Headshot of Jack Gillespie

Jack Gillespie

SOFTWARE

DEVELOPER

Software developer with production experience at CERN and a strong academic background, delivering backend systems, data-intensive platforms, and full-stack web applications.

Services

Available for freelance and collaborative work on a wide range of digital projects — from building new websites or apps to improving, fixing, or extending existing systems. Based in the UK and open to short-term projects, longer engagements, and ongoing support.

How Can I Help?

Select skills to see related projects and specific examples of work, below.

WebsiteWeb AppDesktop AppMobile AppDatabasesDevOpsMLIntegrationAutomation
Open SourceTypeScriptReactPythonRustJavaC#
Need something else? (25 more tools)
AndroidC++Chrome PluginDiscordDockerElectronFirefox PluginGameKotlinLinuxMinecraftMSSQLMySQLOpen BankingOpenShiftOraclePyTorchRaspberry PiRedisSpotifySQLSteam APITauriWindowsWPF

Experience

Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire

Software Developer · Jul 2023 – Jul 2024 · Contract extended beyond initial term based on performance.

Worked in an international, multidisciplinary team delivering CERN’s next-generation web-based PLM platform: the core system underpinning accelerator operations and future engineering projects.

Additional Details
  • Led development of a Java (Spring Boot) service synchronising the PLM with CERN’s central identity system; delivered from architecture through to containerised production deployment (Docker, GitLab CI, OpenShift) and operational ownership.
  • Maintained and refined high-risk legacy data migration pipeline responsible for decades of engineering data; resolved complex transformation and data-integrity issues during initial production user switchover.
  • Improved MSSQL Server and Oracle database performance through query optimisation, indexing strategies, and backend informed by end-to-end profiling.
  • Built Aras PLM frontend and backend features (C#, JavaScript), and supporting C# libraries, within a large multidisciplinary team.

The University of Manchester

BSc (Hons) Computer Science with Industrial Experience · Sep 2021 – Jun 2025

Achieved First Class Honours (76.6%).

Portfolio

A polished author website presenting James, his books, and work in schools all in the strongest possible light; with clarity and confidence.

Additional Details
  • Clear narrative landing page with product emphasis and strong calls to action.
  • Mobile-first layout with simple navigation and accessible typography.
  • Structured sections for visits, book links, and contact.
  • Designed for simplicity and non-technical users.
Blood on the Taj Mahal icon

Blood on the Taj Mahal

Web AppCollaboration

A structured digital companion designed to help the Storyteller smoothly and confidently run custom games of the "Blood on the Clocktower" social deduction game.

Additional Details
  • Organised game information into a clear, searchable and guided reference during play.
  • Optimised for quick scanning under live conditions.
  • Lightweight static build for frictionless hosting and sharing.

Some Projects

A Virtual Turntable icon

A Virtual Turntable

• BSc Third Year Project
PythonMLReactSpotify

Engineered a full-stack “virtual turntable” system bridging physical media with digital streaming, with machine learning powered image recognition.

  • Awarded First Class (86.4%).
Additional Details
  • Trained and benchmarked album classification models achieving 91.18% top-1 accuracy.
  • Built production-style Python backend for inference and orchestration, paired with a responsive React frontend.
Master Bagel icon

Master Bagel

• Personal Finance App
ReactTypeScriptRustMySQLOpen Banking

A cross-platform personal finance tool focused on tracking, categorising, and planning around real-world banking rules.

Additional Details
  • Integrated Open Banking account aggregation (TrueLayer).
  • Supported multi-format transaction import and categorisation.
  • Modelled UK bank offer eligibility as structured rules with per-user tracking.
Keymeleon icon

Keymeleon

• Context-aware RGB controller
C#C++WPF

Desktop RGB controller that dynamically adapts keyboard lighting using custom templates based on the active application, global screen colour, or per-key screen-region colour sampling.

Additional Details
  • Built a C# WPF app with C++ device library.
  • Reverse-engineered hardware protocol integration.
  • Real-time lighting adaptation based on average colour of screen: either global or application-aware templated selections.
Beats Per Mile icon

Beats Per Mile

• Spotify Speedometer
AndroidJavaSpotify

Music that matches your pace. An Android app that links Spotify playback to your current velocity, automatically adjusting track tempo/selection to keep journeys feeling consistent.

Additional Details
  • Uses device sensors (GPS) to estimate real-time speed and convert it into a target BPM range.
  • Integrates with Spotify SDK to control playback to select tracks suited to the current pace.
JerryBot icon

JerryBot

• Beloved Discord Bot
PythonDiscordMySQLRedis

A community-focused Discord bot; less like a tool and more like a participant. Jerry reacts to in-jokes and commonly used phrases with emotes and GIFs, offers playful commands and wise words, and can host social games directly in chat.

Additional Details
  • Built in Python using a fully modular Cog-based architecture for clean feature isolation and extensibility.
  • Persistent per-server configuration and state stored in a database layer, enabling custom behaviour and long-term game tracking.
  • Designed for low-resource, always-on Raspberry Pi hosting with continuous deployment.
Stagehand icon

Stagehand

• Custom Cartoon Puppet Engine
RustReactTypeScript

A 2D desktop tool that wraps an input video inside a customisable animated scene — for example, placing the footage on a TV while characters “watch” it and react in sync. It is designed to turn static screen recordings into more engaging, character-driven content, especially where the original audio is the main highlight.

Additional Details
  • 2D scene system with layered composition and prop management.
  • Performs ML-based audio diarisation to detect speaker segments and drive character head movement in sync with timing and volume.
  • Supports dynamic props (clothing, held items, set dressing) configurable per scene.
  • Simulates contextual elements such as real-time clocks, calendar dates derived from the source video, weather effects, and accurate day/night lighting cycles through windows.

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