About
Richard Mowatt
Backend architect and tech lead. Twenty years and change of shipping production systems, most of it spent on the unglamorous half: the services, the data layer, the seams between things other people wrote.
The short version
I started in eCommerce in 2005, on PHP 4, and I’ve been building backends ever since. Ad‑tech at gen.video, enterprise IT at Dell EMC, then six years in healthcare at Health Recovery Solutions, where I was promoted from senior developer to Tech Lead and Architect and owned backend direction for the platform’s most recent phase.
The through line is legacy. Almost every system I’ve been handed was already running, already load‑bearing, and already hard to change. The job is finding the first seam, proving the pattern on it, and then letting the team repeat that instead of arguing about it.
How I work
I’d rather hand you one clear recommendation with the tradeoff stated than five options and a shrug. I write decisions down, because the reasoning is worth more six months later than the decision is.
I tend to walk the pragmatic path. If the clean version costs fifteen minutes more than the shortcut, we do the clean version and stop talking about it. If it costs a quarter, that is a real conversation and I’ll say so.
Stack
What I reach for
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Backend
PHP 8, Laravel (since v4), Lumen, Zend Framework, Java. RESTful API design, microservices, service‑oriented architecture, reusable PSR‑4 packages.
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Data & search
MySQL, Elasticsearch (index mappings, faceted search, query optimization), Redis, data ingestion pipelines.
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DevOps & cloud
AWS, Docker, Nginx, CI/CD with Jenkins and GitHub Actions. PCI compliance migrations.
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Frontend & full stack
Angular, React with Redux, Node.js, the MEAN stack, JavaScript. Enough to build the admin UI rather than wait for one.
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eCommerce
Stripe, PayPal, Authorize.net, Amazon, Google Checkout, AvaTax.
Timeline
Where I’ve been
- Feb 2024 – Aug 2026 Tech Lead & Architect, Health Recovery Solutions · remote
- Aug 2020 – Feb 2024 Senior Developer, Health Recovery Solutions · remote
- Nov 2017 – Jul 2020 Advisor, IT Development, Dell EMC · remote
- Dec 2012 – Sep 2017 Senior Developer, gen.video · New York, NY
- Aug 2012 – Dec 2012 Developer, RetailMLS, LLC · New York, NY
- Oct 2011 – Jun 2012 Developer, Sense Of Fashion (76Hudson) · Hoboken, NJ
- Dec 2007 – Apr 2012 Senior Web Developer, eFashion Solutions · Secaucus, NJ
- Dec 2006 – Dec 2007 Web Developer, GoAmerica, Inc.
- Sep 2005 – Dec 2006 Developer, eFashion Solutions
One I still like telling
At GoAmerica I worked on Channel‑i, an industry first: captioned streaming video for the deaf community. Twenty years on, that is still the project people ask me about.
Education & certifications
Stockton University, 2000–2002. Ocean County College, 1996–2000.
Docker Technologies for DevOps and Developers. Learn and Understand NodeJS. Elasticsearch Masterclass with Logstash and Kibana.
Availability
Open to contract, fractional and full-time
Remote, with US hours overlap from La Paz, Mexico. Also based in Barnegat, New Jersey.