Kristof Ringleff
Solution Architect · Principal Engineer · Technical Consultant
I think of myself as a full business developer - a nod to full stack, but across the whole picture. I design and build the systems that keep online businesses running, from cloud architecture and platform integration through to the business logic and commercial decisions that shape them.
Over 15+ years I've shipped production software used by merchants in 160+ countries, led end-to-end solution design on AWS, and stayed involved all the way through to production. My work spans serverless architecture, e-commerce platforms, API integration, and legacy transformation - with a track record of reducing infrastructure costs, improving system reliability, and getting complex migrations done on time.
Core
Competencies
Cloud & Infrastructure
Languages & Frameworks
E-commerce & Platforms
Architecture & Delivery
Ways of Working
How
I Help
I translate business goals into technical designs that hold up in production - and stay close to delivery to make sure the solution lands.
Solution & Platform Architecture
I design cloud-native and hybrid systems that work today and don't fall over when the platform upgrades next quarter. I've been through enough major version changes to know what upgrade-safe, scalable architecture looks like in practice - and what it costs when you skip it.
Legacy Modernisation & Digital Transformation
Most systems don't need a full rebuild. I help organisations work out what to keep, what to replace, and how to migrate safely without breaking what's already running. The goal is less complexity, better maintainability, and lower long-term cost - not more technology for its own sake.
Integration & API Design
I design integration architectures that connect platforms, services, and third-party systems reliably. This includes API design, event-driven messaging, authentication flows (OAuth 2.0, token management), and making sure data moves between systems without silent failures.
Technical Strategy & Stakeholder Alignment
I help make architecture decisions when there's no obvious right answer - working out what to build, what to buy, and getting engineering teams and non-technical stakeholders aligned on what's realistic and deliverable within real-world constraints.
AI Introduction
I help teams work out where AI genuinely adds value and where it's just adding complexity. The focus is on practical implementation with clear outcomes - not chasing trends
What
Clients Say
I contacted Kristof as we needed a way to charge a fee on orders depending on payment method. He understood the problem immediately and provided a clean solution that worked perfectly for our setup.
Ellen, Director, international retailer
We are using Kristof's software for quite a few years now. They work reliably and the quality is consistently high.
Sebastian, Director Architecture & Strategy, digital commerce agency
I will definitely recommend your software to our subsidiaries, I've never seen such a perfectly coded extension and excellent support.
Eduard, Full-Stack Developer, German consortium
Proven
Track Record
Solution Architect & Director - Fooman
2008 – Present | Auckland, New Zealand
Architecture, product leadership, and end-to-end delivery of production software at global scale.
I founded and led a product-focused software company building solutions for e-commerce merchants worldwide. With a small team, I owned everything from solution design and technical strategy through to production delivery and support - which meant the problems I saw in production directly shaped the architecture decisions I made next.
- Solution Architecture & Technical Strategy: Designed and evolved a portfolio of 18+ production software products deployed across 160+ countries and used by enterprise brands including Nespresso and Panasonic. Led all architecture decisions - prioritising scalability, upgrade safety, and long-term maintainability to minimise technical debt for end-users.
- Cloud Architecture & Serverless Delivery (AWS): Designed and delivered a serverless, event-driven SaaS platform on Amazon Web Services - Lambda, DynamoDB, API Gateway, CloudFront, KMS - achieving ~89% reduction in monthly infrastructure cost and horizontal scalability with zero capacity planning.
- Platform Modernisation & Migration: Led the migration of a 15-year legacy e-commerce platform including domain migration, subscription billing replacement, and frontend modernisation (React, GraphQL). Delivered with zero SEO impact and no revenue disruption.
- Enterprise Integration: Designed and built integration architecture connecting e-commerce platforms with Xero accounting - including OAuth 2.0 authentication flows, encrypted token storage, and secure API communication handling thousands of transactions.
- Platform Collaboration & Ecosystem Leadership: Collaborated directly with Magento/Adobe Commerce as a Technology Partner. Recognised as a Magento Master (2016–2018) - 1 of 20 worldwide - for sustained technical leadership and contribution to platform architecture standards.
- Cross-functional Team Leadership: Led and mentored a distributed team across development and support. Established engineering standards for code quality, CI/CD pipelines, Docker-based development environments, documentation, and sustainable delivery practices.
- Production Reliability & Incident Response: Maintained production systems serving merchants in 160+ countries with sustained 5-star ratings. Built solutions that survived multiple major platform overhauls - when the platform shipped breaking changes, the products kept running.
Earlier Technical & Operational Experience (2001–2008)
Before founding Fooman, I worked across technical delivery and operations - managing production for the "Skinit" business unit at Telegistics/Telecom (now Spark), coordinating large-scale merchandising logistics across Telecom's national retail network, delivering 3D compositing and technical animation at q-bus Mediatektur in Germany (including high-profile media installations at CeBIT for Telekom), and freelance web development for clients including the German Institute for International and Security Affairs.
Case
Studies
Serverless SaaS Re-Architecture & Compliance Migration
Project: Fooman Connect - Xero Integration Platform
Role: Solution Architect / Principal Engineer
Technologies: AWS (Lambda, DynamoDB, API Gateway, CloudFront, KMS, Amplify), OAuth 2.0, serverless, event-driven architecture, CI/CD
Serverless SaaS Re-Architecture & Compliance Migration
Project: Fooman Connect - Xero Integration Platform
Role: Solution Architect / Principal Engineer
Technologies: AWS (Lambda, DynamoDB, API Gateway, CloudFront, KMS, Amplify), OAuth 2.0, serverless, event-driven architecture, CI/CD
I re-architected our Xero integration platform from the ground up in under 8 weeks. The existing decentralised extension model was no longer viable, we had a mandatory migration to OAuth 2.0, and there was a hard external deadline with zero tolerance for service interruption.
Outcomes
- Full re-architecture delivered in under 8 weeks to fixed external deadline
- ~89% reduction in monthly infrastructure cost
- Horizontal scalability with no capacity planning required
- Achieved Xero Verified App status
- Secure token storage with KMS-backed encryption
Architecture decisions:
Designed a centralised, serverless, event-driven architecture on AWS. Stateless compute via Lambda behind API Gateway. High-throughput, low-latency persistence using DynamoDB. OAuth 2.0 flows implemented using managed identity services. Frontend delivery via CloudFront with automated CI/CD using AWS Amplify.
Legacy Platform Modernisation & Subscription Billing Migration
Project: E-commerce Platform Upgrade & Domain Migration
Role: Solution Architect
Technologies: React, GraphQL, 301 redirect mapping, subscription billing systems, SEO preservation
Legacy Platform Modernisation & Subscription Billing Migration
Project: E-commerce Platform Upgrade & Domain Migration
Role: Solution Architect
Technologies: React, GraphQL, 301 redirect mapping, subscription billing systems, SEO preservation
Led the end-to-end solution design for migrating a 15-year legacy e-commerce platform - including domain migration, billing provider replacement, and frontend modernisation - without disrupting active subscriptions or organic search traffic.
Outcomes
- Zero loss of organic traffic across 15-year domain history
- Seamless migration of all active subscriptions with no revenue disruption
- Improved frontend performance and long-term maintainability
- Reduced architectural risk through phased migration
Architecture decisions
Designed a phased migration strategy with rollback points at each stage. Comprehensive 301 redirect mapping to preserve search equity. Introduced React-based frontend consuming a GraphQL API layer. Replaced legacy subscription billing provider with no interruption to active recurring revenue.
Platform Ecosystem Architecture & Product Governance
Project: Multi-Product Portfolio (18+ products, 200k+ downloads, 160+ countries)
Role: Solution Architect / Chief Architect
Technologies: Adobe Commerce (Magento), Composer, Docker, CI/CD pipelines, automated testing
Platform Ecosystem Architecture & Product Governance
Project: Multi-Product Portfolio (18+ products, 200k+ downloads, 160+ countries)
Role: Solution Architect / Chief Architect
Technologies: Adobe Commerce (Magento), Composer, Docker, CI/CD pipelines, automated testing
Designed and governed a production software portfolio spanning 18+ products with lifecycles exceeding 10 years - used by enterprise brands including Nespresso and Panasonic and deployed in 160+ countries.
Outcomes
- Sustained 5-star average ratings across the portfolio
- Long-term customer trust driven by reliability and upgrade-safe architecture
- Platforms capable of evolving without breaking mission-critical deployments
Architecture decisions:
Defined and maintained engineering standards across the entire portfolio. Standardised CI/CD pipelines and Docker-based local development environments. Designed plugin-oriented, upgrade-safe architectures resilient to major platform changes. Strong backward-compatibility guarantees to protect customer operations during platform transitions.
Industry Recognition
International conference speaker (2016–2019) on topics including extensible platform architecture, dependency management, and reliable delivery at scale. Conferences include Magento Imagine (US), Magento Live (UK & AU), and European industry events.
Recognised as a Magento Master (2016–2018) - 1 of only 20 worldwide - reflecting sustained technical leadership, community contribution, and deep expertise in platform architecture and ecosystem standards.
This experience informs my current work as a Solution Architect: designing extensible platforms, guiding organisations through safe modernisation, and building delivery confidence into complex systems.
Industry
Recognition
Why Work
With Me
- Deep experience, low ramp-up: 15+ years across solution architecture, cloud infrastructure, and production delivery. I can look at a system and have a pretty good idea of what's going on quickly - I don't need long onboarding periods to add value.
- Practical, not theoretical: I don't build technology for its own sake. Every architecture decision ties back to a business problem. I've shipped production code used worldwide - reliability isn't an aspiration, it's what I've been delivering.
- Stakeholder communication: I'm used to being the person who explains the technical reality to leadership and translates business requirements back to engineering teams. Bridging that gap has been a big part of my work for a long time.
- Full-lifecycle ownership: I've owned everything from initial solution design through to production support and incident response. That end-to-end perspective means I design systems with operational reality in mind, not just what looks good on a diagram.
- Proven at scale: Software deployed in 160+ countries, enterprise clients, sustained 5-star ratings, and systems that have survived multiple major platform upgrades.
Let's Solve Your
Technical Challenges
I'm currently available for contract and advisory roles - the kind of work where having designed, built, and operated production systems for 15+ years makes a real difference.
Whether it's cloud architecture, platform modernisation, enterprise integration, or helping your team make better technical decisions - I'd welcome a conversation.