MC Mark Cromwell
Available for a small number of engagements

Mission-critical software,
built with judgment and modern speed.

I'm Mark Cromwell — a software engineer with 30+ years building systems that have to work, for healthcare, aerospace, and manufacturing. I now work independently, shipping custom software faster with my own AI-augmented practice — without giving up engineering rigor.

Email me about your project Book a 15-min call
30+ yrs
software engineering
~26 yrs
healthcare / regulated systems
Solo
senior work, no overhead
Mark Cromwell
Mark Cromwell
Independent Software Consultant
Services

How I help

Direct, senior-level engineering — from first requirement to a deployed, maintained system. Small enough to be hands-on; experienced enough to get it right.

Custom business software

Bespoke applications, internal tools, and line-of-business systems — scoped to what you actually need, built to last, and shipped to production.

Healthcare & regulated systems

Deep experience with claims, eligibility, membership, and compliance-driven software from two decades in health-plan administration. I know the domain.

AI-augmented development

I build with an agentic, AI-assisted pipeline — more software, delivered faster, without giving up engineering rigor or human review at every step.

Legacy modernization

Three decades across languages and platforms. I untangle, modernize, and integrate aging systems instead of forcing a risky rip-and-replace.

Cloud & edge deployment

Containerized services, edge apps, and managed databases — deployed with sensible CI, monitoring, and rollback so it stays up.

Technical advisory

Architecture review, build-vs-buy, code and process audits — and a straight answer when you need a second senior opinion you can trust.

Selected work

What that looks like in practice

A few representative systems I've designed and built. Client-specific details are kept in confidence — happy to walk through any of these on a call.

An AI-augmented software factory

I designed and operate a multi-agent delivery pipeline that takes a requirement through design, build, automated adversarial review, and deployment — with a human approval gate at every step. It's the engine behind how I ship client work faster without cutting corners.

Engineering calculation tools

Web-based sizing and engineering calculators for a manufacturing firm, deployed to the edge for fast, global access — with the validation and guardrails that regulated engineering work demands.

Content & publishing automation

An end-to-end pipeline that generates, quality-checks, and distributes a serialized content catalog across channels — turning a manual, multi-step production process into a reliable, mostly hands-off system.

About

Thirty years of building things that can't fail.

I started writing software for aerospace and manufacturing in the mid-90s — systems that inspected parts for military and space programs, and that ran the factory floors making film and photographic materials. The standard there was simple: it has to be right, and it has to keep running.

I spent the next two-plus decades at a Blue Cross Blue Shield health plan, building and maintaining the software that runs a health insurer — claims and benefits administration, eligibility, ID cards held to strict BCBS Association standards, and pharmacy-system migrations. Real systems, real members, real consequences.

Today I work independently. I've built my own AI-augmented software factory — an orchestrated, multi-agent development pipeline with human review at every gate — and I use it to deliver custom software and automation for clients faster than a traditional shop, while keeping the engineering judgment that thirty years buys you.

Track record

A sample of what I've shipped

Production systems with real stakes — anonymized, but every one was live.

Re-architected a health plan's member ID-card system to meet strict Blue Cross Blue Shield Association standards.

Automated eligibility calculation and enrollment for a state Child Health Plus program, replacing manual entry.

Built supplier-rating and inspection systems for military and aerospace programs serving 20,000 concurrent users nationwide.

Led data migrations between enterprise pharmacy-benefit platforms with continuity of coverage for members.

Background

Selected experience

A career spent on systems where correctness mattered — now applied to your project.

2024 — present

Independent Software Consultant

Cromwell Software

Custom software, automation, and AI-augmented development for clients. Designed and operate a multi-agent software-delivery pipeline; ship containerized and edge-deployed applications.

1998 — 2024

Software Developer — Healthcare Administration

HealthNow New York / Highmark (Blue Cross Blue Shield)

Built and maintained core health-plan software: benefits and claims administration on Facets, eligibility automation, the member ID-card system to BCBS Association standards, and pharmacy-system migrations. C++, C#, VB, ASP, SQL, Sybase.

1996 — 1998

Programmer / Analyst

Eastman Kodak

Manufacturing-support systems for film and photographic-paper production. C, C++, Fortran, VAX/VMS, Unix, IBM Message Queue.

1994 — 1996

Programmer / Analyst

Lockheed Martin / Martin Marietta

A manufacturing-support and supplier-rating system for military and space programs, serving 20,000 concurrent users nationwide. C, Pascal, Fortran, VAX/VMS.

Contact

Have a project, or a problem worth a second opinion?

Tell me what you're building or where you're stuck. I take on a small number of engagements at a time, so you get senior attention from start to finish.

Email me about your project Book a 15-min intro call View LinkedIn

Prefer to write directly? markcromwell@gmail.com  ·  Available for select remote / U.S. engagements · Florida-based.