Hi! I'm Matthew
My current role: head of architecture for the BBC's digital products, including BBC iPlayer and BBC News.
Contact
| https://twitter.com/matthew1000 | |
| https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewclarkuk/ | |
| matthew [at] hithere.uk |
Conference talks
Architecture in the Age of Autonomous Code
As AI systems become capable of writing, modifying, and operating software autonomously, we are entering an era where code is abundant and change is continuous. But if software increasingly builds itself, what exactly are we architecting?
Craft Conference, Budapest, Hungary
June 2026
Architecture in the Lead: Scaling Today, Shaping Tomorrow
With Ian Arundale. How architecture helps the BBC scale for today while shaping for tomorrow.
QCon London
Apr 7, 2025
BBC Online: Architecting for Scale with the Cloud and Serverless
How the BBC architects its online services for scale using the cloud and serverless.
QCon Plus
Oct 24, 2021
Servers are dead! How architecture in the 2020s is being revolutionised by serverless
How serverless changes our approaches to architecting software.
AWS Users Group UK
June 3, 2020
GStreamer for cloud-based live video handling
How the BBC uses GStreamer to manipulate live video. (Back then it was a prototype; now it is used in production.)
GStreamer Conference, Edinburgh, UK
Oct 28, 2018
Watch out! The nanoservices are coming
A serverless approach based on multiple small parts.
Tech Edge, Leeds, UK
Apr 27, 2018
The Nanoservices Architecture That Powers BBC Online
A serverless approach based on Redis (AWS ElastiCache).
AWS re:Invent 2017, Las Vegas, NV
Nov 29, 2017
Watch out! The nanoservices are coming
A serverless approach based on multiple small parts.
O'Reilly Velocity 2017, London
Oct 19, 2017
Huge web platforms made with tiny parts
How the BBC uses microservices to power its websites and apps.
ScaleConf, CapeTown, South Africa
Apr 7, 2017
Node.js that's hugely reliable, fast, and scalable
A general talk on how Node.JS is used at the BBC.
NodeConf London
May 11, 2016
Building fast-updating websites using Socket.IO & React
How we built a websocket service, that scaled to over 1 million concurrent users, using Node.JS, Socket.io, and React.
(No online recording at present)NodeDay London
Jun 26, 2015
Servers are dead! How architecture in the 2020s is being revolutionised by serverless
(No online recording at present)
Build It Right Conference, Online
Nov 12, 2020
Panel: Olympics Technology & Connectivity
(No online recording at present)
World Broadcasters Union - International Media Connectivity Group, Dubrovnik, Croatia
Nov 17, 2016
Blogs, podcasts, articles and awards
Interview: AWS Innovation Publishing Day 2021
I was interviewed as part of this AWS event (track 3), on how the BBC has transformed its online proposition using the cloud.
Apr 14, 2021
Podcast: Matthew Clark on the BBC’s Migration from LAMP to the Cloud with AWS Lambda, React and CI/CD
The new architecture for the BBC’s online services; the challenges of using Lambda functions including cold start-up, function chaining, debugging and setting the memory profile; the role of DevOps and CI/CD; and the nature of a cloud transformation.
Mar 29, 2021
Blog: Moving BBC Online to the cloud
The culture & technology story of moving BBC Online to the cloud.
This story was also referenced by InfoQ, Computer Weekly, The Register, and The Serverless Edge.Oct 29, 2020
Award: 2nd place in the AWS DeepLens Challenge Hackathon
Dee, the DeepLens Educating Entertainer, using ML to interact with young children.
March 2018
Blog: Powering BBC Online with nanoservices
How we built a serverless solution before off-the-shelf serverless solutions (like Lambda) were fast enough to support web/API hosting.
Nov 28, 2017
Magazine article: How the BBC builds websites that scale
Seven techniques the BBC uses to create sites and apps that can handle millions of users simultaneously.
In .net magazine Jan 2017, then as a blog post, Jan 17, 2018
Blog: New Sport Pilots from Connected Studio
Prototyping ideas for BBC Sport Online
May 23, 2013
Blog: More traffic, more videos, more screens: building the BBC's Olympic site
The story of how we built the BBCs online coverage of London 2012, with over 2,500 hours of live video coverage.
Aug 16, 2012
GitHub repos
Unfortunately, many of my projects are not open-source. A couple that are:
BRAVE (Basic Realtime AV Editor)
A prototype for manipulating live video in the cloud.GStreamer Cheat Sheet
A reference for using GStreamer, particularly on the command line.
Favourite quotes
- "Fearlessness is the mother of reinvention"
- "Developing strategy is an intellectual activity. It involves discerning facts and applying rationality. Leadership is a moral activity. It involves relating to people and generating emotional commitment."
- "Tomorrow we will do beautiful things"