Paul Sellars · Principal Cloud & Platform Architect
Building the platforms, models, and integrations that move modern organisations through the AI transition.
Sixteen years across cloud, data, and applied machine learning. First-class BSc in Artificial Intelligence (2010), earned more than a decade before the current AI boom.
Heavy lifting that makes the whole team faster.
I make stuck situations move. A product that only exists as an idea, a migration that has stalled, a production incident nobody can diagnose: sixteen years of being the engineer who figures it out without a manual. The same experience catches the expensive mistakes early, the architecture decisions that look fine today and bite the company in three years. Security findings get the same treatment: visible immediately, fixed fast, never left to age in a backlog.
That starts with the roadmap. I define the technical path that takes a team from idea to product in production, then ship the hardest parts of it myself: platform tooling, IaC modules, the integration ten downstream features depend on. The best engineering investment I can make for a client is rarely a single feature; it’s the system that lets their team ship confidently for years afterwards.
Anything the team can carry stays with the team, by design. Permanent engineering teams own the feature backlog; the architect bottlenecking on every ticket is the failure mode I’m there to prevent. Engagements are built for handover continuity — no single-person dependencies, work that survives my departure, and coaching toward independent problem-solving so the engineering organisation gets stronger, not more dependent on a single architect.
Sector experience runs from consumer platforms and technology companies through to energy, utilities, financial services, healthcare, insurance, defence, pharma, and public sector. The shape of the work matters more than the industry label: AI and data systems integrating with real infrastructure, operating at scale, with engineering velocity that does not break the platform underneath. Where compliance regimes apply (HIPAA, FINRA, SR 11-7, FDA, Solvency II, PCI DSS), they get learned as part of the engagement.
Pick the right work
Architect attention goes to the work ten downstream features depend on. Tickets the team can carry stay with the team.
Continuity by design
No single-person dependencies. Product maintainability outlives the engagement.
Senior decisions in the open
Architectural judgment on the hard calls, with the reasoning visible so the team can carry it forward after the engagement ends.
Where AI, data, and platform engineering meet operational reality.
Applied AI & Data Platforms
AI architecture, data platform engineering, ML systems design, and AI commercialisation in production.
Cloud Platform Engineering
AWS-native architecture, Kubernetes, infrastructure-as-code, serverless-first design, and secure CI/CD. Cost and reliability built in, not bolted on.
Applied ML & AI Systems
Production machine learning, model and inference architecture, and the integration patterns that put AI to work inside existing operational stacks.
Engagements at scale, across high-traffic consumer platforms and enterprise environments.
Principal AI and Cloud Platform Architect, PS Digital Limited
September 2023 to present
Independent strategic architecture engagements across cloud, data, and AI workstreams. Architectural authority and de facto programme leadership; permanent engineering teams own feature delivery for continuity beyond the engagement. Designs the platform tooling, governance patterns, and infrastructure-as-code modules that enable distributed teams to deliver at scale.
- Architected the data platform and supporting systems for the client engagement
- Authored job specifications and selected the DevOps lead and contract delivery team
- De facto programme manager across multiple engineering workstreams
- Set architectural direction and identified gaps; permanent team owned feature implementation
- Architectural review and decision authority across cloud, data, and AI
- Coaching engineering team toward independent problem-solving and self-directed research
- Designed AWS Control Tower governance and multi-account architecture
- Built infrastructure-as-code modules and migration patterns for self-serve cloud modernisation
- Established modern CI/CD using Terraform, AWS CodeDeploy, AWS CodeBuild
- Delivered applied machine learning and AI systems in production
Start a conversation.
Inquiries welcome from organisations across any sector where the scope and seniority match. Sector experience runs from consumer platforms and technology companies through to regulated industries (energy, utilities, financial services, healthcare, insurance, defence, pharma, public sector). Comfortable onboarding to unfamiliar compliance regimes (HIPAA, FINRA, SR 11-7, FDA, Solvency II) when an engagement requires them. Open to senior architecture engagements that originate the vision AND senior IC roles that land a defined architectural vision in production at scale: principal architect, fractional CTO / CDO, cloud architect, Head of Platform Engineering, transformation programmes, and senior IC seats on complex production rollouts.
Or email ping@psdigital.dev