Dmitri De Klerk

About

Profile

I'm a full-stack engineer based in Cape Town, fifteen years in, working mostly in TypeScript across the stack — React and Next.js on the front, AWS serverless behind.

I'm currently a Senior Engineer at Zebra Renewables, working on the UK side of the business. I'm a core engineer on a commercial multi-tenant commerce and ERP platform, where I designed the multi-tenant authentication, built the per-website static-site build pipeline, and redesigned the CI/CD promotion flow. I also line-manage two junior engineers. For most of my first year there I kept the previous generation of the platform running in production while we built its replacement — two systems at once, one of them carrying live revenue.

Before that I spent nearly four years at Blackswan on inflight retail across three airlines. The backend ran on a small machine installed on each aircraft, syncing in scheduled windows between flights and activating above a set altitude, with cabin crew taking orders on Bluetooth-paired handsets. Fully offline for the duration of a flight, with no way to roll anything back mid-air. It remains the most interesting set of constraints I've worked under.

I also founded and ran Tradedeal, an e-commerce business, for five years — two sales channels, my own inventory and order system, and every operational decision landing on me. It taught me more about trade-offs than any engineering role has.

Earlier: five and a half years at Ambition 24 Hours building an enterprise system for a UK nursing agency, where I first led other developers.

BSc and BSc (Hons) in Computer Science, University of the Western Cape, Dean's Merit List.

I care most about correctness in systems where being wrong costs someone real money, and about making fast delivery safe rather than treating those as a trade-off.

Career

Senior Engineer, Zebra Renewables

present Cape Town

Core engineer on a commercial multi-tenant commerce and ERP platform, and line manager for two junior engineers.

  • Designed and built multi-tenant authentication on Cognito: passkeys, trusted-device recognition, one-time codes, fail-closed entitlements
  • Built the per-website static-site build pipeline, with one render engine shared by the production build and the admin preview so the two cannot drift
  • Redesigned the CI/CD promotion flow with affected-service detection, cutting full test-suite runs from four per change to one
  • Kept the previous generation of the platform running in live production for eleven months while its replacement was built
  • Line-manage two engineers: priorities, 1:1s, weekly check-ins and performance reviews

Founder & Director, Tradedeal (Pty) Ltd

Cape Town

Founded and ran an e-commerce business across two sales channels, building and operating the software that ran it. Started alongside a full-time engineering role, then run full-time from September 2021.

  • Peak annual turnover of R1.5m
  • Built an internal inventory and order system in React, TypeScript and Firebase — stock tracking across both channels, automatic replenishment flagging, automated invoice generation
  • Sole engineer and owner: product selection, pricing, architecture, fulfilment, and the commercial side

Full Stack Engineer, Blackswan

Cape Town

Inflight retail platform serving three airlines, with the backend deployed to hardware on each aircraft.

  • Built frontend features in React and backend services in Node.js and TypeScript, plus the GraphQL schema and resolvers serving both the passenger client and the crew application
  • Introduced Ansible to automate deployment across the fleet, replacing hand-run releases per airline
  • Worked within hard constraints: offline for the duration of a flight, synchronisation only in scheduled ground windows, no rollback mid-air

Web Developer & Engineering Team Lead, Ambition 24 Hours

Cape Town

Enterprise system for a UK nursing agency, covering the full cycle from booking candidates onto shifts through to paying them.

  • Backend development in PHP and Node.js across the agency's product suite
  • Technical lead for two developers: specified and broke down tickets, and was their first point of reference
  • Database administration, web server maintenance, and business reporting for non-technical users

Web Developer, Inyameko

Cape Town

Development and maintenance on a national student financial aid award management system.

Education

BSc (Honours) in Computer Science
University of the Western Cape Dean's Merit List
BSc in Computer Science
University of the Western Cape

Contact

Reach me on GitHub or LinkedIn.