Cory Jones

About Cory Jones

PEOPLE-FOCUSED ENGINEERING LEADER WITH TECHNICAL DEPTHIm a servant leader focused on creating success for team members through listening, empowering, and challenging. My leadership philosophy centers on building high-trust environments where engineers can do their best work while delivering exceptional customer experiences. With a growing focus on practical AI applications alongside my hands-on experience across modern tech stacks—from early-stage startups with just a few engineers to scaling and leading distributed teams of 50+—I bring both technical depth and people leadership to drive innovation.Throughout my career spanning YC startups to established SaaS platforms, I\'ve consistently built and scaled high-performing engineering teams that deliver results. My track record includes increasing employee engagement by 20% through intentional coaching and mentorship, successfully migrating enterprise platforms to modern architectures, and implementing Agile methodologies that improved delivery consistency by 35%. I excel at bridging the gap between business and technology, translating strategic vision into executable roadmaps while creating environments where engineers thrive and grow. My teams have delivered multi-sided marketplaces, complex data platforms, and enterprise SaaS solutions that serve hundreds of thousands of users.Currently focused on leveraging my expertise in platform engineering, integrations, and developer experience to create scalable, maintainable systems that solve real business problems. I\'m particularly passionate about building engineering cultures that prioritize both technical excellence and human development, where continuous learning and innovation are built into the DNA of how we work. Whether it\'s implementing data-driven decision frameworks or establishing cross-functional collaboration models, I\'m committed to creating engineering organizations that deliver exceptional results through empowered teams.

Experience

1. Director of Engineering, Integrations & Developer Experience

   GoFundMe

   Nov 2021 — Present · San Diego, CA, US

   Leading a high-performance engineering team focused on platform integrations and developer experience for Classy’s fundraising platform, which facilitates significant donation processing annually. Led the Suggested Ask Amounts initiative, integrating machine learning models to optimize donation recommendations and enhance average donation sizes across campaigns. Driving the development of a comprehensive API strategy that streamlines third-party integrations while improving developer tools and documentation to accelerate integration timelines. Implementing CI/CD pipelines and automation frameworks to enhance deployment reliability while mentoring engineers through structured growth plans to advance their technical skills. Collaborating across product, engineering, and customer success to ensure integration solutions effectively support nonprofit customer needs and strengthen platform engagement.

Skills

• Microsoft Sql Server
• Testing
• Apache
• Soa
• Web Applications
• Sql
• Linux
• Agile Methodologies
• Perl
• Subversion
• Mysql
• Distributed Systems
• Software Design
• Java
• Web Services
• Software Project Management
• Software Engineering
• Xml
• Unix
• Javascript
• Object Oriented Design
• Databases
• Software Development
• Scrum
• C++
• Test Driven Development
• Iis
• Soap
• C#
• .net
• Oop
• Cloud Computing
• Saas
• Visual Studio