I'm James Hong
Senior Software Engineer · Android · Full Stack · AI-First.
15+ years across mobile platform work and greenfield systems, from fast-paced startups to complex enterprises.
15+
Engineers Led
2M+
Users Served
#1
App Store & Google Play
👀 Hover to see me in action!
Who I Am
About Me
Hi, I'm James Hong
Software Engineer · Builder
I'm a software engineer with 15+ years across Android, full-stack, and platform work. I shipped Australia's PayID at ING, led a 15-person mobile team at Tabcorp, and built a payments SDK used by national retailers. These days I'm co-architecting a greenfield GP clinic platform at a Brisbane healthtech, and outside work I design and ship my own SaaS products end-to-end.
AI isn't a side interest. It's how I work: agentic workflows every day with Claude Code, spec-driven instruction files, test-backed verification, and generative pipelines on Vertex AI. I care about AI that ships real software, not demos.
Experience
15+ years across startups & enterprise
Current Focus
Agentic AI workflows & AI-first products
Education
B.E. (Hons) Software Engineering
Location
Brisbane, AU (open to relocation) · Remote
What I Work With
Tech Stack
Technologies and tools I work with
Where I've Been
Work Experience
Payments, lotteries, travel, and health: consumer products used by millions
Senior Software Engineer
CurrentEvercare · Brisbane, AU
Jul 2026 – Present
- One of the three founding engineers on a greenfield GP clinic platform, co-architecting the system
- Building Node.js/TypeScript GraphQL APIs and a React front end, backed by MySQL and Redis on Azure, with patient data handled under Australian Privacy Principles from day one
- Cut developer environment setup from around three days of manual installs down to a same-day clone — reworked the setup docs, scripted the automatable steps, and proposed snapshot-based VM images the team adopted, designed to scale into production provisioning.
Senior Android Engineer
Australian Payments Plus · Sydney, AU (Remote)
Apr 2023 – Jun 2026
- Pioneered greenfield development of a standalone Android QR Payment SDK for major enterprise client (Coles), enabling secure digital transactions across national retail networks
- Architected Agentic AI workflows by designing and implementing bespoke instruction frameworks for Codex to automate complex engineering tasks, boosting team velocity
- Managed high traffic feature sets for the Beem app, ensuring stability and performance for a growing ecosystem of 1.5M+ active users
- Led Jetpack Compose adoption with a focus on modularisation and strict accessibility (Talkback) standards
- Automated mission critical security tasks (SHA-256 hashing & Certificate updates) via custom Shell scripts, reducing manual effort and potential downtime.
Senior Android Engineer
Suncorp Group · Brisbane, AU
May 2022 – Apr 2023
- Optimised high volume notification systems by architecting dynamic UI delivery and support for diverse payload types, driving measurable user engagement
- Boosted application performance through strategic caching architectures, significantly reducing redundant API overhead and accelerating data retrieval
- Modernised legacy codebases and engineered robust feature toggle frameworks to ensure seamless product rollouts and high codebase reliability
- Improved error handling to provide better feedback to users and updated UI components to enhance overall user experience
- Maintained high engineering standards by writing comprehensive unit tests for every development task.
Senior Android Engineer
Latitude Financial Services · Melbourne, AU (Remote)
Nov 2021 – May 2022
- Engineered core features for a flagship Fintech app (500k+ MAU), leading the end-to-end delivery of the 'Pay My Account' module
- Worked closely with the backend team to design secure API contracts for seamless mobile to server integration
- Collaborated with cross-functional stakeholders to align technical strategy with business goals through leadership in sprint showcases
- Enhanced user engagement by implementing Material Design standards (Lottie), account balance widgets, and comprehensive automated test suites.
Senior Software Engineer
Expedia Group · Brisbane, AU
Jan 2021 – Nov 2021
- Migrated key WebView (JS-bridge) surfaces to fully native screens, improving performance and reliability on a live global product
- Worked across the stack where needed, contributing to Java/Kotlin backend services and GraphQL APIs alongside the Android client
- Conceptualised and delivered Chat Bubble and Direct Reply features, significantly increasing user engagement and response rates
- Architected a reusable component library, reducing boilerplate code by 82% (from 200 to 35 lines) and ensuring long term maintainability
- Led the strategic transition to Jetpack Compose and modernised debugging workflows, effectively eliminating technical debt
- Increased team productivity and unblocked major work by introducing advanced debugging tools like Charles proxy
- Developed user centric features like 'copy reservation ID', which became a frequently used utility after successful release.
Technical Team Leader
Tabcorp · Brisbane, AU
Jun 2019 – Jan 2021
- Managed a high-performing team of 15+ multidisciplinary engineers for Lotteries mobile apps, successfully serving 2M+ active users
- Modernised the recruitment framework and onboarding protocols, ensuring rapid integration for new members during expansion
- Cultivated a growth centric culture through structured pair programming and team bonding initiatives during the transition to remote work
- Developed custom validation tools to automate configuration checks, effectively eliminating recurring production failures
- Achieved #1 market rankings in both the App Store and Google Play by implementing rigorous quality standards
- Directed complex project roadmaps, successfully delivering multiple high priority initiatives in parallel.
Senior Software Engineer (Backend)
Facet Consulting · Brisbane, AU
Dec 2018 – May 2019
- Delivered a complex greenfield microservices project with full end-to-end ownership, from initial technical design to the deployment of secure RESTful services
- Architected event driven cloud native solutions utilising AWS (Lambda, S3, SNS, SQS), ensuring high performance and security for backend infrastructure
- Optimised database management by introducing Liquibase for version control, streamlining schema migrations
- Investigated and solved complex technical problems, documenting technical designs for team alignment.
Senior Android Developer
Tatts Group · Brisbane, AU
Mar 2018 – Dec 2018
Click to see details
Senior Software Engineer (Full Stack)
Hyper Anna · Sydney, AU
Jul 2017 – Mar 2018
Click to see details
Senior Android Developer
ING · Sydney, AU
Oct 2016 – Jul 2017
Click to see details
Mobile Engineer
Hipages Group · Sydney, AU
May 2015 – Oct 2016
Click to see details
Software Engineer (Full Stack)
Wex Inc · Auckland, NZ
Sep 2012 – May 2015
Click to see details
What I Build
Independent Projects
Solo-built SaaS and AI products
B2B SaaS - revenue recovery platform
Feature-complete, in customer validation
- Designed and built solo: multi-tenant architecture with row-level security, an ROI analytics dashboard, and an SMS opt-out compliance engine.
- Validated with real service businesses: interview feedback confirmed the manual-send design and ROI dashboard as the differentiators.
- Claude Code is part of daily engineering here: spec-driven instruction files with test-backed verification, taking ideas from spec to working software in weeks.
Generative AI media pipeline
- Python serverless backend (Cloud Functions) on Vertex AI chaining LLM → Imagen → Veo: each stage's output feeds the next, turning a single input into finished image and video assets, with prompt tuning for consistent visual output across generations.
- Built the Flutter mobile app that fronts the pipeline, talking to the Cloud Functions backend.
Background
Education
University of Auckland
Bachelor of Engineering (Honours)
Software Engineering
2008 – 2012
Recognition
Awards & Credentials
Awards
- Hipages Group Fast Start Award
- WEX Mobile Team Nomination
- Microsoft Windows 8 Competition - Top 5
- Microsoft Windows Phone Competition - Top 3
- Step Up Scholarship
Training & Credentials
- Claude Code 101 by Anthropic
- Claude 101 by Anthropic
- AI Productivity with MCP: Leveraging MCP Servers with Claude
- Claude Code 101: From Prompt to Product
- Cursor 101: Run AI Agents That Actually Ship Code
- Microsoft Azure Fundamentals
- Google Cloud Fundamentals
- Microsoft Build: Cloud Applications for a Remote World
- AWS Summit Online
- AWS ANZ Webinar Series
- Facebook Android Engineering Community
- Google Maps Codelab
- Brisbane Mobile App Developers Meetup
Let's Talk
Get in Touch
I'm interested in Senior to Principal engineering roles, and conversations about AI-first product development. If you're building something and think I could help, reach out!
Working on something interesting?
© 2026 James Hong. All rights reserved.