Chris Leonard!
Senior iOS Engineer at Atom Bank
Beyond Type 1 Global | STEM Ambassador
Newcastle, UK
Welcome
My name is Chris Leonard, and I am a Senior iOS Engineer with several years of experience building, evolving, and maintaining production-scale mobile applications in highly regulated environments.
I specialise in native Apple platform development, with deep expertise across iOS and macOS. My work focuses on clean architecture, modern Swift practices, performance, and long-term maintainability. I have led platform-level initiatives including SwiftUI adoption, CI/CD modernisation, and large-scale codebase evolution.
Outside of my day-to-day role, I spend a significant amount of my free time keeping up to date with new and emerging technologies, and working on personal app projects such as PilotPad Pro. These projects allow me to experiment, learn, and apply new ideas beyond my professional work.
Alongside software engineering, I am also a rated aeroplane and helicopter pilot. Aviation has strongly influenced my approach to engineering, reinforcing a focus on safety, precision, reliability, and well-designed systems.
Personal Projects
Outside of work I enjoy building and experimenting with new ideas — from macOS utilities to aviation-focused iOS apps and applied machine learning.
DevKit-Pro
A macOS app aimed at improving developer workflows and productivity. Focused on a clean native experience, fast iteration, and helpful tools that developers use daily.
Diabetes Insight Model
An AI project exploring how pattern detection and personalised insights can help people better understand and manage diabetes data. Designed with privacy and responsible use in mind and not intended as a substitute for medical advice.
Skills
Frontend
Backend
Tooling & Other
Work Experience
Senior iOS Engineer
Atom Bank
Newcastle, United Kingdom
I have led the ongoing transition of the codebase from UIKit to SwiftUI, helping to define architectural patterns, drive adoption across the team, and ensure the migration improves long-term maintainability and development velocity.
Alongside product development, I modernised our CI/CD pipeline by spearheading the move from self-hosted GitLab runners to Xcode Cloud, improving build reliability, feedback times, and alignment with Apple’s ecosystem.
I have also architected and planned a wider platform evolution, including modularisation of the codebase and preparation for Swift 6 adoption, laying the groundwork for work due to be delivered in the coming year.
iOS Developer
Atom Bank
Durham, United Kingdom
I joined Atom Bank in April 2019 as part of their iOS development team. Within this role my main responsibility is with the development of the Atom Bank iOS mobile application using the Swift 5 development. This position involves working closely with the User Experience and Customer Experience teams to ensure standards are achieved.
Mobile App Developer
Nebula Labs
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, United Kingdom
Within this development role, I was part of a team creating both native iOS & Android Applications using the latest tools and languages. Applications are planned, designed, prototyped and developed. This position gives me the chance to work on some great upcoming applications using a sprint style development method.
This experience is key, from planning the sprint, and dealing with issues along the way while further developing my knowledge and developing new skills. Everyday is different, every project is unique which is great for motivation.
Mobile Developer
Freelance
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, United Kingdom
Since 2015, I’ve worked as a freelance mobile developer across a broad range of projects — from personal app ideas to commercial client work. This includes utilities for developers, aviation-related tools, and health-focused apps.
I specialise in native development for iOS and macOS using Swift and SwiftUI, with an emphasis on clean architecture, performance, and usability. Several of my apps have been released to the App Store and are used by a global audience.
In addition to personal and open-source projects, I’ve delivered freelance work through platforms such as Fiverr and PeoplePerHour, helping clients prototype, develop, and troubleshoot their mobile apps.
IT Hardware Engineer
One IT Services & Solutions
Teesside, United Kingdom
I previously worked as a Hardware Engineer at One IT Services and Solutions via an Apprenticeship. We supported the IT within the local schools, from whiteboards, user accounts, software and networking. I gained many skills and techniques while working here, that I have since developed further.
I was responsible for managing the Staff and Student user accounts/email addresses day to day, also managing the main server infrastructure at each School assigned. From this role I received great experience in a Helpdesk environment, with both answering support calls and keeping up to date with the web Helpdesk reporting system.
Education
BSc (Hons) Computer Science
University of Teesside
Middlesbrough, United Kingdom
A forward thinking and hands on programme that blended foundational computer science theory with real world application. I built a strong technical base in software engineering, systems architecture, databases, and secure computing, while developing a passion for building high-quality native applications.
My academic journey sparked a long-term interest in machine learning and artificial intelligence. Modules such as Artificial Intelligence Systems and AI Programming (Clojure) laid the groundwork for my later AI-driven projects, where I now explore speech processing, health insights, and user-personalised automation.
The course encouraged critical thinking and clean design, culminating in a final year project focused on mobile app development. This experience directly influenced my career direction and continues to shape how I approach engineering problems today - combining structured thought with curiosity-driven experimentation.
My Learning Resources
I have developed a simple series of lessons and introductions to help you get started with Swift. Each lesson is in the form of a Swift Playground file, simply download and then read through the code to help you get started. This includes everything from learning about variables to error handling. Once you have completed this, there is a series of sample projects to complete, this will help you put what you have learnt into practice.
*The Swift & CreateML Logo are Property of Apple*
Articles
Selected writing and commentary.
How AI coding assistants are hurting junior iOS developers
A look at how autocomplete and AI tools shape learning paths and expectations for new developers.
Contact Me
cleonarddev@icloud.com