Misha Topchilo

Engineering Lead

California, USA · Pacific Time

I lead engineering teams and own the architecture of what they build: from the first design decision, through delivery, to the system running in production.

Now

I've spent 15+ years building production software. Today I lead engineering on a large React and TypeScript platform at a US enterprise software company: I set the architecture and engineering standards for a distributed team, and built the testing and delivery pipeline that took automated test coverage from near zero to 85%+.

Before that, I spent five years as an engineering team lead for a government IT contractor, shipping federal and regional systems used by millions of citizens. Earlier, I worked as a full-stack engineer in media, telecom, and GIS.

Experience

Lead Software Engineer · US enterprise software company2021 — now · 5 yrs
- Technical lead for a large React/TypeScript application; designed the component architecture now used across the organization.
- Raised automated test coverage from near zero to 85%+ across unit, integration, and visual regression tests.
- Built the CI/CD pipeline with SonarQube quality gates, replacing manual regression testing.
TypeScript, React, Redux, Go, PostgreSQL, Playwright, Jenkins
Senior Frontend Developer · Enterprise engineeringContract2021 — 2022 · 1 yr 4 mos
- Built a QA portal that gave engineering leadership visibility across 36 microservices for the first time.
- Wrote UI test suites for 36+ services from scratch and consolidated quality metrics into one dashboard.
TypeScript, React, Jest, Playwright, Jenkins
Lead Software Engineer · Media groupPart-time2018 — 2024 · 6 yrs 6 mos
- Owned the technical lifecycle of a portfolio of high-traffic news sites under strict performance SLAs.
- Ran the server infrastructure: provisioning, security hardening, patching, and disaster recovery.
PHP, MySQL, WordPress, Linux
Engineering Team Lead · Government IT contractor2016 — 2021 · 4 yrs 11 mos
- Led a cross-functional team delivering systems for federal and regional government under strict compliance requirements.
- Built the payment integration with state banking infrastructure for a federal cashback program used by millions of citizens at launch.
- Took a citizen issue-reporting portal from zero to the region's primary municipal reporting channel.
TypeScript, React, PHP, Python, PostgreSQL, Docker
Full-Stack Developer · Media and telecom software2015 — 2016 · 1 yr 4 mos
- Built a high-load news aggregation platform and a telecom billing system with subscriber management.
PHP, MySQL, JavaScript, Linux
Full-Stack Developer · GIS software company2013 — 2015 · 1 yr 6 mos
- Designed the PostgreSQL spatial database and led the migration from a monolith to microservices.
PHP, Yii, PostgreSQL, JavaScript
Earlier roles in web development and systems engineering2005 — 2013