Ryan Simon

About

Engineering leader with hands-on Android architecture expertise who has scaled mobile teams at Weedmaps (including forming a Platform team and rolling out MVVM/unit testing) and also co-founded a bootstrapped side business (Sizzle), owning the technical roadmap, hiring strategy (university pipeline + senior remote engineers in Pakistan), and stepping into fundraising when runway became critical.

Experience

Education

Key Strengths

• Built and executed a technical roadmap for a bootstrapped side business (budget, timeline, staffing, tech stack, UX scope)
• Creative, cost-conscious hiring strategy leveraging university pipelines and senior engineers in Pakistan
• Scaled Android engineering at Weedmaps by creating a Platform team to drive tooling, documentation, and architecture consistency
• Led app-wide architectural migration to MVVM without disrupting squad OKRs/KPIs
• Improved developer productivity and satisfaction (reported via PM/engineer surveys) through platform ownership and DX improvements
• Turned around a brittle Android Driver app by piloting an architecture change in an isolated critical area, then rolling it out to restore stability and increase feature velocity
• Effective delegation during fundraising crunch by empowering trusted engineers with clear directives and regular check-ins

Reference Highlights

• Highly collaborative leadership style
• Structured and forward-thinking
• Effective leader in every observed capacity
• Aligns technology with broader strategic goals
• Articulates complex technical concepts clearly
• Leads with rigor and empathy
• Guides teams effectively through ambiguity
• Keeps execution aligned to measurable business impact
• Strong at prioritizing with limited resources
• Unblocks teams by directly helping solve critical issues
• Empowers product/UX work and maintains momentum
• Delivered HIPAA-compliant integrated platform under constraints
• Launched Early Preview product on time
• Enabled early provider adoption
• Built technical credibility for larger research/commercial partnerships
• Creates low-friction, non-hierarchical cross-disciplinary collaboration
• Improved team organization and proactivity over time
• Steady under pressure; stabilizing presence
• Absorbs pressure rather than pushing it downward
• Communicates more and increases transparency during high-pressure periods
• Steps in to make decisions when direction is needed
• Reframes setbacks as opportunities; pivots quickly
• Strong technical curiosity and user empathy
• Drives meaningful product differentiation
• Encourages innovation and bold ideas
• Recognizes emerging opportunities early
• Thoughtful, steady, highly collaborative leadership
• Exceptional at translating business goals into clear technical direction
• Builds alignment across teams
• Strategic, grounded technology decision-making
• Connects technical choices to real user and business needs
• Calm communication style
• Reliable
• Long-term thinker
• Elevated product quality
• Strengthened team confidence in technical roadmap
• Elevated engineering culture through structure and clarity
• Strong mentor; leads by example
• Cultivates calm problem-solving and technical curiosity
• Ensures engineers understand the why behind work
• Built a cohesive, accountable, mission-driven team
• Improved team efficiency and confidence
• Handles high-pressure periods with composure
• Doesn't let urgency compromise quality or morale
• Provides a grounding presence during fast-moving launches
• Deep technical insight paired with user understanding