McLain & Associates

Essex, United Kingdom

Michael McLain

AI & Software Engineer

I turn manufacturing data into software that quotes, predicts and traces, and I run the infrastructure it lives on. At TECNIQ that means pricing models built on ten programmes of historic costings, geometry analysis that rates a part before anyone opens CAD, AI-driven nesting that took material efficiency from 40% to 90%, and the estate behind five sites. I ship fast and own what I ship.

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 10 mos
Tools shipped
30+
Hypercar programmes
5

01Consulting

McLain & Associates

Software and AI tooling for manufacturing and engineering businesses, built by someone who has run the shop floor systems, not just read about them. Small, fixed-scope engagements that ship.

  • Internal tools that replace spreadsheets

    Quoting, approvals, traceability, reporting. Web apps your team actually uses, on your own data.

  • AI where it earns its place

    LLM-assisted matching, document ingest and search over your own records. On-prem when the data can't leave the building.

  • Infrastructure that stays up

    Microsoft 365, virtualisation, segmented networks, Cyber Essentials and TISAX readiness for supplier audits.

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

Start a conversation

02Experience

1 yr
2 yrs 10 mos
2023202420252026

  1. TECNIQ

    Dec 2022 – present·3 yrs 10 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 10 mos

      Dec 2023 – 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

      Dec 2022 – Nov 2023· 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

03Skills

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

04Education

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

Sep 2019 – Jun 2022

05Selected work

QuoteDesk

Live

Quoting automation for bespoke interior options on an ultra-premium automotive programme.

4 h30 minquote time per car

  • Next.js 14
  • TypeScript
  • Supabase
  • PDF generation

STEP Quoter

In beta

Drop a STEP file in, get a costed quote grounded in geometry and historic pricing.

30–40daily users

  • Next.js
  • TypeScript
  • Supabase
  • 3D geometry analysis

DatumQMS

In development

A lightweight IATF 16949 / PPAP supplier-compliance product for small automotive suppliers.

  • Next.js 15
  • React 19
  • Tailwind 4
  • TypeScript

06Contact

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