James Turnbull

Building with Claude and Codex to create the platform for a writing analytics and social tool that integrates with Google Docs and Microsoft Word tracking writing sessions to validate genuine work vs AI-generated content.

• Designed and built user-facing analytics dashboards and data pipelines for real-time session tracking and authenticity validation
• Developed third-party integrations with Google Docs and Microsoft Word
• Working directly with the founding team on product direction translating user research into features, not specs

First engineer at an AI-powered video automation platform. Owned product and engineering end-to-end.

• Designed the core product architecture: a scalable, layer-based video rendering system in TypeScript
• Made product decisions daily with no PM, no designer. Gathered context from users, decided what to build, built it, shipped it
• Balanced user needs with engineering feasibility across every feature decision

Shipped Officely's meeting rooms product for Microsoft Teams from discovery through to production.

• Defined requirements, and built the full-stack implementation (React, TypeScript, Node.js)
• Owned the feature end-to-end: research > design > build > ship
• Delivered a type-safe, maintainable codebase while hitting launch timelines

Solo-founded an AI-powered adaptive fitness coach while training for Ironman Austria. Built the entire product from scratch. The core challenge was designing an AI coaching engine that could intelligently restructure training plans around real-world disruptions.

• Built the full product: React Native frontend, Node.js API, PostgreSQL database, OpenAI integration, deployed on AWS
• Designed the adaptive engine: plans that restructured themselves when life got in the way
• Shipped to a real user base, iterated on feedback, learned the limits of solo-founder distribution without a channel
• Built this while training 20+ hours a week. Powered through the 3.8km swim and 180km bike on race day before collapsing 16km into the marathon. Didn't give up until my body forced me to. Came out a fundamentally different engineer

Built a marketing automation platform for customer acquisition processing ad platform data to determine ad variations and improvements. Started as a software engineer and grew into technical founder, which early in my career forced me to learn generalist business development across sales, partnerships, and go-to-market.

• Built backend systems and user interfaces in React Native and Node.js within a small engineering team
• Set up product analytics (quantitative + qualitative) and used data to drive every feature decision
• Shipped integrations with Meta, TikTok, and Google advertising platforms
• Led a strategic pivot from the original product (a habit tracker) to marketing automation based on market signals and user feedback. Killed the original direction and rebuilt around validated pain points
• Formulated product vision and long-term strategic direction as the company grew

Managed commercial operations on the Battersea Power Station development.

• Owned work packages by year-end. Learned to think commercially under real stakes
• Negotiated with subcontractors and presented Requests for Change (RFCs) to the board, building stakeholder management skills in a high-pressure, multi-disciplinary environment
• Offered a graduate position upon completion, declined to pursue software and product development