About Szymon Pajka

I build web products used by millions. I design the systems that make them scale. And I’ve been doing this long enough to trust my gut when it matters.

Hi, I’m Szymon. I’m a Lead Web Developer and Design System Engineer at Motorway, the UK’s fastest-growing used car marketplace. I was the first frontend hire, and nearly seven years later I’m still here, from early-stage product to Unicorn to market leader. I kickstarted Motorway Pro, co-built the design system that powers every product the company ships, and was there from day one of Motorway Pay, an industry-first payment solution that has processed over £10bn.

With over two decades of building for the web, I’ve worked with a diverse range of companies, from pre-seed startups and software houses to the one that became a household name. Taste matters more than most people admit, and I trust mine. I have a good eye for what’s next and I’m not afraid to adopt early when something earns it. This page is built with Astro and deployed to Cloudflare. I write code in Zed and Helix, dictate with Voice Ink, and reach for Claude when it makes sense. Oh, and I use Nix, by the way.

I mentor engineers, I help teams make hard decisions, and people tend to come to me when they’re stuck, not just when they’re assigned to.

I live in London, I’m a home barista (ask my wife!) and I happily nerd out about coffee, design systems, and web development.