Ivy Energy
Seed-stage cleantech startup enabling apartment buildings to allocate onsite solar generation to individual residents. The product covered resident solar bills, owner and asset manager reporting, and integrations with property management systems, supporting California Title 24 compliance. I joined as the first full-time engineering hire and grew with the company, from Founding Software Engineer to Head of Engineering to Chief Technology Officer. During my tenure Ivy grew from 2 customers (~200 units) to 30 customers (6,000+ units), with 50,000+ additional units in the onboarding pipeline.
Built on Python, JavaScript, React, Node.js, PHP, AWS, Kubernetes, Snowflake, Sigma, PostgreSQL.
Chief Technology Officer
Nov 2021 to Nov 2024I owned the full technology organization, a $2M budget, SOC2, infrastructure modernization, and data strategy. I scaled the team from 2 to 8 engineers plus a data science function and supported the company's Series A.
- Scaled engineering org from 2 to 8 engineers and built a data science team of 3 within 6 months (400+ interviews across engineering, data science, and analyst roles)
- Managed $2M technology org budget across Product, Engineering, Data, and IT/Security; supported $10M Series A and M&A diligence as technical lead
- Achieved SOC2 compliance by maturing AWS infrastructure (including EC2 to Kubernetes migration) and instituting company-wide security practices
- Embedded data culture with Snowflake + Sigma; established data warehouse, data catalog, and BI tooling, reducing manual sales modeling by 90%
- Co-created product roadmap with VP of Product and VP of Engineering, shifting the org from sales-oriented/reactive to product-driven execution
- Managed outsourced RealPage integration, enabling automation and synergy with property management systems
- Organized the company's first Innovation Day to align teams on long-term technical strategy
- Fostered engineering culture through structured rituals (lead syncs, skip-levels), org-wide events, and mentorship that grew ICs into leadership and new technical roles
SOC2 Compliance & AWS EC2 to Kubernetes Migration
I led the effort to achieve SOC2 compliance by maturing the AWS infrastructure, including migrating the core platform from EC2 to Kubernetes and instituting company-wide security practices covering access, auditing, and incident response.
Unlocked enterprise deals gated on SOC2 and made the platform auditable end to end.
- AWS
- Kubernetes
- EC2
- Terraform
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Snowflake + Sigma Data Warehouse
I stood up the company's first real data warehouse on Snowflake with Sigma as the BI layer. Established a data catalog, canonical models, and self-serve analytics for sales, operations, and product.
Reduced manual sales modeling effort by 90%.
- Snowflake
- Sigma
- dbt
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Engineering Org Scale: 2 to 8 + Data Science Team
I scaled the engineering organization from 2 to 8 engineers and built a three-person data science team inside six months. Ran 400+ interviews across engineering, data science, and analyst roles while establishing onboarding, rituals, and leveling.
Grew ICs into leadership, supported a successful Series A, and shifted the org from reactive to product-driven.
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Head of Engineering
Nov 2020 to Nov 2021I led the modernization of Ivy's codebase from a C++/PHP MVP to an event-driven Python/JavaScript microservices stack, built the engineering team, and shipped the proprietary virtual grid algorithm.
- Led effort to migrate codebase from a C++/PHP MVP to a modern stack using Python, Node.js, and React
- Transitioned monolithic C++/PHP stack to event-driven Python/JavaScript microservices, reducing dev cycles by 20%
- Designed and implemented CI/CD pipeline using GitHub Actions and AWS CodeDeploy
- Evaluated and improved engineering team efficiency and productivity using DORA metrics
- Supported IT Ops in designing and executing security and disaster recovery plans, establishing a security ethos
- Created broader architecture framework to integrate multiple planned product offerings
- Conducted 200+ interviews to expand the core engineering team and auxiliary teams (data scientists, DevOps)
- Onboarded six engineers, a PM, and an intern, teaching them the product, codebase, and technologies
- Implemented the proprietary virtual grid solar distribution algorithm, key to the business's USP
- Spearheaded engineering effort to build a revenue verification program used to secure new clients
- Oversaw three engineers incorporating a new billing schema to support client needs
- Supervised outsourced project integrating two APIs to sync meters and meter readings into the system
C++/PHP to Python/JavaScript Microservices Migration
I led the transition of the Ivy Energy platform from a monolithic C++/PHP MVP to an event-driven microservices architecture in Python and JavaScript. Designed the CI/CD pipeline on GitHub Actions and AWS CodeDeploy and introduced DORA metrics to quantify delivery improvements.
Reduced engineering dev cycles by 20%.
- Python
- Node.js
- React
- GitHub Actions
- AWS CodeDeploy
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Revenue Verification Pilot
I spearheaded the engineering effort to build a revenue verification program that let prospective customers validate Ivy's solar allocation accuracy against their own utility data. This became a key sales tool that secured new clients and opened new markets.
Secured new enterprise clients and opened new market segments.
- Python
- PHP
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Commercial Billing Schema
I oversaw three engineers developing new billing schemas and PDF templates to support commercial clients, whose billing structures differed significantly from residential. This expanded Ivy's addressable market beyond apartment buildings.
- PHP
- MySQL
- DomPDF
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Founding Software Engineer
Jan 2020 to Nov 2020I was the first full-time engineering hire. I built the core IP, billing systems, admin portal, and third-party integrations that the Ivy Energy platform was launched on.
- Built core IP: proprietary virtual grid solar distribution algorithm leveraging AWS SQS for event-driven architecture
- Developed foundational billing and admin systems, including an internal admin portal (PHP + MySQL) and dynamic PDF billing templates using HTML, CSS, DomPDF, and JpGraph
- Integrated AWS CloudWatch and Lambda Functions to manage custom event scheduling
- Wrote Python scripts for managing EC2 instances and mounting EFS storage on boot
- Built integrations for utility and solar production data ingestion, core to the distribution and billing algorithm
- Integrated third-party APIs for auxiliary systems: SendGrid, Mailchimp, Lob (paper bill delivery), and a custom mail delivery system built directly on Google's Gmail SMTP servers
Virtual Grid Solar Distribution Algorithm
I built Ivy Energy's core IP: the proprietary virtual grid algorithm that allocates onsite solar generation across individual apartment residents. Implemented on an event-driven architecture using AWS SQS, CloudWatch, and Lambda.
Became the technical foundation of the business and the USP that unlocked Ivy's customer growth.
- PHP
- Python
- AWS SQS
- AWS Lambda
- MySQL
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Internal Admin Portal
I built the internal admin portal that let the operations team view and interact with the MySQL database and the C++ backend. This was the primary tool for managing customers, units, and billing data before the platform had a proper front end.
- PHP
- MySQL
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Dynamic PDF Billing System
I built the system that generated resident solar bills and reporting PDFs with dynamic content, charts, and custom designs. Used HTML and CSS for layout, DomPDF for rendering, and JpGraph for inline charts showing solar production and savings.
- PHP
- HTML
- CSS
- DomPDF
- JpGraph
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Email & Mail Delivery Systems
I integrated SendGrid and Mailchimp for transactional and marketing email, added Lob for automated paper bill delivery, and built a custom mail delivery system from scratch by integrating directly with Google's Gmail SMTP servers for cases where the third-party APIs were insufficient.
- SendGrid
- Mailchimp
- Lob
- Gmail SMTP
- PHP
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Utility & Solar Data Ingestion Pipelines
I built the data ingestion integrations for utility meter readings and solar production data from monitoring hardware. These pipelines were core to the virtual grid distribution and billing algorithm, feeding real energy data into the system on a recurring schedule.
- Python
- AWS SQS
- AWS Lambda
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