Open to opportunities

Cristina Villarroel

@cristinavillarroel

Message

I’m a full-stack software engineer building AI-powered, accessible products and scalable APIs across web and mobile.

United States

Message

What I'm looking for

I want to build full-stack products with strong engineering practices—APIs, CI/CD, and performance—while integrating AI features that improve usability, accessibility, and adoption. I’m excited by teams that value rapid shipping and measurable outcomes.

I’m a Full-Stack Software Engineer focused on shipping reliable APIs and user-facing experiences that measurably improve accuracy, usability, and onboarding. At American Express, I deployed production APIs with Java/Vert.x and enhanced a customer representative portal with accessibility, multilingual, and AI-driven features using React, JavaScript, and Docker.

Previously at Visa, I delivered multiple card-benefits and installment solutions with Java, Spring Boot, and Angular, and I built an NFC reader mobile app using Dart and Flutter. I also co-founded AstraWeb—building a digital rewards program with React, Node.js, Superbase, and wallet pass integrations—while developing an AI-powered recommendations API using OpenAI. I bring an engineering mindset shaped by research work in computer vision and machine learning at FIU, and I care deeply about building products that teams can adopt quickly and users can trust.

Experience

Work history, roles, and key accomplishments

Current

Full-Stack Software Eng

Current

American Express

Jul 2025 - Present (11 months)

Deployed a production API to keep bureau contact information current across the platform, improving data accuracy and reducing manual maintenance. Enhanced a customer representative portal with accessibility, multilingual, and AI-driven features to improve usability and support for a broader user base.

Java Vert.X React JavaScript Docker REST API Development Accessibility Engineering Multilingual Support

Current

Co-Founder & Full-Stack

Current

AstraWeb

Feb 2025 - Present (1 year 4 months)

Developed a digital rewards program web app enabling restaurants to issue and manage customer loyalty passes via Google Wallet and Apple PassKit APIs. Built an AI-powered API that uses the OpenAI API to generate personalized recipe recommendations based on real-time kitchen inventory.

React Supabase React Native MongoDB AWS EC2 OpenAI API Apple PassKit APIs

Software Engineer

Visa

Mar 2020 - Feb 2025 (4 years 11 months)

Engineered new APIs for the Visa Card Benefits Marketplace using Java, Spring Boot, and Angular, and built training materials and an interactive guide to improve client onboarding and reduce integration time. Delivered multiple platform features including a universal React/TypeScript dashboard for live transactional monitoring, optimized CI/CD with Jenkins/Docker (30% faster deployments, 25% impro

Java Spring Boot Angular React TypeScript Jenkins Docker CI CD Pipelines Azure DevOps

Research Assistant

Florida International University

Sep 2017 - Dec 2019 (2 years 3 months)

Built an Android app using Microsoft Computer Vision and Google ML Kit to identify objects, scenes, colors, and text in real time to support safer navigation for visually impaired users. Developed an ML-powered ASL recognition app using Leap Motion SDK and C# that achieved 80% detection accuracy.

Java Android Leap Motion SDK Unity C++SVM Computer Vision