★ At a glance
Engineering Manager · Culture AmpContraband - AI AppsFreelance · product buildsMelbourne · remote-friendly

WHO?!

Jay Linsell — comic-style portrait

Engineering leader, product builder, dad of two.

I run the teams that build software, apps and AI. I jump in when they get stuck, set direction when it is muddy, grow an inclusive culture, find stretch for others, and make sure what we build is useful. Melbourne based. On the side I still design and ship my own things, AI Shopify apps and sharp freelance briefs.

  • Engineering Manager
  • Applied AI
  • Product
  • Design-minded
DAY JOB

Culture Amp

  1. Engineering Manager

    March 2023 — Present

  2. Tech Lead

    October 2022 — March 2023

Currently leading the AI Coach team, a high performing team, leading 9 great engineers, for Culture Amp’s core AI product; transforming Culture Amp into an AI company in H2 2025.

Experience has been initially leading the Home & Nav, and Employee Profile, before moving across to lead the newly formed AI Coach team at the start of 25, and transforming Culture Amp into an AI product. I’ve lead teams through change, ambiguity with a focus on improving culture, and temporarily filling in as Director of Engineering; whilst the current was on leave.

SIDE HUSTLE

Contraband

Founder — Building AI Shopify AppsApril 2026 — Present

Building AI Shopify apps and other apps to help give merchants an additional edge. Focused on commercial based problems, in coordination with real merchants, like automating painful staff processing, or enriching their catalogues for better AI discoverability. This includes user testing, design, development, AI governance, evaluations and observability best practices; focusing on both the merchant's success and their customers experience.

Proclaim markProclaimAI Warranty Automation
Contraband
FREELANCE

Jay Linsell

Freelancing — Engineering & Design2012 — Present

From engineering, consulting, illustrations, UI & UX design.

Clients

AIA Health InsuranceOPP (Office of Public Prosecutions)MujaQuiksilverMelbourne MalibuWai Tech GroupOcean Reach BrewingMelbourne Snowboard CentreSkiforceWilliams AustraliaZenvia Home LuxeAMD Bricklaying+ many more

Awards

Best in CategoryBest in CategoryOPP | Design StrategyBest in CategoryBest in CategoryOPP | Design Thinking
2010 - 2022

Alyve

Formerly W3.Digital — embedded inside client orgs as a consultant, wearing multiple hats; from tech lead, design lead and senior engineer. Spent almost 13 years maturing Front-end engineering capabilities, UI design and UX research for enterprise and product teams.

  • Office of Public Prosecutions

    Lead Consultant • Procurement • UX & UI

    Led the WCAG AA design-system engagement, helped facilitate UX workshops, helped drive procurement and requirements. Provided prototypes and redesigns of their legacy portal, helping them with their design thinking. The success with OPP resulted in engaging me after my time at Alyve to lead the portal redesign under a constrained framework; that work later took two design-thinking awards.

  • Australian College of Emergency Medicine

    Tech Lead • Design Lead

    Led the rebuild of their legacy training portal: the engineering team, front-end architecture, CI/CD, and the UI/UX so the product shipped as one. Upskilled and supported the growth of a team of 5. Also helped engineer and design an additional assessment tool, helping design and build an LLM-based symptom lookup system for hospital staff, with custom CMS capabilities.

  • Telstra

    Consulting Lead Engineer • UX/UI

    Engineered a prototype that won engagement for Telstra with Department of Transport; directed the Liberate platform redesign, engineering and delivery under hard platform constraints — for both the Liberate web app and mobile app.

  • Tennis Australia

    Lead Frontend Engineer • UX/UI

    Led the Tennis Lab end-to-end redesign and rebuild. An algorithmic racquet/string matching tool turned into an ecommerce flow. Helped rewrite the whole frontend architecture, managed stakeholders, redesigned and supported UX research.

  • CRX

    Consulting Tech Lead • UX/UI

    Helped break down requirements, and led the team through a platform rebuild with limitations of Qlik Sense — including architecture, proof of concepts, technical upskilling for the team, and redesigned user flows. I left the team with a path forward.

  • ACU

    Front End Lead • UI

    Led the front-end architecture of Australian Catholic University’s portal rebuild based on a .NET framework. Helped deliver a refined experience, along with helping support on some of the design flows, and prototyping against design concepts. This led to being Runner Up at Good Design Awards.

Also worked with

Guide Dogs Victoria · CRX · Swimming Australia · Chisholm · Revium · MLC · Engie · REA · Red Energy · Belgravia · GSK · Netball Australia · Cricket Australia · CityLink · NNT Group · Pacific Brands · Veroguard · …and more

Recognition:Runner up for the ACU deliverable

RIGHT NOW

Currently on

Leading

Engineering for Coach — Culture Amp’s AI coaching product. People, roadmap, craft of shipping.

Building

Contraband AI Shopify apps (Accomplice — AI based UCP enrichment) + selective freelance builds.

Exploring

AI workflow automation, design↔eng systems that scale.

MY STYLE

Leadership

Adaptive leadership

I change how I lead as the people and the work change. No single playbook — I read the room, then I adjust.

Pragmatism

Useful over perfect. I put the trade-offs on the table, pick the path that moves us, and ship.

Resilience

Ambiguity, restructures, hard quarters — I stay in it with the team, name what’s at risk, and keep delivery honest.

Learning & development

I grow people on purpose: stretch, cover, promotion paths, and the tools to get there. The team’s growth is the job.

Stakeholder management

I hold both sides of the table. The org gets options and a call. The team gets a voice, cover, and no surprises.

SKIP THE STACK

Ask me about

  1. 43 → 60 favourable engagement in one quarter
  2. Best Team Impact at PKO
  3. Home rebuild: 47%+ conversion
  4. AI Coach: 1.6% → 7.0% of MAU
  5. Leading the team through AI SDLC — and building AI
  6. Skill harnesses and workflow efficiency
  7. AI governance
  8. Using AI tooling to enable others
  9. Building resilient teams and good culture
  10. Supporting DoE responsibilities
  11. Growing and promoting the team

The numbers are the receipt. Ask me about the people.

INBOX

Let's Talk!

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