FlatPlan
I joined FlatPlan in August 2023 as a Full Stack Engineer, stepping into a fast-moving startup environment focused on delivering high-quality news content from leading publishers to Apple News. The role offered a significant shift from large-scale consultancy to a product-led organisation where ownership, speed, and impact were central to everyday work.
Working in a Lean, Growing Team
When I joined, FlatPlan operated with a two-person development team, requiring a high degree of autonomy and end-to-end ownership. Over time, the team grew to five engineers, and I played an active role in shaping development practices, architectural decisions, and technical standards as the product scaled.
The small-team setup meant I worked across the entire stack daily—contributing to product strategy, implementation, and ongoing optimisation—while collaborating closely with non-technical stakeholders.
Front-End Engineering and Apple News Design Standards
A major focus of my role was building high-quality, reusable front-end templates for Apple News. These needed to:
- Strictly adhere to Apple’s design and performance guidelines
- Scale across multiple publishers and content types
- Preserve and express each publisher’s brand identity
This work required a strong attention to detail and a deep understanding of how editorial content is rendered and consumed on Apple News. I helped establish patterns and reusable components that improved consistency, reduced duplication, and accelerated the onboarding of new publishing partners.
Backend Development and Platform Maturity
On the backend, I worked on expanding FlatPlan’s core platform by introducing new value-adding functionality while also raising the overall quality of the codebase. This included:
- Improving data pipelines and processing logic
- Introducing best practices around maintainability, testing, and observability
- Refactoring legacy areas to support future growth
My focus was not just on shipping features, but on ensuring the platform could evolve sustainably as both traffic and client expectations increased.
Client Dashboard: From Concept to Delivery
One of my most impactful contributions was leading the design and build of a client-facing dashboard. This dashboard allowed publishers to interact directly with FlatPlan’s services, giving them greater visibility and control over how their content performed on Apple News.
The dashboard enabled clients to:
- Explore and analyse content performance through an analytics page
- Publish articles to their apple news channels
- Resurface evergreen article content
I owned this initiative end-to-end—from initial discovery and technical design through to implementation and iteration—working closely with product and client stakeholders.
Technical Leadership and Client Collaboration
As the platform matured, I increasingly acted as the technical lead in conversations with major global media organisations. I worked directly with publishing partners to understand their goals, constraints, and editorial workflows, translating these into pragmatic technical solutions that aligned with FlatPlan’s roadmap.
This role required balancing client needs with platform scalability, while clearly communicating technical trade-offs to non-technical stakeholders.
AI-Driven Content Automation
I also contributed to the development of AI-powered tooling used to automate content processing and analysis. This included segmenting and classifying articles based on their content as part of an article resurfacing tool, helping publishers maximise the lifespan and reach of their content.
By integrating AI into editorial workflows, we reduced manual effort while enabling smarter, data-driven content decisions.
Reflection
My time at FlatPlan was defined by ownership, impact, and rapid learning. Working in a startup environment pushed me to think holistically about product development—combining engineering excellence, client needs, and business outcomes.
FlatPlan strengthened my ability to lead technically, build scalable full stack solutions, and collaborate directly with high-profile clients in the global media space.