About
Bio
I'm Zak Knudsen, a hands-on solutions architect in Barcelona. I have built for the web since 2014. Before that I built servers and Wi-Fi radios in Salt Lake City. I worked in Apple Stores in Honolulu and New York and became a Lead Specialist. I ran IT for New York creative agencies.
I spent six years as Director, WordPress at a Hong Kong digital agency. Then I joined Browser London, a UX and product agency, as tech lead. I was one of the first two staff in its Barcelona office. Since 2023 I have worked as a self-employed contractor, as a senior engineer, cloud architect, and web developer, for Browser London, Rush Hour Media, and others.
I like the part of the job where a design has to survive production. I write decisions down as ADRs. I write procedures down as runbooks. I would rather say "I maintained it" than claim I built it.
How I work
- Discovery first. I run it with client CTOs and product owners, and I recommend buying when building is not worth it.
- Decisions in writing. ADRs for design choices. Runbooks for anything run under pressure.
- Safe change. UAT before production. Manual production gates. Rollback planned before cutover.
- AI-assisted, with guardrails. I use AI coding agents under written rules I set.
Experience
| Dates | Role | Organization |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2023 – present | Senior Engineer, Cloud Architect, and Web Developer | Self-employed Contractor: Browser London, Rush Hour Media, and others |
| Jun 2021 – Mar 2023 | Tech Lead | Browser London |
| Jul 2014 – Aug 2020 | Director, WordPress. Paused Nov 2016 – Jun 2017. | Rush Hour Media (now Rush Hour Digital), Hong Kong (remote from Barcelona from 2019) |
| Nov 2016 – Jun 2017 | Technical Project Manager | MerchantCantos (now Brunswick Creative, part of Brunswick Group), Hong Kong |
| 2013 – 2014 | Technical Analyst | Squarespace |
| 2010 – 2012 | IT Consultant and Systems Administrator | LifeguardTech, New York |
| Dec 2007 – Apr 2011 | Lead Specialist | Apple Inc., Retail, New York |
| Apr 2007 – Nov 2007 | Specialist | Apple Inc., Retail, Honolulu and New York |
| 2003 – 2006 | Assembly Technician to Lead Technical Project Manager | TenX Networks, Salt Lake City |
Certifications
Training (not certification)
- Docker Foundations Professional Certificate (Docker, via LinkedIn Learning), 2025.
- Career Essentials in GitHub Copilot (GitHub, via LinkedIn Learning), 2025.
Education
- Web Development Immersive, General Assembly, Hong Kong, 2014.
Writing
- "Three macro digital development trends shaping the profession", Browser London blog, March 2022.
- "Why user stories belong in the garbage", Browser London blog, August 2022.
Personal projects
See Labs for my own engineering projects.