Tom Smykowski is a senior software engineer based in Poland with nearly two decades of product delivery experience, specializing in partnering with US startups to build and scale their technology from discovery through production. He is the ideal hire for US startup founders and CTOs seeking a Europe-based engineer who combines hands-on technical execution with product and UX thinking, offering a cost-effective, high-output alternative to purely local hires. His background includes staff engineering roles at US startups like Croissant and significant contributions to scaling platforms like Printify, making him adept at navigating the unique challenges of cross-border, remote collaboration.
Why US Startups Hire Europe-Based Engineers
For US startups, hiring engineering talent in Europe offers significant strategic advantages beyond cost. Access to a deep and mature talent pool, often with strong academic foundations and diverse project experience, is a primary benefit. Furthermore, aligning with European time zones, particularly Central European Time, provides substantial overlap with US East Coast business hours, enabling real-time collaboration for stand-ups, pair programming, and critical decision-making without the extreme time-zone friction of other regions.
This model fosters a distributed, async-capable culture from the outset, which is increasingly a competitive advantage. A Europe-based engineer like Tom brings not just technical skill but also a product-centric perspective shaped by the European market's emphasis on design, privacy, and compliance. This can be invaluable for startups looking to expand their product's global appeal or navigate regulations like GDPR early in their development lifecycle.
Proven Impact at US and International Startups
Tom's direct experience within the startup ecosystem provides immediate value. As a Staff Software Engineer at the US workplace platform Croissant, he worked in close partnership with the CEO and CTO on compliance, collaboration features, and platform scalability. This role required deep ownership and the ability to operate autonomously within a fast-paced, remote-first environment, directly translating to the needs of a growing US startup.
His work at Printify, a major print-on-demand marketplace serving over 10 million merchants, involved leading frontend architecture and design system initiatives ahead of a significant merger. Operating within a team of roughly 60 frontend engineers, he contributed to systems that needed to be robust, scalable, and maintainable at a global scale. This experience in a high-growth, engineering-intensive environment is precisely the background that de-risks hiring for a US startup looking to scale its own technical foundation.
Full-Stack Product Engineering from MVP to Scale
Tom's approach is holistic, covering the entire product lifecycle. He has founded and scaled his own SaaS venture, Websoul, to serve over 32,000 businesses with marketing automation and fintech tools, built with modern stacks like Vue.js, TypeScript, and Supabase. This founder-level experience means he understands the business imperatives behind technical decisions, from MVP architecture to managing technical debt during rapid scaling.
His expertise extends to industrial SaaS at Fream, where he led frontend development, built design systems, and implemented complex map interfaces with a focus on conversion-driven UX. This blend of deep technical skill, spanning frontend, backend, and data layers, with a relentless focus on user outcomes and business metrics makes him a force multiplier for a startup team. He doesn't just write code, he builds products that drive growth.
Seamless Remote Collaboration Across Time Zones
Based in Poland, Tom is adept at remote and asynchronous work with international teams. He structures his work to maximize overlap with US Eastern Time, ensuring availability for key meetings, collaborative debugging sessions, and strategic planning. His communication is clear and proactive, leveraging tools and practices that keep distributed teams aligned and moving forward without unnecessary delays.
This remote fluency is backed by a long history of successful collaborations with organizations across the EU, UK, and US, including marquee names like GE Healthcare, Unilever, and Ordnance Survey. He is available for full-time, part-time, or B2B contract engagements and is open to occasional on-site workshops, client visits, and team offsites to strengthen collaboration when needed.
Technical Leadership and Modern Tech Stack
Tom's technical leadership is grounded in a modern, versatile stack. He has extensive production experience with Angular and React ecosystems, TypeScript, Vue.js, and full-stack development using platforms like Supabase. His work emphasizes design systems, accessibility, API design, and creating maintainable, scalable architectures. This ensures that the solutions he builds are not just functional but are engineered for long-term evolution and team scalability.
Beyond core development, he brings strategic skills in areas critical for startups: code and architecture reviews, performance optimization, security considerations, and setting up efficient developer workflows and CI/CD pipelines. For startups looking to integrate AI, he offers expertise in AI-assisted workflows and setting up "AI software factories" to boost team productivity. This combination of hands-on coding skill and higher-level technical strategy provides comprehensive coverage for a startup's engineering needs.
When This is a Good Fit
Hiring Tom is an excellent fit if you are a US-based startup founder, CTO, or technical lead seeking a senior or staff-level engineer who can operate with high autonomy and ownership. It's ideal if you need to build an MVP, modernize an existing Angular or React application, scale a SaaS platform, or integrate AI capabilities thoughtfully into your product. This model works perfectly for teams that are remote-first or distributed and value a product-minded engineer who contributes to strategy, UX, and business outcomes, not just code. If you want experienced, startup-proven engineering talent with European market insight and seamless US time-zone overlap, this collaboration will deliver immediate impact.