Simon Stride
Software Engineering Manager @Merlin
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WORK HISTORY
Software Engineering Manager @Merlin
Engineering Manager leading platform, data, and infrastructure teams delivering systems for independent music rights holders.Web applications · Data platforms · AWS infrastructure · Delivery leadership · AI-assisted developmentRole & ScopeLead engineering delivery across web applications, data pipelines, and cloud infrastructure supporting digital licensing and media distribution platforms.Responsible for ~20 engineers & QA across application, data, and platform teams (mix of permanent and contract staff). Work with Product and senior leadership on roadmap planning, delivery priorities, and technical strategy, focussing on reliability, performance, and long-term maintainability.Manage engineering capacity, contractor engagement, vendor relationships, and software spend while maintaining delivery momentum and operational stability.Contribute to software direction across the organisation, including platform reliability, security posture, AI-assisted development practices, and infrastructure cost management.Key Outcomes• Improved 93.6% of page load times to under 3 seconds, strengthening user experience and stakeholder confidence in platform performance.• Delivered 40%+ AWS cost reduction across media delivery platforms while maintaining resilience and operational stability.• Led security and platform upgrades across MySQL, PHP, AWS Glue, EKS, Elastic Beanstalk, and Node.js with zero downtime.• Introduced feature flagging and improved backup policies, enabling safer deployments and stronger disaster recovery capability.• Drove adoption of AI-assisted development tools, supporting modern engineering workflows.• Managed engineering software and contractor spend, finishing ~2% under budget for 2025.Leadership & CollaborationBuild teams that emphasise autonomy, accountability, and pragmatic engineering decisions. Work with Product, Data, Infrastructure, and external partners to deliver complex initiatives while mentoring engineers and emerging leaders.
EDUCATION
Gryphon School, Sherborne, Dorset
AS Levels, Mathematics, Further Mathematics, Art, Biology
University of Exeter
Master of Science - MS, Data Science
University of Bath
Mathematical Sciences, Mathematics
ABOUT SIMON STRIDE
Engineering leader building scalable platforms and data systems that power independent music rights holders.I currently lead multidisciplinary teams of ~20 engineers across platform, data, and application systems supporting digital licensing and distribution platforms.I focus on building scalable platform architecture and enabling teams to improve performance, reliability, cost efficiency, and security.I’m particularly interested in how well-designed data platforms enable analytics, machine learning, and AI-driven products, and how AI-assisted development is reshaping modern engineering workflows.I believe the best engineering organisations keep systems as simple as possible, hire people who challenge ideas, and create environments where teams can think for themselves. Listening well is often the most underrated engineering skill-> Always interested in conversations around:* AI adoption in engineering teams* Data platforms* Engineering leadership* AWS & FinOps* Developer productivity~Strong teams and simple systems solve most problems.~
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