Director of Software Engineering
Derek T. McKinney
I lead a large engineering team delivering a multi‑million‑dollar platform — and I still design and build production systems by hand.
18+ years across the full stack and the hardware it runs on: front‑end, back‑end, systems architecture, applied AI, and the infrastructure underneath. I build things that are practical, observable, and maintained.
18+
Years across the full stack
4+
Years leading the current team
Director
of Software Engineering
Full-stack
software + hardware
What I do
Engineering leadership, grounded in hands-on building
Engineering leadership
Lead a large team delivering a multi-million-dollar platform — architecture, delivery, hiring, and mentorship.
Systems & architecture
Design end-to-end systems: APIs, data workflows, integrations, and controlled, observable deployment.
Applied AI & automation
Build practical AI systems — LLM-based applications, agentic workflows, evaluation loops, and guardrails.
Full-stack engineering
Comfortable across the whole delivery path, from UI to services to data — still writing and reviewing real code.
Infrastructure & reliability
Own infrastructure end to end — Linux, servers, databases, networking, and GPUs, with security and monitoring built in.
How I work
Practical, observable, built to last
Start from the problem
Solve the real business problem, not the trend. Scope tightly and deliver value early.
Build to operate
Design for observability, maintenance, and the person on call — not the demo.
Keep judgment in the loop
Automate the repeatable, and keep humans where judgment and accountability matter.
Let’s talk
I’m open to engineering-leadership conversations, technical advisory, and interesting problems.