Emily Smithson
Portrait of Emily Smithson

About

Senior Flutter Developer · Bristol, UK

I'm a senior Flutter developer who specialises in solving problems — the kind other teams inherit and struggle with. Messy repos with no clear architecture. AI-generated code that looks fine until it hits production. Half-finished prototypes that need someone to take them start to finish. I come in, figure out what's actually broken, and ship working software.

That approach is how I built Melody from zero: co-founder and sole mobile developer of a women's health platform with an AI-powered Menstrual Coach. Full-stack delivery — Melos monorepo, Vertex AI with RAG and function calling, 14+ tracking dimensions, RevenueCat freemium monetisation, 250+ tests (unit through Patrol E2E), and automated Fastlane delivery to the App Store and Play Store.

Before Melody I led a greenfield rewrite at HomeLink and spent two and a half years on Nextbase's flagship iQ dash cam app as part of a 10-person Flutter team. Strong communication comes from a prior career in mathematics teaching — I explain trade-offs clearly to technical and non-technical stakeholders alike. Outside client work I've shipped 8+ independent apps, mentor aspiring developers, and founded Flutter SouthWest, Bristol's Flutter meetup (supported by Women's Tech Hub).

Community & leadership

  • Founder & Organiser

    Flutter SouthWest

    Bristol's Flutter developer meetup, supported by Women's Tech Hub.

  • Flutter Developer Mentor

    Women's Tech Hub

    I mentored an aspiring Flutter developer into the industry.

  • Chair

    Redland Green Community Group

  • Trustee (Secretary)

    Cabot District Scout Council

Education

  • 2000

    BA (Hons) Mathematics and Philosophy

    University of Bristol

  • 2001

    ISEB Qualified Software Tester

  • 2004

    PGCE in Mathematics

    University of Bristol

  • 1996

    European Baccalaureate (75%)

    European School, Luxembourg

Languages

  • English
  • French
  • Italian
  • Spanish
  • German

Technical skills

Core

Flutter Dart Clean Architecture Bloc Cubit

Backend

Firebase Auth Firestore Cloud Functions Analytics Crashlytics App Check

Quality

Unit tests Widget tests Golden tests Patrol E2E BDD / Gherkin

Tooling

GitHub Actions Widgetbook Melos Shorebird Sentry Fastlane

Other

RevenueCat Stripe Go Router Vertex AI HealthKit Figma