Quietly fixing
complicated
technology.
Technology consultancy for scaling retail and eCommerce businesses — by someone who has built and run these systems, not just advised on them.
Previously co-founded and scaled Lovefone, a London-based repair and eCommerce business, to £1m+ turnover. Currently leading technology at a £50m+ retailer.
You've built a Shopify store that works. Now everything around it is struggling to keep up.
Stock numbers that don't agree. Orders reconciled by hand at the end of the day. A report that takes someone 45 minutes to produce each morning. A developer who built the integration two years ago and left. A spreadsheet that has become, somehow, load-bearing.
None of it is broken enough to stop trading. All of it is slowing you down — and the problem gets harder to fix with every new tool you add, every new hire you make, every year you grow without stopping to design what you've built.
This is the point where a growing business needs someone to own the technology properly. Not a development agency to build features. Not an IT contractor to keep the lights on. Someone who understands how eCommerce businesses actually run — and can design systems that scale with them.
Five ways to work together
Each one addresses a different layer of the problem — from a one-off clarity sprint to full technology ownership.
Architecture Clarity Sprint
Something feels fragile but you’re not sure what. A fixed-fee engagement to map your systems, surface the risks, and deliver a clear roadmap — before you make a decision you can’t undo.
Shopify & Systems Integration
Your Shopify store works. The systems around it don’t talk to each other properly. Architecture for how everything connects — stock, ops, fulfilment, finance, data — so the back office keeps up with the storefront.
Retail Data Foundations
Most £10m–£30m retail brands are making decisions on yesterday’s numbers, exported into a spreadsheet. A proper data stack — Fivetran, BigQuery, Looker Studio — gives you live trading, stock, and fulfilment data in one place.
The Operating Layer
The manual processes that run your business were never designed — they just accumulated. Map them. Automate what should be automated. Build clean workflows on the tools you already have.
Fractional Head of Technology
For businesses that don’t need a project — they need someone to own the technology function. Monthly retainer. You work with me directly.
Proven in production
Real-world systems, platforms, and integrations built to solve complex technology problems for businesses.
Modernising Audio Medica
Rebuilt a legacy WordPress site as a high-performance Next.js application, integrating Sanity CMS, Algolia search, automated background audio playback, and a Gemini-powered metadata pipeline.
Launching Saving Strays
Designed and launched a branded Shopify storefront in exactly 8 weeks. Integrated secure recurring dog sponsorships and built an automated, zero-touch certificate delivery pipeline using Zapier and Brevo.
Also applying AI where it earns its place.
AI is producing real operational results for retail businesses right now — not in theory. I've built a customer-facing product visualiser that lets shoppers see furniture in their own room before buying. An automated Trustpilot sentiment pipeline that identifies which team member or store location each review references and delivers a structured digest to leadership each morning. And more in progress.
If there's an AI application relevant to your business, the conversation is worth having.
Not a consultant.
An operator.
I'm Alex. Currently Head of Technology at a £50m+ UK furniture retailer — owning Shopify Plus, a custom ERP integration layer, data warehouse, cloud infrastructure, and a team of developers.
Before that: Lead Developer and Solution Architect at Ignition, building digital learning platforms for the automotive sector. Before that, Digital Solution Architect and Head of Digital at eXpressoPLUS — where I moved from marketing leadership into systems architecture, which is why I understand what the commercial side of a business actually needs from its technology. And before all of that: co-founded Lovefone in London — a phone repair and eCommerce business I built from scratch to £1m+ turnover and 25,000+ monthly visitors.
Undercover Genius exists because I kept seeing the same pattern: growing businesses struggle not because of bad tools, but because no one owns how everything fits together.
Twenty years. Still debugging.
Automotive · Vending · Repair & Maintenance · Podcasting & Media · Professional Services · SMEs
Ready to fix it?
Most conversations start with “I don't know exactly what I need.” That's normal. Book a call and we'll work it out.