Now that 2026 is here and AI development has become so much more exciting and accessible, I’ve decided to step back into the occasional freelance project to expand my knowledge, experiment with new ideas, and build fun AI-powered tools and workflows.

I built and maintain the current paulrothesay.co.uk platform as a place to showcase my freelance development work, previous projects, and the kind of systems I enjoy building. It’s designed both as a portfolio and as a way for potential clients to get a feel for how I work and the technology I use.

The site itself is also an ongoing personal AI experiment where I test and develop ideas around automation and AI-assisted workflows. Alongside the public website, it includes a private management dashboard, CRM, email integration, live chat, WhatsApp routing, SEO auditing tools, memory systems, and controlled AI agent tasks.

Developed repeatable ways to use AI-assisted coding, infrastructure automation, dashboards, and business process tooling for faster full-stack delivery.

Built and helped grow PC Salvage LTD into a highly automated eCommerce platform integrated with eBay, Amazon, Temu, Ebuyer, Google Shopping, and other online marketplaces.

Developed automation systems to scan, health check, and benchmark hard drives before automatically generating product listings and syncing inventory across 6+ sales platforms in real time. The goal was to reduce manual work, speed up processing, and make large-scale stock management far more efficient.

Built bespoke web portal and internal CRM on AWS with autoscaling, redundancy, API integrations, and B2B insurance claims workflow support.

Created a website for FM Solutions and helped set up the basic online marketing and call tracking around it.

As with the PGS Group work, this included setting up virtual numbers so campaign performance could be measured by tracking inbound call volume, then configuring Google AdWords to drive enquiries and make the campaigns easier to monitor.

Worked on web development and internal systems for Value Checkers, an insurance and electronics repair company based in Aylesbury.

Helped build and improve tools used for customer communication, claim handling, repairs, and day-to-day business operations. The work focused on creating practical systems that made processes smoother, easier to manage, and more reliable for both staff and customers.

Built Phonify as a bespoke virtual phone number and SMS platform for UK businesses, letting customers buy local area code numbers for £1 per month and redirect calls to any mobile or landline.

The system recorded calls, tracked enquiries, and gave customers a dashboard showing which marketing channels were generating phone leads. It was an early attempt at turning telecoms, call tracking, and small business analytics into a simple self-service platform, and parts of the idea later folded into Blackfire Digital and Blackfire AI.

Set up Blackfire Digital LTD and blackfire-ai.co.uk as my own web design and development company, focused on freelance contracting, hosting, infrastructure, and bespoke business systems.

Provided services including website development, web hosting, domains, email systems, virtual numbers, automation tooling, and custom-built platforms for clients. The project also became a playground for experimenting with AI-assisted development, infrastructure automation, and new ideas around business tooling and online services.

Created the website for PGS Group at pgsolutions.co.uk and helped set up the basic online marketing and call tracking around it.

The work included setting up virtual numbers so campaign performance could be measured by tracking how many calls came in, then configuring Google AdWords to drive enquiries and make the campaigns easier to monitor.

Worked on the migration of the remaining Seekhana / iCampus platform over to the Italian team behind DB Game Academy, who went on to launch a physical game development academy in Milan alongside an accompanying online learning platform.

Helped transition and adapt the existing systems, infrastructure, and learning tools for the new academy setup. Unlike some of the previous iterations, this version actually survived, the website is still live today, still looks good, and the academy itself became a real physical training centre, which I’m genuinely happy about.

Built a bespoke forum into the Unity3D marketplace, implemented user account management and license activation, and worked on large-world streaming concepts.

Worked on the Seekhana / Digital Bros Game Academy project, which was essentially a rebrand of the original Dark Red Inc iCampus platform. A completely new management team came in and proceeded to groupthink the life out of the project with endless bizarre ideas, questionable decisions, questionable leadership, and generally ran the whole company into the ground.

Despite that, the original iCampus platform itself was still technically very solid and extremely advanced for its time, providing a full online learning environment for game development students long before modern online learning systems became common. On the bright side, the project helped fund the building of my first datacentre and proper server infrastructure setup, which ended up being far more useful in the long run anyway.

Worked on the launch of Dark Red Inc, a new company created following the success of the Get Into Games platform, with a focus on online game development education and industry-recognised certification.

Helped build the “iCampus” online learning portal, giving students access to courses, learning materials, and certification systems through a fully online platform. Although the project never fully took off commercially, the technology and ideas behind it were far ahead of their time, and the platform itself was extremely advanced for the era it was built in.

Worked as lead developer on a social learning and course platform with staff controls, metrics, social login, chat, course tracking, payments, and global delivery infrastructure.

Worked with DR Studios on both their company website and the “Get Into Games” online learning platform, designed to help students learn the fundamentals of game development.

Built the online campus on a LAMP stack, allowing students to access lessons, resources, and learning tools entirely online. At the time, this was several years before online learning platforms became common, making it a very forward-thinking and innovative project for its era.

Built and localised an OpenCart site for Georgian search requirements, combining ecommerce setup with search-focused implementation.

Worked on local lead-generation, ecommerce, eBay, Google Merchant, and Google Ads related web systems for vending businesses.

Integrated a Second Life combat system with an external PHP/MySQL database for player statistics, purchases, subscriptions, usage logs, and activity tracking.

Built a website with a staff-managed admin area so content could be updated without editing code directly.

Started building practical HTML, PHP, and MySQL websites for small businesses, including editable admin areas and straightforward public web presences.

Worked at McDonald's making Quarter Pounders and Big Tasty burgers.