Summary
I am an experienced and passionate software engineering leader who loves to build software people actually use, with people who love to build software.
Work Experience
Director of Engineering — Security Compass
Jan 2015 - Dec 2022, Toronto
- I took the product organization from pre-revenue to $20 million in ARR as the leader of our software development teams. I was accountable for engineering delivery, quality, and culture.
- I built and led the development team at Security Compass: 4 development managers, who in turn led 35-40 developers split into several scrum teams. I was involved in all aspects of growing and nurturing this team: hiring, mentoring, performance management, and overseeing our software development processes.
- I was integral to shaping the company’s culture and values. As a servant leader I cultivated a positive, inclusive, and supportive work environment. I helped make Security Compass a place consistently recognized as one of Canada’s top 50 Great Places to Work.
- I ensured our processes and technical stack kept up with our growth. I managed projects such as: transitioning away from Python 2 ahead of its end-of-life, modernizing our front-end stack with React, migrating from manual to fully automated QA, and numerous revisions of our Agile delivery processes.
Lead Software Developer — Security Compass
Aug 2010 - Jan 2015, Toronto
- I was the founding developer for the company's first product, SD Elements, building the initial version of the web application.
- I managed and grew the product team that took SD Elements from its infancy to a tool used by many fortune 500 companies.
Senior Software Developer — First Data
Feb 2007 - Aug 2010, Toronto
- I was the primary developer of several high performance payment processing gateways, written in C++.
- I took over the development of the company's core application level routing software, migrating it from C to object-oriented C++ while completing its development. My involvement helped wrap up a challenging stalled project.
- I was the co-developer of a message transformation library used to produce the message formats required by various payment processors. This was a critical project as we migrated First Data to Datawire's payments network.
Software Developer — First Data
Sep 2004 - Feb 2007, Toronto
Software Developer (Co-op) — Sanchez Wealth Management
Sep 2002 - Dec 2002, May 2003 - Aug 2003, Toronto
Research Assistant — University of Waterloo Computer Systems Group
Jan 2002 - Apr 2002, Waterloo
Programmer/Analyst (Co-op) — CI Funds
Jan 2000 - Apr 2000, Sep 2000 - Dec 2000, Toronto
Education
Bachelor of Mathematics — University of Waterloo
Sep 1999 - Apr 2004, Waterloo
- I graduated with distinction, and have a double major in Honours Computer Science and Combinatorics & Optimization.
Training
Product Strategy — Kellog Executive Education
Spring 2021, Online
The 4 Essential Roles of Leadership — Franklin Covey
Fall 2022, Toronto
Interests
I love watching art-house cinema, painting miniatures, and reading all sorts of books. I still love good scotch, even though it gives me heartburn nowadays.