Alex Marcus

Alex Marcus

Engineering leader with 19 years of experience delivering enterprise-scale web and platform applications across Starbucks, Adobe, Expedia, and consulting environments.

Summary

I specialize in leading ambiguous, cross-functional initiatives from architecture through production, building React/TypeScript platforms that scale from early pilots to enterprise adoption.

At Starbucks, I've led delivery of workforce systems used by tens of thousands of partners, improving data quality, enforcing policy compliance, and enabling scheduling capabilities tied to significant business impact.

My focus extends beyond feature development to building engineering systems that make teams effective—CI/CD, observability, accessibility, and scalable front-end architecture.

I also invest in people and organizational impact through mentoring, stakeholder alignment, and AI-enabled workflows as a Copilot Champion.

Skills

Core Engineering & Delivery

  • React / TypeScript
  • Web platform architecture
  • API integrations
  • CI/CD, automated testing

Cloud & Observability

  • Microsoft Azure
  • Monitoring & telemetry
  • Production reliability & on-call

Product & Leadership

  • Technical leadership & architecture
  • Product ownership & stakeholder alignment
  • Backlog, sprint, and delivery management
  • Mentorship and team development

Cross-Functional Collaboration

  • Product ownership
  • Requirements gathering
  • Stakeholder alignment
  • Project management
  • Technical documentation
  • Collaboration with Product, Engineering, and Operations

Quality & Accessibility

  • WCAG accessibility
  • Automated testing
  • Internationalization (i18n)

AI & Developer Productivity

  • Copilot enablement & workshops
  • Prompt engineering
  • AI workflow design

Experience

Application Development Lead Starbucks Coffee Company: May 2024 - Present

Technical lead for workforce scheduling and operational platforms, delivering React/TypeScript applications from pilot to enterprise scale.

  • Led delivery of My Availability and related systems, supporting 225,000+ partners and scaling from pilot to 50K+ users
  • Improved data quality and compliance by replacing manual workflows, preventing 3,400+ out-of-policy availability errors in the first week
  • Led engineering for Ideal Shifts, enabling scheduling capabilities tied to ~$60M in business value
  • Established CI/CD pipelines, observability, accessibility standards (WCAG), and operational processes across applications
  • Served as AI Champion, leading Copilot workshops for 100+ engineers and increasing adoption by 50%
  • Related project: Starbucks My Availability

Senior Software Development Engineer Expedia Group: Nov 2022 - Jan 2024

Delivered developer tooling and platform capabilities for Expedia’s Open World ecosystem, used by internal API owners and external partners.

  • Built API management workflows (React/TypeScript, GraphQL) enabling multi-account rate limit configuration at scale
  • Improved platform scalability by designing bulk management capabilities beyond one-account-at-a-time limitations
  • Secured sensitive workflows with fine-grained authorization across UI and API layers
  • Led delivery across 2–5 engineers, shipping key features one month ahead of schedule
  • Mentored 6 contributors across internships and early-career roles
  • Related project: Expedia Open World

Software Development Engineer Adobe, Inc.: Aug 2018 - Nov 2022

Built collaboration components across Adobe Creative Cloud applications, supporting workflows used by up to 23M paid subscribers.

  • Owned front-end architecture for React/TypeScript micro-frontends integrated across Photoshop, Illustrator, XD, and Express
  • Improved collaboration workflow efficiency by up to 40% through streamlined sharing and review experiences
  • Reduced bundle size by 15% and improved render performance from ~5s to ~2s through optimization and shared libraries
  • Influenced platform direction by collaborating with Adobe UXP teams on shared APIs and embedded experiences
  • Related projects: Adobe Cloud Collaboration, Adobe Express

Software Development Team Lead Level 11 Consulting: Nov 2015 - Aug 2018

Led engineering for interactive wayfinding systems used on Carnival cruise ships across mobile, web, and kiosk platforms.

  • Delivered 2D/3D navigation experiences using React and WebGL, enabling real-time ship navigation and guest location services
  • Reduced production risk through rapid prototyping and UX validation prior to Unity/C# development
  • Led a team of up to 6 developers through delivery, demos (CES 2017), and live shipboard launch
  • Improved real-time location response latency from minutes to ~5 seconds onboard ships
  • Related project: Carnival Cruise Lines Wayfinding

Earlier Experience 2006 - 2015

Held engineering roles across eCommerce, health technology, and academic systems support, focusing on web applications, performance, and reliability.

Education & Certifications

  • University of Washington — Certificate in Engineering Leadership, 2024
  • Coursera — Certificate in Project Management, 2024
  • Connecticut College — B.A. Computer Science & Visual Design, 2010