Tom Smykowski is a Poland-based remote software engineer with nearly two decades of product delivery experience, specializing as a workplace collaboration engineer. He is the ideal hire for teams seeking a product-minded technical leader who can own the development of collaboration tools from initial discovery through to production, combining hands-on engineering with strategic product thinking to solve complex challenges for distributed workforces.
Deep Expertise in Workplace Collaboration Platforms
Tom’s most relevant experience comes from his role as a Staff Software Engineer at Croissant, a workplace platform where he worked in a direct partnership with the CEO and CTO. In this capacity, he was instrumental in developing features critical to modern collaboration, including compliance tooling and core platform functionality that supports hybrid and remote teams. This hands-on experience at the staff level gives him a unique understanding of the architectural and product decisions necessary to build scalable, secure, and user-friendly collaboration software.
Beyond a single platform, Tom’s career is defined by building systems that enable better teamwork and communication. His work often sits at the intersection of engineering, UX, and product, ensuring that collaboration tools are not only technically robust but also intuitive and adoption-focused. For companies looking to build or refine their internal tools, customer-facing collaboration SaaS, or platforms that connect distributed teams, Tom provides the technical leadership and executional certainty needed to succeed.
His approach is particularly valuable for founders, CTOs, and executives who need an engineer who can take ownership. He doesn’t just write code; he understands the business goals behind collaboration features, whether it’s improving async communication, streamlining project workflows, or ensuring compliance across different regions. This makes him a strategic hire for any team serious about investing in their workplace technology stack.
Proven Track Record with Scalable Product Engineering
Tom’s ability to handle scale and complexity is demonstrated across his portfolio. At Printify, he led the frontend design system and rebranding effort ahead of a significant merger, work that directly impacted a platform serving over 10 million merchants and used by approximately 60 frontend engineers. This project required meticulous planning, clear communication, and a deep understanding of how shared component libraries and design systems underpin efficient team collaboration at scale.
Earlier, as the founder of Websoul, he built a marketing automation platform used by over 32,000 businesses. This experience in creating a successful SaaS product from the ground up involved every aspect of product engineering: from backend logic and database design with Supabase to complex frontend interfaces with Vue.js, TypeScript, and AG Grid. Building a tool that teams rely on for their daily operations honed his skills in creating reliable, performant, and user-centric software, a directly transferable skill set for workplace collaboration engineering.
His work at Fream as a lead frontend engineer further solidified his expertise in building industrial SaaS applications with a focus on conversion-driven UX and complex data visualization, including maps. These projects often involved close collaboration with cross-functional teams to translate intricate business logic into clean, maintainable code. This history proves he can navigate the technical and interpersonal challenges inherent in building software that teams depend on.
Technical Stack for Modern Collaboration Tools
Tom’s technology arsenal is perfectly suited for developing contemporary workplace collaboration software. He is highly proficient in modern frontend frameworks like Vue.js and React, utilizing TypeScript to ensure type-safe, maintainable codebases. This is crucial for building large-scale applications where multiple engineers contribute and where long-term maintainability is paramount.
On the full-stack side, his experience with Supabase provides a strong foundation for building real-time features, managing authentication, and handling backend logic, common requirements for chat, notification systems, and live document collaboration. His work with data-intensive grids using AG Grid demonstrates an ability to manage and present complex datasets clearly, a frequent need in admin panels and analytics dashboards within collaboration platforms.
Furthermore, his focus on accessibility, API design, and creating cohesive design systems ensures that the collaboration tools he builds are inclusive, well-architected, and provide a consistent user experience. He is also adept at integrating AI-assisted workflows, which can be a game-changer for automating routine tasks, enhancing search, or providing smart suggestions within a collaboration environment, pushing platforms beyond basic functionality.
Remote Collaboration and Cross-Time-Zone Leadership
Based in Poland, Tom is an expert in remote, asynchronous collaboration. He has a long history of working successfully with international teams across the EU, UK, and US, including maintaining productive overlap with US East Coast time zones. This lived experience means he doesn’t just build tools for remote work; he embodies the best practices of distributed teamwork himself.
He is skilled in the communication patterns that make remote engineering effective: clear written documentation, structured async updates, and efficient use of collaboration tools. This makes him a natural fit for remote-first or hybrid companies. He can also join occasional on-site workshops, client visits, and team offsites, providing the valuable in-person connection when needed without requiring a full-time office presence.
His work style is particularly beneficial for teams building collaboration software, as he brings an insider’s perspective on the pain points and opportunities of distributed work. He can advocate for features and workflows that genuinely improve remote team dynamics, informed by his own experience as a senior contributor in a global context.
From MVP to Enterprise Scale
Tom’s engagement model is flexible, catering to different stages of a collaboration product’s lifecycle. For startups and founders looking to build an MVP for a new workplace tool, he can provide the founding engineer or fractional technical leadership to go from concept to first users quickly, with an architecture designed for future growth.
For established companies like Printify or Croissant, he excels at modernizing existing systems, scaling architectures, and leading larger engineering initiatives such as design system overhauls. His experience with platforms serving millions of users provides the necessary caution and expertise to make impactful changes without disrupting live services.
He is open to full-time employment, B2B contracts, and project-based consulting. This flexibility allows organizations to engage his deep expertise in workplace collaboration engineering in the way that best suits their current needs, whether it’s a long-term leadership role or a targeted engagement to solve a specific scaling or modernization challenge.
When This is a Good Fit
Tom is the ideal workplace collaboration engineer for your team if you are a founder, CTO, or engineering leader at a company building or scaling a platform for remote teamwork, internal tooling, or collaboration SaaS. He is a perfect match if you need a senior or staff-level engineer who can own the technical vision, work directly with product and design, and execute with a focus on user experience and scalability. His remote work style seamlessly integrates with EU, UK, and US teams.