KARIAMU KAMAU

Cell: 314-494-2371 | Email: kariamuk@gmail.com | Located In: Dallas, TX Metro
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Dynamic and results-driven Software Engineering Manager with 10+ years of experience leading technology initiatives, optimizing infrastructure, and driving operational efficiency across the Education, Real Estate, Automotive and Healthcare industries. Adept at managing cross-functional teams, delivering innovative solutions, and achieving business objectives through strategic planning and execution. Expertise spans Agile methodologies, software development lifecycle management, and fostering diversity and inclusion within technical environments.

Wayside Publishing (August 2023 to January 2025)
Software Engineer Manager

• Led 2 teams (a Team of 8 and Team of 22) totaling 30 IT professionals, providing guidance, training/coaching, and performance evaluations.
• Oversaw the research and implementation of Design System concept and development in order to create better content consistency and maintenance efficiencies along with continued ADA compliance.
• Proven track record of improving and driving operational process and efficiency, steering effective business strategies, and creating solutions to propel growth and profitability while surpassing company goals.
• Oversaw implementation and completion of product enhancements and maintenance, ensuring high availability, accessibility, scalability, and security.
• Managed projects from initiation to completion, ensuring on-time delivery, budget adherence and stakeholder satisfaction.
• Adhered to ITIL best practices, improving incident response time from 48 hour correction and release to less than 24 hours corrective and release combined time.
• Collaborated with cross-functional teams to identify and address technology needs, driving process improvements and efficiency gains.
•  Maintained reports and all living documents necessary to efficient workflow, daily.
• Collaborated with Project Managers to create, manage and maintain goals and projections for the company on a daily, weekly, monthly and yearly trajectory.
• Adhering to Agile Methodologies and providing support to the team via monthly 1-on-1’s to weekly 15five check-ins and annual reviews.
• Created reports and reviewed financials with leadership.
• Worked to help start the DEI Taskforce, promoting creation of sub-committees and having roundtables that offer a safe space providing training opportunities, community service, safe place to express oneself, individuals looking to develop themselves, and guest speakers.

Your First Choice Builders (May 2021 to August 2023)
Software Engineer Manager

• Designed and executed IT strategy aligned with business goals, resulting in async development and maintenance of multiple websites across the franchise, from design to maintenance.
• Led a team of 24 IT professionals, providing guidance, training, and performance evaluations.
• Proven track record of increasing sales, improving customer relations and loyalty, and driving operational process and efficiency, steering effective business strategies, and creating solutions to propel growth and profitability while meeting company goals.
• Oversaw the implementation and maintenance of network infrastructure, ensuring high availability, scalability, and security.
• Managed projects from initiation to completion, ensuring on-time delivery, budget adherence, and stakeholder satisfaction.
• Implemented ITIL best practices, improving incident response time by 79%.
• Established and maintained strong vendor relationships, negotiating favorable contracts and managing service level agreements.
• Collaborated with cross-functional teams to identify and address technology needs, driving process improvements and efficiency gains.
• Developed and implemented IT policies, procedures, and controls to ensure compliance with industry regulations and company standards.
• Maintained reports and all living documents necessary to efficient workflow, daily.
• Collaborated with Project Managers to create, manage and maintain goals and projections for the company on a daily, weekly, monthly and yearly trajectory.
• Adhering to Agile Methodologies and providing support to the team via monthly 1-on-1’s to quarterly and annual reviews.
• Created reports and reviewed financials with leadership.

Simple LTC (March 2020 to April 2021)
Product Owner | UI Engineer

• Worked to help start the Diversity & Inclusion awareness within the company. My focus was on the awareness of minorities and women in the technology industry. From engaging in group conversations, to giving presentations, this initiative was meant to start the conversation and open opportunities for minorities and women in the tech space.
• Worked on Scrum Team (Agile Environment) responsible for creating the application that will allow Home Health Care Agencies to submit their medical billing to Medicare through our application and keep statistics on that data as well as report back results of transmission at a fast rate.
• Encouraged team development and growth through pair programming, open communication and continuous constructive feedback.
• Gathered information from stakeholders to determine team quarterly priorities as well as create appropriate stories for the team backlog.
• Communicated with potential Beta Testing users to pre-establish application interest within the Home Healthcare Agency community. This effort will allow us to allow a small set of agencies to try our application for a set amount of time, report suggestions and product expectations back to us, as well as give us a chance to test functionality and store data behind the scenes.
• Responsible for design creation and approval for the OASIS application.
• Responsible for communicating priorities and requirements to the team and determining priorities and requirements with leadership.

Cox Automotive (November 2014 to December 2019)
Team Lead | UI Engineer II | Brand Advocate

• Worked to help start the Women With Drive organization in the Dallas office, centered around women, that is a safe space providing training opportunities, community service, safe place to express oneself, like-minded women looking to develop themselves, and guest speakers.
• Encouraged team development and growth through pair programming, open communication and continuous constructive feedback.
• Worked on the Scrum Teams (Agile Environment) responsible for creation, updates, corrections, and customizations to modules, templates, landing pages and web applications for GM, Lexus, Volvo, Subaru New England, Genesis, Ford, Acura, Lincoln and Toyota dealer websites. 
• Familiar and comfortable working with other developers and/or taking on part, or all, of a task solo.
• Work with the team to analyze requested tasks, decide on a process of managing the task, executing the process and reviewing other members’ submitted code before and during QA code review. 
• Responsible for developing new widgets and refactoring old widgets into AWS using React. 
• Work with QA in creating unit tests around new widgets, where appropriate. 
• Responsible for releasing code, post QA and Product Owner approval, to the live environment.
• Started as a Production Developer, responsible for assisting the team with the migration of over 5000 automotive websites. 
• The customizations are specifically the team’s responsibility to code in and verify functionality prior to showing to the client.

BNSF Railway (June 2014 to November 2014)
Web Publisher

• Started as a Web Publisher and moved to a different team as a UI Developer in 3 months.
• Designed and developed the internal site for the Web Publishing team.
• Worked with the team to write the HTML and GRAILS code for the customer portal website.
• Responsible for creating and updating various web applications including visualization and customer landing pages (portals).

New Lifestyles, Inc. (January 2008 to June 2014)
Director of Web Development

• Department lead for spinning up the web department and transitioning all sites (approximately 300) from AGIS Network servers as part of a buyout.
• Supervised full time design assistant and any contract developer/designer for this department.
• Interviewed, hired and trained the project manager, design assistant and several web developers.
• Built the platform for New Lifestyles, Inc. to grow the web department.
• Establishing a maintainable relationship with all customers and helped the project manager develop a check-in strategy to ensure our customers’ needs were being met.
• Create and maintain various web applications including visualization and analytics dashboards, customer landing pages (portals), content management, and various reporting and alerting capabilities for business side customers.
• Troubleshooting and resolving all website related issues, basic and complex.
• Developed 600+ websites and designed over 80% of them.
• Server testing.

Accomplishments

Worked to help start the Women With Drive organization in the Dallas office, centered around women, that is a safe space providing training opportunities, community service, safe place to express oneself, like-minded women looking to develop themselves, and guest speakers.

Honored to be asked to be a Cox Brand Advocate, a position you are chosen for based on your leadership and progressive efforts. This position allowed me to represent Cox by attending events as a company representative, posting regularly on social media about the company and being a part of additional events, meetings and seminars with the intent to continue moving the company towards positive growth, diversity and inclusion.

Executive Testimonials

“Kariamu is an exceptional engineering leader and manager with a unique blend of technical expertise, strategic thinking, and strong problem-solving abilities. She fosters highly collaborative and supportive team environments, empowering individuals to thrive. Her insightful guidance and creative problem-solving were pivotal in shaping our core engineering strategies at Wayside Publishing.”
— VP of Engineering, Kurt Gerdenich, Wayside Publishing

“No matter the role or project, she took it on with enthusiasm and grace, always delivering exceptional results. Her contagious laughter and uplifting attitude created a collaborative and supportive atmosphere that brought teams together and fostered success. What sets Kariamu apart is her ability to think holistically and drive strategic vision. She excels at working across teams, bridging gaps, and aligning cross-functional teams toward common goals. Her high energy, goal-oriented mindset, and unwavering support for her colleagues make her a standout leader.”
— Director of Engineering, Amanda Maliniak, Wayside Publishing