Nicholas Hillier

Platform engineer working directly with the CTO on a healthcare platform integrating microbiome testing with clinical care delivery.

• Architecting AI-powered features using Claude and LLM APIs for clinical insights, automated report generation, and intelligent patient interactions.
• Building production integrations with external lab systems and treatment protocols.
• Designing agent-driven workflows for order processing and patient data pipelines.
• Strengthening system observability and operational reliability.
• Shaping architectural decisions and mentoring team on AI-augmented development with Cursor.

Led architecture and development on the Clinical Platform team, owning systems for practitioner-pharmacy interactions, prescription workflows, and secure PHI/PII handling.

• Architected diagnostics platform from scratch — event-driven microservices enabling tens of thousands of at-home blood tests with Kit and Quest Diagnostics integration.
• Designed and built Benefits Verification and Prior Authorization services, accelerating insurance access for patients.
• Led migration from monolithic Django to distributed microservices architecture.
• Built observability stack with Datadog, strengthening incident response and platform reliability.

Led engineering efforts for Lightspeed's supplier network, streamlining vendor-client relationships and supply chain management.

• Architected microservices-based supplier network from the ground up.
• Built and led a high-performing engineering team.
• Built core services on GCP with Terraform for infrastructure automation.
• Developed RESTful APIs for cross-functional integrations.

Re-engineered core infrastructure for a global leader in stock photography.

• Led migration of primary metadata service from Perl/MySQL to Node.js/Java/Cassandra.
• Automated deployment pipelines using Terraform and Ansible for zero-downtime releases.
• Designed distributed systems for high-volume image metadata transactions.
• Developed disaster recovery procedures for Cassandra, reducing downtime from hours to minutes.

Lead programmer reporting directly to CTO, leading a team of three developers.

• Replaced SVN with Git and introduced dependency management across the company.
• Overhauled JavaScript pipeline with Node, npm, and webpack.
• Improved testability and introduced enhanced security for partners.
• Contributed to PCI compliance certification.

• Developed Pick and Pack (PnP) application for large retail outlets (Sobeys, Giant Eagle, Thrifty Foods).
• Designed two deployment architectures for different network topologies.
• Key contributor to architectural design and code quality.

• Led Integrations Group for iControl broadcast monitoring and control solution.
• Managed customization, deployment, and integration for clients including CBC, NBC, PBS, Verizon, CBS, and Fox.
• Responsible for code quality, team development, process development, and resource scheduling.

• Built distributed radio player core API used by most clients.
• Refactored UI, reducing code footprint by 40%.
• Implemented IoC and Dependency Injection across 50% of the codebase.
• Led Scrum adoption with daily standups, retrospectives, and 30+ iterations.

• Delivered web projects for CanWest Media Works, Michael Ignatieff MP, Syphr Communications.
• Full lifecycle: project management, design, development, and SEO.