McLain & Associates

Essex, United Kingdom

Michael McLain

AI & Software Engineer

I build software that solves real business problems. Full-stack products, data and AI tooling, automation. Four years in a demanding engineering business taught me to ship fast, own the outcome, and use AI where it earns its place, not where it looks good on a slide.

Taking on projects through McLain & Associates. Also open to senior software and DevOps roles.

Email meGitHubLinkedIn
In software
5 yrs 3 mos
At TECNIQ
3 yrs 9 mos
Tools shipped
30+
Hypercar programmes
5

01Consulting

McLain & Associates

Software engineering with AI and machine learning at its core. I take a business problem, find the data that answers it, and ship a product your team actually uses. Small, fixed-scope engagements that deliver.

  • AI-powered software

    Custom web apps with LLMs built in: document ingest, smart matching, search and assistants over your own data.

  • Machine learning on your data

    Pricing, forecasting and classification models trained on the records you already have, shipped as tools people use.

  • Automation that replaces spreadsheets

    Quoting, approvals, reporting and data pipelines rebuilt as reliable software, with AI where it earns its place.

Tell me the problem. I'll tell you if I can fix it and what it costs.

Start a conversation

02Education

  1. BEng Software Engineering, First Class Honours·Canterbury Christ Church University

    Sep 2019 – Jun 2022

    • Machine Learning and AI
    • Software Engineering Fundamentals

  2. Level 5 Leadership and Management Development·University Centre Colchester

    Oct 2024 – Aug 2026

    Part of TECNIQ's Future Leaders Programme.

    • Leading people and teams
    • Strategic thinking and planning
    • Managing change
    • Stakeholder communication
    • Performance management

03Experience

1 yr 1 mo
2 yrs 9 mos
5m
202420252026

  1. TECNIQ

    Jan 2023 – present·3 yrs 9 mos

    Essex, UK·Tier 1 supplier of carbon fibre body structures and interiors for ultra-premium OEM programmes, including the McLaren W1, Aston Martin Valhalla and Valkyrie, Mercedes-AMG ONE and Gordon Murray T.33. Small runs, no tolerance for error.

    1. DevOps & Software Engineer

      2 yrs 9 mos

      Jan 2024 – present· 6 highlights

      • Built QuoteDesk, the quoting engine for a bespoke-options OEM programme: spec-pack import, rules-based pricing with certainty-scored proposals, branded PDF output. Quote time per car went from 4 hours to 30 minutes.
      • Built STEP Quoter: extracts geometry features from a dropped CAD file, scores complexity, and prices against a dataset of ten costed programmes (roughly 8,000 parts with geometry), with margin visible before anything is sent. 30 to 40 people across commercial and engineering use the two tools daily.
      • Replaced a manual Excel and VBA timesheet approval process with a web app: Microsoft sign-in, spreadsheet ingest, per-director exports for 21 approvers.
      • Led the MRP rollout across two OEM programmes, then built the analytics on top of it: daily production breakdowns, departmental target-vs-actual dashboards and executive reports from raw MRP exports. Now leading the PLM migration from SmarTeam to Dassault 3DEXPERIENCE.
      • Own the estate end to end across 5 sites: rebuilt 13 VMs from bare metal, redesigned a flat network into a segmented multi-site one, refreshed 100+ devices including custom-built CAD workstations, and run Microsoft 365, Entra ID, CrowdStrike, Cyber Essentials and TISAX.
      • Scoped and costed on-prem LLM inference on Apple Silicon so OEM data can be used with AI without leaving the building.
      • TypeScript
      • Next.js
      • Supabase
      • Vercel
      • Python
      • Hyper-V
      • XCP-ng
      • UniFi
      • Microsoft 365

    2. Software & Data Engineer

      1 yr 1 mo

      Jan 2023 – Jan 2024· 3 highlights

      • Carbon kit-cutting waste project: analysed cut data across the programmes, specified a new kit-cutting machine and introduced AI-driven nesting. Material efficiency went from 40% to 90%.
      • Introduced digital traceability on the shop floor with 2D Data Matrix marking, so every part carries its history from ply to assembly.
      • Took on the IT estate alongside development and started the groundwork for the network and virtualisation rebuild.
      • C#
      • .NET
      • SQL Server
      • Python
      • pandas

  2. Vectayn Ltd

    May 2026 – present·5 mos

    Essex, UK·Engineering consultancy founded in 1991, providing CAE and predictive analysis (FEA, crash, NVH, fatigue and durability) to automotive OEMs, aerospace and security barrier programmes.

    1. IT Lead

      5 mos

      May 2026 – present· 3 highlights

      • Own IT for the business end to end, alongside my role at TECNIQ.
      • Led the full-scale migration of Vectayn's infrastructure into TECNIQ's data centre when the business moved on site.
      • Support a team of CAE and FEA analysts day to day, keeping compute-heavy simulation work running.

04Skills

Product & web
TypeScriptReactNext.jsTailwind
Data & AI
PythonpandasSQLPricing modelsGeometry feature extractionLLM integrationLocal inference (Apple Silicon)
Backend
SupabasePostgresSQL ServerC# / .NETNodeGo
Infrastructure & ops
VercelHyper-VXCP-ngUniFiMicrosoft 365Entra IDCrowdStrikeCyber EssentialsTISAX
Manufacturing systems
MRP (Progress Plus)PLM (SmarTeam, 3DEXPERIENCE)IATF 16949 / PPAP2D Data Matrix traceabilityAI-driven nesting
Leadership & delivery
Project deliveryStakeholder managementSteering committeesExecutive reportingVendor and procurementChange managementMentoring apprentices

05Contact

Hiring for a senior software or DevOps role, or have a project for McLain & Associates? Email is best; I reply within a day.

Email
michael@mclain.co.uk
LinkedIn
linkedin.com/in/michaeljmclain
GitHub
github.com/mhykol2k