Terry Lee

Hi, I'm Terry Lee

Technology Innovation Architect / Principal Engineer

Cambridge, England, United Kingdom

Engineering leader and senior technical architect with 30 years' experience building data-centric products across startups, research environments and regulated domains (fintech, bioinformatics, healthcare, media, defence). Known for joining at the earliest stages to deliver proofs-of-concept, establish core architectures, ship first customer-facing implementations, and scale them into stable, production-grade platforms.

About Terry Lee

About Terry Lee

Engineering leader and senior technical architect with 30 years’ experience building data-centric products across startups, research environments and regulated domains (fintech, bioinformatics, healthcare, media, defence).

I am known for joining at the earliest stages to deliver proofs-of-concept, establish core architectures, ship first customer-facing implementations, and scale them into stable, production-grade platforms. As a trusted C-suite partner, I regularly operate at the frontier of new capability while balancing experimentation with capital efficiency and long-term reusability.

Recent winner of the 2025 Global vLEI Hackathon. I contributed to an award-winning digital credentials solution recognised by GLEIF for driving resilience in trade and supply chains.

I am AI-native, applying AI-augmented workflows without compromising governance, operational clarity, or engineering discipline. My work focuses on data mobility, privacy-preserving architectures, and semantic data engineering to ensure systems communicate without human intervention.

I select the right tool for the job: Elixir (Phoenix/Ash) for concurrency, Python (FastAPI) for speed, or AWS for cloud-native orchestration. My code is built for high performance and low maintenance. Technologies come and go, but the principles of operational excellence and systemic simplicity remain.

I am at my best when translating traditional business complexity into modern, AI-augmented infrastructure. Let’s connect if you are building for the next decade.

Expertise

30 years of experience distilled into core competencies and technical mastery across multiple domains.

Strategic

  • Technical Architecture
  • Market Capture Strategy
  • Data Policy & Rights
  • Semantic Modeling

Engineering

  • Distributed Systems
  • Scalable Orchestration
  • Digital Signatures
  • AI/LLM Integration

Cloud & DevOps

  • AWS (EC2, S3)
  • Docker
  • Linux
  • CI/CD Pipelines

Technical Proficiencies

Languages

Elixir (Phoenix/Ash) Python (FastAPI/BioPython) Java (Vertx/Swing) Ruby (Rails/Hanami) Scala Rust Node.js C# PHP Perl

Infrastructure & AI

AWS (EC2, S3) Docker Linux PostgreSQL MongoDB AI/LLM Integration Prompt Engineering Agent Development MCP

Specializations

Semantic Data Engineering Verifiable Credentials (vLEI) Digital Signatures RFID Systems Financial Betting Platforms

Standards & Compliance

vLEI (GLEIF Ecosystem) HL7 (v2.x, FHIR) DICOM ISO/TC 215 Health Information Exchange (HIE)

Domain Expertise

Agriculture Education Bioinformatics Finance Health

Check out my latest work

I've worked on a variety of projects, from simple websites to complex web applications. Here are a few of my favorites.

CheckD Dataswyft Wallet

CheckD Dataswyft Wallet

A wallet empowering users to securely prove their identity, qualifications, and eligibility for services while maintaining full control over their data.

ElixirPhoenixAsh FrameworkSemantic Data
Demo
Noggin Platform

Noggin Platform

A technological platform specializing in the secured sharing and analysis of Personal Data to infer Personal Intent.

ScalaPlay FrameworkNodeJSRubyElixirPostgreSQLMongoDB
Dental Lab Management System

Dental Lab Management System

A comprehensive SaaS solution for managing the complex manufacturing processes of dental products across multiple labs and countries.

Ruby on RailsJavaActiveMQApache TomcatAdobe Flex
Financial Betting Platform

Financial Betting Platform

A high-frequency financial betting platform offering fixed-odds betting on Forex currency pairs.

JavaReal-time DataReuters Feed
Media Asset Management

Media Asset Management

Enterprise systems for Mediacorp, including Asset Management, Billing, and Access Control.

SAP IntegrationRFIDBarcodingWeb Development

Latest Blog Posts

Thoughts, insights, and tutorials on web development, design, and technology.

Coming Soon! 🚀

I'm currently working on some exciting articles. Check back later for updates!

Work Experience

  • DATASWYFT LTD

    Technology Innovation Architect / Principal Engineer

    Leading Dataswyft’s evolution from the research and development phase into delivering production-grade platforms providing privacy-preserving data architectures and decentralised identity services. Managing a team of 6 engineers, reporting directly to the CTO/CEO. Working closely with Product, Design and Go-to-Market teams to align technical delivery with customer needs and commercial priorities.

    • Defined the technical vision for the Dataswyft Wallet which enables secure personal data mobility and controlled data sharing.
    • Led proof-of-concept and research initiatives, producing working code and reusable architectural foundations that informed go/no-go product decisions.
    • Designed prototypes with capital efficiency in mind, balancing speed, scope, and reusability to minimise operational drag when experiments were retired.
    • Established data rights and consent frameworks governing storage, format, access, and sharing, including delegated authority and permission models.
    • Delivered first versions of customer-facing features and led subsequent development as validated prototypes became mature, production-ready capabilities.
    • Introduced governance responses to emerging technologies, including the development of an internal AI policy as generative AI became operationally relevant.
    • Supported developer relations and early customer success through solutioning and documentation to enable adoption.
    • Contributed to an award-winning digital credentials solution recognised at the Global vLEI Hackathon (2025).

    Tech: Elixir (Phoenix, Ash), Python (FastAPI), PostgreSQL.

    View Company

  • WARWICK MANUFACTURING GROUP, UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK

    Software Engineer

    Bridged academic research and applied engineering by delivering MVPs and pilot systems within collaborative, multi-institutional research environments. Translated experimental models and theoretical research into validation-ready prototypes suitable for real-world deployment.

    • Designed secure permission frameworks for sensitive research data environments, supporting governance and controlled access.
    • Engineered machine-learning approaches for privacy-preserving data analysis.
    • Supported interoperability across research teams and technical stakeholders.
    View Company

  • NOGGIN PTE LTD

    Principal Software Engineer

    Principal engineer and lead architect responsible for the design, delivery and evolution of a high-performance data platform supporting intent inference and recommendation engines in a consumer-facing environment requiring low latency and high availability.

    • Defined semantic data contracts and platform standards enabling interoperability between back-office systems, intent engines and front-end applications.
    • Led end-to-end delivery across distributed, API-based systems, ensuring platform consistency, reliability and scalability as product features evolved.
    • Reduced system fragmentation and improved data integrity by introducing unified architectural standards across services.

    Tech: Scala, Java (Play), Node.js, Ruby (Hanami), Elixir (Phoenix), PostgreSQL, MongoDB.

    View Company

  • KOOPRIME PTE LTD

    Chief Technology Officer (CTO)

    Directed information management and technology strategy across biotechnology, bioinformatics, and healthcare initiatives in data-intensive environments.

    • Addressed fragmented clinical and laboratory data by enabling reliable exchange across institutional boundaries.
    • Architected scalable healthcare information systems using HL7 standards to support interoperability.
    • Applied bioinformatics and health data principles to transform fragmented datasets into structured information assets supporting research and clinical workflows.
    • Designed and delivered a computer vision system integrated into KoopRime’s software suite to recognise and count medication pills using OpenCV and Python, involving custom hardware integration.

    Tech: Ruby on Rails, Java, OpenCV, Python.

  • INDEPENDENT SOFTWARE ARCHITECT

    Software Architect & Developer

    • Product Leadership: Designed, built, and deployed a comprehensive Dental Lab Process Management System from the ground up as a solo architect
    • System Innovation: Engineered a custom Domain Management System allowing multi-tenant control across international lab entities
    • Real-time Synchronization: Integrated a message bus (ActiveMQ) to ensure immediate data consistency across multi-country laboratory synchronizations
    • Value Delivered: Transformed manual dental laboratory operations into a scalable, digital enterprise platform covering the full SDLC from ordering to multi-country billing
    • Tech: Ruby on Rails, Java, ActiveMQ, Adobe Flex.

  • EARLY CAREER (Selected)

    Various Engineering & Architecture Roles

    • Lead Solutions Engineer – BMT Asia Pacific Pte Ltd: Led solution engineering for MediaCorp projects; integrated web systems with SAP and developed Access Control/Inter-Company Billing using RFID.
    • Systems Designer | Lead Developer (Contract) – Brightfire Engineering Systems Pte Ltd: Designed and developed high-performance financial trading and betting systems.
    • Team Lead | Technical Lead (Contract) – SES Systems Pte Ltd: Led technical teams in developing enterprise software solutions.
    • E-Commerce/M-Commerce Consultant – Fuziq Pte Ltd: Co-developed dynamic pricing engine patent.
    • Senior Architect | Solution Architect – Ensop Pte Ltd: Architected enterprise software solutions for various clients.
    • Technical Consultant – Asia Pacific Bioinformatics Network (APBioNet): Built distributed bioinformatics workflow engines and task runners.
    • Research Officer – Bioinformatics Centre, National University of Singapore: Developed SQL-based tools and XML workflows.
    • Research Biologist – Centre for Natural Product Research: Supported pharmaceutical R&D systems.

    Patents: Multiple Data Type Processing and Presentation Grid (WO/2001/061432) | Dynamic Pricing Engine (US/2003/0101146/A1)

Education

  • National University of Singapore (NUS)

    National University of Singapore (NUS)

    Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences, Minor: Molecular & Cell Biology

    Jul 1994 - Jun 1996
    • Undergraduate Research (3 Years): Student Researcher in Marine Biology. Spearheaded the development and maintenance of specialized marine biological databases.
    • Bioinformatics & Research Experience: Technical Consultant at Asia Pacific Bioinformatics Network (APBioNet), building distributed bioinformatics workflow engines and task runners.
    View Institution

I like building things

During my time in university, I attended multiple hackathons. People from around the country would come together and build incredible things in 2-3 days. It was eye-opening to see the endless possibilities brought to life by a group of motivated and passionate individuals.

Global vLEI Hackathon

Virtual / Global

Awarded for an innovative solution leveraging verifiable Legal Entity Identifiers (vLEI) to reduce friction in MSME financing and enhance global trade digitalization.

Read More

Patents

Innovations in data processing and e-commerce.

US 2003/0101146 A1

Dynamic Pricing Engine

A real-time dynamic pricing engine for e-commerce and m-commerce platforms.

Published: May 29, 2003

View Patent
WO/2001/061432

Multiple Data Type Processing and Presentation Grid

Invented a method for processing and presenting multiple data types within a unified grid.

Published: August 23, 2001

View Patent