Resume - Michael Wales

Highlights

Engineering leader with over 20 years experience building teams and products
Passionate about learning and development, mentoring engineers at all levels
Historic Top Secret/SCI security clearance with counter-intelligence polygraph
Open source advocate, contributing to CodeIgniter, Oh My Zsh, Adobe Brackets, and more

Skylight is a digital consultancy using design and technology to help government agencies deliver better public services.

Developed and maintained the end-to-end experience of all Participants and Sponsors across the entire lifecycle of their account, supporting over 2.23 million Participants, 86 thousand Sponsors, and over $12 billion in assets
Launched an IRA and SEP IRA product, the first products outside of the 401k line, adding over 41 thousand accounts that were not being served by our current product line and setting the stage for a broader financial wellness strategic position
Launched the first StarterK product in the US, after congressional changes in Jan 2023, offering smaller companies a more compatible plan and adding over 1,000 401k Sponsors to the platform in 3 months
Direct manager of 2 Engineering Managers and 13 Engineers, located domestically and in Latin America; top-level Engineering Leader of the second largest organization in the company with over 30 indirect reports in Engineering, QE/QA, Data, Product, Design, and Program Management
Diversity, Equality, and Inclusivity Committee Member specifically focused on developing Employee Resource Groups within the company to represent "non-visible" diversity such as veterans, parents, and other supporting groups

Developed an automated staffing platform, providing over 14 thousand jobs and $1.4 million in payouts to un- and under-employed workers in the Chicagoland area
Led the company through a COVID-induced pivot, adapting our staffing and payment platform to support workers nationwide, working from home, supporting 3 thousand insurance agents with internal marketing campaigns
Developed and implemented company-wide performance review processes, Engineering career ladders, and complete company reorganization efforts
Contributed weekly to the development of new product lines, feature requests, real-time technical support, and continued improvement of Engineering processes

Direct manager of 40+ Engineers and Instructors developing content, projects, and curriculum for all of Udacity's Nanodegree programs
Developed, executed, monitored, and measured the efficacy of all Content Development training programs utilized by full-time employees, contract workers, and content development partners
Coordinated cross-functionally with Executives, HR, Recruiting, and Financial departments to assess performance, review compensation/bonus packages, and plan staffing requirements

Lead the largest Content Development organization within the company, consisting of 18+ employees developing and maintaining 6 Nanodegree programs generating over $10 million in revenue per year
Actively worked with Business Development teams to identify, engage with, and maintain relationships with content development partners (Google, Facebook, AT&T, and others)

Responsible for the curriculum development for the Front-End, Senior Web Developer and Full Stack Web Developer Nanodegree programs
Directly managed a team of 9 Content Developers, developing 4 Nanodegree programs generating over $6 million in revenue per year
Worked directly with content development partners (Google, AT&T, and GitHub) leading to over 600 direct placements in new careers

Developed the first Nanodegree program (Front-End Web Developer), with over 3,000 students; served as the model for future Nanodegree programs and redefined the strategic vision for the company
Provided technical and pedagogical expertise to Course Developers and Subject Matter Experts during the course development process

Lead a team of 6 remotely distributed developers through the SCRUM-based development cycle of government and commercial customer requested web-based applications
Managed training and administrative requirements of personnel across two government contracts within the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)
Developed numerous dashboard applications for the Defense Intelligence Agency, resulting in mission critical intelligence utilities providing analysts real-time views of disparate datasources

Developed a Configuration Management Database for the National Security Agency integral to the daily processes of over 3,000 employees and selected as the framework for CMDB implementations across 7 other sites
Developed REST APIs providing access to CMDB data to other development teams

Developed, acquired and installed client systems and network infrastructure for the initial stand-up and continued operations of the Joint Space Operations Center at Vandenberg AFB, CA
The sole system and network technician for 5 General Officers within the Joint Functional Component Command for Space (JFCC-Space) and the 14th Air Force
Developed geospatial application consuming National Weather Service data on interior Alaska wildfires, used by military and civilian emergency personnel during disaster response