Senior Full-Stack Software Engineer

Summary

Senior Full-Stack Software Engineer with 19+ years of experience building scalable web applications. Proven track record leading development teams, modernizing legacy systems, and implementing robust CI/CD pipelines. Expert in PHP, Laravel, JavaScript, and cloud infrastructure (AWS, Kubernetes, ECS, Docker).

Experience

Affiliate.com

Remote

Senior Full-Stack Software Engineer

Feb 2025 - Present

Took ownership of DevOps infrastructure and billion-scale Python/C++ data pipelines shortly after joining. Led cost optimization efforts through vendor negotiations, infrastructure rightsizing, and monitoring.
Migrated infrastructure-as-code from Terraform to OpenTofu with Scalr, implementing workflows that enabled multiple developers to collaborate on infrastructure changes simultaneously.
Implemented observability with Sentry, CloudWatch, and BetterStack for rapid initial coverage, then consolidated into a unified LGTM stack (Grafana, Loki, Mimir, Tempo) for centralized monitoring and alerting.
Redesigned CI/CD workflows with preview environments for pull requests. Dockerized API and migrated to ECS/Fargate for horizontal scaling, using Artillery via Lambda to establish data-driven scaling policies.
Rightsized 20TB+ OpenSearch cluster, reducing costs by more than $8,000/month while improving query performance.
Tuned SageMaker (TEI) instances for vector embedding generation at scale, orchestrating hybrid search pipelines across OpenSearch, SQS, and Lambda, enabling sub-second hybrid search across 1B+ product catalog.
Completed third-party security audits with comprehensive documentation and infrastructure diagrams. Hardened environment via PrivateLink, Cloudflare Zero Trust, restrictive Security Group policies, and VPC/Subnet adjustments.

Arrowhead Engineered Products

Remote

Senior Full-Stack Software Engineer

Oct 2024 - Feb 2025

Reduced developer environment setup to a single command by containerizing 15+ projects with Docker, using bake files and matrices to support varied PHP versions and IBM Db2. Configured dynamic ingress with Traefik and automated secrets management with 1Password CLI. Collaborated with Ops to provision the environment via MS Intune for enterprise deployment.
Optimized high-traffic Magento sites processing $10M+ daily, and led Laravel/PHP version upgrades across the platform.
Eliminated deployment guesswork by migrating projects from fragmented, undocumented environments to a unified ECS platform with standardized GitHub Actions CI/CD.

The Healthy Back Institute

Remote

Senior Full-Stack Software Engineer, Team Lead

Jan 2023 - Oct 2024

Collaborate with other project managers and lead sprint planning sessions for the web development team, working closely with product owners to prioritize features, estimate effort, and define achievable sprint goals.
Act as the primary point of contact between the web development team and other departments, providing regular status updates and facilitating communication to drive project success.
Oversee project planning, resource allocation, and task assignment to ensure efficient and effective project execution.
Conducted code reviews, participated in pair programming sessions, and mentored other developers.
Utilize Wrike for effective project management, tracking progress, assigning tasks, and ensuring timely completion of projects.
Proactively engage with international team members in contrasting time zones, ensuring smooth communication and collaboration beyond standard working hours to achieve project goals.
This role builds upon the duties listed below, integrating and expanding upon prior responsibilities within the context of my new position.

The Healthy Back Institute

Remote

Senior Full-Stack Software Engineer

Aug 2019 - Jan 2023

Expert in full-stack development using PHP, Laravel, Livewire, Alpine.js, Vue.js, and TailwindCSS, successfully consolidating numerous legacy PHP5 sites into a unified, modern multi-tenant Laravel Livewire application.
Proficient in designing, utilizing, and optimizing MySQL and PostgreSQL databases, implementing Redis for efficient caching and session storage to enhance performance.
Completely re-designed the development, QA, build, and deployment processes to minimize blockers. One major part of this was setting up preview builds that allowed Pull Requests to be tested in isolation.
Developed containerized solutions for projects by creating Docker images and leveraging Kubernetes, ECS, and Fargate for orchestration.
Set up cross-platform local development environments for the entire team that made it very simple to spin up all of our projects.
Managed deployment pipelines using Jenkins, GitHub Actions, Laravel Forge, and Laravel Vapor for preview, staging, and production environments, ensuring seamless and efficient deployment.
Planned and implemented error monitoring, uptime monitoring, and achieved >99.99% uptime for all services and websites.
Utilized Kubernetes and Helm to orchestrate deployments across various environments, enabling reliable application delivery.
Worked with a range of AWS products, including ECS, Fargate, EKS, EC2, RDS, ElastiCache, S3/CloudFront, Route53, IAM, and Lambda.
Created automated end-to-end tests in Playwright and Cypress, and unit tests in PHPUnit and Pest.
Engaged in Agile development methodologies, actively participating in daily standups and bi-weekly sprint planning meetings.

Self-Employed

Remote

Freelance Full-Stack Engineer

Sep 2017 - Aug 2019

Developed custom Ecommerce solutions within the aftermarket Automotive and Motorsports industry
Designed and developed HIPAA compliant enterprise web applications for use in the medical industry.
Designed and developed custom eSports gaming ladder/tournament site for Tripwire Interactive.
Contracted by Google to design and launch community website for SuperPoke! Pets.
Developed websites for big name artists such as Shadows Fall, For Today, and Blondie.

American Cable & Telephone

Remote

Senior Full Stack Developer

May 2014 - Sep 2017

Developed one-page web applications using Laravel 5 and ReactJS.
Designed and developed iOS apps using Cordova, Ionic 2, and Angular 2.
Developed API for iOS apps using Laravel.
Created and consumed RESTful APIs using Laravel 5 and Javascript (angular/http, Axios).
Migrated internal company applications from CodeIgniter to Laravel and handled all Laravel upgrades.
Created composer packages to be used across all Laravel projects.
Standardized development environments using Vagrant and Puppet.
Created unit, integration, and acceptance tests using PHPUnit, Behat, Codeception, Selenium, and Laravel Dusk.
Implemented Continuous Integration using CircleCI, Jenkins, and GitLab CI.
Collaborated with remote team members using Slack, Google Hangouts, GitHub, GitLab, and JIRA.

Recordia

Remote

Senior Web Developer

Jun 2012 - Aug 2012

Developed and implemented new IVR (Interactive Voice Response) system using PHP and Twilio.
Worked directly with large clients to develop new billing systems that would meet their needs.
Converted PSD files provided by Graphic Designers into functioning WordPress themes.
Oversaw hiring and management of freelance contractors and development firms.

Self-Employed

Remote

Freelance Full-Stack Engineer

Jul 2011 - May 2014

SPP Store

Remote

Co-Founder

Dec 2009 - Jan 2012

Designed and developed PrestaShop themes and plugins.
Conversion optimization and search engine optimization.
Server Administration - CentOS, Apache2, PHP, MySQL, Git.
Developed SPP Item Database website and SPP News blog to drive traffic to sppstore.com.
Developed API using Slim and SimpleXML that provided the ability to login, send and receive message on SuperPoke! Pets website.
Designed and developed desktop messaging app using Adobe AIR and Javascript.
Worked with Slide and Google to develop authorized reseller program for SuperPoke! Pets.
Achieved six figure revenue in the first year of business.

A2 Hosting

Ann Arbor, MI - Remote

Web Developer

Feb 2009 - Dec 2009

Worked remotely and attended weekly in-person meetings.
Collaborated with team using Trac and XMPP.
Developed internal applications using PHP, MySQL, bash, and perl.
Used Subversion to deploy code to staging and production environments.
Implemented Google multivariate tests to improve conversion rates on landing pages.
Performed keyword research and SEO on landing pages in order to increase search rankings.

Summit Sports

Bloomfield Hills, MI

Front-End Web Developer

May 2008 - Feb 2009

Front-end development using PHP, Smarty, HTML, CSS, and Javascript.
Designed and implemented A/B and multivariate tests in order to improve conversion rates.
Search Engine Optimization for products and brand landing pages.
Redesigned entire shopping cart and checkout process on Skis.com.