Open to opportunities

Randy Burgess

@randyburgess

Message

I build AI-augmented Rails platforms and lead lean teams delivering enterprise systems.

United States

Message

At MPI Media, I built the four-platform Ruby on Rails and PostgreSQL Application Suite that runs the operational backbone of the business, including title, contracts, licensing, e-commerce, and subscriber systems.

I run an AI-augmented engineering practice in production using Claude, Claude Code, and Codex. I standardized AI skills, commands, workflows, context, and memory across a unified codebase, while building governed LLM features with tool-constrained retrieval, agentic workflows, cost tracking, guardrails, and evaluation.

I’ve delivered measurable operational gains: reduced bug-fix turnaround from days to half a day, drove bug queues to zero, cut hosting costs while doubling compute and RAM, and turned weekly title-availability lookups into 15-second searches across 60,000 territory records.

Across MPI Media, Shipwell, Hireology, my consulting practice, and earlier CTO and VP roles, I’ve built teams, modernized platforms, led migrations, and stayed hands-on in the codebase. I’m most effective helping lean teams deliver the output of much larger organizations.

Experience

Work history, roles, and key accomplishments

Current

VP of Technology

Current

MPI Media

Jun 2021 - Present (5 years 3 months)

Sole full-time technology leader; built and led a hybrid team delivering custom Rails applications, cloud infrastructure, and enterprise system migrations. Operates a multi-tool AI-augmented development workflow and architected the MPI Application Suite.

Ruby on Rails PostgreSQL Claude Claude Code Codex Issues Anthropic API Pgvector Kamal Docker GitHub Actions DigitalOcean Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Shopify EDI 3PL Microsoft 365 Entra ID

Senior Engineering Manager

Shipwell

Oct 2020 - May 2021 (7 months)

Managed a 25-engineer distributed organization mid-flight on a major infrastructure rewrite. Stabilized two inherited engineering teams and maintained delivery cadence on monolith extensions and microservices roadmap.

Python RabbitMQ AWS REST APIs Logistics Integrations

Engineering Manager

Hireology

Jun 2019 - Oct 2020 (1 year 4 months)

Started with one team of 5 engineers; expanded to managing 15 engineers across two teams within three months. Took over a struggling second team and restored productivity; built and shipped a task management system.

Go RabbitMQ Ruby on Rails Node React PostgreSQL Twilio Sendgrid API Integration

Founder

All Aboard Apps LLC

Jan 2016 - Jun 2019 (3 years 5 months)

Founded and ran an independent technology consultancy, owning all business operations and delivery across 3–4 concurrent engagements. Clients included MPI Media, which later hired the founder in-house as VP of Technology.

Ruby on Rails Node React React Native Vue.Js D3.Js PostgreSQL Heroku AWS Jest Cypress RSpec

CTO & Engineer

Innovations for Learning

Apr 2014 - Dec 2015 (1 year 8 months)

Revived a dead production platform and rebuilt the entire data management platform in Ruby on Rails. Built the technology team from scratch and led delivery of multiple iOS and Android applications.

Ruby on Rails React PhoneGap PostgreSQL AWS

Full Stack Engineer

DevMynd Software

Jul 2012 - Apr 2014 (1 year 9 months)

Converted a video clip library platform from Flash to Ruby on Rails, cutting page-load latency 50%. Built a custom asset ordering and payment system in Ruby on Rails with Foxycart.

Ruby on Rails Ember.Js FoxyCart Heroku AWS RSpec

Application Developer

Vibes Media

Nov 2011 - Jun 2012 (7 months)

Rapid application development on custom marketing lead-generation apps in Ruby on Rails, Sinatra, and RESTful APIs. Built responsive HTML5 and CSS3 interfaces and deployed SMS, Facebook, and Twitter campaign integrations.

Ruby on Rails Sinatra REST APIs HTML5 CSS SMS Facebook Twitter

Founder

JBRB

Feb 2011 - Nov 2011 (9 months)

Independent Drupal development consultancy. Owned business operations, project management, client engagement, and delivery end-to-end.

Drupal PHP MySQL jQuery AJAX .NET SQL Server

VP of Technology

Horizon Cash Management

Apr 2001 - Jan 2011 (9 years 9 months)

Hired as the firm's first technology leader; built out the full enterprise technology stack over a decade. Enhanced and scaled the Access-based accounting system and built on-prem network, security, and backup infrastructure.

Windows Server SQL Server ASP.NET MS Access Bloomberg

Director of Technology

Kitchens.com

Jan 1999 - Mar 2001 (2 years 2 months)

Led development of a custom multi-site CMS in ASP.NET/SQL Server. Managed database design and helped build the on-premise server system before leading migration to a co-located data center.

ASP.NET SQL Server CMS Development Database Design