Charles Pearce

Technical Lead & Software Engineer

charleypearce@outlook.com · Newcastle

I’m a software developer turned technical lead, with over 5 years of full-time experience across backend systems and distributed infrastructure. I began as a software developer before moving into technical management. Since then, I’ve worked on both sides of AI-assisted development: writing code alongside tools like Claude, and managing teams that use them.

I’m currently Technical Lead for Multiplayer iGaming at Black Cow Technology, where I took a platform from its early stages through to its 2025 go-live and now support it in production, powering real-money multiplayer games. I hold a Master’s (Distinction) in Data Science and a Bachelor’s (1st Class Hons) in Computer Science, both from Newcastle University.

Skills

Technical Leadership

I took over as Technical Lead for our company’s Multiplayer RGS project early into development. In this role I had to:

  • Communicate with customers regarding feature requests.
  • Triage, scope, and design new features balancing the customer’s needs with the company’s goals.
  • Write scoped technical briefs for developers, weighing what’s realistic to build against what the product actually needs.
  • Review code and agree on the standard for quality across the team.
  • Act as the main technical point of contact for customers, including running regular status updates during a live product launch.
  • Coordinate work across teams using ClickUp and GitLab, keeping multiple internal teams in sync, and making estimated delivery dates transparent and realistic.

AI-Assisted Development

  • I have used Claude Code daily for a year to write, review, and ship production code.
  • Set standards for how the team uses Claude including code review standards, prompting practices, and how to verify LLM-generated code.

Backend & Distributed Systems

  • Built and maintained distributed server architecture in Python, deployed via Uvicorn/Gunicorn.
  • Used Redis for distributed coordination, including distributed locks to keep server instances consistent.
  • Worked on re-designing the architecture for improved performance. This included migrating and redesigning core systems in Go.

Software Engineering

  • I have primarily worked in Python, with experience in Go, R, C++, C#, Java, and PHP.
  • Written unit tests as standard, following test-driven development where it fits, and used Git + GitLab day to day.
  • Built performance and reconciliation testing programmes for systems handling real money.

Databases

  • I have worked regularly with PostgreSQL and MySQL, including schema design and query optimisation.
  • Normalised a SQL database holding over 400,000 records early in my career.

Data Science & Machine Learning

  • I have built machine learning pipelines for computer vision and time series problems, using CNNs, LSTMs, and GANs.
  • Familiar with: TensorFlow, Keras, Scikit-learn, and Pandas.

Data & Visualisation

  • Experience with PowerBI, R Shiny, and Matplotlib.

Professional Experience

Black Cow Technology

Technical Lead for Multiplayer

May 2023 – Present

I was promoted to Technical Lead for the multiplayer server team and took the product through to its commercial go-live in May 2025.

  • Picked up a project that was mid-way through development and saw it through its commercial go-live.
  • Ran performance and reconciliation testing to bring the server up to production standard for real-money gaming.
  • Delivered a 5x performance improvement on our production server over one month of focused work with Claude.
  • When the company restructured and the team shrank, I led what was left of it to finish the outstanding go-live work, relying heavily on Claude Code to compensate for the smaller team.
  • In 2026, coordinated development across front end, back end, maths, QA, and server teams on a redesigned multiplayer server written in Go.

Software Developer

November 2021 – May 2023
  • Learned test-driven development, along with ClickUp and GitLab for project tracking and version control.
  • Implemented distributed coordination in Redis, including distributed locking to keep server instances consistent.
  • Worked with PostgreSQL for data persistence and query development.
  • Wrote JavaScript playbots using k6 for load and integration testing.

Clearly Presented Ltd

Software Developer

September 2020 – September 2021

Student Developer

Summer placements 2016 – 2019
  • Learned basics of software development in real world scenarios.

Education

Newcastle University

MSc Data Science

2019 – 2020

Result: Distinction

Key modules: Big Data Analytics, Machine Learning, Statistical Learning, Bayesian Data Analysis, Cloud Computing, Data Visualisation, Data Management, Exploratory Data Analysis.

BSc Computer Science

2016 – 2019

Result: 1st Class Honours

Key modules: Software Engineering, Database Technology, Web Technologies, System & Network Security, Algorithm Design & Analysis, Operating Systems.

Monmouth School

2014 – 2016

A-Levels: Mathematics (A), Computing (A), Physics (C)

Monmouth Comprehensive School

2009 – 2014

13 GCSEs including Maths (A*), Statistics (A), Astronomy (A), Triple Award Science (ABB)

References

Available on request.