Andrew Gilliland
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Experience

Resume

Professional Summary

Software engineer who builds full-stack web, mobile, and cloud applications. I design and build multi-tenant platforms on AWS, from infrastructure and CI/CD through Python and TypeScript services and React front ends. I contributed to the launch of Manchester United’s official hospitality storefront and built the foundation of the platform behind it, and I have shipped augmented reality and machine learning mobile apps for agricultural research and development. I work in a spec-driven, test-first way and use AI coding agents such as Claude Code, with clear review and verification gates, to deliver faster without lowering the bar. I also organize Bloomington-Normal Developers, a local community for software engineers.

Technical Skills

  • Languages: TypeScript, JavaScript, Python, Swift, SQL; working knowledge of Rust and Go
  • Front end: React, Next.js, Astro, Redux, React Query, TanStack, MUI, Tailwind CSS, PixiJS (WebGL), D3, HTML, CSS
  • Mobile: React Native, Expo, SwiftUI, UIKit, ARKit, RealityKit, SceneKit, Core ML
  • Back end: Node.js, Express, Fastify, Hono, FastAPI, REST and GraphQL APIs
  • Cloud and DevOps: AWS (Lambda, API Gateway, ECS, RDS, DynamoDB, S3, CloudFront, Cognito, Secrets Manager, Route 53, CloudWatch, CDK, CloudFormation), Cloudflare Workers and Pages, Vercel, Netlify, Fly.io, Docker, GitHub Actions
  • Data: PostgreSQL, Alembic, MySQL, SQLite, DynamoDB, MongoDB, Firebase Firestore, pandas, scikit-learn
  • Testing and quality: Vitest, Jest, Testing Library, MSW, Playwright, Cypress, pytest, Ruff, mypy, ESLint, Prettier
  • AI-assisted engineering: Claude Code, agentic workflows, Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers, coding-agent extensions, spec-driven development

Professional Experience

Full Stack Engineer · Elevate · Remote · August 2025 – Present

  • Contributed to the launch of Manchester United’s official hospitality storefront (hospitality.manutd.com): ran the production cutover from a prelaunch page to the full server-rendered store using CloudFront Functions and cache invalidation, and hardened the payments API’s cross-origin policy with per-environment allowlists in CDK so checkout worked from the live domain.
  • Built the foundation of Elevate’s multi-tenant Experiences Platform for premium sports and entertainment hospitality, from repository structure and AWS architecture through production support.
  • Designed AWS infrastructure in CDK (Lambda, API Gateway, Cognito, CloudFront, RDS PostgreSQL) across sandbox, dev, staging, and production, with GitHub Actions pipelines that promote releases from dev to staging to production.
  • Built Python and FastAPI services on Lambda and a React and TypeScript operations app for inventory, package creation, ticket assignment, pricing, and checkout, moving sorting and filtering to the server and consolidating reads to reduce API traffic.
  • Enforced tenant isolation with Cognito account scoping, project-level access checks in the API, and role-based permissions in the UI.
  • Added release quality gates (pre-commit hooks, Ruff, mypy, pytest, ESLint, Vitest, and Playwright browser regression tests) and investigated production incidents with CloudWatch.
  • Set up spec-first delivery conventions (AGENTS.md, glossaries, ADRs, and implementation specs) so features could be split across backend, frontend, data, and infrastructure repositories without losing the shared contract.

Senior Software Engineer · GoodJava Software Solutions, Morton, IL · March 2025 – August 2025

Software Engineer · Precision Planting, Bloomington, IL · December 2021 – March 2025

  • Built and maintained research and development mobile applications that use augmented reality and machine learning models to collect data for testing and product development.
  • Introduced new practices for mobile application testing and deployment.
  • Started and built a full-stack web application that used manufacturer APIs and web scraping to work around supply chain shortages, producing substantial profit for the company.
  • Developed and maintained full-stack web applications for internal company software.

Junior Creative Developer · Creative Sites Media, Bloomington, IL · September 2021 – December 2021

  • Built custom user interfaces for full-stack mobile and web applications.
  • Developed and maintained full-stack web applications for company clients.
  • Implemented new features for a client’s full-stack mobile application.

Owner and Certified Personal Trainer · Gilliland Fitness · December 2012 – August 2021

  • Ran a personal training business for nearly nine years, handling scheduling, client relationships, and program design.
  • Designed and taught group fitness classes, including spin, HIIT, and bootcamp sessions.

Selected Projects

  • SmartScout: a Precision Planting app on iOS and iPadOS (App Store) that uses machine vision and augmented reality to assess plant emergence and spacing in 3D. A neural network infers emergence from the live camera feed, and ARKit measures the spacing between plants. Built with React Native and TypeScript, with Swift native modules, SwiftUI, Core ML, and AWS.
  • blono.dev: the website for Bloomington-Normal Developers, a local developer community in Central Illinois, with event announcements and resources. Built with Next.js and Tailwind CSS.
  • Coding-agent extensions: Pi PR Sentinel, which watches a branch’s pull request checks and wakes the agent only for new failures, and pi-permission-gate, which asks for confirmation before dangerous commands or writes to protected files.
  • TanStack Start on AWS: a server-rendered TanStack Start app deployed with AWS CDK on Lambda, API Gateway, S3, and CloudFront.

Leadership and Community

  • Organizer, Bloomington-Normal Developers (March 2022 – present): run monthly meetups and happy hours for local software engineers, students, and career changers.
  • Organizer, Pensacola Developers: organized a web developer meetup in Pensacola, Florida, that grew to more than 100 members.
  • Business owner: ran Gilliland Fitness for nearly nine years.

Education and Certifications

  • United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD · 2003 – 2006 · Computer science coursework
  • AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
  • Other certifications: ACSM Certified Personal Trainer, TRX Suspension Training, NOLS Alaska Mountaineering, PADI Advanced Open Water Diver, Emergency First Response, CPR/AED/First Aid