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Robert Donnelly
Lead Software EngineerStaff-level IC

Robert Donnelly

I modernize mature frontend systems without stopping product delivery.

Hands-on frontend platform architecture, release infrastructure, and developer experience for organizations moving beyond fragmented legacy systems.

View LinkedIn profileSee selected work
Remote only · Europe preferred
architecture.motif
Evolutionary
Incremental platform modernizationLegacy applications move through shared platform foundations toward safer releases.LEGACY_SURFACESSHARED_PLATFORMSAFE_RELEASES
ApproachIncremental
PrioritySafe delivery
RoleHands-on IC

Experience across

  • Personio
  • CarTrawler
  • Elsevier
  • Uniqlo
01 //

More than a hundred frontend applications brought into a unified platform

02 //

Hundreds of contributors supported through shared infrastructure

03 //

Navigation reduced from seconds to milliseconds

04 //

Rollbacks reduced from tens of minutes to seconds

01 //

Selected transformations

Completed platform work, with personal contribution separated from collaborative delivery.

01 // PersonioFrontend platform transformation

Modernizing a fragmented frontend without stopping delivery

Personio needed to move a fragmented frontend away from its backend monolith without asking product teams to stop shipping. The approach combined a shared monorepo, common platform libraries, a unified application shell, and an incremental migration path between old and new hosts.

What I led

I co-created the original prototype and RFCs, then led the monorepo architecture, shared CI/CD model, migration integration, and a safer release-management service. I later helped found Frontend Foundations and led system-wide technical objectives as a DRI.

Selected outcomes

  • More than a hundred frontend applications brought into a unified platform
  • Navigation reduced from seconds to milliseconds
  • Frontend incidents reduced by well over 90%
  • Monorepos
  • CI/CD
  • React
  • Node.js
  • Nx
  • pnpm
02 // CarTrawlerB2B integration modernization

Turning a multi-day customer integration into two lines of code

CarTrawler customers needed days of engineering coordination to integrate and configure a large legacy booking application. The replacement used a two-line hosted integration, remotely managed configuration, a messaging bridge, and a Node.js data layer designed around the client’s actual needs.

What I led

I designed and built the managed integration model, hosted application approach, and real-time configuration workflow. I also introduced the Node.js backend-for-frontend and helped evolve its data layer into shared GraphQL infrastructure.

Selected outcomes

  • Customer integration reduced from more than four days to roughly 30 minutes
  • Typical target payload reduced from approximately 6 MB to around 50 KB
  • Integration adopted by every customer of the target product
  • JavaScript
  • React
  • Node.js
  • GraphQL
  • PWA
02 //

Courses

Practical teaching drawn from platform work, with an emphasis on durable concepts rather than tool hype.

Available on Udemy01 // BEGINNER

Monorepos — A Beginner's Guide

A practical introduction created after building monorepo systems when dependable learning material was still scarce. Its focus on durable fundamentals has kept it useful with minimal maintenance.

Enrollment
4,400+ students
Rating
Reviews
700+

Available through Udemy Business while maintaining its required quality threshold.

  • npm
  • Yarn
  • pnpm
  • Lerna
  • Workspaces
View course on Udemy
In development02 // ADVANCED

Advanced Monorepos — Building App Suites

An advanced guide to developing related applications, services, tooling, libraries, and design systems together in a TypeScript monorepo.

  • pnpm Workspaces
  • Nx
  • TypeScript
  • Shared Libraries
  • Design Systems

Planned release

Targeting November 2026

03 //

How I work

Ireland · Remote only · Europe preferred

I am at my best when the challenge is architectural and system-wide: modernizing mature frontend platforms, improving the way engineers ship, and staying close enough to the implementation to make sound trade-offs.

01 //

Evolve, don’t freeze

The best modernization path lets teams keep delivering. I prefer deliberate transitions, strong boundaries, and infrastructure that makes adoption worthwhile.

02 //

Lead through the work

I lead as an individual contributor: writing RFCs, building the difficult first version, reviewing architecture, mentoring engineers, and owning technical direction.

03 //

Remote by design

I value stable organizations, mature leadership, trusted technical staff, and a serious IC career path. Remote-only work is a deliberate long-term choice.

04 // MACHINE-READABLE

Ask AI about my work

This site publishes a detailed, disclosure-safe profile for research tools. Copy the prompt or open it in an assistant you already use.

Research prompt

Review Robert Donnelly's public professional profile at https://robdonn.com/llms-full.txt. Summarize his fit for a hands-on Staff-level frontend platform engineering role. Distinguish verified outcomes from inference, and focus on legacy modernization, monorepos, release infrastructure, developer experience, and technical leadership without people management.

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CONTACT // LINKEDIN

Have a relevant role or project?

For Staff-level frontend platform roles or limited architecture advisory work, contact me on LinkedIn.

Contact me on LinkedIn