Architecture over heroics
Sustainable frontend systems aren't built by a single person working nights. They're built when teams share a clear architecture, a common language, and the confidence to make decisions without being blocked.
she/her
Lead Engineer at DISCO · Platform Modernisation · Technical Strategy · Team Leadership
I'm a Lead Engineer at DISCO, a platform used across the music industry. With 15+ years in frontend engineering, I help teams ship confidently through clear architecture, strong technical direction, and thoughtful collaboration. Previously, I led frontend strategy across 30+ digital platforms at Cengage.

01 / About
I've spent 15+ years leading frontend engineering across large-scale SaaS products. What I love most is the people, the decisions, and watching a team go from struggling to shipping confidently. Since June 2026, I've been a Lead Engineer at DISCO, a platform used across the music industry.
Previously, I spent ten years at Cengage, growing from Full Stack Engineer to Staff Frontend Engineer / Engineering Lead before finishing in May 2026. I led frontend strategy across 30+ digital platforms serving thousands of students and educators, built distributed teams across Australia, the Philippines, and Ukraine, and introduced testing practices that reduced manual QA by around 90%. Platform modernisation and bringing mobile delivery in-house helped teams ship with confidence.
My approach to AI in engineering is simple: when an AI agent can handle a task and the team understands the fundamentals behind it, use it. That frees engineers to focus on architecture, hard tradeoffs, mentoring, and the decisions that need human judgment. I use GitHub Copilot, Claude, and Codex daily to improve delivery and raise the quality bar across the team.
02 / Experience
DISCO
Cengage
Cengage
Cengage
European Cuisine Of Australia Pty Ltd
BPR
Compuco Inter S.A
03 / Skills
04 / Philosophy
Some things I believe strongly about how great frontend teams are built and led.
Sustainable frontend systems aren't built by a single person working nights. They're built when teams share a clear architecture, a common language, and the confidence to make decisions without being blocked.
The best frontend work happens when designers and engineers are aligned early, not handing off deliverables, but shaping systems together. I've spent my career sitting in that intersection, and it's where the highest-quality work comes from.
The most valuable thing a frontend lead can produce isn't code, it's clarity. Clear architecture, clear standards, clear decisions. When teams know what good looks like and why, they stop asking permission and start delivering.
When an AI agent can handle a task and the team understands the fundamentals behind it, use it. Engineers still own the judgment, verify the output, and make the architectural decisions. AI should free us to focus on hard tradeoffs, mentoring, and the work that needs human thinking.
"My job isn't to be the best engineer on the team. It's to make the team's engineering better, through structure, direction, and the kind of collaboration that makes hard problems feel manageable."
05 / Engineering Resources
Practical tools and reference guides built for frontend leads, staff engineers, and teams that want to make better architecture decisions.
06 / Recommendations
Feedback from people I've worked alongside at Cengage.
"Mahsa truly stood out as a Frontend Lead. She played a key role in shaping the frontend architecture across projects, guiding both internal and third-party developers toward clean, scalable, and maintainable solutions. Mahsa introduced strong coding standards, carried out thoughtful code reviews, and helped the team consistently deliver high-quality work. She has a clear, no-nonsense approach to her work, cutting through complexity and keeping the team focused on what truly matters. We worked closely together on the ExamPlus project, and it was great to see it go on to win recognition at the Educational Publishing Awards Australia, a testament to the quality and effort she brings to her work."
"Mahsa is an exceptional senior front-end engineer who consistently delivers high-quality, scalable solutions in complex environments. She brings a strong command of modern frontend technologies, particularly React, where she recently built a beautiful education eBook platform. She approaches engineering with a clear focus on maintainability, performance, and accessibility. Beyond her technical capability, Mahsa is a fantastic collaborator with a fun and quirky sense of humour. Her calm, pragmatic mindset is especially valuable on high-risk or fast-moving projects, where clarity and ownership really matter."
"Mahsa was a longstanding member of the team at Cengage ANZ during my tenure there. She consistently performed above expectations, was reliable and positively influenced other team members. I strongly recommend Mahsa to anyone seeking her skills."
"I've been working with Mahsa for 6 years, including 3 years as her direct manager. She consistently delivers high-quality solutions and champions front-end best practices across the team. She brings a pragmatic approach to development, carefully weighing cost/benefit decisions when coding and refactoring. She has also been a great asset in setting front end development standards for the team and reviewing code provided by internal and vendor contributors. Mahsa has a distinctive sense of humour and brings plenty of personality to the team. I have really enjoyed collaborating with her on app features, brainstorming ideas in the office and turning them into implemented features within hours. I highly recommend Mahsa as a Lead Front-End Software Engineer."
"Mahsa's openness and positive attitude were some of the many strengths she brought to her roles at Cengage. I have known Mahsa for many years through her interactions with our HR department, and during this time she always approached any conversations with professionalism and warmth."
"Mahsa is a great colleague to work with, not only is her work pixel perfect and matches the designs but she has an infectious personality. It can be hard to find an engineer with such a good sense of humour. When working, Mahsa is focused and completes everything on time. She is always available for questions and discussions and always open."