Who is This Product Engineer for Hire?
Tom Smykowski is a Poland-based remote product engineer for hire, bringing nearly two decades of experience in product delivery, blending engineering execution with UX and product thinking. He is the ideal hire for founders, CTOs, and executives seeking a senior or staff-level engineer who takes full ownership from product discovery through to production and scaling. Tom works remotely with teams across the EU, UK, and US, fitting seamlessly into international workflows.
His career is defined by a product-first approach, where technical decisions are intrinsically linked to user value and business outcomes. Unlike a pure software developer, a product engineer operates at the intersection of code, user experience, and product strategy. Tom embodies this, having built and led products that serve millions of users and thousands of businesses. This makes him a strategic hire for organizations looking to accelerate product development with a seasoned, autonomous contributor who understands the full lifecycle.
Engaging Tom as your product engineer for hire means bringing on a partner who can navigate ambiguity, define technical roadmaps aligned with product goals, and execute with high-quality code. He is particularly effective in remote and distributed team settings, having collaborated with global teams for years. His location in Poland offers convenient overlap with European and UK working hours, as well as early morning or late evening collaboration with US East Coast teams when required.
From MVP to Scale: A Track Record of Product Delivery
Tom's portfolio demonstrates a consistent ability to build products from the ground up and modernize existing systems for scale. As the founder of Websoul, he built a marketing automation SaaS platform serving over 32,000 businesses, leveraging modern stacks like Vue.js, TypeScript, and Supabase. This experience in creating a fintech-adjacent SaaS from zero to significant traction is invaluable for startups and scale-ups looking to hire a product engineer who has navigated the entire journey.
At Croissant, a workplace platform, he operated as a Staff Software Engineer in a direct partnership with the CEO and CTO, focusing on critical areas like compliance and collaboration features. This staff-level role required deep product thinking to align engineering efforts with core business objectives in a competitive market. Similarly, his work with Printify involved leading frontend efforts on their design system and rebrand ahead of a major merger, impacting a platform used by over 10 million merchants and approximately 60 frontend engineers. These projects highlight his capacity to handle high-stakes, large-scale product engineering challenges.
His earlier tenure at Fream as Lead Frontend for an industrial SaaS further underscores his product engineering prowess, where he built design systems, map-based interfaces, and conversion-focused UX. This blend of B2B SaaS experience across marketing tech, print-on-demand, industrial IoT, and workplace platforms provides a versatile foundation. Hiring Tom means accessing this breadth of experience, ensuring your product's architecture is built for both immediate functionality and long-term growth.
The Product Engineer Skill Set: More Than Just Code
Hiring a product engineer like Tom means investing in a multifaceted skill set that extends far beyond writing code. Core to his approach is systems thinking. He architects solutions with the entire product ecosystem in mind, considering data flow, user journeys, and future scalability from the outset. This is evident in his work on design systems at Printify and Fream, where he created reusable component libraries that accelerated development and ensured consistency across large engineering teams.
Another critical dimension is his focus on user-centric development. Product engineering requires a constant dialogue between technical feasibility and user desirability. Tom's work consistently involves close collaboration with designers and product managers to translate complex requirements into intuitive, accessible interfaces. His experience spans full-stack development, allowing him to make informed trade-offs between frontend and backend decisions that directly impact the user experience and performance.
Furthermore, his technical stack is deliberately aligned with modern product development. Proficiency in Vue.js, TypeScript, and Supabase for full-stack applications, combined with expertise in complex data presentation using tools like AG Grid, allows him to build robust, type-safe, and maintainable products. He also integrates AI-assisted workflows to boost engineering productivity. This comprehensive skill set ensures that the products he builds are not only functional but also modern, maintainable, and delightful to use.
Why Hire a Remote Product Engineer from Poland?
Engaging a remote product engineer from Poland offers distinct advantages for EU, UK, and US-based teams. Tom's location provides significant time-zone flexibility. For European and UK companies, collaboration happens naturally within standard working hours. For US teams, his schedule allows for early morning or late evening overlap with the East Coast, facilitating daily stand-ups, critical meetings, and real-time collaboration when needed, while also enabling deep, focused work during asynchronous hours.
Poland's thriving tech ecosystem means Tom operates within a context of high engineering standards and a strong talent pool, yet offers a cost-effective option compared to many Western European or North American markets. This allows companies to access senior, staff-level product engineering expertise, the kind typically associated with major tech hubs, without the premium geographic cost. His nearly two decades of experience working with international clients, from GE Healthcare and Unilever to startups like Croissant and Base Camp, prove his adeptness at remote communication and cross-cultural teamwork.
His remote work style is built on principles of clarity, proactive communication, and async-first processes where possible. He is skilled at using modern collaboration tools to maintain visibility and momentum on projects. This makes him an ideal hire for remote-first or distributed organizations that value autonomy and results. He is also available for occasional on-site workshops, client visits, and team offsites, providing the necessary in-person touchpoints for strategic planning and team bonding without the requirement of a full-time office presence.
Ideal Projects for a Hired Product Engineer
Tom is particularly well-suited for complex, ownership-driven product challenges. Founding teams looking to build an MVP with a solid technical foundation will find his experience invaluable. He can translate a vision into a scalable architecture, make key technology choices, and establish development practices from day one. His work with Websoul and early-stage projects demonstrates this capability to create something from nothing and guide it to initial traction.
Scale-up companies facing the challenges of rapid growth are another ideal fit. Whether it's modernizing a legacy frontend, instituting a design system to unify a growing engineering team (as at Printify), or breaking apart a monolith for better scalability, Tom has navigated these transitions. He brings a product mindset to technical debt, prioritizing refactors that unlock new feature development or improve user experience, rather than pursuing perfection for its own sake.
Lastly, organizations aiming to integrate AI or improve developer productivity are a strong match. With a keen interest in AI-native development and AI software factories, Tom can help embed AI tooling and practices into the SDLC. He can audit codebases, set up AI-assisted coding agents, and conduct workshops to upskill teams. This combination of hands-on engineering with strategic process improvement is a hallmark of a senior product engineer who cares about the long-term health and velocity of the product team.
When Hiring This Product Engineer is a Good Fit
Consider hiring Tom Smykowski as your product engineer if you need a senior, staff, or founding-level contributor who will take full ownership of a product area. He is ideal for remote teams in the EU, UK, or US seeking to augment their technical leadership with hands-on execution. Engage him for building MVPs, scaling SaaS platforms, modernizing Angular or React applications, or integrating AI workflows into your development process. He fits best with teams that value product-minded engineering, clear communication, and a focus on delivering user value through robust, scalable systems.