Dimitris Hantzis

Principal Software Engineer & Systems Architect

Enterprise Platforms • Architecture & Technical Leadership • Operational Systems

About

Principal Software Engineer and Systems Architect with 20 years of experience architecting, delivering, and evolving enterprise-scale operational platforms across e-commerce, logistics, fulfilment, inventory, and financial domains.

Specialised in modernising and evolving business-critical platforms under live operational constraints, balancing architectural transformation, operational continuity, and long-term maintainability.

Proven track record of owning cross-system architecture, building and evolving resilient business-critical operational platforms, and resolving high-impact business risks through pragmatic, observable, and scalable engineering.

Operates at the intersection of engineering, operations, and business, aligning technical decisions with real-world delivery, reliability, and continuity needs.

Incorporates AI-assisted software engineering where it adds value, helping accelerate solution design, improve engineering productivity, and enhance software quality while maintaining strong engineering fundamentals and sound architectural judgement.

Key Impact

Platform Ownership

  • Architected, delivered and evolved the central OMS, acting as the operational coordination layer across inventory, purchasing, fulfilment, warehouse, storefront, and financial systems.

Transformation

  • Led architectural transformation and modernisation of legacy systems and business-critical workflows.
  • Rebuilt and repurposed core WMS from PHP 5.6 to PHP 8.4.

Operational

  • Prevented critical operational and financial risks across business-critical workflows.
  • Designed resilient operational infrastructure incorporating queue orchestration, automated recovery, observability, auditability, and fault-tolerant workflow execution across critical business systems.

Technical

  • Optimised legacy data models and system-level algorithms, significantly improving performance, efficiency, and scalability across high-volume transactional systems.
  • Designed and implemented scalable integration architecture enabling reliable synchronisation and data interchange across storefront, warehouse, ERP, and financial platforms.

Engineering Standards

  • Established AI-assisted development standards, system-specific engineering blueprints, and architectural reference frameworks across multiple enterprise platforms.

Professional Experience

For complete responsibilities and achievements, see the full CV

May 2023 - Jun 2026

Senior Lead Software Engineer (Principal Engineer scope)

BrandAlley - London, UK

Served as the principal technical authority across interconnected business systems, leading the architectural evolution of warehouse, fulfilment, order management, and financial platforms. Rebuilt the Warehouse Management System, architected the central Order Management System, introduced AI-assisted engineering practices, and improved operational resilience across business-critical workflows.

Oct 2021 - Apr 2023

Lead Software Engineer

Internet Fusion Group - London, UK

Led a cross-functional engineering team responsible for bespoke warehouse logistics platforms supporting order management, inventory, and financial workflows. Improved platform reliability, performance, and maintainability through architectural modernisation, database optimisation, and the establishment of structured engineering practices.

Feb 2020 - Oct 2021

Lead Software Engineer

3ev (3rd Eye Vision) - Hove, UK

Led the technical design and delivery of backend platforms for multiple clients, modernising legacy applications, improving observability, and delivering cloud migration initiatives. Worked closely with technical and business stakeholders to guide projects from solution design through successful production delivery.

Nov 2016 - Dec 2019

Senior Software Engineer

Tillo - Hove, UK

Designed and delivered backend services and APIs supporting financial transaction processing and gift card platforms. Developed secure integration workflows, reconciliation capabilities, and third-party integrations that supported the platform's evolution from an early-stage product to a stable production platform.

Jun 2016 - Nov 2016

Senior Software Engineer

22 Point Six - Burgess Hill, UK

Jan 2013 - Nov 2015

Senior Full-Stack Web Developer

Mosaic Digital - Brighton, UK

Jul 2013 - Jan 2013

Freelance Software Engineer

Thessaloniki, Greece

Jul 2009 - Jun 2012

Full-Stack Software Engineer

Tera Media - London, UK & Athens, Greece

Oct 2006 - Jul 2009

Freelance Software Engineer

Thessaloniki, Greece

Apr 2006 - Oct 2006

Software Engineer (BSc Internship)

Alexander Technological Educational Institute, Greece

Mar 2004 - Apr 2006

Freelance Software Engineer

Thessaloniki, Greece

Military Service

Sept 2011 - Jul 2012

Second Lieutenant (Reserve) - Head of the Research and Informatics Office

88 Military Command, Hellenic Army - Lemnos, Greece

Completed military service as a Reserve Second Lieutenant in the Hellenic Army, serving as Head of the Research and Informatics Office at the 88 Military Command on the island of Lemnos. Led a technical team responsible for maintaining IT infrastructure across multiple military units while serving as Brigade Communications Officer on a rotating basis.

Technical Expertise

Backend & Architecture

PHP (5.0 - 8.4), Laravel (4.2 - 13), Symfony, Lumen, Zend

REST APIs, distributed systems, synchronous/asynchronous integrations.

Experience across monolithic and distributed architectures

Frontend & Web

JavaScript, AJAX, jQuery, HTML5, CSS3, SASS (SMACSS), Liquid, YAML, Markdown, JSON

Data & Storage

MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite

High-volume transactional systems, data modelling, performance optimisation

Infrastructure & DevOps

AWS, Google Cloud, DigitalOcean, Docker, Vagrant, Linux

CI/CD, deployment workflows, system observability

Integrations & Platforms

Financial systems, payment processing, ERP (Business Central, SAP)

eCommerce platforms (Magento), third-party API integrations

Engineering Practices

System design, incremental delivery, resilience patterns, fallback mechanisms

Code quality, testing strategies, secure development practices

AI-assisted software engineering

LLM-assisted architecture and implementation

System-specific engineering standards and architectural documentation (Claude, Codex, ChatGPT)

Education

  • MSc Design and Digital Media

    University of Edinburgh, UK

  • BSc Informatics Engineering (Computer Science)

    Alexander Technological Educational Institute of Thessaloniki, Greece

  • Reserve Infantry Officers Academy

    Signal Corps & Research and Informatics Corps

    Hellenic Armed Forces, Greece

Professional Development

Attended industry conferences including Laravel London, AWS London, and UX Brighton.

Languages

  • English (Fluent)
  • Greek (Native)