Hi, I'm Matthew Kriel

Senior Software Engineer |

Senior Software Engineer with over 15 years of experience spanning engineering and technical product management. I founded and sold a software company, spent several years leading product initiatives, and eventually returned full-time to where I'm most at home: building reliable systems and writing clean, maintainable code.

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Cape Town, South Africa

About Me

Senior Software Engineer with over 15 years of experience spanning engineering and technical product management. I founded and successfully sold a software company, spent several years leading product initiatives, and eventually returned full-time to where I'm most at home: building reliable systems and writing clean, maintainable code.

I thrive in collaborative environments and bring a lot of energy to any team I am in. I enjoy solving hard problems, and still get oddly excited about well-designed databases. I am extremely passionate about my work and take a lot of pride in delivering the best possible solution for any task thrown my way.

Outside of work, I coach Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, hone my photography skills, spend weekends away hiking with friends, and I am also an officer in my World of Warcraft guild where I manage a team of over 25 players.

6+ Years Engineering

Hands-on software development experience

10+ Years Product Management

Leading technical product initiatives

AWS Certified

Cloud Practitioner (March 2024)

University of Cambridge

Diploma in Information Systems Engineering

Languages

English (Native), Afrikaans (Fluent)

Interests & Hobbies

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Photography Hiking Trail Running World of Warcraft

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

Since receiving my purple belt in November 2024, I've been coaching at Pride Fighting Academy. BJJ has become a central part of my life - both as a practitioner and as someone who loves helping others discover the art.

Technical Skills

Backend Development

JavaScript TypeScript Node.js Python Django Go Rust C# .NET

Databases & Infrastructure

PostgreSQL MySQL MongoDB Redis RabbitMQ Elasticsearch Docker

Frontend & Tools

React Svelte HTML/CSS Git AWS Jira Asana

Work Experience

Senior Software Engineer

Stubber

February 2025 - Present • Hybrid (Cape Town)

At Stubber I build the systems that power our AI automation platform. I work on the Stubber core system, the engine that drives the platform, as well as distributed services that extend its capabilities. The systems are complex, fast-moving, and always evolving, which makes the work both challenging and exciting. My recent work includes:

• Building external messaging integrations for Telegram, Slack, and Microsoft Teams, each requiring three new microservices integrated into the platform
• Extending and improving our Google Sheets integration
• Optimizing LLM pipelines for performance and reliability
• Writing documentation and planning material to support scaling and maintainability

JavaScript Node.js PostgreSQL MongoDB Svelte V4 RabbitMQ Redis Elasticsearch Portainer Docker Asana

Senior Backend Engineer

Sociable (Contract)

December 2024 - Present • Remote - Cape Town

Sociable is a community-focused events platform designed to help people connect through shared passions and real-world experiences. It allows users to discover nearby events in real time, filter by interest or location, and build personalized profiles to engage with others.

I recently joined the team at Sociable as a backend engineer. My latest contracted work involved a complete migration from JavaScript to TypeScript of the backend services, making UI adjustments to the mobile app as well as writing a comprehensive test suite for the platform.

TypeScript Next.js MySQL React MongoDB React Native Monday

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Photography

When I'm not coding or training, I love capturing moments through my lens. Photography allows me to explore creativity and document the world around me.

Personal Projects

Pride Fighting Academy

Class Schedule PWA

June 2024 - Present

A simple PWA application built in Django on top of my portfolio site. Our gym needed something better than screenshots of a spreadsheet and all other solutions cost way too much.

Django PWA Python JavaScript

One More Game

World of Warcraft PVE Guild Website

June 2024 - Present

A website I built for my World of Warcraft raiding guild, including a complete overhaul of both the backend and frontend. The project consists of a public-facing website, a backend API, and a MongoDB instance.

Javascript MongoDB Microservices

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Coach

Pride Fighting Academy

November 2024 - Present

Since I received my purple belt in November 2024, I have been an assistant coach at PFA. I work with people of all ages and skill ranges but I particularly love coaching people new to the sport. It feels me with great pride helping people overcome personal hardships and making a difference in their lives.

Coaching Leadership Community

Sunsets The Movement

Popup Event Host & Founder

Ongoing

I regularly host free pop up events all over the city of Cape Town and handle all the setup and costs involved. The locations and exact times are a secret, but after I drop a location pin, within an hour there are anywhere between 200 - 400 people at the event.

Event Management Community Building Social Media

Guild Officer

World of Warcraft

15 years - Present

For close to 15 years I have been an officer in various World of Warcraft guilds. It is my job to keep my team of 25 players motivated, focused and to assist them in performing at their very best potential. This involves countless hours of log and character analysis, team co-ordination and conflict resolution.

Team Leadership Data Analysis Conflict Resolution

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Get In Touch

I'm always interested in hearing about new opportunities, interesting projects, and connecting with fellow developers. Feel free to reach out!

mckriel@gmail.com

linkedin.com/in/mckriel

github.com/mckriel