Tom Smykowski is a senior full stack engineer specializing in SaaS product development, with nearly two decades of experience in building, scaling, and modernizing software-as-a-service platforms. He is the ideal hire for founders, CTOs, and executives seeking a product-minded engineer who takes ownership from discovery through production, particularly for remote teams in the EU, UK, and US. His work spans from MVP architecture for startups to scaling platforms serving millions of users, combining deep technical expertise with UX and product thinking.
Deep Expertise in SaaS Product Lifecycle
Building a successful SaaS product requires more than just code. It demands an understanding of the entire lifecycle, from initial user acquisition and onboarding to scaling infrastructure and maintaining high availability. Tom brings this holistic perspective, having worked on SaaS products across diverse sectors including e-commerce, marketing automation, workplace collaboration, and industrial data platforms. His approach integrates engineering rigor with business outcomes, ensuring that technical decisions support growth and user satisfaction.
For example, at Croissant, a workplace platform, Tom operated as a Staff Software Engineer in close partnership with the CEO and CTO, focusing on compliance and collaboration features critical for enterprise adoption. Earlier, as the founder of Websoul, he built a marketing automation SaaS from the ground up, scaling it to serve over 32,000 businesses. This founder-level experience means he understands the pressures of product-market fit, resource constraints, and the need for agile, iterative development that delivers value quickly.
Full Stack Technical Mastery for Modern SaaS
The modern SaaS stack is complex, often requiring seamless integration between frontend, backend, database, and third-party services. Tom's technical proficiency covers this full spectrum. He has extensive experience with Vue.js and TypeScript for building dynamic, scalable frontends, and has led major initiatives like the design system and rebrand for Printify, a print-on-demand marketplace used by over 10 million merchants. His work directly impacted a frontend engineering team of around 60 developers, demonstrating his ability to create systems that improve productivity at scale.
On the backend and data layer, he has hands-on experience with Supabase for rapid backend development, PostgreSQL for robust data management, and designing both REST and GraphQL APIs. This full-stack capability allows him to architect cohesive systems where the frontend and backend are not just connected, but optimized for performance and developer experience. Whether the need is for a new greenfield application or modernizing a legacy Angular or React codebase, he can navigate the entire technology stack to deliver a maintainable and scalable solution.
Scaling Platforms and Engineering Teams
Scaling a SaaS product involves two parallel challenges. scaling the technical architecture to handle increased load and data, and scaling the engineering organization itself. Tom has direct experience in both areas. His role at Printify involved creating foundational systems like a design system that enabled a large team of engineers to work consistently and efficiently. This focus on developer experience and clear standards is crucial for preventing technical debt and maintaining velocity as a team grows.
Furthermore, his work with clients like GE Healthcare, Unilever, and Bunge often involved integrating SaaS solutions into large, complex enterprise environments. This requires a keen understanding of security, compliance, and interoperability. He is adept at building systems that are not only scalable in terms of user traffic but also in their ability to evolve with business needs, incorporate new features, and integrate with an expanding ecosystem of tools and partners.
Remote Collaboration with Global Teams
As a Poland-based engineer, Tom specializes in effective remote collaboration with teams across Europe, the UK, and North America. He is experienced in asynchronous communication, cross-time-zone workflows, and the tools and processes that make distributed teams successful. His ability to overlap with US East Coast hours facilitates smooth collaboration with North American clients and colleagues, making him a seamless addition to international teams.
This remote expertise is complemented by a willingness to engage in occasional on-site activities such as workshops, client visits, and team offsites. This hybrid approach combines the efficiency of remote work with the high-bandwidth connection of face-to-face meetings when needed for strategic planning, complex problem-solving, or team building. His client list, which includes organizations like the UK's Ordnance Survey and Poland's Institute of National Remembrance, showcases his ability to deliver value for diverse, geographically dispersed stakeholders.
AI Integration and Future-Proofing Your SaaS
The next frontier for SaaS products is intelligent automation and AI-enhanced features. Tom is actively engaged in AI-native development and can help integrate AI capabilities thoughtfully into your product. This goes beyond simple API calls to large language models. It involves architecting AI software factories, implementing AI coding agents to boost developer productivity, and designing systems where AI assists with testing, quality gates, and automation.
His consulting services include AI strategy, AI software factory setup, and corporate AI training for engineering teams and executives. For a SaaS business, this means not just adding a chatbot, but fundamentally rethinking workflows to be more efficient and intelligent. Whether you need to build an AI-powered feature into your existing stack or want to adopt AI tools to accelerate your own development process, he provides the practical, engineering-focused expertise to make it happen.
When This is a Good Fit
Hiring Tom as your SaaS full stack engineer is an excellent fit if you are a founder, CTO, or product leader who needs a senior technical partner. This is ideal for building a new SaaS MVP from scratch, scaling or modernizing an existing platform, or integrating advanced capabilities like AI. It is particularly valuable for remote-first teams in the EU, UK, or US seeking experienced, product-minded engineering talent that can take ownership and drive projects from concept to production with minimal oversight.