Chicago, IL
Summary
A leader with a proven track record of guiding teams through ambiguity to deliver complex, custom solutions across e-commerce and digital marketing platforms. Known for bringing clarity to processes, strengthening collaboration, and mentoring teams to bolster company growth. Combines a problem-solving mindset with a practical approach to managing technical delivery that aligns tasks with product goals to drive high-quality results in fast-paced environments.
Most recently…
- Directed a global front–end engineering team of 30+, improving staff utilization by 10% through standardized operations, optimized project staffing plans, and clear communication skills.
- Delivered 20+ sprint plans, improving sprint delivery success rates by 10% and increasing budgeting accuracy by 20% on products built with Adobe Commerce, AEM, Drupal, Kentico, SAP Hybris, Shopify, and WordPress.
- Managed an award–winning full-stack engineering team that delivered innovative custom digital marketing solutions, which increased user engagement by 50% above industry expectations.
Skillsets
Core Competencies
- Accessibility Compliance (WCAG 2.x)
- Agile Methodologies (Kanban & Scrum)
- CI/CD: Gitflow
- Engineering Team Leadership
- Front-end Frameworks
- Performance Analytics
- Responsive Interface Design
- Risk Management & Mitgation
- Budget, Scope, & Timeline Management
- Scrum Master
- Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC)
- Team Resource Planning
- Technical Project Management
- UX/UI Strategy
- Waterfall Project Delivery
Technical Leadership & Expertise
Web Development
- CSS3
- HTML5
- JavaScript
- React
- RESTful APIs
- SASS
Content Management Systems (CMS)
- Adobe Experience Manager (AEM)
- Drupal
- Kentico
- October CMS (Laravel PHP)
- WordPress
E–commerce Platforms
- Adobe Commerce (Magento 2)
- SAP Hybris
- Shopify
Workflow, Productivity & Collaboration Tools
- Azure DevOps
- Basecamp
- Bitbucket
- Confluence
- Git
- GitHub
- Google Workspace
- Jira
- Microsoft Office
- Microsoft Teams
- Miro
- Slack
- SmartSheet
- Trello
Certifications
- Professional Scrum Product Owner (PSPO from Scrum.org)
Professional Experience
Gorilla Group (now d.b.a. VML)
E–commerce consultancy specializing in custom solutions for Adobe Commerce, SAP Hybris, and Shopify for clients with B2B and B2C businesses.
Front-end Engineering Director
February 2020 – July 2023
Responsibilities
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Team Operations
- Led operational strategy for a distributed team of 30+ front-end engineers, defining team resourcing practices to improve sprint planning accuracy, code delivery consistency, and cross-functional design system collaboration.
- Hiring manager responsible for writing interview scripts and conducting code tests to screen potential new hires.
-
Career Mentorship
- Directly mentored up to 6 engineers and managers at a time, providing individualized growth plans and career coaching, which improved team engagement and resulted in 4 internal promotions.
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Project Leadership
- Developed standardized templates for sprint planning, risk assessment, and cross-functional design system collaboration, enhancing project forecasting accuracy and sprint delivery success.
- Delivery lead for 15+ digital brand and e–commerce initiatives through strategic sprint planning and backlog grooming while facilitating daily scrum meetings across creative, engineering, and QA teams.
- Front-end technical lead for 10+ custom design system integrations on e–commerce initiatives through CI/CD Gitflow standards reviewing, approving, and managing pull requests.
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Business Growth
- Audited client websites while advising on ADA-compliance and analytics strategies, resulting in over $400k in additional revenue for analytics performance and accessibility improvements.
Sandstorm Design
Digital agency focused on building CMS-based websites for nonprofits, higher learning institutions, insurance, and food industry clients.
Senior Project Manager
January 2019 – February 2020
Responsibilities
-
Project Leadership
- Led the end-to-end delivery of 5 CMS website projects with an average budget of $350k, overseeing contract write-ups, scope negotiations, sprint plans, and resource assignments across design, engineering, and QA teams.
- Managed direct client communication through status reporting, change management, and sprint retrospectives, fostering strong client partnerships through transparency and trust.
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Business Operations
- Overhauled the company workflow and quality-control model by implementing Jira and Basecamp to establish a collaboration-first mindset that dramatically improved client satisfaction through sprint velocity, task clarity, and QA-driven measurable delivery success criteria.
Senior Support Engineer (Contractor)
August 2018 – December 2018
Responsibilities
- Assisted in maintaining and enhancing over 30 Drupal 7 & 8 websites with a focus on MVC-based JavaScript and SASS development.
FCB (formerly d.b.a Draftfcb)
The global advertising agency’s digital arm which produced promotional websites and digital marketing campaigns for high-profile brands in finance, insurance, pharma, and retail.
Web Engineering Manager
June 2012 – June 2017
Responsibilities
-
Team Operations
- Managed a 20+ person full-stack engineering team, delivering innovative and award-winning digital marketing experiences for clients such as Discover, State Farm, Jack Daniel’s, Johnson & Johnson, and more.
- Established team onboarding documentation for coding standards and role definitions that improved new team member onboarding, team cohesion, and career-growth expectations.
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Project Leadership
- Produced detailed project documentation, including technical requirements, delivery milestones, and risk assessment/mitigation strategies to ensure project goal alignment of the engineering team and stakeholder expectations.
- Collaborated with account managers on project estimation and delivery forecasting, contributing to business development efforts and cross-functional team coordination.
Front-end Web Engineer
September 2008 – June 2012
Responsibilities
- Front-end engineer building promotional websites and web banners using Flash and ActionScript 2 & 3 that delivered engaging user experiences, rich animations, and captivating visual content.
Digital Production Artist / Art Director
March 2004 – September 2008
Responsibilities
- Digital asset production (wireframes, designs, style guides, and prototypes) for marketing campaigns, promotions, and websites utilizing Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
Awards
FCB Impact Award – Best Integrated Digital Marketing
2017
Client: Jack Daniel’s®
Product: International B2C Website
- Recognized for a complete re-architecture and redesign of Jack Daniel’s international B2C website. Implementation and launch of a custom Drupal 8 CMS empowering international partners to easily create, edit, and publish localized content that seamlessly adhered to global brand standards.
2014
Client: Discover®
Product: Gift & Get™ – Facebook App
- Honored for developing a Facebook app that generated personalized holiday gifting idea lists by matching users’ “liked” Facebook brand pages with Discover’s Deals listings.
2014
Client: Paccar® Parts
Product: International Parts & Services websites for Peterbilt® and Kenworth® brands
- Recognition for creating international duo-branded websites for Paccar’s Parts & Service division. Implemented a custom CMS platform that integrated multiple API data points into one seamless experience, featuring dealer-specific offer flyers, and dynamic dealer locators.
Education
The Illinois Institute of Art – Schaumburg, IL
August 2000 – March 2003
Degree: B.A. Multimedia & Web Design
Awards
- President’s List: 3.8 (out of 4) cumulative GPA
- Winner: Best Interactive Portfolio Design 2003
Extracurriculars
- Paid Teacher Assistant position from July 2002 to March 2003 while providing in-classroom assistance to both teachers and students for classes involving Photoshop, Macromedia Director, Dreamweaver, and Flash.
