Senior Manager Product Engineering

• Jan 2022 - Present

Software Development Manager

• May 2018 - Jan 2022

At Ameritas the WebCOE is a driving force behind our next generation web applications. Together we are transforming the way systems and tool sets will be modernized and respond to meet the needs of a rapidly changing digital landscape. In this role I lead a team responsible for customer facing business and e-commerce web applications. Other Responsibilities: - Founder of the Ameritas Java guild tasked with standardizing our enterprise Java development tool chain. Most recently we are looking at clean as you code strategies that allow quality gates to be enforced at code commit rather than code deploy. - Led the implementation of enterprise security pen testing and managing remediation of findings - Maintain annual system maintenance roadmap with a focus on security, patching, logging, monitoring and server hardening - Established test automation environment with a focus on web applications and REST api testing - Standardized Jira and confluence usage across multiple product teams - Configure and monitor customized ELK dashboards ingesting data from multiple sources including application logs, dynatrace agents, web servers and mainframe - Hiring manager responsible for employee performance plans, annual review, training plans and setting annual objectives Show less

Managing Director

• Sep 2013 - May 2018

In this role I was responsible for recruiting, hiring, training, workforce management and growth of US based software engineers. I worked closely with the executive team developing strategies to expand software development services into new markets. This midwest technology practice was distributed across 4 states with approximately 80 engineers. Other Responsibilities: - In this role I was responsible for QA automation and development staffing on a portfolio of 20-25 active clients generating 5M annually in top line revenue. - Our team successfully hired over 100 US based software development and QA engineers maintaining a turnover rate of less than 15%. Our bench time annually was less than 5% with our just in time hiring strategy. - Implement client-focused teams while also ensuring increased collaboration and communication within functional disciplines - Hire the best engineers and focus on retention as a critical element of company success - Recognize under-performing projects and resources and determine solutions to meet client and internal expectations - Mentor less experienced team members explaining advanced technical information and providing specialized technical guidance - Provide hands on assistance to troubled resources or projects - Collaborate with senior management in developing a solution strategy and statement of work during the pre-sales process - Translate technical or operational topics into business terms Show less

Application Architect

• Jan 2012 - Sep 2013

Led development and design of Cyberlife’s initial launch of web application software. This vended web application was a complete replacement for a legacy smalltalk GUI. I worked independently on the initial product concept that led to funding of this web initiative. In this role I was responsible for mentoring and leading the team in the transition to new platforms and technologies. Other Responsibilities: - Mentor software development team in agile methodologies. - Analyze business requirements and provide work estimates. - Install and configure websphere application servers. - Lead developer on a Struts MVC application with an oracle backend. - Implement and support production software releases. Show less

Technical Lead - Java Development

• Sep 2010 - Dec 2011

Technical lead for a 10 person global software development team. This project localized HolidayInn.com’s ecommerce booking and reservation website in the China region. Led the team through an agile scrum methodology and delivered a demo for business stakeholders every 3 weeks. Reviewed and tracked the integration of 3rd party vendor deliverables. Other Responsibilities: - Agile project lead with overall responsibility for planning, design, implementation and delivery - Lead Java Architect on Tomcat/Spring platform with Hibernate/MySQL backend - Web development with JSP, JQuery and Spring MVC - Implement Hibernate 2nd level EHCache - Implement Amazon SNS publish/subscribe messaging system, JSON over HTTP - Implement client side caching strategy with Akamai, browser cookies and HTTP headers - Design and implementation of web applications in an Amazon EC2 cloud environment Show less

Senior Java Developer

• May 2008 - Aug 2010

Senior developer for the Marksman rating engine product. This SaaS web based software supports over 10,000 visits per day. Led the team in the installation of a production software release every 6 weeks. Independently integrated this rating product with companies such as Ellie Mae, Google, RealtyTrac and Zillow.com. Other Responsibilities: - Lead software developer responsible for integration with 3rd party backend automation systems including LendingTree, Google, Zillow.com and RealtyTrac. - Develop J2EE based software enhancements and maintenance upgrades. - Implemented Apache compression, caching and load balancing to improve end user response. - Analyze MySQL queries and adjust indexes on tables to optimize query performance. - Designed and implemented mobile web application to complement Mortech’s primary web-based software. Show less

Software Development Manager

• May 2003 - May 2008

Invigorate is the prepay billing and rating platform for the UK’s leading mobile operator. This platform was responsible for real time rating, recharge capture and administration for O2’s 17 million prepay subscribers. Coded approximately 75% of the initial product release and led a team of 12 Java developers through 8 production releases. Implemented software development processes from the ground up and installed software quality metrics into the development process. Other Responsibilities: - Contribute to design, code, specification and architectural reviews - Analyze Oracle SQL stored procedures, triggers, functions and views to support design and development of Java data layer components. - Design deployment and installation processes for Tomcat 4/5.x and Java backend applications. - Implement continuous integration strategy using RPM, Cruisecontrol, Junit, Ant and CVS. - Develop and execute system integration test plans. - Web application development with JSP/Servlets, MVC and JDBC on Tomcat with an Oracle backend. Show less

Senior Software Engineer

• Aug 2002 - May 2003

Designed and developed default aversion and skip tracing components for Priority Guaranty Solutions. After 6 months on the project was appointed lead developer and given 3 direct reports. Coded and tested J2EE software components using IBM Websphere Application Server in a Windows 2000 environment. Other Responsibilities: - Responsible for enterprise web application development, modification, and integration using Java and J2EE in a Windows 2000 operating environment. - Data model design and EJB entity bean implementation. Developed IBM/DB2 database schema and EJB mapping for enterprise data model. - Designed, developed, implemented J2EE compliant user security authentication and authorization component. - Designed 3-tier object oriented architecture making extensive use of design patterns: singleton objects, service locator, business delegate, data transfer objects, MVC Show less

UNK Cross Country Team Captain

• 1997 - 1998