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Chris Baker — Forward Deployed Engineer

Fullstack developer with 5+ years shipping software directly into customer contexts — comfortable on the discovery call and inside the codebase.

Machine-readable version (JSON Resume)

Experience

  1. Fullstack Software Developer · monday.com

    Embedded engineer on the Solutions Engineering team — the person called in when a meaningful deal was live and the platform's native features couldn't fully meet a client's requirements. Whatever it took to close the gap between what the customer needed and what the product did out of the box, I built.

    The work rarely came with a runway. Often given minutes on a first call to learn a company's business, use case, and constraints, I'd scope the problem, commit to a deadline, and deliver a real, working, deployed application by the time that deadline arrived — anything from small frontend integrations to fully hosted fullstack apps on AWS. This directly contributed to several hundred thousand dollars in recurring platform revenue.

    Between client engagements, contributed to internal platform apps as well — MCP server tools, React frontend features, and a CLI utility for operating a NestJS service inside AWS. Same shipping cadence, different audience.

    • Scoped and shipped custom proof-of-concept applications end-to-end that helped close hundreds of thousands of dollars in recurring platform revenue
    • Operated directly with clients across industries and technical backgrounds — running discovery calls, translating requirements, presenting working demos, and setting realistic delivery timelines that were consistently met
    • Turned around fully-deployed fullstack applications on AWS (TypeScript, React, NestJS) within days of first learning a client's use case
    • Owned a long-running AWS ETL pipeline processing large-scale data and its internal query application, in parallel with a rotating queue of client engagements
    • Contributed to internal platform apps between engagements: MCP server tools, React frontend features, and a CLI utility for operating a NestJS service on AWS
    • Frequently the only engineer in a client meeting, translating between commercial and technical stakeholders in real time

  2. Fullstack Software Developer · Orb Group (formerly Edisen Inc)

    Fullstack developer on a digital asset management product built for professional film production, where individual assets could reach terabytes and file operations dominated the architecture.

    Owned features end-to-end across the stack — React + Redux + MUI on the frontend, ExpressJS + MongoDB on the backend, and AWS for the heavy lifting (S3 multipart uploads, Rekognition, Lambda, ffmpeg workflows). Grew from junior IC into a feature owner over the course of the role.

    Regularly on call for production incidents, diagnosing and shipping fixes under live pressure alongside the team — a habit that translated cleanly into the deadline-driven, customer-adjacent work that came after.

    • Owned fullstack features end-to-end using React, Redux, MUI, Express, and MongoDB, with tests maintained through a CI/CD pipeline
    • Worked directly with AWS media services — S3 multipart uploads for terabyte-scale assets, Rekognition scene detection, Lambda background processing, ffmpeg transcoding
    • Extended a YouTube analytics feature to correlate user engagement with AWS Rekognition scene data, including downloadable PDF reports
    • Responded to live production incidents alongside the team, diagnosing and shipping fixes under pressure
    • Grew from junior IC into a feature owner across a modern fullstack + AWS product over the course of the role

  3. Frontend Developer Consultant · Thrive Networking

    Consultant developer at an agency — talking directly with a rotating slate of clients, translating their business needs into scoped, deliverable features and full applications. The earliest version of the client-embedded work I'd continue doing years later.

    Most of the work lived inside the Microsoft ecosystem: SharePoint APIs, React and Fluent UI on the frontend, ExpressJS backends, deployed into SharePoint or Microsoft Teams. Shipped an inventory tracking application, maintained an OKR collaboration app across weekly sprints, and built custom SharePoint webparts as clients needed them.

    This is where the habits of asking better questions before writing code, scoping cleanly, and estimating honestly first started to form.

    • Ran client discovery, scoped requirements, and shipped applications and features end-to-end across a rotating slate of client engagements
    • Delivered an inventory tracking application on SharePoint APIs with a React + Fluent UI frontend
    • Maintained and extended an ExpressJS + React (Fluent UI Northstar) OKR collaboration app deployed inside Microsoft Teams, iterating in sprints
    • Built and published custom SharePoint webparts in React across multiple client requests

  4. Software Developer, IT · Cyient

    Met with clients to discuss business needs, clarify SOW requirements, and manage expectations from inception to execution. Developed, enhanced, and maintained various SharePoint-based applications for engineering, research, testing, and related files management.

    • Met directly with internal client teams to clarify SOW requirements and manage delivery expectations from inception through execution
    • Designed dynamic SharePoint sites and real-time dashboards for engineering, research, and testing workflows
    • Built automation solutions for invoice reporting and internal notifications

Education

  1. B.A., Engineering Physics · Augustana College

  2. Certification, Solutions Architect - Associate · AWS