Denver, CO · Engineering + leadership

Matthew McQuillan

Hands-on engineering leader — APIs, quality, and teams that ship.

Portrait of Matthew McQuillan

I keep scope tight, ship to users, and coach people so the team’s collective intelligence does the work. The J.D. still shows up in how I think about contracts, risk, and client communication.

01

Selected impact

Work that shows both delivery and judgment — architecture, quality, and the decisions that protect a release.

~$500k

Licensing cost avoided

Adapted a document generation service to a legacy system on a compressed timeline, including automated deployment to Azure containers, resulting in nearly $500,000 in licensing savings.

5% → 20%

Quality and observability

Raised unit test coverage from under 5% to nearly 20% and added a full OpenTelemetry pipeline in Azure Application Insights for logging, tracing, metrics, and alerting.

Award-nominated

Release integrity

Prevented a premature release when the constraints were high. Nominated for a company award and appointed to an internal panel tasked with process improvements.

DACPAC → Flyway

Migrations and proofs

Moved schema management from SQL Server DACPACs to Flyway; built JSON schema generation for a distributed API architecture; and delivered an F# event-log proof of concept with spec-driven development.

02

How I work

I treat leadership as coaching: help people thrive, support teammates, and make room for diverse expertise. Execution still matters. I prefer focused scope, rapid delivery, and learning from what users actually see.

Hands-on work stays part of the job. I design APIs and schemas, care about test automation and observability, and will still sit in the code when that is the fastest path to a good decision for the team.

Presented on empowering employees at a company leadership conference in Amsterdam.

AutoStore · September 2023

03

Expertise

Depth where it changes outcomes — not a catalogue of every tool I have touched.

API contracts that last

Uniform, maintainable schemas so new endpoints share a contract instead of becoming special cases.

Event-driven systems

F# and .NET services, Postgres-backed feeds, and architecture that can move from legacy to evented without theatre.

Quality you can see

Test automation, OpenTelemetry, and the judgment to hold a release when the constraints are high.

Coaching leadership

Intake, delivery health, and a culture where specialists across product, ops, and engineering do their best work.

Tools

  • F#
  • C#
  • .NET
  • TypeScript
  • React
  • PostgreSQL
  • SQL Server
  • Azure
  • Docker
  • GitHub Actions
  • OpenTelemetry

04

Experience

  1. Senior Software Engineer

    IRIS Software Group Denver, CO

    • Drove testing culture by increasing unit coverage across critical repositories.
    • Standardized API design so new endpoints share a uniform, maintainable contract.
    • Architected the migration from SQL Server DACPACs to Flyway for version-controlled database deployments.
    • Held the line on release integrity under pressure; recognized with an award nomination and a seat on a process-improvement panel.
    • Built an F# event-log architecture proof of concept in an AI hackathon — domain model, test data, and a working UI — using spec-driven development.
  2. Digital Software Development / Engineering Manager

    Tuff Shed, Inc. Denver, CO

    • Led and mentored developers and specialists across software, business intelligence, ERP, and sales systems.
    • Improved CI/CD by adding automated unit and integration tests to Azure container workflows via GitHub Actions.
    • Oversaw a shift from legacy systems toward event-driven architecture spanning design, sales, and enterprise platforms.
    • Shipped a document generation service on a compressed timeline — the ~$500k licensing save above.
    • Built quality and observability into the stack, including OpenTelemetry in Azure Application Insights.
    • Created JSON schema generation for a distributed API architecture and a local-LLM proof of concept to prioritize and route service tickets.
  3. Engineering Manager, Operations and Tooling

    AutoStore Denver, CO

    • Led a team building integration and system tools for a robotic warehouse platform in F# with a React UI.
    • Shipped improved authentication and client-based token management.
    • Built a culture of trust, open communication, and mutual accountability that met deadlines with quality.
    • Developed and operated an event-feed API on Postgres and Dapper against an F# codebase.
    • Raised quality through testing, API fuzzing, specification work, and automated deployment.
    • Partnered with product and client divisions on intake, team structure, and delivery health.
Earlier roles, 2014 – 2023
  1. Software Engineer, eCommerce and Configuration

    AutoStore Denver, CO

    • Built and improved microservices in .NET Core (primarily F#) with React/Redux front ends.
    • Debugged high-priority client issues using PostgreSQL, Jenkins, Seq, New Relic, and Sentry.
    • Worked with teammates and leadership on product and team needs through a corporate transition.
  2. Full Stack Developer

    IRIS Practice Engine Denver, CO

    • Designed, implemented, and maintained features and APIs for accounting practice management on SQL Server, C# / .NET Core, TypeScript, and Knockout.
    • Created tables and complex stored procedures behind front-end features.
  3. Database Developer

    Footprint Business Solutions, LLC Castle Rock, CO

    • Developed DNN CMS modules using C#, CSS, HTML, and AngularJS.
    • Designed and implemented databases, tables, and stored procedures.

Earlier: associate attorney (Spies, Powers & Robinson; Senter, Goldfarb & Rice) and automobile claims adjuster (Progressive).

05

Education