MATTSLAVIN.com

About

I'm a frontend-focused developer, team lead and architect with a background that sits somewhere between engineering, design and product thinking.

I've spent most of my career on the agency side, working with large brands and complex digital products - from ecommerce and financial services to mobile apps, design systems and interactive experiences. More recently, my work has included leading frontend delivery for a global ecommerce redesign, helping plan and assess large application programmes, modernising complex React and Svelte applications, and managing teams building React Native products.

I still like being close to the work. I enjoy getting into the details of an interface, understanding why something doesn't quite feel right, working through frontend architecture, reviewing code, prototyping ideas and helping teams find a practical way through complicated problems.

Design has always been a big part of how I think about development. I started out making much more visual and interactive work, and I'm increasingly interested in bringing some of that playfulness back into modern frontend engineering - particularly where interaction, motion, physics or unusual interfaces can make an experience more engaging.

I'm also interested in the way AI is changing software development. I use it heavily in my own work, but I'm particularly interested in the human part that remains: judgement, quality, direction, understanding users, and deciding what should actually be built.

Over the years I've worked with clients including Lululemon, Comerica/Direct Express, Liberty Mutual, Saks, Marks & Spencer, Bed Bath & Beyond, RAM, HSBC and many others. I also helped build Laws Not Tweets, which won an MITX award in 2016.

Outside work, I live just outside Boston with my family. Music has always been a big part of my life - I spent years DJing and producing, and it's something I'm gradually finding my way back to.

These days I'm especially interested in work where frontend engineering, design, interaction and product thinking overlap - whether that's helping a team solve a difficult problem or building something new from the ground up.