David Thompson
Engineering Manager (Ai Search) @Twinkl Educational Publishing
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WORK HISTORY
Engineering Manager (Ai Search) @Twinkl Educational Publishing
Sheffield, GB
Engineering Manager for Twinkl\'s AI team and, previously, the Search team.Accountable for delivery, technical direction, reliability, and team healthacross two strategically important technical domains-**Line management of 10 engineers and 1 Engineering Manager**, across software, data science, and AI engineering disciplines- Working as a hands-on technical lead alongside team leadership: coding, architecture, and delivery-**AI Team:** delivering generative AI products including a resource adaptation tool, a RAG-based resource generation tool, and a teacher lesson-planning assistant; accountable for **responsible AI**, content guardrails, and AI governance for LLMs in education-**AI Working Group (Chair):** setting tools, techniques, and standards for AI-assisted software delivery across engineering-**Search Team (previously):** led migration from legacy Elasticsearch to **OpenSearch on AWS** serving millions of requests per day; introduced vector embeddings and hybrid search- Working closely with product, data, and content stakeholders to align delivery with curriculum and organisational goals
EDUCATION
University of Exeter
Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), English Medieval Studies
University of York
MSc, Computer Science
SKILLS
ABOUT DAVID THOMPSON
Software engineering leader with a long track record of building, growing, andrunning high-performing engineering teams in distributed, product-ledorganisations. Broad delivery experience across web, mobile, data, andplatform engineering, with deep specialism in AI, data, and search- Led engineering teams of **10–60 people**, including managing other Engineering Managers- Proven delivery of complex platform modernisation and migration programmes with measurable business impact- Strong people-management capability: coaching, mentoring, hiring, performance management, and career development- Hands-on technical foundation enabling effective coaching, architecture, and decision-making (Python, AWS, scalable APIs, modern web platforms)- Specialism in AI, data, and search: shipping production AI products, hybrid search, and data-driven platform improvements- Experienced partner to product, data, and senior leadership, aligning execution with organisational goals and OKRs
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