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Christopher Kirby - Vice President of Engineering in Detroit, MI

Christopher Kirby

Executive engineering leader specializing in platform engineering, AI systems, and SaaS

Goondocks ConsultingMichigan State UniversityDetroit, MI24 Years ExperienceExecutive LevelWorks On-Site

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About

Senior engineering executive who has repeatedly rebuilt and scaled product engineering organizations in high-growth environments, including restarting Rocket Auto’s stack from scratch and hiring 100+ engineers during StockX’s hypergrowth phase. Particularly differentiated by being unusually hands-on for an executive leader, with active open source work and a strong focus on AI-native engineering workflows, developer automation, and modern architecture transformation.

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Key Strengths

  • Owned end-to-end engineering strategy from scratch at Rocket Auto
  • Drove major cost reduction by cutting legacy contracts and saving $200K/month via Databricks migration
  • Built and launched a new digital retailing prototype in 3 months
  • Strong build-vs-buy and architecture decision-making across stack, compute, and data platforms
  • Scaled hypergrowth engineering org at StockX by hiring 100+ engineers and leaders
  • Designed multi-layer engineering org structure spanning platform, API, services, and client teams
  • Led hiring process redesign during rapid company scaling
  • Established internal RFC process to drive bottom-up technical leadership
  • Experienced in balancing platform stability with frontend/mobile delivery speed
  • Hands-on AI engineering leader building custom tooling and open source projects
  • Thought leadership in AI agent workflows and MCP ecosystem
  • Experienced in monolith decomposition and Strangler Fig migrations under production constraints
  • Data-driven product iteration using experimentation and conversion measurement

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Experience

Founder & PrincipalGoondocks Consulting · Jan 2024 – Presentfreelance
Senior Vice President of EngineeringRocket Auto · Mar 2022 – Jun 2023
Vice President of EngineeringStockX · Feb 2020 – Mar 2022
Director of EngineeringRed Ventures · Feb 2018 – Feb 2020
VP of TechnologyAuthenticom · Oct 2014 – Feb 2018
Chief Technology Officer, PartnerRyanTech · May 2004 – Oct 2014
Senior Software EngineerAutobytel · Nov 2001 – May 2004

Education

Michigan State Universitybachelor, Telecommunications Engineering & Business

Languages

English

Publications

1 publication

Homelab infrastructurePlatform engineeringNetworking automationAI-assisted developmentEmerging technologies

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Christopher KirbyExecutive engineering leader specializing in platform engineering, AI systems, and SaaS