Max Abbot

Data Engineer @ Parallel42 · Christchurch, NZ

max@maxabbot.com · GitHub · LinkedIn · CV ↓ ·● open to work

Kia ora, I'm Max. At Parallel42 I build and look after the payment and integration systems for a NZ lender, and I build a few things of my own outside work.

Experience

Parallel42 — Data Engineer

2025 — Present

Sole developer on a NZ consumer lender's payment platform (about 1,600 active customers, tens of thousands of dollars in direct debits a week). Took it over half-working, fixed the direct-debit retry cycle and the payment tracking between the bank and Mambu, and built or rebuilt its reconciliation, audit and daily-checklist screens so the ops team can see where every payment stands, which built the business's confidence in it and cut much of the manual fixing
Built and maintain 23 independently deployed AWS Lambda services for the lender that keep Mambu and HubSpot in sync, generate customer documents (statements, settlement and variation letters), send arrears reminders, create payment links, validate bank accounts, flag faulty loan applications and produce an affordability workbook for every credit assessment (30 to 60 a day)
Added re-runs and refinance support to the lender's broker credit-decisioning API, which makes about 720 decisions a month
Helped move the lender off its old systems and onto Mambu and HubSpot
Build the tools the ops team uses every day, working with them directly to figure out what they need

Parallel42 — Data Engineering Intern

2023 — 2025

Built automated data pipelines in Google Cloud Platform to collect, process, and present data in Snowflake, designed for simple SaaS deployment using Terraform
Developed and maintained data models across Snowflake, Azure SQL, and Synapse, ensuring accuracy and consistency for reporting and analysis
Automated ETL workflows with Azure Function Apps and Data Factory, improving reliability and reducing manual maintenance
Worked with regional councils, private businesses, and partner consultancies to deliver tailored data solutions
Used a range of cloud technologies (Azure, GCP, AWS) for integration, storage, and deployment

Alliance Group Ltd — Business Intelligence Developer Intern

2022 — 2023

Developed dimensional models for new data analytics framework in dbt and Snowflake
Participated in code reviews and worked in a development team using the Agile framework
Created Jinja macros in dbt to assist and accelerate development
Wrote wiki articles for common issues and setup guides

Selected Work

Lender payment platform

NZ consumer lender · live · sole developer

I took this system over half-working and have been its only developer since. I fixed the direct-debit retry cycle and the payment tracking between the bank and Mambu, including dishonours, and built or rebuilt the reconciliation, audit and daily-checklist screens so the ops team can see where every payment stands. It handles tens of thousands of dollars in direct debits a week for about 1,600 customers, and the business now relies on it with much less manual fixing.

Built with: Python · FastAPI · React · PostgreSQL · DynamoDB · AWS · Mambu

Lender integrations

NZ consumer lender · live

I built and look after 23 independently deployed AWS Lambda services for the lender that keep Mambu and HubSpot in sync, generate customer documents like statements and settlement letters, send arrears reminders, create payment links, validate bank accounts, flag faulty loan applications and build an affordability workbook for every credit assessment, 30 to 60 a day.

Built with: Python · Node.js · AWS Lambda · SQS · DynamoDB · HubSpot

Broker CRM

Mortgage brokerage · in daily use

My dad's mortgage brokerage uses this every day to keep track of about 500 loans worth around $120M. It imports their XPlan export, warns them when fixed rates and interest-only periods are coming up for review, and records every change in an audit log the database writes itself.

Built with: Tauri · SvelteKit · TypeScript · SQLite

Home lab on NixOS

Personal · live

My home server, rebuilt from Proxmox containers into a NixOS config I can reinstall from the repo. Nothing is open to the internet; I get in over Tailscale. It backs up to Backblaze B2 every night, a Raspberry Pi checks the backups, and I've tested a restore.

Built with: NixOS · Tailscale · restic · sops

NixOS workstations

Personal · public repo

The setup for my desktop, two laptops and a test VM lives in one Nix flake. Each machine picks the parts it needs, like NVIDIA drivers or gaming, instead of copying another machine's config.

Built with: NixOS · Nix flakes · Home Manager · Hyprland

Education

University of Canterbury — BE (Hons), Mechatronics Engineering

2021 — 2025

2022 Tohu Kahurangi recipient for Athletics
Final year project involved working as part of a team to produce an end-to-end system for monitoring fatigue and crash detection for truck drivers
Other group projects included developing a fitness tracker, programming an FPGA calculator, optimising a C FEM model to run on hardware, and a robotics competition
Relevant skills covered: Python, C, embedded software and computer systems, deep/machine learning, statistical analysis
Member of UC IEEE, UC TronSoc, UC Amateur Sports and UC Women in Tech

Skills

Languages Python, TypeScript, SQL, Bash

Backend & Data FastAPI, PostgreSQL, DynamoDB, Snowflake, dbt, Power BI

Cloud AWS (Lambda, Step Functions, SQS, ECS, App Runner, S3), Azure (Functions, Data Factory, Synapse), GCP (BigQuery)

Frontend React, SvelteKit

Integrations HubSpot, Mambu, REST APIs, Webhooks

Infrastructure & Tooling Terraform / OpenTofu, Docker, GitHub Actions, NixOS, Claude Code

Open Source

nix

NixOS Repo

QML

Outside Work

Most of my spare time goes on the gym, basketball, gigs and gaming.
2021 and 2022 NZ U20 Discus Champion
2022 and 2025 Canterbury Premier Division Basketball

Get in Touch

Have a project in mind or want to talk opportunities? Send a note and I'll get back to you, or email max@maxabbot.com directly.