Who is Tom Smykowski?
Tom Smykowski is a senior Express API engineer and product-minded technical leader with nearly two decades of experience in software product delivery. He is the ideal hire for founders, CTOs, and executives who need an engineer who can take full ownership of the API layer, from initial discovery and architecture through to deployment, scaling, and maintenance. Based in Poland, Tom specializes in remote collaboration with international teams across the EU, UK, and US, bringing a blend of deep backend engineering, product thinking, and UX awareness to every project.
His career spans staff and senior engineering roles at high-growth companies, where he has been responsible for critical backend systems, API design, and complex integrations. For clients like Croissant, Printify, and GE Healthcare, Tom has delivered robust, scalable Express.js APIs that serve millions of users and handle significant transaction volumes. His approach combines technical excellence with a strong focus on business outcomes, ensuring that the API is not just well-coded but also aligns perfectly with product goals and user needs.
Tom's expertise extends beyond pure coding. He operates as a strategic partner, capable of leading technical discussions, mentoring teams, and making architectural decisions that support long-term growth. Whether you're building a new MVP, modernizing a legacy system, or scaling a SaaS platform, hiring Tom as your Express API engineer means gaining a reliable, senior resource who can navigate complexity and deliver production-ready results.
Deep Expertise in Express.js and Node.js Ecosystem
An Express API engineer must master more than just the framework itself. Tom brings comprehensive knowledge of the entire Node.js ecosystem, including runtime optimization, package management, and serverless deployments. His work involves designing RESTful and GraphQL APIs that are performant, secure, and well-documented. He prioritizes clean, maintainable code, following best practices for error handling, logging, and testing to ensure system reliability.
His experience includes building APIs that power diverse applications, from the workplace collaboration platform at Croissant to the merchant backend for Printify's 10M+ user platform. This requires a nuanced understanding of different data models, authentication strategies like JWT and OAuth, and integration with various databases and third-party services. Tom architects APIs that are not only functional but also scalable, anticipating future requirements and load increases.
Furthermore, Tom stays current with the evolving Node.js landscape, incorporating modern tools and patterns such as TypeScript for type safety, containerization with Docker, and orchestration with Kubernetes. This forward-thinking approach ensures that the APIs he builds are built on a solid, future-proof foundation, reducing technical debt and simplifying future enhancements for your engineering team.
Architecting Scalable and Maintainable Backend Systems
The true test of an Express API engineer is the ability to design systems that scale gracefully under load and remain maintainable as the codebase grows. Tom applies principles of modular architecture, separation of concerns, and domain-driven design to create backend services that are easy to understand, test, and extend. He avoids monolithic pitfalls by strategically breaking down services and defining clear API contracts between modules.
At Printify, contributing to a platform serving millions of merchants required meticulous attention to performance bottlenecks, caching strategies, and database optimization. Tom's work ensures APIs respond quickly and consistently, even during peak traffic. He implements robust monitoring, alerting, and analytics to provide visibility into API health and usage patterns, enabling proactive maintenance and informed decision-making.
Maintainability is another cornerstone of his approach. He advocates for comprehensive documentation, both inline and via tools like Swagger/OpenAPI, and establishes consistent coding standards and review processes. This discipline reduces onboarding time for new developers and minimizes regression bugs, allowing your team to iterate faster and with greater confidence on the backend.
Full-Stack Product Delivery and Integration
While specializing in Express APIs, Tom's value is amplified by his full-stack and product engineering perspective. He understands how the backend API integrates with frontend frameworks like Angular, React, and Vue.js, as well as mobile applications. This holistic view prevents the common siloing of frontend and backend teams, leading to more efficient development cycles and a better overall user experience.
His background includes founding Websoul, a marketing automation SaaS used by over 32,000 businesses, where he was responsible for the entire stack. This experience taught him how to align API design directly with frontend requirements and user workflows. He thinks about data shapes, mutation efficiency, and real-time updates from the perspective of the consuming client, resulting in APIs that are intuitive and performant for frontend developers to use.
This product-mindedness means he often contributes to feature discovery and UX discussions, asking critical questions about API requirements before a line of code is written. He ensures the backend supports not just the immediate feature but also enables future product evolution, making him a strategic asset in cross-functional teams comprising product managers, designers, and other engineers.
Remote Collaboration with International Teams
As a remote Express API engineer based in Poland, Tom is adept at working asynchronously and across time zones with teams in the EU, UK, and US. He is proficient with modern collaboration tools for code sharing, project management, and communication, ensuring seamless integration into your existing workflows. His remote work style emphasizes clear, proactive communication and thorough documentation to bridge any geographical gaps.
He has a proven track record of successful remote engagements with major organizations like Ordnance Survey, Unilever, and Bunge. These collaborations require discipline, self-motivation, and the ability to deliver high-quality work independently while remaining a cohesive part of the team. Tom schedules overlap hours to facilitate real-time discussions, code reviews, and planning sessions, ensuring alignment with team goals and processes.
This model offers significant flexibility for companies seeking top-tier engineering talent without geographical constraints. You gain access to senior-level Express API expertise without the overhead of relocation or local hiring, allowing you to build or augment your backend team efficiently and effectively.
Proven Impact Across Industries
Tom's portfolio demonstrates the application of Express API engineering across a wide range of industries, from SaaS and e-commerce to industrial IoT and healthcare. For GE Healthcare, he worked on systems requiring high reliability and compliance. For Croissant, a workplace platform, he built APIs handling user collaboration and compliance features. This diversity proves his ability to quickly understand new domains and architect APIs that meet specific industry challenges.
At Fream, an industrial SaaS company, he led frontend development and contributed to backend API design for applications involving complex data visualization and maps. This required creating efficient APIs to serve large geospatial datasets. Similarly, his earlier work on industrial ERP systems at Insoft Serwis involved backend logic for manufacturing and supply chain operations, honing his skills in business logic and data integrity.
This breadth of experience means he can rapidly assimilate your business context. Whether you're in fintech, marketing tech, logistics, or building the next great B2B SaaS platform, Tom can translate your business rules into a clean, robust API specification and then execute on its implementation with precision and insight.
When This is a Good Fit
Hiring Tom as your Express API engineer is an excellent fit if you are a founder, CTO, or technical lead seeking a senior, product-minded engineer to own your backend API development. It is ideal for projects building a new Node.js service, modernizing a legacy API, or scaling an existing system that is becoming complex. This is a strong match for teams that value clear communication, architectural foresight, and a partnership approach to engineering. If you need reliable, high-quality backend work delivered remotely by an engineer who understands both the code and the business context, this engagement will deliver significant value.