CV

Indiana, USA (Remote) | s@cavender.foo | linkedin.com/in/scavender | cavender.foo | github.com/stephencavender

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Summary

Over 10 years of software engineering experience, leading development teams at startups and global tech firms (60–5,000+ employees, up to $29B+ revenue). Delivered iOS and Android apps for a veterinary software startup in under 2 months. Expertise in front-end development, cloud-based solutions, and automated testing, with a focus on enhancing user experience and accessibility.

Technical Skills: TypeScript, React, React Native, Expo, Next.js, NodeJS, AI/LLMs, Postgres, Prisma, Angular, Selenium, Playwright, Jenkins

Professional Experience

Otto — Austin, TX (Remote)

Staff Software Engineer I | Feb 2026 – Present
Senior Software Engineer II | Dec 2023 – Feb 2026
Senior Software Engineer I | Apr 2022 – Dec 2023

Leading veterinary software company serving 8,000+ veterinary practices across North America.

• Served as technical lead for a 6-engineer team from Mar 2025; transitioned the team from Kanban to 2-week sprints, improving delivery predictability, and introduced AI-powered development tools into the team’s workflow, working alongside engineers rather than mandating adoption, to boost productivity.
• Led delivery of the Hill’s and Trupanion Inform partner programs as tech lead, building clinic enrollment flows and pet-parent execution flows end-to-end, and integrating the SyncVet API to streamline clinic onboarding.
• Led design and delivery of the Otto pet-parent mobile application (Expo/React Native, iOS + Android, 50k+ downloads), including OTP authentication and targeted push-notification reminders that reduced missed veterinary appointments; set up the release pipeline on Expo EAS Build/Submit for repeatable App Store and Google Play submissions.
• Built the Otto Inform campaign enrollment and account-management web application (React, functional components, Context API, no Redux) enabling veterinary practices to manage client communication campaigns and account settings end-to-end.
• Built the internal operations admin application (React) for practice support teams from the ground up, streamlining administrative workflows and operational oversight; the first iteration became foundational tooling for the team.
• Established the first end-to-end test suite for the Inform platform, giving the team automated coverage where there had previously been none.
• Built a shared widgets repository and embedded the widget into the pet portal, along with a conversations overlay, working across Next.js and tRPC after moving to a new delivery team.
• Contributed to 20+ backend and frontend repositories (Node.js services, React front-ends), ensuring seamless full-stack feature integration across the platform.
• Pushed back on building production campaigns against an unproven new event-emitter architecture; negotiated a compromise to build on the new system while holding launch until it was proven at scale, protecting delivery reliability under leadership pressure.
• Led the build of an internal AI workspace usable by both engineers and non-engineers, adding guardrails to prevent AI from mutating production data or deploying to production without human review, widening adoption without loosening the safety bar.

BIAH | Pawru (via TEKsystems) — Duluth, GA (Remote)

Senior Software Engineer | Nov 2020 – Apr 2022

Digital health startup building a client engagement platform for veterinary practices; dissolved in Apr 2022 when Boehringer Ingelheim partnered with Otto (then TeleVet), which extended offers to part of the team.

• Assessed a contractor-delivered React Native app that turned out to be a native shell wrapping a webview; the team rejected that approach and, once the contract engagement ended, rebuilt it as a fully native React Native app for iOS and Android.
• Shipped new features and critical bug fixes on the legacy PetPro Connect Ionic/Angular app in parallel with the rebuild, keeping the live product healthy throughout.
• Increased user engagement through data-driven, targeted email campaigns, boosting product adoption.
• Refactored NodeJS/Express-based file services to fix slow image load times at the service layer rather than adding server capacity, improving user experience while reducing server costs.

Genesys — Indianapolis, IN

Senior Software Engineer | Apr 2020 – Nov 2020
Software Engineer | Dec 2016 – Apr 2020

Global leader in customer experience and contact center technology, serving 8,000+ organizations across 100+ countries.

• Developed front-end features for Interaction Connect (Angular) to enhance agent and customer experience.
• Engineered cloud-based Journey Mapping and Interaction Routing solutions using AltoCloud.
• Implemented WCAG 2.1 accessibility guidelines, expanding the platform’s potential user base and improving usability scores.
• Designed and developed foundational features including Response Management and Agent Statistics.

Interactive Intelligence (InIn) — Indianapolis, IN

Software Engineer in Test | Feb 2016 – Dec 2016
Associate Software Engineer in Test | Jun 2014 – Feb 2016

Customer engagement and communications software company acquired for $1.4B in 2016.

• Drove quality and reliability of Interaction Connect through automated testing and continuous integration.
• Streamlined virtual machine deployment for Selenium Grid-based test frameworks, improving scalability.
• Maintained and optimized Jenkins CI server, ensuring reliable execution of automated test suites.
• Wrote and maintained automated test suites using Selenium and the Page Object Model.

Additional Experience

Paragon Medical — Pierceton, IN
IT Support Engineer (Internship) | May 2013 – May 2014

MicroByte Technologies — North Webster, IN
Web Developer, Computer Technician | Feb 2007 – Aug 2010

Education

Anderson University — Anderson, IN
BA Computer Science, 2014

Projects

SimpleDex — Pokémon evolution lookup app | React Native, Expo, TypeScript

• Designed, built, and shipped a cross-platform mobile app (iOS + Android) that surfaces Pokémon evolution requirements without wading through wiki text.
• Published to the App Store and Google Play; later delisted after developer accounts lapsed. Codebase and marketing site remain public.
• Repo: github.com/StephenCavender/simpledex | Site: marketing.simpledex.cavender.dev

GymButler — Workout tracking app | React Native, Expo, TypeScript

• Built and shipped a cross-platform mobile app for tracking gym workouts.
• Previously published to app stores; delisted after developer accounts lapsed. Codebase remains public; relaunch in progress.
• Repo: github.com/StephenCavender/gymbutler