Jeffrey Cherewaty
leads effective software engineering teams.
Summary
Hands-on software engineering leader working on developer experience platforms. Eight years managing engineers; front-end technical lead for 17 years. Deep expertise in web applications, design systems, and automated testing. Five VC-funded startups, with one significant exit (as employee #1).
Experience
Clearstory
December 2024 - Present
director of software engineering
- leading four squads of full-stack engineers into new, agent-first ways of working with React, Node.js, and Go
- more than doubled the rate of change in the codebase year-over-year in 2025, with only 25% added headcount
- replaced eight-person manual QA team with 70% automated test coverage, maintained by software engineers
- switched from Gitflow to trunk-based development by rebuilding CI/CD and establishing ephemeral environments
- redirected expensive micro-frontend architectural effort, and unified to a single modern frontend
- re-oriented design practice towards themeability, design tokens, and interactive protoypes over static mockups
- migrated: Webpack to Vite, Redux to React Query and React Hook Form, Material UI 4 to 7, React 16 to 19
Machina Labs
December 2023 - October 2024
software engineering manager
- managed engineering teams focused on full-stack development, cloud infrastructure, computational geometry
- led re-architecture of Azure government cloud systems to also run on-prem for airgapped military customers
- rebuilt factory management web application as Node.js microservices with React / Tauri front end
- accelerated software release cadence from monthly to almost daily
Rapid Robotics
October 2021 - September 2023
software engineering manager
- led applications team, building human-machine interfaces on the edge and fleet operations in the cloud
- hired and managed full-stack engineers writing React, TypeScript, Python, Kotlin, and proprietary RapidScript
- reimagined quality standards by focusing team on “medium-sized” Playwright / Mock Service Worker automated tests
- led work on AWS Greengrass, gRPC client generation, containerized development environments, Electron packaging
Frontside
May 2018 - September 2021
chief operating officer
- principal at boutique software firm; helped clients reach their full potential with custom tooling and architecture
- managed distributed team of expert software engineering consultants, company benefits, financial forecasting
- coached clients’ software engineers on test-driven development and open-source collaboration practices
- led design systems architecture and adoption for Honeywell spinoff Resideo and Atomic portfolio company Activv
- kept clients up-to-date with the latest thinking in React, TypeScript, CSS-in-JS, GraphQL clients, accessibility, etc.
August 2016 - May 2018
senior software engineering consultant
- contributed to component library and UI testing infrastructure on FOLIO open-source project for university libraries
- built internet-of-things hub prototype for prefab smart home startup Kasita
- cut automated testing suite time in half for education innovator AltSchool
- mentored full-stack engineers on front end for HR software maker iNGAGED
Ride
April 2015 - July 2016
senior software engineer
- built Ember.js/Rails web application used internally to support drivers and passengers using Ride's carpooling apps
SpareFoot
September 2009 - February 2015
developer / designer
- employee #1 for the biggest success story out of Austin's Capital Factory accelerator
- responsible for UI/UX design, front-end architecture, prototyping, and qualitative testing
- led HTML/CSS/JS development, contributed to back end and data infrastructure
- organized regular guild meetups with designers from across different projects
- created recruiting process for front-end engineers and designers
HourVille
May 2009 - October 2009
developer / designer
- sole full-time developer for early-stage startup; designed and built new features based on customer research
The University of Texas at Austin
January 2007 - May 2009
developer / designer
- designed and built accessible web apps for university departments in the Employee and Campus Services portfolio
Education & Training
The University of Texas at Austin
August 2020
Master of Science, Software Engineering
Certified ScrumMaster
December 2013
LUXr, the Lean User Experience Residency
Summer 2011
The University of Texas at Austin
May 2009
Majors: Advertising, Radio-Television-Film
Minors: Computer Science, Business