Senior frontend engineer. Ready for the right team.
15+ years shipping products at every company stage — from founding-engineer zero-to-one to enterprise infrastructure. I own what I build, raise the bar around me, and stay unblocked.
What I bring to your team
Not just a skillset — a way of working. Here’s what changes when I join a team.
Capabilities
Full ownership of frontend surfaces
I don't just implement tickets — I architect, deliver, test, and maintain. At Aerospike I planned the provisioning wizard architecture and built many of its pages; other frontend engineers on the Cloud team shipped additional wizard and console work following those patterns.
Founding-engineer judgment
I've picked the stack before there was a stack. At Toucan I architected the Next.js site from scratch and took over a scrappy extension prototype in year one — early technical decisions that had to last through 1M users.
AI-assisted development workflows
I use LLM-powered IDE tooling daily for research, implementation, and review. Comfortable folding AI into how I ship — without treating it as a substitute for judgment on product and architecture.
Design system & component architecture
I build component foundations that outlast the sprint. The patterns I introduced at Aerospike became the architectural baseline for subsequent Cloud UI work after I left.
How I work
Async-first communicator
I write clearly, document my decisions, and produce Loom walkthroughs instead of redundant meetings. I don't need to be in the room to move things forward.
I raise the bar around me
Junior engineers get better. The codebase gets cleaner. I mentored two engineers on architecture and testing at Aerospike — not because I was asked to, but because it was the right thing to do.
I think in products, not tickets
I ask why before I ask how. If the ticket doesn't make sense for the product, I say so. I've worked closely enough with product and design to know when engineering should push back.
Where I’ve worked and what I owned
Three roles that show the range — founding scale, unicorn growth, and enterprise infrastructure.
Aerospike
Senior Frontend Engineer, Cloud Team
Wizard architecture lead. Revenue-critical surface. Team shipped against those patterns.
Cross-functional Cloud team with other frontend engineers, backend engineers, and product. I architected the provisioning wizard (where trials become paying customers) and built many of its pages; the team shipped the rest against those patterns — plus testing, legacy integration, and mentorship.
Toucan
Senior Software Engineer I → II (early engineer)
Early engineer. Architected the web platform.
Joined at inception with a small engineering cohort. Took over the extension from a CTO prototype in year one and built the Next.js site from scratch. The company grew to 30 employees and 1M+ users.
Dave.com
First Senior Frontend Engineer
First Senior FE at a pre-unicorn fintech.
Joined during hypergrowth as the company's first Senior Frontend Engineer. Shipped product features across a banking app that scaled from 200K to 4M+ users and hit unicorn status.
Technical depth
Production-proven across 15 years. Not a list of things I’ve touched — a stack I’ve shipped real products with.
Frontend
State & Data
Testing
Infrastructure
AI/ML
Other
What I’m looking for
Good fit
- ↗Product companies that give senior engineers real ownership over a surface or domain — not just tickets
- ↗Early-stage startups where a generalist mindset and founding-engineer judgment are an asset
- ↗Teams building AI-adjacent products or exploring AI engineering seriously
- ↗Async-friendly, remote-first engineering cultures where output matters more than presence
Not a fit
- —Environments where senior engineers are assigned tickets and never consulted on architecture
- —Roles that require in-office presence outside of Las Vegas
- —Frontend work scoped entirely to UI component assembly with no product context or ownership
Open to
Senior IC / Staff Engineer
Primary interest — want to own a real surface
Founding / Early Engineer
Done it before, happy to do it again
AI-forward role
Actively deepening AI engineering skills right now
Contract / Staff-aug
Available for the right short or long engagement
Availability & logistics
Location
Remote (preferred) or Las Vegas-based. US timezone.
Compensation
Compensation discussed in the interview process.
Timeline
I move fast. If you're evaluating candidates, I'll keep pace with your process.
What colleagues say
9 selected highlights from 28 LinkedIn recommendations — managers, peers, and cross-functional partners from 2010–2023.
“Chris's word is his bond. One of the hardest working engineers I've had the privilege of working with. He leads by example and is always striving for more knowledge. If you see his resume land on your desk, just hire him. He'll be one of the kindest and most dedicated engineers on your team.”
David Cutherell
Engineering Leader · Toucan
“Here are a few of the things that happen when you start working with Chris: 1) Your projects get done on time or ahead of schedule. 2) Your team rises to more challenges because of his mentorship, mindset, and work ethic. 3) Issues that you didn't even know of start getting handled before they become a major concern.”
Shaun Merritt
Co-Founder & CTO · Toucan
Let's find out if we're a match.
Reach out directly, or start with the resume. I respond to everything.