Will Howarth

About Will Howarth

Results-driven engineering leader with 15+ years building and managing distributed systems at petabyte scale. Proven track record leading geographically distributed teams (23+ engineers) developing high-throughput streaming platforms, cloud infrastructure, and mission-critical backend systems. Deep technical expertise in distributed system architecture, performance optimization, and scalable data processing combined with strong people management and strategic planning capabilities. Secondary expertise in GenAI and Agentic AI systems, leveraging Machine Learning, MCP, and Specification Driven Development (SDD) to accelerate software delivery across multiple programming languages.

Experience

1. Software Engineering Manager

   New Relic

   Jun 2021 — Present · Kingston, NH, US

   Lead geographically distributed team of 23 software engineers across multiple time zones, fostering collaborative culture and technical excellence • Architect and optimize high-throughput distributed systems processing petabytes of observability data with sub-second query response times • Drive strategic technical decisions for streaming data platforms, balancing performance optimization with business objectives • Oversee design and development of scalable cloud infrastructure spanning AWS, GCP, Azure, and OCI environments • Champion performance optimization initiatives across hundreds of interacting microservices in distributed cellular architecture • Implement AI-assisted development workflows utilizing GenAI and Agentic AI tools (Cline, Claude Code, Tabnine, GitHub Copilot) to accelerate code generation • Pioneer Specification Driven Development (SDD) methodologies, generating production code across Java, C++, Go, Python, and Ruby from comprehensive specifications • Integrate MCP (Model Context Protocol) frameworks to enhance AI-human collaboration in complex distributed system development • Mentor engineering talent through technical reviews, career development, and knowledge sharing programs • Interface with cross-functional stakeholders to align platform roadmap with company-wide data processing objectivesKey AchievementLed distributed team redesign of New Relic\'s cellular cloud infrastructure processing petabytes of streaming data. Delivered automated scaling capabilities across multi-cloud environments, enabling rapid capacity adjustments and significant cost optimization through strategic architectural decisions. Accelerated development velocity by 40% through implementation of AI-assisted code generation, SDD practices, and MCP integration for enhanced developer productivity.

Education

• University of Maine

  BS, Finance - Corbett School of Business

Skills

• Java Enterprise Edition
• Enterprise Software
• Enterprise Architecture
• Software Design
• Agile Leadership
• Agile Methodologies
• Testing
• Soa
• Sdlc
• Integration
• Cisco Technologies
• Cloud Computing
• Business Intelligence
• Web Services
• Software Integrations
• Software Development
• Architectures
• Agile Methodolgy
• J2ee Application Development
• Software Engineering
• IT Strategy
• Software Development Life Cycle (Sdlc)
• Telecommunications
• Software Project Management
• Crm
• Architecture
• Unix