Welcoming Michael Johnson as Our New Principal Systems Architect

Some introductions are overdue—this is one of them.

Michael Johnson joined Subtotal last year as our Principal Systems Architect. He's here to make the foundational calls that will determine how reliable, scalable, and maintainable our platform becomes as we grow.

Entirely self-taught, Michael brings deep expertise in systems, infrastructure, and automation forged across years at Galileo Financial Technologies, NetApp, WorldPay, and Jagex. Anyone who's looked over his shoulder for five minutes knows exactly how lucky Subtotal is to have him.

Welcome, Michael. We're glad you're here.

More about Michael

Why did you decide to join Subtotal?

I wanted to help build a technology-forward company from the start, not arrive after the hard decisions were already made. The team impressed me right away, the problem space has a lot of room to be done better, and at this stage I can actually influence the direction, not just execute on it.

What excites you most about your role?

Getting to define the architecture from the ground up. There's a real difference between inheriting a system and building one. I get to make the early calls that determine how reliable, scalable, and maintainable everything becomes. That kind of ownership is rare.

What's a project or accomplishment you're especially proud of?

Building out the infrastructure that keeps a company running smoothly: Kubernetes on EKS, GitOps with ArgoCD, the behind-the-scenes work that nobody notices when it's done right. Getting that foundation solid is something I take a lot of pride in, because everything else depends on it.

What are you most excited to help build at Subtotal?

A company where technology is a competitive advantage from day one, not an afterthought. I want to help build systems and a culture where we move fast because we built things right—not in spite of it.

What's a hobby or interest people might not expect?

3D printing and mountain biking. One is about designing something from nothing and watching it take physical form, the other is about finding a trail and just going. Both are a good reset from staring at infrastructure diagrams.

What's your “touch grass” activity?

Biking through the forests here in Germany. There's something about getting on the bike and disappearing into the trees that completely resets my brain.

Favorite podcast, book, or show right now?

Right now I'm loving the Stormlight Archive series by Brandon Sanderson. The world-building is unlike anything I've encountered, Roshar feels genuinely alien, with its highstorms, spren, and Shardblades, but Sanderson grounds it in such intricate, logical systems that it all feels coherent and real.

Most controversial food opinion?

Seafood is almost universally overrated. I'm talking the full 99% of it. Shrimp, lobster, crab, oysters, most fish, I just don't get the appeal. People treat a lobster dinner like some kind of luxury experience and I'm sitting there thinking it tastes like rubber dipped in butter. The butter is great. The lobster is just a vehicle people tolerate to eat the butter.

Favorite place you've visited?

The Canary Islands. The beaches are incredible, the sand dunes are unlike anything else, and it has this quality of feeling completely removed from everything. I'd go back in a heartbeat.

Any advice that's stuck with you?

Failure is a learning opportunity. Use it, and always have a plan of action for correcting the error. Things will go wrong. The difference is whether you panic or whether you already know what you're going to do next.