Lynne Ashminov

About Lynne Ashminov

Engineering leader with 10+ years of Ruby on Rails experience and 4+ years managing high-performing teams. I currently lead a team of 6–8 engineers at Simply Business, where I was recognized with the 2025 Inspiring Leader US award for fostering a collaborative culture and developing talent.My path into tech was unconventional. I started in broadcast journalism before transitioning into software engineering. That background shaped how I lead: clear communication, strong stakeholder alignment, and the ability to translate complex technical concepts into practical decisions.Key highlights:~ Introduced structured AI tooling experiments (e.g, Copilot and a lightweight internal MCP server) to evaluate productivity gains and safe integration into engineering workflows~ Deep experience in system architecture, domain ownership, and legacy modernization~ 10+ years of hands-on Ruby on Rails experience, from IC to technical leadership~ Five engineers promoted under my leadership through intentional mentorship and growth planning~ Co-lead of the Empower Network ERG, contributing to company culture and inclusion

Experience

1. Software Engineering Lead

   Simply Business

   Sep 2021 — Present · Boston, MA, US

   Lead the Quoting domain team (6–8 engineers), owning delivery, technical direction, and team health; consistently achieved one of the highest delivery rates in the Platform organization through continuous process improvement and optimized workflows.~ Manage, mentor, and grow engineers through regular 1:1s, collaborative code reviews, and clear growth plans, resulting in five internal promotions.~ Lead team-wide AI enablement initiatives, establishing shared workflows, guidelines, and demos that embedded LLM-assisted development into daily engineering practice (coding, debugging, and code review).~ Led extraction of the business-critical Quoting domain from a monolith into a standalone service, improving reliability and enabling faster iteration for downstream product, underwriting, and operations teams.~ Presented \"Divided, Not Decoupled\" at an internal tech conference on modular monolith patterns, influencing company-wide architectural strategy.~ Co-lead the Empower Network employee resource group, contributing to diversity, inclusion, and community-building initiatives.~ Won company-wide Inspiring Leader US award (2025) for fostering a collaborative culture, developing talent, and driving high-impact delivery during a period of significant platform and tooling evolution.

Education

• Boston University

  Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), English Language and Literature, General

• Boston University

  Master of Science (M.S.), Broadcast Journalism

Skills

• Writing
• Editing
• Ruby
• Strategic Communications
• Breaking News
• Public Relations
• Internal Communications
• Media Relations
• Ruby on Rails
• Journalism
• Press Releases
• Politics
• Social Media
• News Writing
• Corporate Communications
• Public Speaking
• Broadcast
• Public Affairs
• Storytelling
• Radio
• International Relations
• Presentations
• Speech Writing
• New Media
• Spokesperson