James Coates

Software Engineer & Technology Leader

London

About me

Software engineer and technology leader with experience spanning healthcare, fintech, and consultancy. Skilled in C#, .NET, Python, TypeScript, Vue.js, Azure, SQL, and LLM integration, with a track record of combining technical execution, product leadership, and stakeholder collaboration to deliver measurable impact.

Work

Sentra Health

Chief Technical Officer

Oct 2023 - Present
Sentra is a healthtech start-up transforming the transition of elderly care in the U.S., a $400B+ sector constrained by outdated systems and inefficient workflows. The platform automates clinical review for Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNFs), streamlining referrals and reducing cognitive load for clinicians. I joined as Founding Engineer and later CTO, and led the product from inception through MVP, successful pilots, and market launch.
Highlights
- Mission-driven product leadership: Built an AI-powered platform to transform post-acute referral management, addressing inefficiencies in SNF admissions where delays, errors, and fragmented workflows directly impacted patient outcomes.
- Product ownership: Led the product journey from discovery (embedding in the SNF industry to map admissions workflows) through MVP launch, successful initial pilots, and full roadmap execution as we went to market.
- Technical leadership: Delivered the platform as both a sole developer and leading a small engineering team, overseeing product architecture, technical direction, and customer-driven iteration.
- Impact: Reduced average referral review time from ~30 minutes to 3 minutes, increased facility census by ~5% on average (a significant gain in this industry), directly delivered tens of thousands of dollars in monthly savings per client facility by flagging high-cost medications, enabled admissions teams to reduce staffing needs by up to 50% through workflow efficiency gains.
- LLM-powered automation: Integrated foundational Large Language Models (LLMs) to automate referral reviews, developing a robust testing strategy to stabilise non-deterministic LLM outputs, and an architecture designed to anticipate rapid advances in LLM economics and capacity.
- Security & compliance: Directed and achieved both HIPAA compliance and SOC 2 Type II certification, ensuring enterprise-grade security and trustworthiness.
DrDoctor

Software Engineer

Jan 2023 - Oct 2023
DrDoctor is a healthtech company partnering with the NHS to digitise patient communication and outpatient management. As a Software Engineer, I worked within a cross-functional squad to deliver products that improved patient engagement and hospital efficiency.
Highlights
- Product development: Developed patient list management and digital patient-initiated follow-up (PIFU) products, enabling hospitals to manage demand more effectively, reduce unnecessary appointments, and improve patient autonomy in their care.
- System modernisation: Led the migration of the team's codebase from a legacy monolith into a microservice and micro-frontend architecture, improving scalability and maintainability.
- Engineering quality: Drove the engineering-wide rollout of automated visual testing, safeguarding products against regressions and strengthening release confidence.
Sinara Consultants

Software Engineer

Sep 2021 - Jan 2023
Sinara Consultants is a software consultancy building bespoke trading, market data, and risk management systems for global financial institutions. I worked on the company's flagship Trading & Lifecycle Control (TLC) platform, a modular system used by brokers and exchanges to manage trading workflows, market data, and regulatory compliance.
Highlights
- Platform development: Built and enhanced features within the TLC trading platform, focusing on order management and market data modules.
- Data visualisation: Led the design and implementation of interactive financial charts and dashboards using D3.js.
Waterstons

Software Consultant

Jul 2019 - Sep 2020

Waterstons is an IT and business consultancy, delivering bespoke software solutions and digital transformation projects across industries. As a Software Consultant, I worked with clients to design and implement tailored applications, contributing to projects that improved business efficiency and supported strategic growth.

Education

Newcastle University

Bachelor of Science, Computer Science

First Class Honours

Skills

C#
.NET
Python
TypeScript
Vue.js
Azure
CI/CD
GitHub Actions
Azure DevOps
Docker
PostgreSQL
Azure SQL
LLM integration
RPA
Storybook
Pytest
Cypress
xUnit
NUnit
Vitest
Testcontainers