Bill Johnston

billjohnston@pm.me
github.com/billjohnston
(516) 835-1132
Summary

Experienced Full-Stack Developer and CTO based in NYC, a strong advocate for serverless microservices. As the first engineering employee at two successful startups, I built foundational applications, infrastructure, and scaled engineering teams.

Skills

AWS • AWS CDK • Cloudformation • TypeScript • Javascript • Node.js • Bun • Dynamodb • ECS • Docker • Lambda • SQS • Api Gateway • Step Functions • React • React Native • Expo • Material UI • Cognito • Elasticsearch • FFmpeg • Audio / Video Streaming • Jest

Experience

Max Retail | Principal Software Engineer
Sep 2022 - Present (3 years 1 month)

The easiest way to sell your leftover inventory

  • Directly managed and mentored a team of 7 engineers, conducting regular 1:1 meetings to foster professional growth and ensure project alignment

  • Implemented AI-assisted product cleansing process

  • Built Lightspeed and Square POS Integrations, supporting 58 retailers and processing 9,179 listing units valued at over $600,000

  • Engineered and built a comprehensive Order Management System (OMS), integrating Mirakl order ingestion and Monday.com to significantly improve order processing efficiency and accuracy

  • Developed a lead scoring system to effectively prioritize sales outreach, enhancing efficiency in acquiring new retailers

  • Won a hackathon for the successful Proof-of-Concept (POC) of the MaxRetail ReactNative mobile app

Talkspace | Senior Software Engineer, Tech Lead
Dec 2020 - Sep 2022 (1 year 9 months)

#1 Rated Online Therapy

  • Authored RFCs, planned sprints, and led developers in the implementation of new features

  • Built video call transcription service using AWS StepFunctions, ECS, Lambda, Typescript

  • Built multi-region scheduled job service using AWS Event Rules, Lambda, DynamoDB, API Gateway, and React Admin

  • Built SAML single sign on service using AWS Cognito, Lambda

  • Migrated custom authentication to AWS Cognito

Quadio | CTO
Jan 2019 - Sep 2020 (1 year 8 months)

Music streaming application for emerging artists

  • Hired and managed an engineering team of 11

  • Built CI/CD and infrastructure as code using AWS CDK and Github Actions

  • Built the music streaming web application using React

  • Built the music streaming mobile application using React Native

  • Built the REST API using AWS ECS, Python, and Django

  • Built the media transcoding microservice using AWS StepFunctions, ECS, Lambda, Typescript, and FFMPEG

  • Built the search microservice using Lambda, Api Gateway, and Elasticsearch

Fullscreen | Sr. Software Developer
Apr 2018 - Jan 2019 (9 months)

Reelio was acquired to incorporate its application into Fullscreen's marketing workflow

  • Helped with the acquisition vetting process

  • Managed the Front-end team of 4 developers

  • Built the REST Api using Python and Django

  • Built the web client using React

Reelio | FullStack Developer
Mar 2013 - Apr 2018 (5 years 1 month)

Influencer marketing management application

  • First developer hired; helped grow the engineering team to 15

  • Managed the Front-end team of 4 developers

  • Built the REST Api using Python and Django

  • Built the web client using both Angular and React

Sneak Attack Media | FullStack Developer
Nov 2010 - Mar 2013 (2 years 3 months)

Social media marketing applications for musicians

  • Built custom marketing applications for artists including Third Eye Blind and Florence and the Machine

  • Created a CMS to generate common marketing applications using Wordpress; still in use today

Education

Drexel University, Bachelor Information Systems 2004 - 2009