Résumé of Don McCaughey

I'm a software engineer with strong technical, leadership and organizational skills. I build high performing, collaborative, cross-functional teams that focus on sustained, regular delivery of value to customers.

Selected Experience

United States Digital Service

  • Remote
  • 2023 to present
  • Digital Services Expert

At USDS I'm helping agencies across the federal government build and improve their software systems, delivering a better government experience to millions of people.

Cruise

  • San Francisco, CA
  • 2022 to 2023
  • Staff Software Engineer

I joined the fleet management team supporting Cruise's rapidly growing fleet of autonomous vehicles.

  • Worked on complex cross-functional integration efforts to deliver automatic firmware updates for Cruise's new Origin vehicle.
  • Drove efforts to improve engineering culture and standards.
  • On-boarded and mentored new engineers as the team doubled in size.

Truework

  • San Francisco, CA
  • 2019 to 2021
  • Engineering Manager

I was the first engineering manager at this early stage fintech startup.

  • Established a fast and lightweight weekly planning and delivery cycle that increased engineering velocity and predictability.
  • Doubled the team to 15 engineers, hiring across all experience levels.
  • Guided delivery of key features, including public SDKs, SSO, tools for 80+ person back office team and payroll provider integrations.

Copper CRM

  • San Francisco, CA
  • 2016 to 2019
  • Principal Software Engineer → Engineering Manager → Senior Engineering Manager

I joined Copper as the sole developer for our native iOS app. I became manager of the mobile team and later the infrastructure team.

  • Established a regular release cadence and shipped many new features.
  • Grew the mobile team from two to six engineers and fostered a collaborative, cross-functional team culture.
  • Quadrupled web app release rate by improving the release process.

Able Pear Software

  • Burlingame, CA
  • 2008 to 2016
  • Founder and Principal Developer

I ran a small software development firm focused on mobile apps. Interesting projects included:

  • Square, 2012 — iPad integration with point-of-sale (POS) hardware
    Built an iOS library linking the Square POS app with the Square Stand. Worked with the app team and embedded software team to create APIs and communication protocols. Built engineering test applications.
  • Facebook, Skype, Pivotal Labs, 2011 — Skype app for unreleased phone
    Created a Skype client for a mobile OS built on an Android core. Worked with Skype and Facebook engineers to integrate the Skype client library with the phone's custom UI toolkit built atop HTML, CSS and JavaScript.
  • BMW, 2009-2010 — first iPhone integration for the BMW Mini
    Designed and implemented a unique proxy to direct HTTP connections from the app to the automotive head unit over the phone's 30 pin connector. Worked with embedded engineers to design a communication protocol. Built tools in C++ to diagnose intermittent data corruption. Implemented simple flow control to work around deficiencies in the underlying iAP protocol.

Education