Buckley Robinson

Buckley Robinson buck@hey.com | GitHub | LinkedIn

Summary

Staff-level Full-Stack Engineer and Engineering Leader with 20+ years of experience delivering robust, scalable software across Ruby on Rails, JavaScript ecosystems, PHP, and cloud-native platforms. I’ve led architecture and development of complex backend systems, designed intuitive user experiences, and independently delivered products from ideation through launch.

As an engineering leader, I’ve built and scaled high-performing engineering organizations, including a 40-person team at BrightBytes, where I coached managers, improved organizational processes, and drove strategic initiatives—such as reducing cloud infrastructure costs from $50K to $7K monthly.

I thrive in roles combining deep technical execution and strategic leadership, always focusing first on business outcomes. Whether guiding cross-functional teams or owning full-stack feature development independently, my work consistently emphasizes clarity, elegance, and pragmatic problem-solving.

Skills

• Leadership & Strategy: Mentorship & coaching, Org design, OKRs, Cross-functional roadmapping, Cloud cost reduction, Onboarding programs
• Architecture & Infra: AWS, Docker, Redis, Postgres, MongoDB, Serverless (Lambda), CI/CD pipelines, Event-driven systems, State Machines, Rules Engines, REST, GraphQL
• Languages & Frameworks: Ruby, Rails, Node.js, Express, PHP, JavaScript (ES6+), React, Vue, Ember, Angular, TypeScript, CSS/SASS
• Testing & DevOps: RSpec, Capybara, Minitest, Mocha, Jest, Selenium, Cypress, GitHub Actions, CircleCI, TravisCI, AWS CodePipeline
• UX & Product: Reusable component systems, Hybrid mobile UX, Design collaboration, Browser extensions, Real-time dashboards

Work Experience

Invative Inc., Burbank, CA

• Staff Engineer (Aug 2019 – May 2024)
  • Architected and delivered Overhub, a multi-tenant commerce platform enabling dynamic storefronts, affiliate tracking, and adaptive compliance workflows—led full-stack execution across web, mobile, and backend services.
  • Built a modular state machine system to orchestrate complex order lifecycles and transaction flows, supporting real-time decisioning.
  • Created a JavaScript storefront SDK for rapid front-end deployments via Webflow, enabling non-dev teams to build and style custom UIs.
  • Designed and implemented a React-based admin dashboard, supporting real-time analytics, customer support tooling, and fulfillment tracking.
  • Developed a low-latency rules engine for intelligent payment routing, increasing revenue quality and fraud resilience.
  • Owned feature development end-to-end, collaborating with CTO, PMs, and designers to align infrastructure with UX goals.

BrightBytes, San Francisco, CA

• Director of Engineering (Nov 2018 – Mar 2019)

  • Led a 40-person engineering org across 5 teams with 5 direct-report managers and 2 consultant agencies.
  • Created a career framework for managers, with multiple reports advancing to Director and VP roles.
  • Spearheaded a cloud cost-reduction initiative: $50K → $7K/month in 6 months.

• Engineering Manager (May 2016 – Nov 2018)

  • Designed and rolled out a multi-tier hiring & onboarding strategy, enabling team growth under budget constraints.
  • Instituted OKRs for engineering, improving delivery predictability and cross-functional transparency.
  • Implemented Basecamp for inter-team project coordination.

• Senior Engineer (Nov 2013 – May 2016)

  • Owned delivery of the company’s highest-availability data ingestion service, powering 75%+ of data.
  • Partnered with designers to evolve internal UI components; contributed to consistency via D3.js + Angular visualization systems.

VerticalResponse, San Francisco, CA

• Senior Software Engineer (Jun 2012 – Nov 2013)
  • Scaled email-tracking backend throughput 1000× via architectural redesign.
  • Built a server-rotation system for email deliverability and reputation management.
  • Led a monolith-to-SPA rewrite using Ember.js; mentored frontend engineers on modern JS practices.
  • Developed internal UI library and first cross-product style guide.

Adpeak Inc., Sarasota, FL

• Chief Technical Officer (Apr 2011 – Jun 2012)

  • Built and scaled high-traffic browser extensions (Chrome, Firefox, IE) for deal discovery, media conversion, and social tooling.
  • Served 250M+ daily impressions via a custom ad-serving and tracking infrastructure.
  • Developed rules-based content targeting with user-defined personalization.

• Lead Engineer (Aug 2010 – Apr 2011)

  • Mentored engineers, formalized onboarding, and collaborated closely with design/product teams.
  • Supervised migration of legacy extension codebase to modern JS frameworks.

C2B, Sarasota, FL

• Consultant (Owner) (Jun 2010 – Jan 2011)
  • Built extensions including GitHub PR tools, Trello list filters, and YouTube audio/video downloaders.
  • Engineered hot-reloading system for Chrome extensions.
  • Delivered full-stack solutions across ad tech, IoT, and CMS tooling.

Clickbooth.com, Sarasota, FL

• Technical Business Analyst (Feb 2010 – Jun 2010)

  • Led rebuild of CPA publisher dashboard and built compliance automation tools.
  • Acted as a bridge between product stakeholders, designers, and engineering teams to translate business requirements into scalable technical solutions.
  • Led UX efforts for publisher-facing tools, improving campaign visibility, partner engagement, and platform usability.

• Lead Engineer (Oct 2009 – Feb 2010)

  • Rebuilt the publisher dashboard for a high-volume CPA network using PHP and jQuery, enhancing performance, usability, and reporting capabilities.
  • Engineered ad compliance tools using PHP and JavaScript to automate policy checks, reducing manual review cycles and accelerating approvals.
  • Developed automated testing suites with Selenium and a custom PHP-based framework to validate frontend and backend ad-serving functionality.
  • Created the company’s first design and CSS style guide, establishing visual consistency and scalable frontend patterns.

• Senior Software Engineer (Feb 2008 – Oct 2009)

  • Contributed to early-stage development of Clickbooth’s internal publisher and advertiser platforms.
  • Supported backend feature development and frontend optimization efforts across high-traffic campaign management tools.

Sungrazer Inc., West Palm Beach, FL

• Program Manager (Jan 2007 – Jul 2007)

  • Managed government client relationships, overseeing project timelines, software development schedules, and stakeholder expectations.
  • Coordinated internal engineering resources and external partners to ensure successful delivery of travel and information systems projects.
  • Directed UX and product delivery initiatives to align client needs with functional software outcomes.
  • Delivered real-time travel portals and public-sector web platforms.

• Software Engineer (Aug 2005 – Jan 2007)

  • Built a web-based point-of-sale system using classic ASP and JavaScript, deployed across retail environments with unified UI conventions and performance optimization.
  • Led UI/UX design efforts across the company, authoring internal style guidelines and establishing consistent design patterns across applications.
  • Led development of Palm Beach County’s Travel Portal using a custom XML API, PHP, and Prototype.js, enabling real-time travel information and public engagement.
  • Engineered SOAP-based interfaces in PHP to expose CeresOne’s business logic to third parties, powering both external clients and internal applications.
  • Delivered full-stack CMS integrations and user experiences for public- and partner-facing platforms using Joomla, WordPress, and Drupal.
  • Developed CMS and SOAP-based API integrations for municipal clients.

• Junior Engineer (Aug 2003 – Aug 2005)

  • Contributed to internal tool development and early-stage CMS customization projects using PHP and classic ASP.
  • Assisted senior engineers with backend development and API integration tasks across travel and retail client projects.