Hello, I'm Tom.
Principal engineer at Microsoft, leading browser infrastructure for AI agents.
I'm an engineer who leads from the technical side: setting the architecture, shaping the project and building alongside the team. I was a founding engineer on Oscar Health's claims processing engine, took a healthcare startup's engineering from the first line of code to a team of more than ten, and today I lead the technical direction of a web automation platform at Microsoft. I'm driven to build software that genuinely changes people's lives for the better.
Where I Started
I grew up in a small town in New Zealand, and I was always the kid tinkering with computers. I learned BASIC at seven on the family's Amstrad CPC and was hooked. Many languages later, I still love programming.
I studied software engineering at the University of Auckland, then moved to Seattle to join Microsoft. I've been away from home a long time, but I'm still very much a Kiwi.
Work
Early career
After a first job at a small software agency in New Zealand, I joined Microsoft to work on search personalization for Bing, including collaborations with Microsoft Research to bring research ideas into the live site.
Oscar Health
Next, I wanted work with a clearer mission, so I joined Oscar Health as a founding member of the team building a new claims processing engine. I architected foundational parts of the platform, and learned more about medical billing than I ever expected to.
Granted Health
Then I spent two years at Granted Health, an early-stage startup that helps people find their way through a healthcare system that often works against them. As the first engineer, I laid the foundations: the architecture, the stack and the engineering practices the team grew on. As the company grew, I became Head of Engineering, leading its technical direction and growing the team past ten engineers.
Microsoft · Now
Now I'm back at Microsoft, leading an internal platform that runs browser automation at scale, for AI agents and for jobs like UX testing and crawling. I own its architecture and technical direction, and lead the five-person team building it.
Outside Work
I take a lot of photos, and in winter I snowboard. I also like 3D printing, board games and flying FPV drones, which is about as close to flying as I'll get. I love a good music festival, and I usually have a personal project or two on the go.
Get in Touch
If you'd like to work together, or just say hi, you'll find me on GitHub, LinkedIn and Mastodon, or you can email me at tom@tom.nz. Here's my resume (PDF).
Thanks for stopping by!