Open to opportunities

James Baca

@jimbaca

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Engineering leader scaling regulated, consumer-facing software platforms with measurable business impact.

United States

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What I'm looking for

I am seeking senior engineering leadership roles where I can define technical strategy, build high-performing teams, ensure regulatory compliance, and deliver measurable product and business outcomes in fast-moving, user-focused organizations.

I am an engineering leader with 20+ years building and scaling high-impact software platforms across high-growth and regulated environments. I translate business vision into scalable architecture, disciplined execution, and category-defining products.

I have led and grown multi-level engineering organizations, recruited and developed talent, and established operating rhythms, quality standards, and cultural foundations required to scale with velocity and rigor. I partner closely with product, regulatory, operations, and executive leadership to deliver secure, reliable, user-centric platforms that drive revenue and retention.

My hands-on contributions include driving SOC 2 readiness, owning FDA compliance documentation and a successful 510(k) submission, commercializing mobile products to seven-figure revenue, and shipping AI-powered features that improve user outcomes. I emphasize measurable improvements in reliability, delivery velocity, and customer trust.

Experience

Work history, roles, and key accomplishments

Senior Director of Engineering

Jabra Hearing

Jan 2022 - Jan 2026 (4 years)

Led engineering strategy and growth for an FDA-regulated consumer health product, driving commercialization that increased revenue from five to seven figures and reducing release cycle time by 20% while ensuring compliance and audit readiness.

Regulated Software React Native GraphQL CI CD TensorFlow AWS Mobile Engineering

Lead Engineer

Disney Streaming Services

Aug 2016 - Jan 2022 (5 years 5 months)

Technical lead for cross-platform SDKs serving millions of users, driving architecture for authentication, real-time sync, and content delivery and reducing test time by 20% to improve delivery velocity and reliability for global live events.

SDK Distributed Systems WebSockets REST GraphQL Real Time Systems Automated Testing Performance Optimization

Android Engineer

Ubiquiti Networks

Mar 2013 - Jan 2016 (2 years 10 months)

Built and maintained Android apps for provisioning and managing networking and hardware, reducing device provisioning time by 50% and improving build and release pipelines for greater production stability.

Android Kotlin Java API Design Performance Optimization CI CD Release Engineering Telemetry

Android Engineer

Independent Consultant

Nov 2010 - Mar 2013 (2 years 4 months)

Delivered multiple end-to-end Android applications for various clients, including a Super Bowl–featured app using geofencing, image and audio recognition, and post-launch support.

Android GPS Bluetooth Image Recognition Push Notifications Analytics Release Management