FAQ
The questions hiring managers and clients actually ask. Including the awkward ones, which come first.
General Questions
Your recent titles say technical writer. What do you actually do?
Two recent roles carried documentation titles. At StarkWare I was Documentation Lead for the open-source Starknet docs. At Mastercard I am a Senior Technical Writer · Consultant (Documentation and AI Content).
Before that I was CTO at two agencies, a lead developer and a senior solutions architect. At Mastercard the work covers an LLM-driven rewrite of a 380-page guide, the RAG-ready content behind a conversational-AI proof of concept, and LLM-assisted review every release. I am now looking for AI enablement and adoption roles, where that work and the leadership history both count.
Do you write code?
I read and review code. I ship with agentic tooling. I do not hand-write production code.
I built my own tools in 2026 with Claude Code, and I direct and review that work. See Independent Builds. A from-scratch coding test is my weakest area.
What makes you different from other AI enablement candidates?
Many candidates come from operations, consulting or programme management. I have also been a CTO, so I have hired engineers, carried delivery and scoped builds for paying clients. I have shipped LLM work inside a regulated tier-1 payments company. I have built agents of my own and I know where they go wrong.
Can you work with [specific technology]?
In my wheelhouse (AI tooling, payments tokenisation, Ethereum Layer 2, enterprise e-commerce, APIs, developer documentation): yes, from day one.
Adjacent (new language, similar domain): one to two weeks to get fluent.
Completely new: probably, with a two to four week ramp-up while I build domain context.
I will not pretend to expertise I do not have.
What about payments and stablecoin infrastructure?
I am domain-literate in both halves. Card tokenisation at Mastercard covers the network side: issuers, processors and digital wallets. Starknet covers the on-chain side. I also build and read stablecoin flow data. I am not a compliance or AML specialist.
Work Arrangements
Permanent or contract?
Permanent is preferred. I am open to contract for the right scope.
What are your salary or rate expectations?
It depends on scope and level. Email me and we can talk it through.
Where are you based, and how do you work?
Dorset, UK. Remote. Hybrid is feasible for London and the south coast. Flexible hours around school runs. UK and European time zones are my base.
Do you sign NDAs?
Yes, reasonable ones.
Technical Questions
What does your architecture work cover?
- Platform and integration architecture
- Platform and code audits, with findings ranked and effort estimated
- Hosting, performance, caching and security review
- Vendor and tool selection
More detail on Consultancy, Audits & Klevu.
How do you approach an AI adoption engagement?
This is the approach I am using now with the MDES design team at Mastercard.
- Reconcile the standards. Turn inconsistent guideline documents into instructions an agent can apply, and decide the ambiguous cases
- Control false positives. Define the quality bar and test on real release-cycle work
- Embed it. Fit the tool into the team's workflow so it stays in use
The agents are in scoping. They are not live yet.
How do you handle subject matter experts who are too busy?
Do the homework first. Read the code, run the product, understand the basics. Then ask specific questions: not "explain this" but "I think X works like Y, where am I wrong". A focused 30 minutes beats a rambling two hours. Show work in progress so people have something to react to.
Process Questions
What does a typical first month look like?
Weeks 1 to 2
- Understand the product, the team and the goals
- Map stakeholders and decision rights
- Inventory where AI tools are already in use
- Agree priorities in writing
Weeks 2 to 4
- Choose a small set of use cases with real value
- Write the standards the tools apply
- Test on real work and record the false positives
Ongoing
- Decisions documented as they are made
- Risk raised early, not at the deadline
- The team able to carry the work without me
Still Have Questions?
Didn't see your question?
→ Email me and I will respond within 24 to 48 hours
Subject line: FAQ: [YOUR QUESTION]
Questions I Ask You
Before we work together I want to understand:
- What is the adoption or delivery problem? Late, unclear, under-resourced, or all three
- Who owns the decisions? And who thinks they do
- What is the current state? Greenfield, legacy, or halfway through
- What does success look like? Measures, goals, timeline
- How does the team work? Remote, async, meeting culture, reporting lines
Most delivery failures are organisational before they are technical. I would rather find that out in the first conversation than the third month.