Engineering Director and Principal Software Engineer
As a seasoned engineering leader, I guide teams to produce secure, industry-leading software for both government and private sector entities. My unique experience equips me to navigate the full spectrum of technology product development, from roadmap conception to final deployment and operations.
I’ve excelled as an engineering director, principal software engineer, and mentor. I connect executive decisions with hands-on technical experience. I enjoy sharing my expertise at many levels, whether it’s advising C-suite executives on technology strategy or software and security best practices, unblocking development teams, or deep-diving the codebase with developers to tackle complex architectural and technical challenges. I particularly thrive in leading distributed teams and bringing together complementary skills.
I’m a co-author of the OWASP Web Security Testing Guide and advocate for cybersecurity training across organizations. Along with contributions to various business and engineering publications, my track record reflects my commitment to understanding the technology and security terrain and ensuring teams can traverse it with confidence.
You can read more about me or send me an email.
Download a PDF version of my resume.
Principal Software Engineer
September 2021 — September 2023
Principal Software Engineer for Sophos Factory, a modern DevSecOps automation pipeline builder.
- Enhanced platform scalability of a newly-acquired startup, aligning it with the broader business needs of Sophos through strategic technical and operational enhancements
- Collaborated across teams to seamlessly integrate Sophos Factory with broader Sophos offerings and product strategy
- Established standards and workflow processes to scale up the delivery of new features
- Ensured roadmap planning and comprehensive feature requirements aligned with the broader company strategy and roadmap
Director Of Engineering
March 2020 — September 2021
Directed software development at ZibaSec, a modern cybersecurity awareness training platform that uses realistic phishing simulations to create lasting behavior change and cyber risk reduction.
- Led the engineering group to design, implement, and secure a serverless cloud infrastructure while greatly improving application performance and achieving FedRAMP Authorization
- Achieved 4.5x speedup in serverless application performance using multiple infrastructure components and distributed computing techniques
- Created and implemented strategies for increasing knowledge transfer and organizational scalability in a growing, remote-first company
- Reduced onboarding time for new engineers by 75% by leading an overhaul of onboarding processes and documentation
- Scaled the engineering team size by 3x through improved processes for recruiting, interviewing, and hiring
Related:
- ZibaSec & GitHub: Would you volunteer your company for a cyber attack?
- ZibaSec’s PhishTACO Platform achieves FedRAMP Authorization
OWASP Core Contributor Team
August 2019 — present
Co-author and core maintainer for the OWASP WSTG. The Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) Web Security Testing Guide (WSTG) is the foremost open source resource for testing web application security.
- Built and established modern CI/CD and automation practices
- Serve as technical editor for submissions from contributors
Related:
freeCodeCamp Coding Mentor, Contributor
2017 — 2021
Recognized as a Top Contributor for three consecutive years at freeCodeCamp, a global 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that helps millions of people worldwide learn how to code.
- Served as organizer for the 2017 inaugural freeCodeConference in Toronto
- Provided mentorship, code review, and career guidance to motivated technologists worldwide
Senior Software Developer, Consultant
2016 — 2021
As a senior technology leader with a background in cybersecurity and full-stack software development, I provided executive leadership insights and technical guidance on product and process improvement.
Focus areas:
- Leader mentorship and development
- Increasing development velocity in engineering teams
- Application infrastructure and code efficiency, speedup, and cost savings
Products and case studies:
- ApplyByAPI.com, SaaS that improves the technical hiring process by filtering candidates at the top of the funnel, and reduces human hours spent on screening
- Modern e-commerce solutions for legacy industries, such as large-scale commercial building construction materials
- Product design and product management for applications including an audio virtual reality application
Related:
Head of Product
2012 — 2015
Championed digital transformation at a niche manufacturing company, resulting in a high-end e-commerce experience.
- Advised on strategic product-market fit changes
- Planned and executed long-term digital strategy
- Migrated business processes to use modern e-commerce solutions
- Overhauled legacy offline inventory management to a modern software solution
- Managed recruiting activities to appoint and train team leads
Education
Master of Science, Computer Science - Georgia Institute of Technology