Philip Vella
Principal Frontend Engineer

Philip Vella

A results-driven Principal Frontend Engineer with over a decade of experience in designing, developing, and optimising modern web applications. Collaboration is at the core of my approach, working closely with cross-functional teams and Product Management to deliver innovative and high-quality solutions to customers. I am passionate about staying ahead in the ever-evolving tech world, using the latest technologies to drive product performance, scalability, and business-value.

ABOUT

Hello, I'm Philip, a web engineer based in London, UK. With 10 years+ of experience in software engineering, I specialise in React frontend web development with Node.js backend. Currently, I hold the position of Principal Software Engineer at Kingmakers UK Services Ltd. where I am deeply passionate about creating performant, safe and engaging user experiences.

Constantly driven by my love for software, I approach every project with a research-oriented mindset, constantly experimenting and iterating to find the best possible solutions. My relentless pursuit of scalability, high availability, and robustness has also led me to explore full stack development, including frontend, backend, networking, and tools like Jenkins, Docker, and Kubernetes.

A skilled multi-tasker and quick learner with the ability to adapt seamlessly to new technologies and environments.

I embrace an open and proactive approach to every task entrusted to me, leveraging my strong analytical and problem-solving skills to consistently deliver high-quality work. Additionally, my flexibility and creativity have contributed to taking my teams to new levels of performance.

As part of a self-organised team, I work closely with product managers to develop mobile and desktop features. My ultimate goal is to continuously enhance our product, making it smarter, simpler, and safer for users.

Throughout my career, I have honed my expertise in several technologies, including Javascript ES6, React, Redux, Typescript, Sass, and Jest, alongside various frontend libraries and programming languages. Furthermore, I actively support backend developers under pressure and tight deadlines by developing new features across the entire stack, from frontend to backend and OPS.

Driven by my passion for this field, I also enjoy coaching and mentoring junior team members, firmly believing in the power of knowledge sharing and mutual learning.

Experience

Kingmakers UK Services Ltd (London)
2024/04 - PRESENT

Principal Frontend Engineer

Kingmakers UK Services Ltd (London)
Customer Domain
TEAMS
AcquisitionResponsible GamingEngagementPaymentsWalletNative AppAgency
Kingmakers UK Services Ltd (London)
2023/09 - 2024/04

Senior Frontend Engineer II

Kingmakers UK Services Ltd (London)
Payments
Relevant Bits Inc (London)
2022/09 - 2023/09

Lead Software Engineer

Relevant Bits Inc (London)
B2B Software Development
Tipico Co. Ltd, St. Julian’s (Malta)
2016 - 2022

Software Developer

Tipico Co. Ltd, St. Julian’s (Malta)
iGaming/Sportsbook
B3W Group - B3W Group, Gzira (Malta)
2015 - 2016

Software Developer

B3W Group - B3W Group, Gzira (Malta)
iGaming/Online Casino
B3W Group - B3W Group, Gzira (Malta)
2013 - 2015

Frontend Software Developer

B3W Group - B3W Group, Gzira (Malta)
iGaming/Online Casino
MITA, Santa Venera (Malta)
2012 - 2013

Web Deployment and Quality Assurance

MITA, Santa Venera (Malta)
Digital Security Consultant for the Government of Malta

Education

2012-2013

B.A. - Software Development

Fraunhofer Gesellschaft University (Germany)
2010-2012

BTEC Higher National Diploma - Computing

MCAST IICT, Paola (Malta)
2008-2010

BTEC National Diploma - Computing

MCAST IICT, Paola (Malta)
education

SKILLS

frontend

19 skills
React

React

Remix

Remix

Vite

Vite

javascript

javascript

Typescript

Typescript

es6

es6

ES Lint

ES Lint

Prettier

Prettier

Islands Architecture

Islands Architecture

MUI

MUI

Tailwind

Tailwind

CSS

CSS

Sass

Sass

storybook

storybook

Jest

Jest

React Testing Library

React Testing Library

HTML

HTML

Graphql

Graphql

Google Tag Manager

Google Tag Manager

React

React

Remix

Remix

Vite

Vite

javascript

javascript

Typescript

Typescript

es6

es6

ES Lint

ES Lint

Prettier

Prettier

Islands Architecture

Islands Architecture

MUI

MUI

Tailwind

Tailwind

CSS

CSS

Sass

Sass

storybook

storybook

Jest

Jest

React Testing Library

React Testing Library

HTML

HTML

Graphql

Graphql

Google Tag Manager

Google Tag Manager

React

React

Remix

Remix

Vite

Vite

javascript

javascript

Typescript

Typescript

es6

es6

ES Lint

ES Lint

Prettier

Prettier

Islands Architecture

Islands Architecture

MUI

MUI

Tailwind

Tailwind

CSS

CSS

Sass

Sass

storybook

storybook

Jest

Jest

React Testing Library

React Testing Library

HTML

HTML

Graphql

Graphql

Google Tag Manager

Google Tag Manager

React

React

Remix

Remix

Vite

Vite

javascript

javascript

Typescript

Typescript

es6

es6

ES Lint

ES Lint

Prettier

Prettier

Islands Architecture

Islands Architecture

MUI

MUI

Tailwind

Tailwind

CSS

CSS

Sass

Sass

storybook

storybook

Jest

Jest

React Testing Library

React Testing Library

HTML

HTML

Graphql

Graphql

Google Tag Manager

Google Tag Manager

React

React

Remix

Remix

Vite

Vite

javascript

javascript

Typescript

Typescript

es6

es6

ES Lint

ES Lint

Prettier

Prettier

Islands Architecture

Islands Architecture

MUI

MUI

Tailwind

Tailwind

CSS

CSS

Sass

Sass

storybook

storybook

Jest

Jest

React Testing Library

React Testing Library

HTML

HTML

Graphql

Graphql

Google Tag Manager

Google Tag Manager

React

React

Remix

Remix

Vite

Vite

javascript

javascript

Typescript

Typescript

es6

es6

ES Lint

ES Lint

Prettier

Prettier

Islands Architecture

Islands Architecture

MUI

MUI

Tailwind

Tailwind

CSS

CSS

Sass

Sass

storybook

storybook

Jest

Jest

React Testing Library

React Testing Library

HTML

HTML

Graphql

Graphql

Google Tag Manager

Google Tag Manager

backend

5 skills
Java

Java

Spring

Spring

Kafka

Kafka

Maria DB

Maria DB

MySQL

MySQL

Java

Java

Spring

Spring

Kafka

Kafka

Maria DB

Maria DB

MySQL

MySQL

Java

Java

Spring

Spring

Kafka

Kafka

Maria DB

Maria DB

MySQL

MySQL

Java

Java

Spring

Spring

Kafka

Kafka

Maria DB

Maria DB

MySQL

MySQL

Java

Java

Spring

Spring

Kafka

Kafka

Maria DB

Maria DB

MySQL

MySQL

Java

Java

Spring

Spring

Kafka

Kafka

Maria DB

Maria DB

MySQL

MySQL

tools

10 skills
Git

Git

Jira

Jira

confluence

confluence

agile

agile

Jenkins

Jenkins

Zeplin

Zeplin

Sonar

Sonar

Slack

Slack

Gimp

Gimp

Redux dev tools

Redux dev tools

Git

Git

Jira

Jira

confluence

confluence

agile

agile

Jenkins

Jenkins

Zeplin

Zeplin

Sonar

Sonar

Slack

Slack

Gimp

Gimp

Redux dev tools

Redux dev tools

Git

Git

Jira

Jira

confluence

confluence

agile

agile

Jenkins

Jenkins

Zeplin

Zeplin

Sonar

Sonar

Slack

Slack

Gimp

Gimp

Redux dev tools

Redux dev tools

Git

Git

Jira

Jira

confluence

confluence

agile

agile

Jenkins

Jenkins

Zeplin

Zeplin

Sonar

Sonar

Slack

Slack

Gimp

Gimp

Redux dev tools

Redux dev tools

Git

Git

Jira

Jira

confluence

confluence

agile

agile

Jenkins

Jenkins

Zeplin

Zeplin

Sonar

Sonar

Slack

Slack

Gimp

Gimp

Redux dev tools

Redux dev tools

Git

Git

Jira

Jira

confluence

confluence

agile

agile

Jenkins

Jenkins

Zeplin

Zeplin

Sonar

Sonar

Slack

Slack

Gimp

Gimp

Redux dev tools

Redux dev tools

Platform & Tooling

12 skills
K8s

K8s

Cloudflare

Cloudflare

Azure DevOps

Azure DevOps

Docker

Docker

Instana

Instana

Grafana

Grafana

Kibana

Kibana

Bash scripting

Bash scripting

AWS

AWS

nodejs

nodejs

Express server

Express server

Logstash

Logstash

K8s

K8s

Cloudflare

Cloudflare

Azure DevOps

Azure DevOps

Docker

Docker

Instana

Instana

Grafana

Grafana

Kibana

Kibana

Bash scripting

Bash scripting

AWS

AWS

nodejs

nodejs

Express server

Express server

Logstash

Logstash

K8s

K8s

Cloudflare

Cloudflare

Azure DevOps

Azure DevOps

Docker

Docker

Instana

Instana

Grafana

Grafana

Kibana

Kibana

Bash scripting

Bash scripting

AWS

AWS

nodejs

nodejs

Express server

Express server

Logstash

Logstash

K8s

K8s

Cloudflare

Cloudflare

Azure DevOps

Azure DevOps

Docker

Docker

Instana

Instana

Grafana

Grafana

Kibana

Kibana

Bash scripting

Bash scripting

AWS

AWS

nodejs

nodejs

Express server

Express server

Logstash

Logstash

K8s

K8s

Cloudflare

Cloudflare

Azure DevOps

Azure DevOps

Docker

Docker

Instana

Instana

Grafana

Grafana

Kibana

Kibana

Bash scripting

Bash scripting

AWS

AWS

nodejs

nodejs

Express server

Express server

Logstash

Logstash

K8s

K8s

Cloudflare

Cloudflare

Azure DevOps

Azure DevOps

Docker

Docker

Instana

Instana

Grafana

Grafana

Kibana

Kibana

Bash scripting

Bash scripting

AWS

AWS

nodejs

nodejs

Express server

Express server

Logstash

Logstash

native

3 skills
Xcode

Xcode

Android Studio

Android Studio

Native Bridging

Native Bridging

Xcode

Xcode

Android Studio

Android Studio

Native Bridging

Native Bridging

Xcode

Xcode

Android Studio

Android Studio

Native Bridging

Native Bridging

Xcode

Xcode

Android Studio

Android Studio

Native Bridging

Native Bridging

Xcode

Xcode

Android Studio

Android Studio

Native Bridging

Native Bridging

Xcode

Xcode

Android Studio

Android Studio

Native Bridging

Native Bridging

Testimonials

Johan Farrugia

I've known Philip for nearly 6 years now, and it's been a pleasure to work with him in the same department. Philip is a diligent, self-driven individual who strives to achieve his goals.

He's also a very friendly and approachable person, always offering his assistance whenever it's needed.

I also consider Philip to be a proactive person, readily proposing new ideas and expressing his point of view in an honest and constructive manner, which makes him an ideal team-mate to work with.

Philip is not only extremely proficient in frontend development, where he's considered as a point-of-reference on this matter in our department, but also very technically sound when it comes to the rest of the tech stack that the company uses.

In addition, he also continuously invests time in acquiring new skills whilst also applying them in practice, and for these reasons he is undoubtedly a great asset to have within one's team/department.

I therefore strongly recommend Philip for any position related to software development.

Johan Farrugia

Full-stack Developer at Tipico Co. Ltd

Projects

Overlay Bet Slip

Overlay Bet Slip

Migrated from full Page view to an overlay style bet slip. This way customers can use the betslip on a mobile phone without losing the focus of their current markets

ES6REACTREDUXHTMLCSS

Missing Details Screen

Missing Details Screen

In order to obtain proper KYC status, I created a dynamic screen which is persisting on Tipico's app in order to force the user to enter missing data which was essential to keep compliant to regulator's requirements

ES6REACTREDUXHTMLCSS

Hobbies

Running

Running

Middle Distance Running

What started out as a means to lose weight and keep healthy, led to 8 years of passionate sport. When I started running back in 2014, little did I know that running would become such an integral part of my routine. I have competed in several road races locally in Malta and also internationally. Several half marathons have led me to push my limits to the maximum and challenge my mind not to give up in dire situations. Running has helped me boost my mental agility and performance while improving my self esteem. In turn, these benefits have spilled over to other areas, such as my professional and personal life.

Motorsport

Motorsport

Formula 1 and British motorsport

I am also an avid fan of Formula 1 and British motorsport. I have myself driven at the Silverstone Race Track and have certainly learnt to appreciate the dedication and technicalities involved in such disciplines. The amount of teamwork and dedication in this sport keeps me driven to persist in working well within a team. Through this I have learnt that one can achieve impressive results when managing to combine raw-talent together with teamwork. This is certainly a hard combination to beat.

Achievements

"The future rewards those who press on. I don't have time to feel sorry for myself. I don't have time to complain. I'm going to press on" - Barack Obama

2021 Certificate of Completion - Spring Boot

Getting started with Spring Boot

Aug 14, 2021
Coding

Current Status

Employment Setup Preference

Hybrid

During the COVID19 pandemic I was introduced to remote working, to which I got very much accustomed to. It has made me aware of how important it is to leave reactions on Slack when a message is read, and how important it is to be precise and concise with written communication. I am a very sociable person and thus I enjoy going to the office once to two-times a week. This helps me connect and bond more with my team and colleagues.

Living

Based in London (UK)

I am currently based in London (UK), working as a Principal Software Engineer at Kingmakers UK Services Ltd. I have been living in London for the past 3 years and I am very much enjoying the city life. I am a very sociable person and I enjoy meeting new people and making new friends. I am also a very active person and I enjoy going to the gym, running, and going for long walks.