About Me

I'm Alastair, a Software Engineering Leader based in Amsterdam.

I enjoy mobile & full-stack development as well as solving challenges (both organisational & software) at scale, and I've worked on multiple large-scale systems for some of South Africa's largest online companies over the past 12 years.

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Bash

Engineering Director - Store Technology & Fintech

I joined The Foschini Group in 2021 to transform their online offering into a world-class e-commerce platform, with a focus on mobile experience.

  • Late 2021: Led planning for the e-commerce re-platforming project and scaled the engineering organization from approximately 20 contractors to 50 full-time engineers.
  • 2022: Held dual responsibilities as Engineering Director, managing a division of the engineering organization while simultaneously leading development of new core services. This work enabled the re-platforming project and successful launch of bash.com, migrating from an outdated Oracle ATG commerce platform to a modern, scalable architecture built on VTEX, AWS, and Kubernetes.
  • 2023-2024: Transitioned to Principal Engineer, focusing on developing foundational services and evolving the platform architecture. You can read about one of the more ambitious projects from this period here.
  • 2025: Returned to the Engineering Director role, now leading the Store Technology and Fintech divisions as key growth areas for the business.

While currently in an engineering management role, I continue to contribute to architectural design and strategic technical direction across TFG, focusing on our transformation into a world-class omnichannel retailer. You can learn more about the TFG & Bash omnichannel strategy here.