My Journey in Engineering Link to heading

Building Value-Driven Products and Empowering Teams Link to heading

Hello, I’m James Birch. I have spent nearly 20 years in the technology sector, with the last 15 specialising in the UK Ed-Tech space. I’ve grown from a hands-on software engineer to a leader of dynamic, product-focused teams. My passion lies in the space where a deep understanding of user needs informs the creation of truly valuable and reliable software.

While much of my experience has been in the UK Ed-Tech sector, where I was proud to contribute to products with a positive social impact, the core of my work is universal: solving complex problems through technology. A defining period of my career was an eight-year journey leading two core SaaS products from concept to maturity. This experience taught me that success is not just about elegant code; it’s about deeply understanding the user’s world—an approach that led to one product being adopted by over half of all UK secondary schools. Seeing this real-world impact and the resulting customer loyalty cemented my belief in a value-driven development culture.

My Approach to Leadership Link to heading

I believe great products are built by empowered and aligned teams. My leadership style is centred on:

  • Cross-Functional Partnership: Building strong, collaborative relationships with colleagues across the entire business. I believe the best solutions come from a shared understanding of user needs, particularly with customer-facing teams like product, support, and customer success.
  • Clarity and Alignment: Ensuring every team member understands our ‘why’ - the customer problem we are solving.
  • Mentorship and Growth: Fostering an environment where developers can build their skills and advance their careers.
  • Agile for Value: Using agile methodologies not as a rigid process, but as a tool to maintain tight feedback loops and deliver value incrementally.

Technical Foundations Link to heading

To build products that customers trust, you need a bedrock of technical excellence. My background has given me a comprehensive technical understanding of the full product lifecycle, from architecture to deployment. This includes:

  • Core Technologies: Proficient across the full stack, including standard web technologies (HTML, CSS, JavaScript), front-end frameworks like React, and a deep expertise in C#, TypeScript, SQL, and the .NET/ASP.NET ecosystem.
  • Sustainable Product Evolution: I believe that successfully managing a product long-term requires a specific, pragmatic mindset. My experience involves carefully balancing the excitement of new features with the crucial realities of user feedback, bug fixes, and paying down technical debt, ensuring the product is as healthy tomorrow as it is today.
  • Infrastructure & DevOps: Expertise in designing and managing solutions on both Microsoft Azure and self-hosted platforms. My focus is always on creating robust, repeatable, and high-velocity development cycles, achieved through a strong culture of automation and well-managed CI/CD pipelines.
  • Data Architecture: In my experience, the data layer is the true foundation of a successful application. My focus is therefore on thoughtful SQL and database design to ensure the product is not only performant for users today, but also scalable and maintainable for years to come.

This technical foundation allows me to guide high-level architectural decisions and ensure we are building for the long term. I am also committed to continuous learning, actively keeping my skills current and exploring new languages and modern ways of working.

Looking Ahead Link to heading

The principles of building robust, user-centric products and fostering collaborative teams are applicable everywhere. This enthusiasm for exploring new technologies and methodologies is why I am keen to apply my experience to new challenges, and am confident in my ability to deliver value in any sector where technology is used to solve meaningful problems.

Let’s Connect Link to heading

I’m always open to discussing new challenges in technology and leadership. If you’re building something meaningful, let’s connect on LinkedIn .