Hi, I’m Dave 👋
I’m a Senior Engineering Manager at Canva, where I lead AI Platform teams building the ML/AI infrastructure that powers creativity at scale for over 260 million users.
What I Bring
25+ years in technology, progressing from systems and database engineering into leadership. I’ve built and scaled engineering teams across startups, scale-ups, and global SaaS companies.
Current focus areas
- Leading platform teams (~20 engineers) across evaluation, inference, and ML training infrastructure
- Vendor strategy and commercial management for multi-million dollar AI/ML tooling portfolios
- Building self-service platforms that enable hundreds of engineers to ship AI features faster
- Developing engineering leaders who can navigate both technical depth and people challenges
What I’m known for
- Building high-performing remote teams (fully distributed since 2014)
- Transforming reactive support functions into proactive, self-service platforms
- Bridging the gap between research teams and production engineering
- Honest, empathetic leadership that balances business outcomes with team wellbeing
The Journey Here
My path through tech has given me broad foundations:
- AI/ML Platform Engineering (2024-present): Canva – building infrastructure for AI-driven product experiences
- Platform & SRE Leadership (2014-2024): Timely, Flux Federation, GitLab – scaling platform teams in high-growth environments
- Data Engineering Leadership (2007-2014): Trade Me – 7+ years building and leading database teams at NZ’s largest online marketplace
- Technical Foundations (1999-2007): Database administration, systems engineering, and yes, even teaching IT courses
Along the way, I’ve spoken at conferences (Microsoft Tech-Ed, SQL Saturday), run user groups, navigated an acquisition, and learned that the best engineering is ultimately about enabling people.
Technical Perspective
I sit at the intersection of platform engineering, AI/ML infrastructure, and engineering leadership. My background in data and ops gives me strong opinions about reliability, observability, and building systems that users can trust.
Current interests: ML evaluation systems, training infrastructure, GPU compute economics, and how AI tooling is reshaping engineering workflows.
The Human Side
Originally from Margate, South Africa, I’ve called Wellington, New Zealand home since 2003. When I’m not fighting with computers:
- Family: Partner, 3 daughters (now adults or nearly there), 2 dogs, and a cat who tolerates us
- Garage warrior: Currently home to a Triumph Speed Triple RS motorbike and too many woodworking tools. If it can be taken apart, I’ve probably tried
- Non-athlete: Former powerlifter, current “just trying to keep up with the kids”. Golfer with zero chance of breaking 90 any time soon.
- Stereotypically South African: Yes, I braai. Yes, I enjoy a good beer. 😄
Why This Blog Exists
This space has evolved with my career. What started as SQL Server deep dives has transformed into explorations of engineering leadership, and (hopefully) AI augmentation, and building systems that make us smarter.
Let’s Connect
I’m always up for interesting conversations, particularly if you’re:
- Building or scaling AI/ML platform teams
- Navigating engineering leadership challenges in high-growth environments
- Curious about remote-first engineering culture
- A startup looking for strategic technical guidance(beer-based payment-plans by negotiation)
Find me on LinkedIn – just mention what caught your attention. 🙂