Dan K.

Engineering Manager

Chicago, Illinois, United States24 yrs 9 mos experience
AI EnabledAI ML Practitioner

Key Highlights

  • Expert in Kotlin and Android development.
  • Proven track record in team leadership and project execution.
  • Active contributor to Kotlin and Android communities.
Stackforce AI infers this person is a SaaS and B2C expert with strong leadership in Android and Kotlin development.

Contact

Skills

Core Skills

Engineering ManagementKotlinAndroid DevelopmentJava

Other Skills

AI engineering principlesanalytics featuresteam managementstakeholder engagementcode review standardssustainability practicesAI categorizationreporting featuressentiment detectiontechnical strategyweb application developmentJetBrains ExposedPostgresJetpack ComposeAndroid UI strategy

About

✅ Pragmatic, empathetic, collaborative leader well-versed in technical strategy, roadmap development, project execution, stakeholder engagement, and engineering process. 🤗 Dedicated people-first manager who develops team members through comprehensive performance management, career coaching, and mentorship while fostering inclusive environments that engage and challenge engineers at all levels. ☕ Extensive hands-on experience with Kotlin and Java delivering high-quality, well-regarded consumer and enterprise applications in both web and mobile contexts. 🗣️ Active contributor to the Kotlin and Android communities with nearly a dozen conference talks and published a variety of blog posts to guide and mentor others in the community. 💙 Values-driven approach focused on autonomy, transparency, accountability, empathy, remote work, communication, and celebrating great work and people early and often.

Experience

24 yrs 9 mos
Total Experience
3 yrs 5 mos
Average Tenure
5 mos
Current Experience

Help scout

Engineering Manager, Data & Analytics

Jan 2026Present · 5 mos · Remote

  • Authored the team's AI engineering principles, establishing shared norms ahead of any company wide guidance. Published a team wide document covering responsible adoption, code review standards for AI generated output, sustainability practices, and a practical framework for when and how to use AI across different types of work.
  • Coordinated delivery of multiple AI powered analytics features across six week cycles. Guided delivery for new AI categorization and reporting features (LLM based conversation categorization surfaced across views, workflows, reports, and search), directed scope and delivery for AI generated summaries on company and contact profiles, and helped shape early stage architecture for a multi-surface analytics product and a sentiment detection engine.
  • Built the execution and communication model for a growing team. Designed and rolled out structured planning based on six week cycles and two week cooldowns, a more inclusive idea proposal process, and a bug triage framework. Restructured team syncs, moved decisions into Linear, introduced a weekly decision log, and established a regular stakeholder update cadence.
  • Invested in the people side of running a growing team. Reoriented 1:1s away from status updates toward what's getting in someone's way and where they want to grow. Made feedback more continuous between formal reviews, and introduced intentional career development conversations connecting current work to longer term goals.
AI engineering principlesanalytics featuresteam managementstakeholder engagementEngineering ManagementKotlin

Skyline furniture, mfg.

VP, Software Engineering

Feb 2023Apr 2025 · 2 yrs 2 mos · Remote

  • Created the first dedicated software engineering team from zero to one in collaboration with senior leadership and operations team. Established technical strategy working closely with executive leadership to align technical priorities with business objectives, recruited and hired key staff, and designed all-new engineering processes and standards. Led multiple product releases that have helped to realize operational efficiencies, establishing the team as a key pillar for business decision support and operations.
  • Designed and developed a new web solution focused on reliability and data-driven insights. Architected a new web application built on Kotlin, JetBrains Exposed, and Postgres to replace legacy client applications with historically poor reliability and data integrity. The new system has achieved 99% uptime, experienced zero critical incidents, and maintained performant response times. By capturing and reporting on more comprehensive and reliable data in partnership with operations, finance, and sales, teams are now able to make more precise, data-driven decisions that were previously very difficult. Key improved insights include material inventory and purchasing, production costs, customer pricing and margins, and sales forecasting.
  • Managed a fully remote team of 3 engineers, delivering 100% of planned product releases on schedule. Led comprehensive performance management, career development, and project execution that accelerated team member skill development and enhanced code quality and system reliability standards.
technical strategyweb application developmentteam managementEngineering ManagementKotlin

Twitter 1.0

Engineering Manager, Client UI Android

Aug 2021Jan 2023 · 1 yr 5 mos · Remote

  • Delivered modern UI components to 200M+ daily users by accelerating Jetpack Compose adoption across high-value surfaces including home timeline, DMs, and Communities. Additionally, established Twitter as a leader in Compose by rolling out initiatives to educate engineers and promote the use of Compose, including internal presentations, conference talks, and strategic partnerships with Google.
  • Established a consistent, collaborative approach for developing Android UI strategy. Responsible for designing and delivering technical strategy, quarterly goals, and annual roadmaps for Android UI in deep collaboration with product managers, design teams, feature engineers, and directors that aligned to broader organizational goals. Qualitative and quantitative surveys were conducted in partnership with cross-functional stakeholders including product and design teams, which consistently reported high satisfaction scores and increased engineering velocity.
  • Managed a fully remote, distributed team of 7 engineers across multiple countries and time zones, delivering 100% of planned initiatives on schedule. Led performance management including regular 1:1s, goal setting, comprehensive performance reviews, and mentorship sessions. During a tumultuous time in the company's history, maintained team engagement and collaboration that resulted in successful delivery of all product releases and measurable improvements in engineering velocity as measured by quarterly satisfaction surveys.
Jetpack ComposeAndroid UI strategyteam managementEngineering ManagementAndroid Development

37signals

Senior Engineer, Android

Jun 2013May 2021 · 7 yrs 11 mos · Remote

  • Delivered two highly-rated Android applications serving millions of users worldwide, maintaining 4.7-star ratings on Google Play Store. Architected and engineered Basecamp 3 and HEY applications from the ground up in close collaboration with product and design using Kotlin, Retrofit, OkHttp, Coroutines, Room, LiveData, and Webviews, achieving high marks for user experience and feature implementation.
  • Designed and developed an open source framework for an entirely new approach to blending native and web components. Co-authored a new, unique approach to integrating native apps and Ruby on Rails web components working closely with backend engineering teams that previously never existed. Required extensive experimentation, research, and troubleshooting to develop a reliable framework, ultimately leading to the Turbo Android open source project now used by hundreds of developers worldwide. While the project has morphed over time, the basic mechanics remain and continue to drive production-ready applications across the Rails and mobile development communities.
  • Led developer advocacy and outreach, leading to partnership opportunities and increased product visibility in the Android and Kotlin communities. Elevated 37signals’ presence in the Android community through a combination of writing and conference presentations. Drove new partnerships that resulted in our applications being featured in an Android Developer’s video, Google I/O keynotes, and KotlinConf keynotes.
Android application developmentopen source frameworkdeveloper advocacyAndroid DevelopmentEngineering Management

Motorola solutions

Senior Manager, Marketing Technology

Jul 2012Jan 2013 · 6 mos · Schaumburg, Illinois, United States

  • • Responsible for developing a cohesive marketing technology strategy built around Salesforce. Coordinated IT, marketing, internal communications, change management, and executives to build and execute upon that strategy.

Designkitchen

Director, Software Engineering

Feb 2008Jul 2012 · 4 yrs 5 mos · Chicago, Illinois, United States

  • Grew and led a team of 10-15 engineers, delivering complex client projects on time and budget in a dynamic agency environment. Responsible for career development and growth of engineers, recruiting and hiring, and successfully balancing project execution with team health across multiple concurrent client engagements.
  • Designed and developed a comprehensive technical strategy in collaboration with senior leadership and account managers. Responsible for presenting that strategy to clients, implementing an organizational structure to support it, and ultimately executing projects upon that strategy working closely with cross-functional project teams.
technical strategyproject executionteam managementEngineering Management

Thomson healthcare

Senior Java Web Engineer

Mar 2005Feb 2008 · 2 yrs 11 mos · Evanston, Illinois, United States

  • Designed and developed a clinical performance application to improve patient safety and outcomes. Served as the senior engineer on a Java web application built on WebSphere, integrating a data warehouse built in Oracle and custom reports built on Cognos.
  • Lead a team of 6 engineers, delivering phased project releases on time and in scope. As the senior engineer on the team, I also served as the day to day tactical manager for the project, and was responsible for scoping, execution, and delivery.
Java web application developmentteam managementJava

Various companies

Senior Java Web Engineer

Feb 2000Feb 2005 · 5 yrs · Greater Chicago Area

  • • Designed and developed a variety of Java web applications for retail and healthcare clients. Stacks frequently used Java, Oracle, Documentum, Cognos, WebLogic, and WebSphere. Clients included eMac Digital (McDonald's), Abbot Laboratories, and Biogen.
Java web application developmentJava

Education

Indiana University Bloomington

Bachelor's degree — Business (Computer Information Systems)

Aug 1995Dec 1999

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