Ryan Heneise

Principal Full-Stack Architect Engineer

Tyler, Texas, USA • 903-376-7648 • ryan@heneise.com

Summary

I build products that work for real humans. Over 20 years, I’ve shipped donation platforms processing millions in charitable giving, scaled fintech products handling Bitcoin transactions, and led teams through the entire product lifecycle - from zero to production to profitability. I’m equally comfortable writing code, designing products, and talking strategy with executives. Best suited for senior engineering roles where you need someone who codes well and thinks like a product owner.

Core Competencies

  • Leadership & Product Strategy: Team building, Shape Up & Scrum methodologies, product roadmap development
  • AI & Automation: LLM integration (Claude, OpenAI), autonomous agent orchestration (marketing, bug triage, customer support, feature development), LLM-powered code analysis and generation, AI-assisted development workflows, self-hosted LLMs
  • Backend: Ruby on Rails, Node.js, PostgreSQL, Redis, Elasticsearch
  • Data Engineering & Infrastructure: DBT pipelines and data transformation, BigQuery, Docker containerization, GitHub workflow automation, AWS
  • Frontend: React, TailwindCSS, StimulusJS, modern JavaScript
  • Domain Expertise: SaaS, nonprofit tech, fintech, Bitcoin/blockchain, double-entry accounting
  • Full-Stack Capability: REST APIs, MVC architecture, TDD, DevOps, payment integrations

Professional Experience

Principal Architect Engineer at Gierd, Inc.

December 2024 - Present

Gierd provides multi-channel marketplace orchestration, syndication, and competitive pricing intelligence for business that sell D2C products through marketplaces. In my role as Principal Architect Engineer I guided architecture decisions across product and led engineering teams to ship new features while maintaining app stability and data integrity at scale.

Key Achievements:

  • Architected a resilient, scalable data extraction system that ingests data from marketplace APIs at scale, feeds the data warehouse, and powers pricing analytics and automated repricing workflows
  • Engineered AI code review automation to cut code review time from 30 min to 5 min to unblock engineers - thorough reviews that would take 30 minutes or longer take 5 minutes, freeing engineers to ship faster
  • Architected data pipelines using DBT and BigQuery to transform complex repricing and syndication workflows into reliable, maintainable data systems
  • Led cross-functional teams across product, design, and engineering to align technical specifications, project scope, and data integrity across dependent systems

What matters: Repricing and syndication directly impact revenue. My role is to make those systems fast, reliable, and understandable to both engineers and stakeholders - leveraging AI, data infrastructure, and architectural clarity to get there.

Technologies: Ruby on Rails, DBT, BigQuery, Docker, GitHub Actions, Claude, OpenAI, autonomous agent orchestration

Founder at MemberDrive LLC

September 2022 - Present

MemberDrive is an online fundraising and donor management platform for nonprofit organizations. Designed for nonprofits to convert one-time donors into recurring members with full integration to Stripe and accounting systems, MemberDrive provides big-donor functionality at a price tag small charities can afford.

Key Achievements:

  • Designed and built the entire product, using the framework of my own needs as a fundraiser and experience working with small nonprofits
  • Engineered agentic workflows to ship features and fix bugs faster by executing multiple feature developments in parallel

Frameworks: Ruby on Rails, PostgreSQL

Technologies: Ruby on Rails, PostgreSQL, Stripe Connect, Bitcoin, DevOps, Claude, LLM-powered autonomous agents

Senior Software Engineer at SRS Acquiom

January 2023 - Present

SRS Acquiom provides a Virtual Data Room (VDR) platform serving the M&A industry. My responsibilities included developing new features, peer-reviewing code submitted by other engineers, and enforcing project standards and best practices.

Key Contributions:

  • Implemented new features and fixed critical bugs in a large legacy Rails codebase
  • Refactored subsystems to improve maintainability and reduce technical debt
  • Led code reviews and mentored team members on engineering best practices
  • Contributed to sprint planning and technical architecture discussions

Technologies: Ruby on Rails, PostgreSQL

Senior Full Stack Engineer at Swan Bitcoin

January 2022 - December 2022

Swan Bitcoin is a Bitcoin exchange serving individual and institutional investors. At Swan I worked directly with the product team to release features that users were waiting for.

Key Achievements:

  • Shipped an account-based permission system enabling multi-account access, opening up an entirely new customer segment
  • Participated in a major domain model overhaul that enabled users to seamlessly switch between multiple accounts
  • Contributed across the full stack: React frontend components and Node.js backend features

Technologies: React.js, Node.js

Lead Developer at Dime Technology

May 2019 - January 2022

Dime Giving is the flagship product for Dime Technology, serving churches and nonprofits with financial accounting and online donations. I built Dime Giving from the ground up, writing the first line of code and stayed through launch and scale. My role evolved into leadership managing the small engineering team.

Key Achievements:

  • Built the initial product that became the foundation for a Dime Giving.
  • Implemented Shape Up management methodology, cutting the traditional software development cycle significantly and allowing us to ship new features faster
  • Built multiple payment integrations to allow Dime Giving to natively process donor giving while powering Dime’s revenue generation
  • Worked directly with CEO on product strategy - my input shaped which features were prioritized and how the product evolved

Technologies: Ruby on Rails, PostgreSQL, JavaScript (StimulusJS), CSS (TailwindCSS), Payment integration, QuickBooks integration

Founder and Lead Developer at Booster Stage, Inc.

November 2004 - April 2019

Booster Stage was a web development agency serving startup clients who needed custom software. Scaled from a solo operation to a team of employees and contractors.

Key Achievements:

  • Shipped several MVP applications for startup clients
  • Built and managed the engineering team, hiring contractors and employees, establishing processes
  • Generated consistent client pipeline through marketing and sales work
  • Applied Shape Up methodology across internal and client projects, proving it works in real business settings

Technologies: Ruby on Rails, StimulusJS, TailwindCSS

Founder at Donor Tools

August 2007 - December 2014

Donor Tools is an online donation and CRM platform for nonprofit organizations. At the time it was one of the first modern web-based platforms for nonprofit fundraising.

Key Achievements:

  • Created one of the first online donor management and online giving programs: Built the product from the ground up that demonstrated nonprofits would pay for modern online donation and donor management tools
  • Grew the customer base to over 600 customers who previously had no affordable alternatives to expensive legacy systems
  • Implemented advanced features including dynamic Smart Tags, PayPal donations, and QuickBooks integration - capabilities that were novel for the category at the time
  • Successfully exited through acquisition: Transitioned the product and customer base to partners, validating both the product-market fit and the business viability

Technologies: Ruby on Rails, PayPal API, QuickBooks integration

Web Development Team Lead at Biola University

January 2004 - December 2004

The Web Development Team at Biola University was charged with maintaining the University’s website and content, as well as department-specific sub-sites. I led the web team managing website infrastructure and custom applications for university departments. Worked directly with Marketing Communications.

Key Responsibilities:

  • Maintained internal web applications
  • Developed content management systems tailored to individual college needs
  • Coordinated website updates across multiple departments

Education

  • Master of Arts in Organizational Leadership - Biola University, 2007
  • Bachelor of General Studies, Computer Information Management - Jacksonville University, 2003
  • Associate of Arts - St. Johns River Community College, 2000

Volunteer Experience

  • Volunteer, Haiti180 orphanage and medical clinic, 2019 & 2021
  • Vice President, Elgin Citizens’ Police Academy Alumni Association, 2017 - 2019
  • Website Designer, Annunciation Maternity Home, 2016

Key Accomplishments

  • 20 years of continuous full-stack development across startups, agencies, and established companies
  • Shipped products serving hundreds of organizations (Dime Giving, Donor Tools) that process millions in annual transactions
  • Built teams and established engineering culture at multiple organizations - hiring, processes, and standards that outlasted my tenure
  • Proven ability to bridge business and engineering - equally comfortable shipping code or discussing product strategy with executives
  • Mastered Shape Up methodology and successfully applied it to reduce development cycle time and improve time-to-market