software
Justin Foley Software Engineer
2010 to present - Columbus, Ohio
Tech leader & community catalyst with 14+ years crafting fullstack solutions. Deep in the trenches with modern web ecosystems and distributed systems. Scaled up engineering teams and architected mission-critical platforms at Shopmonkey and Filevine while shipping clean, maintainable code.
Built and scaled ventures like ModWeb, WestCowork, and Westerville Web from the ground up. Dedicated to fostering tech communities through 55+ community events and nurturing Westerville Web into a thriving community of 1000+ passionate technologists.
Known for being the catalytic force that transforms teams through infectious positivity and cultural leadership. Uniquely blends deep technical mastery with product strategy and business acumen to maximize value. Thrives on mentoring engineers and crafting high-trust environments where teams can do their best work. A natural bridge-builder who brings together engineering, product, and business stakeholders to turn ambitious visions into transformative solutions.
The best way to connect with me is via email.
gigs
Shopmonkey Engineering Manager (M4) • Product Manager
2023 to present - Remote

Led mission-critical platform modernization

  • • Architected enterprise messaging infrastructure leveraging NATS streaming, AWS SES, and Telnex for real-time notifications, email, and SMS at scale
  • • Designed and implemented multi-provider payment processing platform with Finix & Stripe, enabling hundreds of merchant migrations
  • • Built extensible subscription management system supporting complex billing scenarios (flexible multi-company franchises)

Executed critical v1 to v2 platform migration

  • • Coordinated cross-departmental upgrade process, turning around a high-risk migration initiative
  • • Established structured communication channels and feedback loops between engineering, support, and customer success teams
  • • Developed Platform Toolbox for monitoring and operational excellence

Drove technical strategy and partnerships

  • • Led technical due diligence for strategic BNPL integrations (Sunbit, Affirm)
  • • Standardized engineering practices across teams through documentation and mentorship
  • • Contributed insights on engineering practices and delivery processes to help shape long-term technical strategy
Filevine Lead Senior SDE
2021 to 2023 - Remote
I led Filevine's largest feature development team. We were responsible for billing, timekeeping, activity, tags, etc. I helped interview dozens of candidates and got to hand-pick my team and help fill out additional teams. I also successfully recruited one of the most performant engineers in the company and an all-star designer to the company.
One of the larger projects I led was a total rework of the tagging system. This project touched a massive footprint of the app, and we achieved dramatic performance gains and successfully migrated every customer to the new system (swap the engine mid-flight!).
Another fun project was a very complex content editable component that serves as the primary note-taking mechanism in Filevine. I learned a lot about the complexity of caret management and TreeWalkers.
My core engineering contributions are frontend work in Svelte. I introduced the first frontend unit tests and Storybook to the core Filevine application and have developed a custom state management methodology for Svelte. I've been writing Svelte full-time since 2019.
ModWeb Founder
2014 to present - Columbus, Ohio
Boutique software agency crafting modern web experiences. Pitched, sold, designed, developed, and delivered dozens of technical products.
I did a lot of different work with my agency. We were small but extremely effective, and I think I maximized my growth and experience by going out on my own early in my career.
I got to do a bit of everything. I networked with businesses and sharpened my B2B sales skills, wrote proposals and contracts, managed client relationships through the lifecycle, loads of greenfield and legacy product development, strategic consulting, contract negotiation, full SLDC ownership from ideation to production and maintenance.
Some highlight over the years:
iVueit CTO
2018 to 2021 - Columbus, Ohio
I joined iVueit in 2018 as CTO and led the product design and development of a complete rewrite of all software.
First, I migrated the legacy app from a regional hosting provider to AWS. I organized all code assets into source control. I created an API for the legacy database to enable existing customers to automate tedious manual processes unlocking rapid revenue growth.
Rearchitected the entire platform from the ground up with a more performant and modern stack: Go, gRPC, IaC, Svelte. Seamlessly migrated to the new platform with minimal downtime (minutes). Redesigned the operational flow of the iVueit admin and end-user processes to automate manual tasks, increase the accuracy of site surveys, and reduce fraud.
Assisted founders with technical sales, fundraising, and strategic planning.
WestCowork Founder
2018 - 2021 - Westerville, OH
Created a coworking space in Uptown Westerville in an old Masonic Temple.
Brick and mortar, literally! While the business folded 18 months into the pandemic (offices are so 2019 right?) I built up a solid base membership of highly talented coworking members. This location also served as and staging/afterparty space for the Westerville Web.
Dropoly CTO
2011 to 2014 - Dayton, Ohio
I was employee #2 at Dropoly, the first technical hire. I was a wearer of many hats including sales, fundraising, and team expansion. I built a high interactive web app to calculate an inverse energy model of residential homes. The app could accurately estimate energy reduction potential of behavioral and physical changes within the home by using NOAA weather data, a home owners energy bills and location, and a home survey.
Next Dropoly pivoted to create an energy education platform that met the requirements of the Ohio Learning Standards. Created a delivery market through educational partnerships with schools funded by utilities that service them.
University of Dayton Developer
2010 - 2011 - Dayton, Ohio
Developed a web application to optimize internal operations of the Department of Residence Life.
Epic Systems Developer
2010 - Madison, Wisconsin
Experimental UI/UX design for nursing station scheduling kiosk.
Epic brought me on for a brief engagement between undergrad and grad school to build 3D coverflow user interface in C# with WPF (ahhh, those were interesting times). The code was optimized to only render interactive elements on the active “album” to allow for thousands of items to be displayed and scrolled through while maintaining a high frame rate.
buzzwords
Languages
JavaScript/TypeScript
HTML/CSS
Go
Bash
CoffeeScript (RIP)
UI Libraries
Svelte
React
Redux
Tailwind
Flutter
Tools & Utils
Rollup
Ramda
Webpack
Cordova
Docker
Product
Lean MVP Strategy
Prioritization
Realtime Design
UI/UX
People
Public Speaking
Community Design
Technical Sales
Growth
Dev Happiness
Databases
Postgres
MongoDB
MySQL
MariaDB
CockroachDB
Frameworks
Meteor
Feathers
Express
Next
Too many to count
community
Westerville Web Founder
2017 to present - Westerville, Ohio
Monthly community event designed to maximize social growth and learning opportunities focused on the intersection of technology, design, and business. 1000+ members, 35+ events, 47+ unique speakers.
Meteor Columbus Founder
2017 to 2019 - Westerville, Ohio
Pursuing anything and everything related to the Meteor framework, this meetup group is where I cut my teeth on technical community building. 200+ members, 20+ events.
volunteer
WeConnect Datacenter Board Member
2020 - Westerville, Ohio
GiveBackHack Mentor
2018 - Columbus, Ohio
St. Paul School STEAM Advisory Board
2017 to 2019 - Westerville, Ohio
YMCA Board Member
2016 - Westerville, Ohio
speaking
Emcee 55+ Events
2017 - present
If you need someone to grab the mic and captivate the room by injecting infectious positive vibes and energy, sign me up.
Git Freestyle Westerville Web
2019 - Westerville, Ohio
Imagine karaoke with a slide deck I've never seen on Git version control.
Generate All The Things NewRX
2018 - Newark, Ohio
Generative application scaffolding with React, Redux, and Meteor.
Groovin with Bodymovin Westerville Web
2017 - Westerville, Ohio
Interactive pure SVG animation design in React with Bodymovin.
Finite State Gumball Machines St. Paul School Code Club
2017 - Westerville, Ohio
Dropped knowledge about finite state machines through an interactive exercise building a gumball machine. Young Minds == Blown.
Meteor Magic Pillar Plugged In
2016 - Columbus, Ohio
Performed technical inception with the slide deck and wowed the audience with an audio visual live deployment experience.
Why Git is Legit University of Dayton Research Institute
2012 - Dayton, Ohio
Walked through the differences between centralize and decentralize source control and the core mechanism of Git.
competition
Omnibus GiveBackHack - 1st Place
2016 - Columbus, Ohio
Realtime COTA bus tracking MVP application.
LocalFlow Startup Weekend - 3rd Place
2015 - Columbus, Ohio
Local guides create a sequence of activities to create a unique experience flow through a city.
education
Master of Science Computer Science
University of Dayton, Ohio
Focus on graph algorithms and computational reflection.
Bachelor of Science Computer Science
University of Dayton, Ohio
Minor in mathematics. Extras: resident assistant, WUDR Radio DJ, founder of Cycling Club, Men's Rowing Team.