Principal Developer/Engineer

Sam Graham

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Sam Graham

About

The short version

20+ years experience building clean, performant and scalable web applications for a diverse range of clients. Started doing basic HTML/CSS, then moved into full-stack development with PHP (version 5 back then!) - last 8+ year focused more on front-end. I have a pragmatic attitude, concise communication skills and an eagerness to embrace new technologies.

Career

Experience

Principal Developer

Merkle ANZ (2022-2026) / Dentsu Creative Experience (2026-onwards)

Aug 2022 – Present

Full timeCurrent

Dentsu retired the Merkle brand in Australia, integrating its core customer experience, data, and technology capabilities directly into the broader Dentsu ANZ operations.

  • –build web sites using headless (Storyblok, Contentful, Sitecore JSS) and monolithic (Sitecore, Wordpress) CMSs
  • –collabarate with designers to build design systems and component libraries
  • –integrate with 3rd-party applications via GraphQL/REST APIs
  • –optimize CWV to ensure performance metrics met

Senior Developer

Huckleberry Agency (2010-2015) / Isobar Australia (2015-2022)

Aug 2010 – Jul 2022

Full time

Huckleberry Agency formed in November 2013 as a full-service agency offering clients creative, digital and media buying services. Closed in 2015 Isobar Australia was a prominent full-service digital and customer experience (CX) agency owned Dentsu (formerly Dentsu Aegis Network) and ceased operating in 2022.

  • –Assumed role of Team Lead from March–Sept 2014, managing a team of 3 developers
  • –Built PHP applications including Facebook apps, micro-sites and fully responsive web sites
  • –Created a RESTful web service that handles incoming communication from a native iOS mobile application
  • –Built an EAN barcode generator that consumed CSV files to generate composited GIFs (embedded artwork/branding) sent to competition entrants via MMS — 4x faster than the original software
  • –part of core team responsible for major overhaul of Holden (car configurator - VueJS, Tailwind), Jetstar (booking and design system - React, CSS-in-JS)

Web designer/developer

CommStrat (formerly 'Hallmark Editions', then '900 Degrees')

Jan 2005 – Aug 2010

Full time

CommStrat is an ASX-listed company that delivers publications, conferences and events across a range of industries — including IT, Finance, Engineering, Education and Sustainability — to both the private and public sector.

  • –Creative web design (visual layout, styling etc.) of web sites and EDMs
  • –All HTML/CSS/JavaScript required for web sites
  • –Built a PHP/MySQL newsletter publishing system that also served as a web service delivering content to web sites
  • –Built a PHP/MySQL event management system including full online delegate registrations, payment and speaker management
  • –Digitised all newsletter subscription services, including design and distribution
  • –Built a CMS to generate print-ready PDFs for the annual report

Freelance web design

Self-employed

Jan 2004 – Dec 2004

Freelance
  • –Basic static HTML web sites using CSS

Background

Education

Advanced Diploma of Multimedia

Box Hill Institute of TAFE

2004

Graduate Diploma of Education

University of Melbourne

1999

Bachelor of Music Performance

Victorian College of the Arts

1998

Contact

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