / Next.js / Python
- Distributed systems & APIs
- Technical strategy & consulting
- DevOps & infrastructure as code
03 / GenAI platforms, RAG and agents
Artificial Intelligence
- Generative AI platform engineering
- LLM integration, RAG & agents
- AI strategy for the public sector
- MLOps & evaluation pipelines
- Responsible & explainable AI
Room iiiTravelling through the stackperspective, preserve-3d, twelve planes
iv / the work
Built, torn down, rebuilt.
IBM · Public Sector
Generative AI Lighthouse: Centre of Excellence
Senior Technical Consultant
Proofs of concept showing public sector clients what generative AI could do for them. I designed the AWS architectures, built the shared foundations underneath, and put together GPT-4 demos aimed at their technical and customer-support teams.
- 8 PoCs delivered
- 2 MVPs shipped
- AI ethics framework
- Strategic AI pipeline
- AI Platform
- Cloud Architecture
- Technical Strategy
- Business Analysis
◆ NDA · ask me about it
IBM · Public Sector
The First Successful Public-Sector AI Platform
Engineer → Consultant → Architect
I joined as an engineer and left as its architect. We rebuilt the architecture from scratch more than once before it shipped. Most of what I know about platforms, I learned on this one.
- £4m programme
- +77% process throughput
- 10/10 NPS
- AWS
- Meta
- TypeScript
- Kubernetes
- Terraform
◆ NDA · ask me about it
2026 · Personal challenge
World Cup 2026 Sweepstakes Tracker
Solo build
A sweepstakes site for the 2026 World Cup, with live brackets, draw management and leaderboards that updated after every match. Real people used it all summer.
- Next.js
- TypeScript
- Render
- Neon
- Cloudflare R2
- Vibes
◆ Coming back soon
2026 · Freelance client
MAK99 Interiors: studio site rebuild
Design and build
A Next.js rebuild of the marketing site for an interior design studio working in Washington, D.C. and London.
- Next.js
- TypeScript
- Tailwind CSS
- Vercel
Ongoing · Side project
seqflow: one source of truth for system design
Solo build
A text format (DSL) for sequence diagrams, architecture, interface definitions and schemas. It lives in the repo next to the code, so it keeps up with the code instead of going stale in a wiki, and it exports to OpenAPI and AsyncAPI.
- TypeScript
- DSL design
- OpenAPI
- AsyncAPI
Room vVolume (Seven Panes)rotateY, seven translucent planes
His technical expertise, energy, and leadership have been central to the success… He has driven discussions about future opportunities and has been crucial to helping us design a realistic, yet comprehensive solution.
The pace at which you delivered features in the run-up to production was truly impressive — your contribution was critical to our success. Nic deep-dives into complex technical issues, not only resolving them but taking the time to coach and mentor.
His leadership as a dev is his standout quality… has not only developed the frontend but also mentored another dev along the way, allowing her to flourish and contribute strongly to the team.
You have solid technical skills, and you take a lot of responsibility… the team clearly trusts and relies on you… you bring a bit of fun and energy to the day-to-day. It's a great mix that really adds to the team.
Room viColleagues, on the recordeight point-planes in depth, zooming to the end of the page
vii / open a channel
Let's build something
Available for
Currently open to contract work: AI platform builds, short GenAI strategy pieces, or fixing a system that has got into trouble.
- SC Cleared
- from £650 / day
- 1 month notice
- London · Remote · Hybrid