John Cullen

Highly seasoned engineering professional, specialized in Software Project Management, Agile adoption and AI aided development practices. Has helped large organizations modernize their systems and processes. Knows how to enhance team productivity and raise the bar on collaboration. Has the experience to align distributed teams and bootstrap fast growing startup organizations. Recent achievements include: • Implemented agile workflows using Jira and Linear. • Tuned cycle times and increased the release cadence where required. • Integrated AI assisted coding tools including Copilot and Cursor. • Projects with San Francisco based Errigal Inc. and Cashmere.AI (Culver City Startup).

Senior Engineering Leader | Scaled Teams | Cloud & Security Transformation Cast & Crew provides payroll, HR, and production accounting services for the entertainment industry, streamlining payroll, crew management, tax incentives, and compliance. Since 1976, it has been a trusted partner for Hollywood studios, streaming platforms, and productions. • Led a global engineering team of 70+ engineers (3 directors, 5 managers). • Managed teams across the U.S. (remote), Europe and India (hybrid). • Managed an $11M CAPEX/OPEX budget, 8% recoup via R&D tax credits. • Directed hiring, software development, and product innovation. • Optimized engineering processes, introduced AI assistants for coding and review. • Led security initiatives to enhance system resilience and compliance. • Managed apps for Crew Onboarding, Document Management, and Payroll GTN systems. • Managed enterprise platforms, Salesforce Service Cloud (CRM) and Oracle EBS Financials. • Led major security, reliability, and usability upgrades across systems. • Ensured compliance and operational efficiency through increased security. • Migrated the Payroll system to AWS, enhancing scalability and performance. • Transitioned the Payroll database from Oracle to AWS Aurora, improving outlay (400%), Performance (140%) and resilience.

New business development | Internationalization | Localization Built technology team responsible for developing ZipRecruiter’s international product expansion, focusing on the UK market. ZipRecruiter is a leading online job distribution and job board service, offering a SaaS-based subscription platform for employers, with tools for applicant tracking, screening, and job distribution. • Developed and launched the UK version of ZipRecruiter. • Implemented localization, multi-currency support, and regional compliance. • Integrated PayPal’s Braintree for seamless payments, transactions in Sterling (£ GBP). • Optimized candidate sourcing through SEO engagement for the UK market. • Tech stack: AWS, EC2, Aurora, Perl and HTML5.

Management practices | Team building | Offshore Development Led the development team at ServiceMax, a SaaS-based field service management platform built on Salesforce. Oversaw four development teams in India, managing 30 engineers and 4 managers. • Improved capacity planning & Agile Story-Time, reduced defects. • Expanded teams by 20% in 6 months, hired an India-based manager. • Optimized performance by removing underperforming engineers. • Managed the Pleasanton-based engineering team overseeing 4 engineers. • Led development for ServiceMax’s first Android application.

Team Leadership | Oracle Integration | Offshore Development • Led the engineering team developing the WWC Compensation Planning System. • Managed team operations, budgeting, and hiring. • Ensured high-quality software delivery. • Achieved flawless product releases with zero known defects in 2013 and 2014. • Served major enterprise clients, including Broadcom, TD Bank and Western Digital. • Collaborated with Oracle Professional Services to develop custom client solutions. • Expanded global teams, hiring in India and teams in Pleasanton and Quebec, Canada. • Promoted to People Manager in November 2012, following Oracle’s acquisition of Taleo.

Compensation Planning System | Technical Leadership | Support • Enhanced the WWC codebase, improving Base Pay, Bonus, and Stock budget configuration. • Provided technical leadership, mentoring and process. • Trained Professional Services engineers and handled escalation support. • Joined Taleo through the WWC Inc. acquisition.

Software development | Compensation Planning | Startup company • Developed a highly configurable UI model for building Compensation Plans in a SaaS system. • Played a key role in launching the MVP, as part of a three-person development team. • Contributed to subsequent successful deployments for Western Digital, TD Bank, and YPG. • Part of the startup’s success story, culminating in WWC’s acquisition by Taleo.

Operated marine charters for private parties and school education programs on San Francisco Bay aboard Gaslight, a 70' scow schooner. As Captain, I developed an educational program for 3rd and 4th graders in collaboration with Grays Harbor and sailing ship Lady Washington. Commanded a crew of 2 and oversaw a team of 6 teachers supervising 2000+ students per season. The program immersed students in sailing, seamanship, and the rich history and commerce of the Bay Area.

Engineering Manager | Resumix/HotJobs/Yahoo • Led development of the Hiring Gateway, a recruiting workflow platform. • Managed the team that built and launched the first product version. • Rolled out beta releases to Chevron and NVIDIA. • Provided training and support to Professional Services. • Scaled the team by 50%, enhancing development capacity.

Lead Role | Enterprise Java | Startup • Led engineering teams to develop dynamic websites for clients. • Built solutions in JEE using WebLogic Application Server. • Managed customer requirements and negotiations. • Managed teams of 6 to 8 engineers.

Computer Science & Engineering Education • Coursework in Architecture, Algorithms, Database, OOP, Graph Theory, and Signal Processing. • Specialized in Image Processing and Document Classification. • Studied under Professors Glen Langdon & Patrick Mantey. • Master’s Thesis: “Experimental Algorithms for Document Image Classification.”

Experimental Physics Education & Research • Core: Mechanics, Optics and Electromagnetic Theory. • Electives: Fiber Optics, Lasers, Quantum Mechanics and Astrophysics. • Additional: Atmospheric Physics and Analog & Digital Electronics. • Minor subject was Mathematical Physics. • Lab work included extensive hands-on building experiments and data analysis. • Final year thesis involved research on conductivity effects in materials in an EM field. • Demonstrated its use as a receiver in early radio research by Marconi. • Invited to deliver the Keynote Lecture at Trinity College to the Royal Irish Academy on findings.