VP Engineering/AI and R&D at Authentic8 (2021-09 – Present)
Via leadership through OKRs Goals and KPIs, led all (SaaS and Mobile app) development of uber secure browsing products in a late-stage, fast paced, rapidly growing startup. Provided leadership though the maturity stages towards achieving a high performing, productive, recognizable SaaS company. As Head of Engineering, organized the Engineering Department (creating 3 product feature and 6 platform development teams, 6 QA teams from 1 large team of 20+), established a trusting and effective relationship with Product Management and SRE/Ops/InfoSec (Security) Teams, and applied best practices in a continuously improvement manner.
Created and sustained an inclusive, positive, and fun culture based on talent growth and achievement. Adoption of AI/ML to new and legacy products, championing the shift to an AI-first engineering approach - accelerating the inclusion of GenAI across the consumer product experiences and within the software development lifecycle. Managed, motivated, and inspired Directors, Senior Managers, and Engineers, creating and leading high performing engineering teams towards timely & predicable delivery of best-in-class software products.
In addition to the main Engineering Department, led Customer Service team, the A8Labs (Professional Services and R&D teams) and company's IT Department.
- Scaled Engineering org 4X: Grew headcount from 20 to 80; hired 23 engineers and managers in year one, achieving 100% of annual OKR and accelerating the 5-year staffing plan by 30%.
- Drove 30% YoY ARR growth ($25M to $33M+) and 20% P&L improvement: Cut time-to-market 40%, reduced operational expenses 35%, and sustained 100% on-time delivery across all product launches.
- Championed AI/ML product integration and SDLC-wide adoption: Led the AI-first engineering shift at Authentic8 — embedding GenAI across consumer product features and within the software development lifecycle including story generation, unit-test coding, and automated scripting.
- Owned full Engineering P&L ($12M budget): Reported directly to the board on financial targets; managed headcount, tooling, education, and retention spend; drove strategic decisions that improved departmental profitability by 20%.
- Tripled (3X) overall Engineering capacity: Established 6 international and domestic regional engineering hubs; leveraged emerging-tech talent markets and partnered with Finance and Product on multi-year capacity planning.
- Achieved 95% release predictability and 50% defect reduction: Instituted a quality-first CI/CD cadence, transitioned QA to in-sprint testing with full test automation, tripling QA capacity and cutting L1 support incidents by half.
- Restructured Engineering into 9 focused teams: Created 3 product-feature teams, 6 platform/component teams, and 6 dedicated QA teams from a single undifferentiated group of 20+, enabling parallel delivery at scale.
- Delivered 85% OKR success and 75% KPI attainment: Introduced and refined company-wide and departmental OKRs; represented engineering capacity to the C-suite in strategic planning cycles.
- Built and sustained 95% engineering retention at 4X scale: Scaled headcount 300% while maintaining top-decile retention through meritocracy, talent development, director and manager mentorship, and a high-engagement culture.
- Authored 3 production-bound POCs: Personally coded an Android/Kotlin SMS messenger, a C++ Chromium InfoBar integration, and a Java JiraClient — all adopted into product lines; regularly participated in systems design reviews.
VP of Engineering at Trusty.care (2017-01 – 2021-09)
- Scaled engineering team 50% from 8 to 12 engineers: Executed strategic hiring aligned to product roadmap priorities, targeting senior talent and culture fit in a fast-paced healthcare SaaS environment.
- Drove AI/ML integration into legacy products: Led adoption of machine learning models trained on large datasets, modernizing the platform stack and expanding capabilities for healthcare consumers.
- Established Agile engineering best practices and predictable delivery: Introduced OKR-aligned sprint planning, Jira-based workflow management, and continuous delivery practices that improved release cadence and stakeholder confidence.
- Owned full-stack product delivery on GCP microservices: Directed backend (Python), frontend (JavaScript/HTML/CSS), and SaaS platform teams end-to-end, ensuring reliable and quality delivery.
- Built a high-trust, high-retention engineering culture: Instituted transparency, accountability, and team enjoyment as core operating principles; achieved strong retention and a high-performance team dynamic.
- Aligned engineering execution to company OKRs: Partnered with leadership to translate business goals into quarterly engineering commitments, improving predictability and executive confidence.
- Managed cross-functional cadence between Engineering and Product: Eliminated scope ambiguity, reduced planning friction, and accelerated feature delivery through structured collaboration.
- Owned technical roadmap and drove T-debt reduction: Prioritized technical debt alongside feature work; improved code quality and reduced unplanned engineering toil quarter-over-quarter.
- Implemented structured talent development and mentorship: Created growth paths for engineers, identifying and elevating high-potential ICs toward senior and lead roles.
- Improved product quality through a quality-first engineering mindset: Reduced defect rates and elevated team engineering standards across the full SDLC, improving customer satisfaction and reducing support burden.
VP of Product and Engineering at Copia (2017-01 – 2020-12)
Stood up Product Management from scratch while restructuring Engineering. Redesigned the Engineering Department and created a formal Product Management function.
