Chris Stipes
Birmingham, AL • chris.stipes@gmail.com • (205) 999-9781 • linkedin.com/in/chris-stipes-186ab033 • github.com/cstipes-devs
ENGINEERING LEADER
Backend & Platform Engineering | Scaling Teams & Systems | Quality & Reliability | Observability | GenAI Readiness
Engineering leader with 12+ years of experience across backend, platform, QA, and mobile engineering. Proven track record of scaling teams, modernizing infrastructure, and building resilient, observable, and secure systems. Experienced in leading integrations with external providers, driving API interoperability, and architecting AWS serverless data pipelines. Passionate about developer velocity, testing in production, and building high-impact platforms. Hands-on technical background with a people-first leadership style.
CORE SKILLS
- Programming & Frameworks: Go, Python, Ruby, JavaScript, gRPC/Protobuf, GraphQL
- Quality & Automation: Playwright, Appium, Cypress, Detox, Selenium, Postman, custom Go/Python test frameworks
- Performance & Reliability: Locust, Grafana k6, Artillery, Observability-driven testing, CI/CD quality gates
- Cloud & Platforms: AWS (S3, Lambda, SNS/SQS), Docker, Microservices, Snowflake
- GenAI & Data: Prompt engineering, ML/AI quality validation, LLM-based test design (emerging), Python-based ML benchmarking tools
EXPERIENCE
Fetch Rewards — Digital Receipts Tech Lead / Backend Engineer (May 2024 – Jul 2025)
- Scaled system to process 1.5–2M digital orders daily; market-ready data product.
- Reduced incident frequency from multiple per month to near-zero; improved reliability.
- Doubled iOS/Android user share from 18% to 39% of active users.
- Created a Python-based ML benchmarking tool for receipt model accuracy.
Fetch Rewards — Director of Quality Engineering / SDET (Nov 2022 – May 2024)
- Directed QA org of 40+; led managers and senior ICs.
- Weekly release cadence across iOS and Android.
- Observability-driven testing in production workflows.
- Adopted Appium, Playwright, and Go/Python data testing frameworks.
Shipt — Engineering Manager / Backend Engineer (Oct 2020 – Nov 2022)
- Re-architected Ad-tech platform for multi-vendor mediation & HA.
- Improved relevancy & placements; ~15% ad revenue growth.
- Drove GraphQL adoption; contract/schema validation at build.
- Doubled team size via hiring & mentorship.
Shipt — Senior Backend Engineer (Oct 2019 – Oct 2020)
- Rebuilt 'Shelf' in Go as a headless CMS; 20% performance gain.
- Partnered with Data Science for faster recommendations.
- CMS tooling for non-engineer content launches.
- Migrated large portions of Ruby monolith to microservices.
Shipt — QA Manager / SDET (Jun 2018 – Oct 2019)
- Replaced Postman tests with embedded microservice frameworks.
- Introduced Cypress and Detox E2E testing.
- Built Locust + Grafana load framework integrated in service reports.
- UI-driven data validation for ingestion & relevance.
Guidewire Software — Lead SDET (Jun 2015 – Jun 2018)
- Built first mobile + web automation (Appium + Selenium, Java).
- Excel tooling for non-technical test data generation.
- Artillery load testing integrated into templates.
EDUCATION
University of Alabama — B.A., 2007