Sam Starling

I am a senior full-stack web engineer and systems designer whose professional path moved from technical support and software testing through team/process management into full-stack engineering, architecture, infrastructure, and game systems.

My current work is split across two connected contours. At IRONCREED, I work as a Senior Full-Stack Web Engineer, Co-Founder, and Engineering Mentor on client-facing web systems, infrastructure, automation, security hardening, technical documentation, engineering standards, and review/verification practices. At Zhovten Games, which I co-founded, I work as a Game Systems Designer on gameplay rules, dependencies, progression, project logic, prototyping, and the technical structures that connect narrative intent with implementation.

Experience

IRONCREED — Senior Full-Stack Web Engineer / Engineering Mentor / Co-Founder

August 2026 — present

• Build and maintain end-to-end web systems, infrastructure, automation, integrations, deployment/delivery pipelines, and internal tooling.
• Work on security-oriented hardening, technical documentation, architectural decisions, code review, and verification.
• Help shape engineering direction, reusable methods, review standards, and implementation practices across the applied IT / engineering contour.
• Transfer reusable engineering methods and infrastructure patterns back into Zhovten Games projects where appropriate.

Zhovten Games — Game Systems Designer / Co-Founder

October 2025 — present

• Design and prototype gameplay systems, project logic, progression, dependencies, and implementation-facing rules.
• Work across technical design and narrative systems, connecting design intent with executable structures and constraints.
• Contribute to project architecture, technical documentation, system validation, and the formalization of development rules.
• Current work includes InterDead and its connected web, runtime, documentation, research, and game-core contours.

Self-Employed / Freelance — Middle Full-Stack Web Engineer

September 2021 — August 2026

• Delivered end-to-end client web systems across front-end and back-end development, integrations, and production support.
• Worked regularly with JavaScript, PHP, SQL, HTML/CSS, WordPress, Laravel, APIs, webhooks, build processes, and deployment.
• Provided technical consulting, code review, onboarding, troubleshooting, and practical knowledge transfer.
• This period became the engineering base from which the later IRONCREED practice was formalized.

ZIPY HOLDINGS LTD. — Junior Full-Stack Web Engineer — WordPress

November 2019 — August 2021

• Worked on a WordPress/WooCommerce subscription platform for premium spirits.
• Implemented custom subscription logic, front-end work from Figma, production fixes, performance optimization, security hardening, SEO, and localization.
• Supported the product in production and worked across both application behaviour and operational concerns.

Scuba Space — Project Manager, Copywriting Team

October 2017 — September 2018

• Built and organized a copywriting operation across two language tracks.
• Managed recruitment, onboarding, task distribution, editorial review, coordination, quality control, and delivery.
• Led a team of more than 20 writers, editors, and contributors.
• The role established a lasting focus on process design, explicit workflows, review standards, and predictable delivery.

uCoz / uKit — Software Test Engineer

October 2015 — September 2017

• Performed functional testing, bug reproduction, system-behaviour analysis, integration testing, and development-facing verification.
• Worked closely with product and development logic rather than treating testing as an isolated final-stage activity.
• This period shifted my professional perspective from user-facing support toward system behaviour, engineering constraints, and reproducible verification.

uCoz — Technical Help Desk Specialist

December 2011 — October 2015

• Resolved standard and non-standard user issues and handled Jira-based support work.
• Investigated reproducibility and escalated technically complex cases, including issues that required code-level intervention.
• Contributed to technically oriented support materials, communication quality, and selected layout/content tasks.
• This role established the support → diagnosis → reproduction → engineering path that continued through later QA and development work.