Vetted Director of Engineerings

Mark Thomas

Screened ReferencesStrong rec.

Director-level software architect specializing in cloud, distributed systems, and healthcare IT

McCalla, AL20y exp

“Startup veteran with experience at seven companies since 2004 and direct exposure to Birmingham's Innovation Depot accelerator through three different startups. Has worked closely with investment teams on MVPs and pitch decks and brings a pragmatic lens to evaluating ventures through need, margins, burn rate, cash position, and sales growth strategy.”

Lavrenti DeLavrenti

Screened ReferencesStrong rec.

Director-level Technology Leader specializing in cloud-native platforms, AI/ML, and SaaS

Remote15y exp

“Engineering leader (Director/VP level) who has repeatedly aligned product and engineering through ROI-driven quarterly roadmaps and strong stakeholder communication, including board presentations. Built a parallel cloud team to migrate an on-prem product to the cloud, credited with delivering $9M ARR, and led a Python monolith-to-serverless event-driven microservices transformation. Currently manages distributed teams across Mexico, India, and the US using pod-based structures, clear KPIs, and a supportive accountability culture.”

Rob Wlaschin

Screened ReferencesStrong rec.

Director-level Engineering Manager specializing in AI platforms, FinTech, and Healthtech

Santa Clara, CA24y exp

“Serial entrepreneur building three distinct products: a context-aware AI chatbot, a connected TV companion-screen platform with an implementation client, and gamerogue.net, a mobile-optimized web-based virtual tabletop marketplace currently seeking funding. Brings hands-on fundraising experience, familiarity with the VC/accelerator ecosystem including YC, and a notably pragmatic approach to validating ideas based on existing market demand rather than speculative adoption.”

Jaideep Jain

Screened

Executive Business, Product & Engineering Leader in SaaS, Data Platforms, and IoT

33y exp

“Serial entrepreneur (13 years) currently building a consumer-focused startup with an MVP completed and initial customers acquired. Has interacted with multiple VCs and is very familiar with the VC/accelerator ecosystem, with a near-term focus on scaling customer acquisition while iterating the product.”

“Builder-minded founder who co-started Renew-IQ, an insurtech company that landed successful pilots with major insurance brokerages and wholesalers without raising capital. Demonstrated practical enterprise product judgment by overcoming adoption challenges through integration with required compliant systems, improving user satisfaction, communication, and efficiency.”

“Startup-oriented product/technology leader targeting CTO roles, with experience evaluating and scoping high-impact product expansions. At Crelate, helped assess and shape a contract timekeeping/invoicing initiative that expanded TAM by hundreds of millions and increased ACV 2-3x, contributing to successful market traction and the company’s path to Series C.”

Kurt Balingit

Screened

Senior Digital Marketing Specialist specializing in demand generation and SEO/SEM

7y exp

“Performance marketer with hands-on ownership of high-spend acquisition programs, including managing ~50K/month at Backblaze across Google Ads and paid social while optimizing for trial-to-paid conversion. Built Protective's employee benefits paid media from scratch into a full-funnel LinkedIn + Google program, scaling spend ~300% YoY and improving lead quality through tighter targeting and keyword refinement.”

Tuukka Luolamo

Screened

Executive Technology Leader (CTO) specializing in AI, cloud, and distributed platforms

Remote14y exp

“Engineering leader who stays hands-on in high-leverage technical areas (architecture, scalability, reliability) while operating at an executive level. Led StagePilot’s shift from a tightly coupled legacy system to a cloud-native, event-driven real-time platform proven at 1M+ concurrent users, and previously scaled multiple SRE teams at McGraw-Hill with SLOs, on-call, and blameless ops practices.”

“Senior technology leader who has served as the top tech executive at a venture-backed SaaS company and is motivated by the pressure and complexity of early-stage environments. Also co-founded an ecommerce business with his wife, giving him both operator and hands-on entrepreneurial experience.”

Andrew Sheehan

Screened

Executive engineering leader specializing in enterprise architecture and digital transformation

27y exp

“Candidate has spent years working with startups across various industries and has been involved in multiple stages of company building, including hiring, technology choices, and budgeting. They appear especially oriented toward operational discipline, cost control, and evaluating ideas through structured cost, time, and value analysis.”