Jeff Lee
software engineer

Staff-level backend engineer and tech lead. I like hard problems and wearing many hats.

What I do

Areas of focus

Technical experience

Co-founder - Main Gauche Games (2021.10-present)

I run an indie game studio.

  • Led the design and development of Stereo Boy (PC/Mac), which short-listed for Best in Show at the 2022 Boston Independent Games Festival
  • Implemented core tech for AI, physics, audio, level design, telemetry, and build tooling

Staff engineer - Slack (2017.10-2021.10)

Tech lead for projects that made the Slack developer platform more scale- and enterprise-friendly.

  • Shipped a laundry list of business-critical user features: bot tokens with OAuth scopes, client TLS auth, OAuth2 token rotation, and app-level credentials
  • Led the effort to improve scalability of the app webhook system (Events API), reducing tail latency by 2 orders of magnitude and preventing future performance-related incidents
  • Evangelized and implemented an automated workflow for data cleanup tasks, eliminating our team’s largest source of velocity drag

Lead product engineer - Chain (2015.3-2017.9)

Chain developed a cryptographically-secured database for large financial institutions. I led a team that maintained the product surface area, including APIs, SDKs, dashboards, and example apps.

  • Headed development for numerous prototype applications, from retail point-of-sale to bond trading, that led to successful client engagements and conference exhibitions
  • Primary technical point-of-contact for high-profile client teams such as Nasdaq and UFJ
  • Improved team velocity by introducing new technology (React) and process (kanban)

Lead engineer, platform and infrastructure - IFTTT (2012.11-2014.9)

I led IFTTT’s server-side engineering projects for the better part of two years.

  • Product and technical architect for IFTTT’s developer platform, which enabled the company to scale from dozens of partner integrations to hundreds
  • Moved the backend from Engine Yard to auto-scaling EC2, reducing infra costs by over 50%
  • Introduced team processes for task tracking, sprint planning, and incident response

Full-stack web developer - Gotham Software (2011.8-2012.11)

First engineering hire for a seed-level team that built Maybe, a bookmarking app, and Everwise, a service that connects professionals to mentors.

  • Tech lead for backend systems including mobile APIs, bookmarking, search, social graph, news feed, and 3rd-party API integration

Game programmer - WayForward Technologies (2010.12-2011.6, 2006.3-2007.9)

Systems programming for game projects on various mainstream consoles, including GBA, DS, PS3, and Xbox 360.

  • Contributed key platform tech, including fast allocators, metrics, tools, and a C++ gameplay framework used for most of WayForward’s DS catalog
  • Implemented gameplay for acclaimed titles such as Contra 4 and BloodRayne: Betrayal

Game programmer - Zindagi Games (2008.10-2010.8)

Primary user interface programmer for Sports Champions (PS3), the flagship title for Sony’s Move motion controller.

  • Developed innovative solutions to tricky UX problems, such as controller calibration and pairing.
  • Contributed UX guidelines to Sony’s official technical requirements.

Education