Maarten Tolhuijs Senior Software Engineer Let's talk

Senior full-stack engineer · Remote · CET, US overlap OK

I design systems
and still write the code.

When something is missing I build it: seven Omarchy desktop plugins because my own machine needed them, a chess coach because I wanted one, and at Leads.io a central API that ran for years with nobody thinking about it. Eleven years of web products, five of them leading teams and still writing the code.

Before Linux pulled me into programming, I studied counterpoint at the conservatory in Alkmaar. Piano Sonata No. 2

Let's talk Download CV
GitHub LinkedIn Laravel News
Maarten Tolhuijs seated in a glasshouse
After-hours rabbit holes Chess, web tools & whatever my Linux desktop is missing
Open to senior full-stack roles Based in the Netherlands · US overlap is fine

Web & product work

Selected work.

Public products, internal systems, and one open source project that still gets attention. Ordered for the hiring conversation, not by chronology.

01 AI chess coach / Vue.js
Chess Console showing a chess position with Stockfish analysis and AI coaching

Chess Console

I wanted chess analysis to explain itself instead of only showing a better move. Chess Console combines Stockfish with AI explanations, opening detection, move visualization, and PGN/FEN input.

Vue.jsStockfishAI coaching
Visit Chess Console
02 Open source credential / Laravel
Laravel Schematics showing model relationships being created visually

Laravel Schematics

I built it to draw Eloquent models and relationships instead of keeping the whole schema in my head. Featured by Laravel News; passed 1,400 GitHub stars.

Laravel1.4k+ GitHub starsNo longer maintained
View on GitHub Laravel News feature
03 Agent-first CLI / Node

Omakit

Tested plumbing, the marketplace's own checks, and a disposable Omarchy to test in.

CLI Node 22+ Zero dependencies
GitHub npm
Merged upstream Laravel Self-Diagnosis / Beyond Code Added detection for undefined environment variables referenced through env() and getenv(), including tests and English/German translations. PR #84

Experience

What I've been doing since 2015.

The job grew from backend development into technical leadership. I led two teams, made the technical calls, and kept working in the codebase. Managing from a distance has never appealed to me.

Download the full CV
2026

AlisQI

Senior Full Stack Developer

Netherlands, remote · quality-management SaaS

  • Rewrote the customer dashboard: replaced a serialized database BLOB that was loaded on every request with cached JSON, cutting memory use and response times.
  • Restructured the "Solvers" feature set into scoped modules with explicit access rules, paired with a colleague.
2021 - 2026

Leads.io (formerly Social Blue)

Lead Software Development Engineer / Technical Lead

Hoorn, Netherlands · performance-marketing group: 11 offices, 9 countries, ~240 people after the 2022 merger

  • Led two teams (Client Portal: 5 engineers; Finance/Count: 3) in an engineering department of ~20, while writing production code throughout.
  • Co-designed and built the event-driven central API connecting the company's seven internal services (client portal, finance, lead collection, landing-page builder, lead marketplace, revenue tracking, NetSuite). Owned idempotency, sync/async boundaries and data corrections. Ran for years without needing attention.
  • Replaced live BigQuery queries in client reporting with hourly, client-scoped cached JSON: report load time from ~27 s to ~250 ms for 100+ clients, and no cross-client data exposure through reporting queries.
  • Rewrote the monthly lead-approval flow in the client portal (clients review and reject delivered leads). From the most unstable system in the department to no incidents in its final year.
  • Built the Oracle NetSuite integration (invoicing, multi-currency lead bundles, customer management) as a reusable Eloquent-style module; the team shipped features and resolved tickets faster against one consistent interface.
2018 - 2020

Social Blue

Back-end Developer

Hoorn, Netherlands

  • Built "Count", the in-house finance system (invoicing, lead bundles, currency conversion, customer records), later partly superseded by the NetSuite integration above.
  • Developed the client portal and shared APIs as the company expanded internationally.
2016 - 2017

Betty Blocks

Software Developer / Full-stack Developer

Obdam, Netherlands · low-code platform startup

  • Product engineering on a drag-and-drop application builder; worked through the migration from Ruby to Elixir/Phoenix.
Earlier career 2015 - 2016
Code24 Software Developer, 2016 Enhanced features for mConsole, a medical web application, using Zend and ExtJS/Sencha.
Quickwins Nederland Software Developer, 2015 - 2016 Built client measurement applications using Cordova for iPad installations deployed nationwide; moved from Java/Android into PHP, JavaScript and Laravel.

Signature chapter / Omarchy

I fix my own Linux desktop in public.

I use Omarchy every day, so I build the pieces I miss (theme switching, disk insight, on-screen keyboard) and publish them. These are the plugins I've shipped so far.

Built for my own desktop 07 marketplace plugins QML + Quickshell Synced every 5 minutes
01 Fathom preview in the Omarchy Plugin Marketplace
Verified Overlay / Desktop

Fathom

A depth-based Alt-Tab: every window recedes into the distance by how long ago you last used it. Hold Alt, dive with Tab, release to focus.

Marketplace Source
02 Omarchy Theme Manager previewing the Aetheria theme in the native full-screen picker
Verified Overlay / Appearance

Omarchy Theme Manager

I built this because changing an Omarchy theme meant jumping between tools. It puts themes and Aether-backed wallpapers in one full-screen picker.

Marketplace Source
03 Omarchy News Radar preview in the Omarchy Plugin Marketplace
Verified Bar widget / Productivity

Omarchy News Radar

A keyboard-first front page for meaningful Omarchy activity.

Marketplace Source
04 Omarchy Disk Lens showing its safe move-to-Trash confirmation over a storage analysis
Verified Bar widget / System

Omarchy Disk Lens

I wanted to see what was filling my disk without reaching for another terminal command. Disk Lens shows the large branches first and moves files to Trash instead of deleting them.

Marketplace Source
Bar widget / Hardware Omarchy On-Screen Keyboard Bar widget / System Sidecar Bar / Desktop Omacrunch Omarchy Plugin Marketplace View all plugins by Maarten Tolhuijs

How I work

What tends to show up.

Whether I'm leading a team, shipping a product, or publishing a Linux plugin for my own machine.

01

Stay close to the code

I set technical direction and still write and review. Mentoring without disappearing into meetings.

02

From UI to the ugly bits

APIs, finance flows, client portals, and the integrations a business leans on when nobody is watching.

03

Publish what I use

Open source tools and Omarchy plugins for my own desktop. If something is missing, I build it and put it out.

04

Beyond the demo

Production debugging, CI, and disposable VMs when a change can hit a real desktop, not a one-shot walkthrough.

$ gh repo list mtolhuys QML / Shell / JavaScript / Python / PHP / Vue / Blade / Java
Stack PHPLaravelPythonSQLJavaScriptVue.jsReactBladeCSSViteQMLQuickshellBashLinuxHyprlandTailscaleKubernetesCI
Earlier Elixir / PhoenixRubyJavaCordovaZendExtJS / Sencha
Maarten Tolhuijs playing the piano This was not the original plan.

Before software

I studied classical composition.

Before I wrote software, I wrote music: counterpoint and composition at the conservatory in Alkmaar.

Curiosity about Linux pulled me into programming. Java came first, then PHP and JavaScript. I did not plan the career change; it just stuck.

Composed + played / 2009 Piano Sonata No. 2 in C minor Three movements ↗

Contact

Get in touch.

I'm looking for senior full-stack product-engineering roles. Based in the Netherlands, remote friendly, US overlap welcome. The CV has the longer timeline.

Or email info@mtolhuijs.nl · Download CV