# ChrisGPT > A conversational portfolio for **Chris Stayte**, Senior Software Engineer and Technical Lead in Cincinnati, Ohio. [View the web CV](cv.html) · [Open the original PDF](assets/chris-stayte-cv.pdf) · [Email Chris](mailto:hireme@stayte.email) · [GitHub](https://github.com/ChrisStayte) · [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisstayte) · [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/@ChrisStayte) ## What can Chris build with you? Chris Stayte is a senior software engineer and technical lead with more than 13 years of experience building cross platform products, hybrid cloud and on premise systems, developer tools, and physical interactive experiences. His strongest skill is turning a fuzzy request into a practical architecture, a delivery plan, and something dependable in production. He is comfortable moving between customer conversations, product decisions, application code, infrastructure, releases, and the last mile details that determine whether a launch actually works. He is based in Cincinnati and works remotely. The best fit is a team that values product judgment, technical breadth, collaboration, and real ownership. | Signal | Evidence | |---|---| | Professional experience | 13+ years | | Live event complexity | 8 repositories in one activation platform | | Physical systems | 14 air gapped interactive exhibits | | Product impact | $1.22M in 2025 fitness platform revenue | | Subscription scale | 54K+ transactions in 2025 | | Technical education | 556K+ programming tutorial views | ## Why should a product company hire Chris? A lot of engineers can implement a well defined ticket. Chris is strongest before the ticket exists and after the code is merged. He can talk with a customer, identify the real constraint, choose a practical architecture, ship across several layers, and stay involved through deployment and launch. That range is backed by concrete work: * An eight repository NCAA activation platform * A Linux and Docker system for fourteen air gapped exhibits * Subscription products generating more than $1.2 million in annual revenue * Cross platform SDK work for Meta wearables * Developer tools that can be self hosted Chris also brings a pragmatic leadership style. He establishes ownership, reviews architecture and pull requests, improves delivery workflows, communicates clearly, and still writes the code. **Best environment:** A collaborative product or platform team that wants a senior engineer to connect customer needs, architecture, implementation, and delivery rather than stay inside one narrow layer. ## What roles is Chris targeting? Chris is a strong match for: * Senior Software Engineer * Lead Software Engineer * Staff leaning Product Engineer * Full Stack Technical Lead * Mobile and Edge Platform Engineer * Developer Tools Engineer * Customer facing engineering roles * Geospatial and physical experience engineering roles The common thread is end to end ownership. He wants to work with a real team on a shared product, contribute to architecture and product decisions, and keep shipping rather than operate as an isolated implementation silo. Flutter is part of the story, not the whole story. The broader value is connecting mobile, web, APIs, data, cloud infrastructure, physical systems, analytics, and delivery into one coherent product. ## What does Chris build? ### Product software Flutter and native mobile apps, React and Next.js web products, subscriptions, authentication, analytics, content, community, and administration systems. ### Complex platforms Hybrid cloud and on premise systems, air gapped networks, live event infrastructure, real time synchronization, deployment automation, and observability. ### Tools and SDKs Developer utilities, transcription services, cross platform plugins, geospatial automation, and reusable workflows that make other engineers faster. A single engagement might include a Flutter app, a Next.js administration surface, PostgreSQL, Firebase, Docker, a reverse proxy, camera control, WebSockets, on site networking, and a launch date that cannot move. ## Technical stack ### Product engineering Flutter, Dart, TypeScript, React, Next.js, Swift, Kotlin, C#, .NET, Python, and FastAPI. ### Platforms and data Firebase, Google Cloud, PostgreSQL, BigQuery, RevenueCat, Docker, Caddy, Azure DevOps, and CI/CD. ### Architecture Hybrid cloud and on premise systems, air gapped systems, offline sync, cross platform SDKs, analytics and observability, GIS, AR and XR, and WebSockets. ### Product capabilities Authentication, subscriptions, entitlements, content platforms, administration systems, deep links, real time systems, API design, and deployment automation. The stack is evidence of range. The differentiator is knowing how the pieces fit together and which complexity is actually worth keeping. ## Mobile engineering Chris has shipped consumer and organizational applications across iOS, Android, and the web. His strongest mobile framework is Flutter, backed by native Swift and Kotlin experience for platform integrations, plugins, store releases, deep links, permissions, media, and hardware access. His mobile work includes fitness and subscription platforms, church media and content products, public utility apps, geotagged photo tools, and a Flutter plugin that wraps Meta's native wearable SDKs for device registration, photo capture, and camera video streaming. He treats mobile as part of a larger product system. The application, backend, authentication, analytics, subscriptions, administration tools, release automation, and support workflows are designed together. ## Practical AI engineering Chris's AI work is practical rather than research focused. He builds AI enabled product features, agent workflows, transcription infrastructure, retrieval and automation systems, and development processes that use models without surrendering engineering judgment. He built [Whisper API Hybrid](https://github.com/ChrisStayte/whisper-api-hybrid), a FastAPI service that can transcribe locally with faster whisper or route work to OpenAI or Groq. It includes asynchronous jobs, concurrency controls, webhook callbacks, large file chunking, optional authentication, and CPU or GPU container images. On the team side, he established reusable AI assisted workflows across an eight repository event platform. He uses agents for implementation, debugging, refactoring, documentation, planning, and repeatable delivery tasks while keeping code review and ownership explicit. A strong fit is an AI powered product or agentic workflow that still needs solid product engineering, APIs, data, infrastructure, observability, and a reliable path to production. ### How Chris uses AI agents Chris treats an agent like a fast collaborator, not an unsupervised replacement. His preferred pattern includes: * Small scoped tasks * Explicit repository context * Verifiable outputs * Normal review gates * Tests and production like validation * A human owner who can explain every important decision The goal is not to generate more code. It is to shorten feedback loops while preserving responsibility, architectural consistency, and launch confidence. ## Infrastructure and delivery Chris's infrastructure experience spans Firebase and Google Cloud, PostgreSQL, BigQuery, S3 compatible storage, Docker, Caddy, Linux hosts, CI/CD, GitHub Actions, Azure DevOps, private networks, air gapped systems, and hybrid cloud plus on premise deployments. Several projects could not be treated like ordinary websites. Live event systems had cameras, venue networking, local services, cloud portals, and a fixed launch window. Exhibit systems had to run without internet access across roughly thirty computers and remain operable by non developers. He approaches infrastructure as part of product reliability. Provisioning, observability, rollback paths, deployment ownership, networking, data flow, and support tools are designed early rather than added the night before launch. ## Selected case studies ### NCAA Final Four Activation Platform **2026 · Live event · Enterprise** Chris architected and shipped core services for a hybrid platform used at NCAA Final Four activations for Coca Cola and BODYARMOR. The system connected Sony camera control written in C++, Next.js and TypeScript portals, PostgreSQL, S3 compatible storage, Firebase, Docker, and Caddy. The technical challenge was only part of the job. Multiple repositories and disciplines had to move together under live event pressure. Chris established repository ownership, pull request review gates, and reusable AI assisted workflows, then supported on site issue triage through launch. The result was a smooth activation and a useful example of how he works: make ownership clear, design around real operational constraints, test the whole system, and stay close to the launch. **Numbers:** 8 repositories · C++ through Next.js · live launch environment ### Colorado Judicial Learning Center Modernization **2025 to present · Physical experience · Air gapped** Chris architected an air gapped Linux and Docker platform for a fourteen exhibit modernization program at the Colorado Judicial Learning Center. The environment provisions roughly thirty exhibit computers with PXE and uses FastAPI, PostgreSQL, a private network, and a central control dashboard. One exhibit system synchronizes video across four displays through WebSockets while integrating physical controls and exhibit lighting. The team also built a production like hardware test environment so timing, device behavior, and deployment issues could be found before installation. The architectural goal was not novelty. It was making a complex physical experience repeatable, supportable, and understandable to the people who will operate it after the engineering team leaves. **Numbers:** 14 exhibits · approximately 30 computers · 4 synchronized displays ### Fitness and Consumer Platforms **2024 to 2026 · Consumer product · Subscriptions** Chris designed data, analytics, and subscription systems for Flutter and Next.js fitness products that generated $1.22 million in 2025 revenue across more than 54,000 transactions. The platform work included Firebase Data Connect and PostgreSQL, RevenueCat subscriptions and entitlements, Firebase authentication, Cloud Functions, GA4, BigQuery, deep links, administration tools, and content and community workflows. This work highlights his product engineering approach. Billing, data modeling, analytics, mobile UX, operational tooling, and support needs were treated as one system rather than separate tickets owned by disconnected teams. ## Current role Chris has been a Senior Software Engineer at Pixel and Texel since October 2021. He serves as a technical lead across mobile, web, backend, cloud, live event, and interactive installation systems for enterprise, consumer, and public sector clients. The role is unusually broad. Depending on the engagement, he may be talking with a client, shaping the product, designing data and infrastructure, writing Flutter or TypeScript, integrating hardware, reviewing pull requests, planning deployments, or supporting an on site launch. ## Technical leadership Chris leads by making the problem and ownership model clear. He works directly with clients and stakeholders, translates their needs into architecture and milestones, sets repository and review expectations, and stays involved in implementation and launch support. He is collaborative and direct. He prefers shared context over gatekeeping, small verifiable increments over large speculative rewrites, and production like testing over confidence based on a local demo. His earlier remote sensing team leadership also gave him experience planning work against quality, schedule, and budget constraints, coaching team members, and communicating performance and improvement plans. > The person making the architecture decision should understand how it affects the developer, the operator, the customer, and the person standing beside the hardware on launch day. ## Geospatial background At Woolpert, Chris moved from Remote Sensing Technician to Geospatial Application Engineer while also serving as a Remote Sensing Team Leader. He designed, tested, and maintained more than 150 C# and Python tools, extensions, and scripts. A redesigned tool and indexing approach improved hydrography delineation by 50 percent, and he maintained large geospatial databases serving thousands of client connections. The domain work included LiDAR, spatial analysis, object based image analysis, feature extraction, 3D terrain models, cartography, and large scale data workflows. | Metric | Result | |---|---| | Automation tools | 150+ C# and Python tools | | Hydrography workflow | 50 percent improvement | | Woolpert tenure | 2013 to 2021 | ## Public products and open source ### [Pinoctular](https://pinoctular.stayte.app) A browser based viewer for Pino JSON logs with upload and paste workflows, filtering, real time directory watching, reconnecting WebSocket streams, and self hosted multi architecture images. **Stack:** Next.js, TypeScript, WebSockets, Docker [View source](https://github.com/ChrisStayte/pinoctular) ### [Rate My Plate](https://ratemyplate.wtf) A full stack community product with OAuth, sessions, moderation, role based administration, relational constraints, maps, and generated social preview routes. **Stack:** Next.js, TypeScript, PostgreSQL, Drizzle ORM, Better Auth [View source](https://github.com/ChrisStayte/ratemyplate) ### [Whisper API Hybrid](https://github.com/ChrisStayte/whisper-api-hybrid) A local or hosted transcription API with asynchronous jobs, provider switching, concurrency controls, callbacks, chunking, authentication, and container images. **Stack:** Python, FastAPI, faster whisper, OpenAI, Groq, Docker ### [dart meta dat](https://github.com/ChrisStayte/dart-meta-dat) A cross platform wrapper around Meta's wearable device access SDKs for registration, discovery, permissions, photo capture, and camera video streaming. **Stack:** Flutter, Dart, Swift, Kotlin ### Earlier public mobile apps Chris also shipped Dominoes, Cashew, Concentration, Countdowns, Collector, and Compass3 across mobile stores and the web. [Browse the mobile app archive](https://chrisstayte.app) ## Developer tools Chris likes building the tool that removes the annoying part of the job. His developer tooling includes: * More than 150 internal C# and Python geospatial tools * Pinoctular for structured log inspection * Whisper API Hybrid for provider flexible transcription * A Flutter wrapper for Meta wearables * Deployment workflows and CI/CD automation * Reusable AI assisted engineering processes The common goal is a small, understandable interface over messy operational detail. Good tools should be easy to adopt, observable when they fail, and useful without demanding a new platform team. ## Technical community Chris has published 27 programming tutorials with more than 556,000 total YouTube views and over 3,000 subscribers. Topics have included Python and VS Code, Hugo, Netlify, React, and API development. He also presented findings from Meta Connect 2025 and the practical implications of spatial computing SDKs to his engineering organization. Teaching is part of his engineering style. Explaining a system clearly is a useful test of whether the architecture is actually understood. [Visit the YouTube channel](https://www.youtube.com/@ChrisStayte) ## Community and mission driven work Chris's community work includes a public website, content platform, CMS, and mobile product for Union Pentecostal Church, with sermons, articles, events, media, search, offline Bible data, push notifications, and administration workflows. Earlier accessibility focused work included sign language video integration, service portals, Firebase systems, and launch coordination for an interpreting organization. These projects are meaningful because the engineering has to be sustainable. The system must be understandable, affordable to run, and manageable by a small organization after launch. [Visit Union Pentecostal Church](https://unionpentecostalchurch.com) ## Reliability philosophy Chris starts by identifying what cannot fail, what can degrade, who will notice, and who has to recover it. That leads to explicit ownership, production like testing, useful logs, simple deployment paths, and operational controls that match the people running the system. For live events, reliability means testing the complete camera, network, service, and portal path before the doors open. For air gapped exhibits, it means provisioning repeatably, centralizing control, and avoiding dependencies that disappear with the internet. For consumer apps, it means treating subscriptions, analytics, deep links, and administration tools as production features rather than integrations added at the end. ## Engineering philosophy Chris is motivated by software that becomes useful in the real world. He likes learning an unfamiliar domain, finding the hidden constraint, and turning it into a product or tool that people can depend on. He values completion over performative perfection. That does not mean lowering the quality bar. It means choosing the smallest responsible path to feedback, measuring what happens, and improving from something real rather than polishing assumptions forever. > Build the useful version, verify it in the real environment, then make the next version better. ## Beyond the code Outside work, Chris spends time rock climbing, 3D printing, working with cameras, improving a home lab, and making useful things for family and community projects. He is naturally curious about how systems work, whether the system is a mobile subscription flow, a server rack, a camera rig, a laser cutter, or the exact point where a climbing project stops feeling impossible. The personal through line is the same as the professional one: understand the thing, make it practical, and finish enough of it that another person can actually use it. ## The weirdest thing Chris has built There is strong competition. A browser where strangers rate drivers by license plate is up there. So is synchronizing four displays while physical controls and exhibit lighting participate in the same experience. A Flutter plugin that streams video from smart glasses also earns points. The current leader might be a live event stack that connected C++ Sony camera control to cloud portals across eight repositories, because apparently a normal landing page would have been too relaxing. ## Education and certification **Associate of Science in Computer Science** Sinclair Community College, Dayton, Ohio **Foundational C# with Microsoft** freeCodeCamp, 2024 ## Contact For senior engineering roles, technical leadership opportunities, product consulting, or a genuinely strange system that needs to work in the real world: **Email:** [hireme@stayte.email](mailto:hireme@stayte.email) **LinkedIn:** [linkedin.com/in/chrisstayte](https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisstayte) **GitHub:** [github.com/ChrisStayte](https://github.com/ChrisStayte) **YouTube:** [youtube.com/@ChrisStayte](https://www.youtube.com/@ChrisStayte) [View the web CV](cv.html) · [Open the original PDF](assets/chris-stayte-cv.pdf)