Independent senior developer for agency teams

Brian Thies

Enterprise Email Developer & Interactive Microsoft Office Architect

I work primarily with advertising, marketing and communications agencies as an independent contractor—providing deep email-development expertise and custom Microsoft Office functionality directly inside the teams and workflows already in place.

Email Development Interactive Documents
23+Years in email marketing
19+Years in email development
16,000+Production emails developed
4,000+Pharma & medical-device emails

Two specialties

Deep development in two very different environments.

Email development is a discipline of its own. Interactive Office development is another. I bring both directly to agency teams as a senior independent resource.

02MICROSOFT OFFICE

Interactive Microsoft Office Development

Application-like functionality built directly into PowerPoint, Excel and Word using VBA and macros—inside the Office environment teams already use every day.

  • Interactive PowerPoint experiences
  • Presentation configurators
  • Custom interfaces & faux controls
  • Conditional content & business rules
  • Automated document generation
  • PPTX / PDF output
  • Excel & Word interactive tools
  • Self-contained internal utilities
Office as the application. No website, hosting platform or organization-wide add-in deployment required for the core use cases I target.

Email is not web development

Enterprise email needs someone who owns the entire discipline.

HTML is only the starting point. Production email has its own rendering engines, client-specific limitations, fallback techniques, accessibility requirements, ESP constraints, testing methods and constantly changing support landscape. My role can cover the full development function—not simply converting a design into markup.

BUILD & ARCHITECTURE

Development that starts with the environment.

  • Bulletproof hybrid/fluid email structures
  • Responsive and intentionally non-responsive mobile development
  • Outlook-specific fallbacks and VML techniques
  • Reusable, editable and modular template systems
  • ESP-specific template language and platform integration
  • Code optimization for consistency and reduced overhead
DESIGN & ACCESSIBILITY

Development and design decisions work together.

  • Email-template layouts, design support and art direction
  • Semantic structure and accessibility-minded code
  • Typography, readability and visual hierarchy
  • Images, alternative text and meaningful content handling
  • Links, interactive elements and usable tap targets
  • Dark mode, visual optimization, comfort and inclusive design
TESTING & QA

Rendering is verified, not assumed.

  • Rigorous Litmus testing across supported email clients
  • Desktop and mobile validation across major environments
  • Workarounds for email-client and ESP rendering issues
  • Regression testing after template and platform changes
  • Deployment and QA workflow consultation
  • Ongoing evaluation of cleaner, more reliable coding methods
MAINTENANCE & CONSULTING

Templates are products that require maintenance.

  • Long-term maintenance of large template ecosystems
  • Layouts, fallbacks and content optimization
  • Deliverability, list hygiene and sunset-policy guidance
  • Validations, visual hygiene and accessibility reviews
  • Testing, deployment and QA best practices
  • Direct consulting with creative, production and technical teams

Continuous compatibility work

Email clients keep changing. The code has to keep up.

I continuously track rendering and platform changes that can affect production templates, then test and update code when those changes matter. That includes the major client ecosystems across Windows, macOS, iOS and Android.

MicrosoftOutlook, Exchange, Microsoft 365 roadmaps and rendering changes
GoogleGmail updates, developer changes and message-handling behavior
AppleApple Mail, iOS/macOS and WebKit rendering changes
Yahoo / AOLSender guidance and client-impacting platform changes

I also stay active in specialist resources including Email Geeks, Can I Email, GitHub email projects, developer forums and other industry sources where client bugs and support changes surface quickly.

CUSTOM EMAIL DEVELOPMENT ACROSS
VeevaAdobe MarketoHubSpotAlpacoFeedOtterMailchimpCampaign MonitorSalesforceTaxi for EmailIterableDotdigitalConstant Contact+ many more

Agency partner

A senior contractor who fits into the team you already have.

In most engagements I work as a contractor. I can support an account for years, join for one specialized project, add capacity during a deadline spike or step into a technical role that does not make sense to keep on permanent payroll.

Valley City, Ohio · Eastern Time · Direct developer access Typical availability is Monday–Friday, 8am–6pm ET, with deeper evening/weekend work when an engagement or deadline requires it.

Healthcare & pharma agency experience

You don't have to teach me the environment first.

I've spent more than 16 years working in healthcare, pharmaceutical, medical-device and dental communications. That matters when an agency needs a contractor who can step into a highly specialized account without starting at square one.

4,000+emails developed for pharmaceutical and medical-device manufacturers

Healthcare-specific platform and publication experience includes Veeva, DMD/IQVIA, Medscape, Cardinal Health, McKesson/Ontada and BioPharm, along with dental communications distributed through ADA, AAWD, RDH and Inside Dentistry.

I also develop Outlook OFT (PC) and EMLTPL (Mac) templates for field teams, including controlled, pre-approved content for brand launches, FDA approvals/PDUFA milestones, label updates and other time-sensitive pharmaceutical communications.

Experience that is difficult to replicate

The scale matters because it came with direct responsibility.

My background includes one-off campaigns, major brand programs, long-running agency relationships and enterprise template systems maintained across years of email-client and platform changes.

7,200+technology emails developedfor 600+ hardware & software companies
2009early Outlook VML solutionfor background-image rendering limitations
100+templates maintained for one clientacross a long-running enterprise ecosystem
15+ yrslong-running client relationshipsincluding sustained agency and account support

2003

Thies Publishing begins

Started with general marketing services before email became the center of the business.

2007

Professional email development

Microsoft's move to the Word rendering engine changed email development and helped define the technical specialty I built my career around.

2009

VML background-image work

Developed an early VML-based solution for Outlook background images and later consulted with major ESPs and testing organizations.

TODAY

Email + Interactive Office

Enterprise email remains the core specialty, now joined by custom application-like Office development for agency and client workflows.

About the portfolio

Much of the work is confidential.

A large portion of my work is performed under agency and client confidentiality agreements, so I do not maintain a public wall of client creative. A curated portfolio and relevant examples can be shared privately during a meeting when appropriate.

Need a senior development resource?

Tell me what your agency needs to get done.

Ongoing account support, enterprise template maintenance, custom email development, an interactive Office concept, overflow capacity or a project that needs dedicated technical ownership are all good reasons to reach out.

Brian ThiesOwner, Chief Consultant & Lead Developer
bthies@thiespublishing.com → 440.623.5947 Connect on LinkedIn

Valley City, Ohio · Eastern Time · Available for contractor engagements and NDA‑covered work.