Who Is a B2B SaaS Engineer?
Tom Smykowski is a product-minded B2B SaaS Engineer with nearly two decades of experience delivering complex software products for international clients. He is the ideal hire for founders, CTOs, and executives seeking a senior or staff-level engineer who can take ownership from initial discovery through to production deployment and scaling. His background combines deep engineering expertise with UX and product thinking, making him uniquely suited to build B2B SaaS platforms that are both technically robust and user-focused.
Working remotely from Poland, Tom collaborates seamlessly with teams across the EU, UK, and US, including overlapping with US East Coast time zones when needed. His engagements typically involve stepping into roles such as Staff Software Engineer, Senior Software Engineer, or Founding Engineer, where he provides not just code but strategic technical leadership. This makes him a powerful asset for companies looking to accelerate product development, modernize legacy systems, or architect new SaaS solutions from the ground up.
The core of his value proposition lies in translating complex business requirements into maintainable, scalable software. Whether it's building a new MVP, scaling an existing platform to handle millions of users, or integrating AI capabilities into a product workflow, Tom approaches each project with a focus on long-term viability and developer experience. His work has directly impacted platforms serving tens of thousands of businesses and millions of end-users.
Proven Experience in Scaling B2B SaaS Platforms
Tom's track record includes pivotal roles at high-growth B2B SaaS companies. As a Staff Software Engineer at Croissant, a workplace platform, he worked in a direct partnership with the CEO and CTO on compliance and collaboration features critical for B2B clients. This experience honed his ability to navigate the specific regulatory and usability challenges inherent in business-facing software.
Prior to that, at Printify, he led frontend efforts on the design system and platform rebrand ahead of the company's merger with Printful. Operating within a team of roughly 60 frontend engineers, his work supported a marketplace serving over 10 million merchants. This scale of operation required meticulous architecture, component library design, and processes to ensure consistency and efficiency across a large, distributed engineering organization, a common challenge for scaling SaaS businesses.
Furthermore, as the founder of Websoul, Tom built a marketing automation SaaS from scratch that served over 32,000 businesses. This venture involved full-stack development with Vue, TypeScript, and Supabase, and included complex data grid implementations with AG Grid for enterprise-level dashboards. This founder-level experience gives him an unparalleled understanding of the entire SaaS lifecycle, from initial concept and technical stack choices to growth challenges and monetization strategies.
Technical Architecture for Modern SaaS
The architecture of a B2B SaaS product must balance scalability, security, and a positive developer experience. Tom specializes in designing and implementing such systems. His expertise spans modern frontend frameworks like Vue.js and React, strongly typed development with TypeScript, and robust backend and data layer solutions like Supabase. This full-stack proficiency allows him to make holistic architectural decisions.
A significant part of his focus is on creating scalable design systems and component libraries. At Printify and earlier at Fream, where he led frontend for an industrial SaaS, he built design systems that improved developer velocity, ensured brand consistency, and enhanced accessibility. These systems are not just UI kits; they are foundational tools that enable large teams to build cohesive, high-quality user interfaces efficiently, which is paramount for any SaaS company looking to scale its product and engineering team.
His approach also extends to data-intensive applications. Experience with complex data grids like AG Grid and building conversion-focused UX demonstrates his ability to handle the dense, interactive interfaces often required in B2B software for data analysis, administration, and workflow management. He ensures these interfaces are performant and intuitive, directly impacting user adoption and satisfaction.
From Legacy Modernization to AI-Native Development
Many established B2B companies face the challenge of modernizing legacy frontend codebases to keep pace with market expectations and developer talent pools. Tom has direct experience in this domain, having worked on projects involving Angular and React migrations. He understands the business rationale, technical risks, and execution strategies required to successfully transition a live product to a modern stack without disrupting service.
Looking forward, he is deeply engaged in the next wave of SaaS evolution: AI-native development. He helps companies integrate AI into their software factories and product workflows. This includes setting up AI coding agents, establishing AI-native software development lifecycles, and implementing AI testing and quality gates. For a B2B SaaS company, this can translate to significant competitive advantages, such as faster feature development, intelligent automation within the product, and improved internal developer productivity.
This blend of experience, from modernizing established systems to building the next generation of intelligent software, makes him a versatile engineer. He can help a company not only fix technical debt but also leapfrog competitors by adopting cutting-edge practices. His work in AI extends to consulting and training, helping engineering teams and executives understand and implement AI strategies effectively.
Collaboration and Communication with Global Teams
Effective remote work is built on exceptional communication and async collaboration practices. Based in Poland, Tom has extensive experience working with distributed teams across Europe, the UK, and North America. He is adept at cross-time-zone collaboration, using clear documentation, structured meetings, and async updates to keep projects moving forward smoothly. He is also available for occasional on-site workshops, client visits, and team offsites to strengthen collaboration when needed.
Beyond day-to-day project communication, Tom is a skilled knowledge sharer. With a background in technical writing, public speaking, and authoring books, he excels at mentoring team members, conducting workshops, and elevating the overall technical understanding within an organization. This is particularly valuable for B2B SaaS companies that need to spread architectural knowledge, onboard new engineers quickly, or upskill teams on new technologies like AI.
His collaborative style is geared towards working closely with founders, product managers, designers, and fellow engineers. He believes in transparent processes and involving stakeholders throughout the development cycle to ensure the final product aligns with business goals and user needs. This product-minded approach ensures that engineering efforts are directly tied to delivering customer value and achieving business outcomes.
Engagement Models for B2B SaaS Projects
Tom offers flexible engagement models to suit different company needs. For long-term product development roles, he is open to full-time employment or full-time B2B contracts. For companies needing targeted expertise, he provides part-time B2B contracts, project-based engagements, or consulting arrangements. This flexibility allows startups and scale-ups to access staff-level engineering talent without the overhead of a large enterprise consultancy.
His consulting services are particularly relevant for B2B SaaS companies at inflection points. These include code and architecture audits, technical due diligence for acquisitions or funding rounds, refactoring strategies for scaling, and AI software factory setup. He also offers corporate training on AI adoption, engineering best practices, and developer productivity, which can transform an organization's capability to build and ship software.
Whether a company needs a founding engineer to build an MVP, a staff engineer to lead a scaling initiative, or a fractional technical leader to guide strategy, Tom can structure an engagement that fits. His deep experience across the spectrum of SaaS development, from early-stage startups like Websoul to scaled platforms like Printify, provides a valuable perspective for any business-focused software venture.
When This Is a Good Fit
Engaging Tom as your B2B SaaS Engineer is an excellent fit if you are a founder, CTO, or executive leading a software product company. It is ideal if you need hands-on technical leadership combined with product strategy to build, scale, or modernize your B2B SaaS platform. This is especially true if you value ownership, clear communication with remote and international teams, and a focus on creating maintainable, user-centric software. If your goals include leveraging AI in your development process or product, or if you are facing challenges with a legacy frontend that needs modernization, his expertise directly addresses those needs.