Paul 'unr' Morrison

Senior Engineering Manager

Senior Frontend Engineering Leader with 15+ years building and scaling product-focused UI systems from startup to public company. Led distributed teams of up to 14 engineers across 5 countries, owned frontend architecture, guided producted design direction, product delivery, and execution through rapid growth and contraction.

Experience

Founding Engineer → Senior Engineering Manager

Rivalry

Sep 2017 — Feb 2026

Owned entire frontend architecture, design system integration, regulated market compliance, and ueser experience while the company scaled from small startup to ~150 staff.

  • Acted as a founding technical leader, partnering with executive leadership (CEO, product, finance) to shape product direction, technical strategy, and major business decisions during company growth and IPO
  • Led and scaled a distributed engineering team of 8–14 across 5 countries, owning hiring, performance management, and delivery execution
  • Hired 10+ engineers and built structured hiring, onboarding, and performance management systems (including promotions, PIPs, and terminations)
  • Reset delivery expectations and planning processes following major company contraction, restoring consistent execution after ~70% reduction in engineering headcount
  • Maintained team output and velocity by leading adoption of AI-assisted development workflows, enabling same-day bug triage and faster iteration cycles
  • Owned frontend architecture and user experience across the entire product, including onboarding, navigation, payments, and betting flows in multiple regulated markets
  • Reduced time-to-first-byte from ~5s to ~0.5s through SSR performance improvements, memory leak fixes, and frontend optimization, improving page speed, SEO, and user experience
  • Led development of core user-facing systems including registration flows (KYC, OTP, compliance), cashier redesign, and real-time sportsbook experiences across regulated markets
  • Partnered closely with Product and Design to scope and deliver UI-heavy features, influencing UX decisions, simplifying implementation, and balancing usability with technical constraints
  • Acted as frontend authority and design partner, guiding component systems, design consistency, and implementation feasibility across all product surfaces
  • Owned vendor evaluation and integration strategy (build vs buy), including major platform integrations aligned with Node.js, REST APIs, and PostgreSQL systems
  • Contributed to product and engineering readiness for TSX public listing, including audit processes, compliance systems, and production stability
  • Established async communication and onboarding practices for a globally distributed team, improving collaboration and ramp-up effectiveness

Product Engineer

Loot Market

Jul 2016 — Sep 2017

Early-stage marketplace startup where I owned product development end-to-end.

  • Built and launched a digital trading marketplace, owning frontend architecture (Vue/Nuxt, SSR) and core user workflows
  • Developed Node.js-based automation systems for real-time trading and transaction processing
  • Designed and implemented key product features including buy/sell flows, inventory systems, and transaction interfaces

Frontend Developer → Senior Frontend Developer

Idea Couture

Apr 2009 — Jun 2016

Innovation consultancy (acquired by Cognizant), delivering enterprise and experimental digital products.

  • Led frontend development for enterprise platforms, focusing on performance, usability, and cross-browser compatibility
  • Grew from sole frontend developer to senior developer and team lead within a 10-person engineering team
  • Mentored junior developers and contributed to hiring and team development
  • Established frontend standards, code review practices, and delivery processes in a cross-functional environment

Skills

Software Engineering Leadership: Software Engineering Management, Frontend Engineering Leadership, Team Building, Hiring, Onboarding, Performance Management, Mentorship, Distributed Teams, Cross-Functional Leadership, Stakeholder Communication, Delivery Planning, Engineering Strategy

Frontend & Product Engineering: TypeScript, JavaScript, React, Next.js, Vue, Nuxt, UI Architecture, Design Systems, Component Architecture, Web Performance, SSR, UX Engineering, Product Engineering, Real-Time User Interfaces

Backend & Platform: Node.js, REST APIs, PostgreSQL, MySQL, Cloudflare Workers, AWS, Docker, CI/CD, Datadog, Production Operations, Vendor Integrations, Build vs Buy Decisions

Modern Engineering Workflow: AI-Assisted Development, Agentic Workflows, Code Review, Technical Strategy, Incident Triage, Regulated Markets, Compliance Workflows, Engineering Process Design

Education

Diploma, Digital Media Arts

Seneca College of Applied Arts and Technology

Sep 2007 — Jun 2009