Bombadil Tomislav Hecimovic

You know your business.
I'll make the technical decisions with you,
then build what they lead to.

Most clients come to me the same way: a process running on spreadsheets, email and one person's memory, or an idea with nobody to build it, and a technical decision they can't judge alone. I start with the decisions: what to build, what to skip, what will bite you later. Then I build it, as the one senior engineer who ships it and stays. Croatia's power exchange has kept me since 2014.

Companies I've built for

How I work

See what's possible

You know your business better than anyone. Together we discover what technology can do for you, in plain language and small steps, without the jargon.

Get it built

From the first conversation to a working product: discovery, design, code, ship. No layers in between, simple and clear.

Keep it evolving

Delivery isn't the end. Working together over time, we adapt the product as your needs change.

What people I've worked with say

  • As a team lead, Tomislav has demonstrated excellent leadership skills. He has a deep understanding of his team members' personalities, knows how to motivate them, and consistently shows appreciation for their contributions.
    The Blockhouse Technology d.o.o. perf. review · 2024
  • Tomislav is very hands-on, enjoys taking on new challenges, and takes ownership of his work.
    Anki Zizic, Director at The Blockhouse Technology d.o.o. · 2021-2026 From a LinkedIn recommendation
  • Tomislav is a highly motivated individual whose dedication to the company's success is unquestionable. His excellent performance at the Oxford conference proves he is an ambassador for the product, capable of delivering quality results under pressure.
    The Blockhouse Technology d.o.o. perf. review · 2025
  • His structured and quality-focused approach has helped us save valuable time and project costs, while enabling us to deliver high-quality solutions efficiently and with confidence.
    Ante Mikulic, CEO at CROPEX d.o.o. · 2023-2026 From a LinkedIn recommendation
  • Tomislav has confirmed his technical capacity in being a very good tech lead… the perfect counterpart to PM.
    Qnective AG employee evaluation · 2018
  • He has demonstrated patience with the new team members, selflessly shared knowledge, helped them to a running start and demonstrated by example how to effectively approach problems as a team.
    The Blockhouse Technology d.o.o. perf. review · 2023
  • He approaches problems with energy, determination, and a genuine can-do attitude, always looking for practical solutions and following through on his commitments.
    Anki Zizic, Director at The Blockhouse Technology d.o.o. · 2021-2026 From a LinkedIn recommendation
  • Tomtom不仅是一位充满热情的项目经理,更是一位积极主动的问题解决者。他非常注重细节,并且总是主动承担责任来确保项目清晰推进。
    袁斐 (Yuan Fei), SSC Hainan · 2024
  • He is at his best when driving technical innovation through the lens of user experience and integration.
    The Blockhouse Technology d.o.o. perf. review · 2025
  • Most importantly, he places a strong emphasis on quality, ensuring that the final product is thoroughly tested, reliable, and fit for purpose.
    Ante Mikulic, CEO at CROPEX d.o.o. · 2023-2026 From a LinkedIn recommendation
  • Tomislav does what it takes to get things done. His team is one of the teams that is extremely reliable in terms of timed delivery.
    Qnective AG employee evaluation · 2017
  • He is comfortable leading projects, adapts quickly to changing priorities, and stays focused on delivering results.
    Anki Zizic, Director at The Blockhouse Technology d.o.o. · 2021-2026 From a LinkedIn recommendation
  • Tomislav has also made valuable contributions beyond his team acting as an interface and the first point of contact to our Chinese clients… In those tasks, his communication skills shine, and he represents TBTL Zagreb reliably and professionally.
    The Blockhouse Technology d.o.o. perf. review · 2024
  • I have always appreciated his willingness to step up when needed and his commitment to getting things done.
    Anki Zizic, Director at The Blockhouse Technology d.o.o. · 2021-2026 From a LinkedIn recommendation
  • Tomislav remains a go-to person to interact with customers and potential partners. He performs those duties to a very high level of quality, presenting a very positive and professional technical interface of TBTL ZG.
    The Blockhouse Technology d.o.o. perf. review · 2023
  • His strong problem-solving abilities and quick understanding of business processes enable him to deliver effective and practical solutions.
    Ante Mikulic, CEO at CROPEX d.o.o. · 2023-2026 From a LinkedIn recommendation
  • Tomislav has shown significant strengths in leadership and emotional intelligence, and he continues to be one of the key figures at TBTL.
    The Blockhouse Technology d.o.o. perf. review · 2024
  • I would confidently recommend Tomislav for a leadership role in software engineering.
    Anki Zizic, Director at The Blockhouse Technology d.o.o. · 2021-2026 From a LinkedIn recommendation
  • 他非常擅长应对需求不明确的情况,当客户方的需求模糊或不断变化时,他总能给出合理且具有前瞻性的建议,推动项目前进。
    袁斐 (Yuan Fei), SSC Hainan · 2024
  • Tomislav is a strong motivator who brings a positive, 'can-do' attitude to the company culture. He is highly responsible and engaging, often helping colleagues clear up their thinking through insightful challenges.
    The Blockhouse Technology d.o.o. perf. review · 2025
  • I would highly recommend working with him and would welcome the opportunity to cooperate with him again in the future.
    Ante Mikulic, CEO at CROPEX d.o.o. · 2023-2026 From a LinkedIn recommendation
  • Cordial, diplomatic, even in tough environment, excellent communication, pleasant to work with.
    Qnective AG employee evaluation · 2017
  • He has the drive and leadership potential to lead an engineering team successfully, and I'm confident he will make a positive impact wherever he goes.
    Anki Zizic, Director at The Blockhouse Technology d.o.o. · 2021-2026 From a LinkedIn recommendation

More recommendations on LinkedIn →

What that looks like in practice

You see progress every week, and a working product in months, not quarters.

  1. The first day

    The blueprint

    We start from your sketch, a napkin drawing is fine. I turn it into a blueprint: what we build, what we skip, and what it will take.

  2. The first weeks

    Mocks you can touch

    Clickable mobile and web mocks, so you see the product before a single line of code exists. Mocks are cheap to change, so we change them a lot.

  3. The first month

    A working core

    A real backend behind the mocks. The riskiest part gets built first, so surprises show up early, while they are still cheap.

  4. The first months

    The MVP

    The core grows into a minimum viable product: placeholders become real content, and it goes in front of its first users.

  5. When it's ready

    The product

    The polish pass. From MVP to the finished product: the remaining screens, the details, and the edge cases that make it complete.

  6. Ongoing

    Keep it evolving

    Ship, watch, improve. The product grows with your business, at whatever pace suits you.

Twenty years, a few highlights

  1. 2026

    Marine navigation in your pocket

    Blue Dolphin, Bombadil's own product: offline nautical charts, routes and trip recording for boating on the Croatian Adriatic, built with Flutter for Android and iOS. Launching soon.

    Simple, free navigation for the amateur skipper: 0 € and 0 bars of signal required

  2. 2024-2025

    EU digital identity, from spec to product

    Working with a team, I took the concept from the EU specification into a product: I designed the API for the backend services and the UX/UI of the digital identity wallet app, and worked on its implementation. Later I designed a system to showcase the technology and its APIs at demos and a conference talk.

    5 customer demos, 1 conference talk, 1 live partner integration

  3. 2023

    Two granted patents

    Co-inventor on two granted UK patents, both born from the custody service and trusted-computing work at TBTL Ltd.:

  4. 2023-2024

    National energy tenders

    I designed and built a renewable-energy tendering system for HROTE d.o.o., Croatia's energy market operator: organizing and announcing tenders, applications, approvals, and the full lifecycle of contract paperwork and client communication, for solar, wind, and biomass/biogas. Heavily tested and scrutinized for security.

    Built to replace thousands of hours of manual work per tender cycle

  5. 2019-2023

    Custody service

    A custody service signing close to 1,000 crypto transactions per minute inside a trusted execution environment (Intel SGX), built first in Java, then re-engineered in Rust. I owned the engineering relationship with our Chinese (SSC, OX Hainan) partners end to end: discovery, design, deployment and support, across language and time zones.

    1 year of development, then 8 quarterly releases refining the service on client feedback, each one led personally as the client-facing engineer

  6. 2019-2024

    Second team built

    Helped build the Zagreb office of TBTL Ltd. from day one: hiring, mentorship, and the work processes a team grows on, while wearing the hats of engineering manager, product owner, project manager, and team lead.

    From 3 to 20 engineers in 5 years

  7. 2019 - today

    Croatia's first power auction platform

    Designed, built and still maintained by me for CROPEX d.o.o., the national power exchange: auctions for guarantees of origin, power-loss compensation and energy derivatives. It replaced announcing auctions by hand, preparing and mailing paper bid envelopes, and calculating winners manually. Every national auction still runs on it.

    100+ auctions in 7 years, not one failed; ~25 working hours saved per participant, around a dozen participants per auction

  8. 2016 - today

    Accounting, clearing and invoicing

    I designed it, built it, and maintain it to this day: invoicing, clearing and cross-border flows for Day-Ahead and Intraday trading at CROPEX d.o.o., Croatia's power exchange. Ten years in daily production, busier every year since the merger with the Slovenian market.

    Tens of thousands of PDFs generated and 500+ hours of manual back-office work replaced, every month

  9. 2011

    First team built

    Set up Qnective's Zagreb office and grew the team from 2 to 11 engineers, while leading a remote five-person frontend team building administration tools for secure VoIP systems.

    From 2 to 11 engineers in Zagreb, plus a remote team of 5

  10. 2008

    A world first

    At fg microtec I invented and built the world's first VoIP application for BlackBerry, single-handedly: internet calling on a phone before app stores existed.

    Including an MSRP protocol module written from scratch

This is the short version. The full, dated history is on LinkedIn →

Four languages, on purpose

This site comes in English, Croatian, German, and Chinese: the languages of the colleagues and clients I've worked with in Zagreb, Zurich, Oxford, and Hainan. I don't speak all four fluently, but I've learned that meeting people in their own language, even imperfectly, goes a long way.

The tools I use most

Languages & runtimes

TypeScript Node.js Java Rust

Web frontend

Angular React

Mobile

Flutter Android iOS BlackBerry

Data & infrastructure

MySQL PostgreSQL Docker AWS

Security & identity

Intel SGX / TEE Digital identity (EUDI) VoIP / MSRP

Skills

System design Product engineering Team leadership AI-assisted development

Why work with one person (me)?

No telephone game
You talk to the person who designs, builds and ships. Nothing gets lost between a salesperson, a manager and a developer.
Experience behind every decision
Every decision is made by someone with twenty years of practice, not someone learning on your project.
Small and fast
No coordination overhead. You can start small and stay in control of the tempo and the focus. A first version in months, not quarters.
Plain language
You'll understand every step and every line on the invoice. What I can't explain simply, I don't build.
Built to last
My systems run in daily production for ten years and counting, with my personal guarantee: I still maintain and improve them. The design stays easy to change and adapt.
An honest "no"
If you don't need software, or you need a bigger team, I'll tell you.

Get in touch

Tell me what you're building, or what's slowing you down.
I usually reply within a day.

I'm open to the right role too. If you think we'd work well together, write to me.

Privacy: your name, email and message are used only so I can reply, and kept no longer than our correspondence requires.

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