Alex Marcus

Application Development Lead Starbucks Coffee Company: 2024 - Present

• Led 3 concurrent project teams (including My Availability and other timekeeping and workforce management applications) with up to 4 engineers, managing backlog creation, resource planning, sprint operations, and delivery timelines for applications serving 225,000+ store partners.
• Craft production-ready user interfaces and design systems without reliance on dedicated designers, balancing engineering execution with user-centric design decisions.
• Serving as Starbucks WFM AI Champion: developed Copilot AI educational materials, led AI workflow workshops, and created team-specific customizations including a Copilot agent for automated documentation generation.
• Led proof-of-concept with Starbucks Design organization using Copilot AI for automated design consistency analysis and visual regression testing (Cypress); provided strategic guidance on standardized component libraries to bridge design and engineering.
• Perform product ownership duties: define product roadmaps, manage backlogs, lead sprint ceremonies, and coordinate with stakeholders to ensure delivery of business-critical features. Acted as interim Product Owner for a timekeeping application, aligning deliverables with union contract requirements.
• Partner with cross-functional teams across Product, Engineering, and Operations to scope, architect, and deliver high-value internal tools aligned with business needs. Manage vendor relationships with contractors and third-party library providers.
• Established CI/CD pipelines (GitHub Actions), automated testing, deployment documentation, and on-call rotations (PagerDuty); instrumented UI analytics using Azure Application Insights.
• Completed full accessibility audits using AXE DevTools, achieving WCAG compliance; implemented internationalization and trained development team on accessibility tools.
• Related project: Starbucks My Availability

Certificate in Engineering Leadership University of Washington: December 2024

• Completed a graduate-level program focused on leadership, communication, and strategic decision-making for engineering professionals.
• Developed skills in technical team management, stakeholder engagement, and driving innovation within engineering organizations.

Senior Software Development Engineer Expedia Group: 2022 - 2024

• Led a development team to execute feature enhancements for the Expedia partner integration platform, improving partner onboarding and internal tooling using React, TypeScript, and microservices architecture.
• Drove deployment velocity and code quality improvements through robust testing and CI/CD pipelines, reducing bug rates and time-to-market.
• Collaborated closely with product managers and designers to define technical approaches aligned with business requirements, focusing on maintainable code and scalable UI architecture.
• Mentored junior developers and interns, providing technical guidance and professional development support within the team.
• Related project: Expedia Open World

Certificate in Project Management Coursera: February 2024

• Earned certification through Coursera’s Project Management Professional program, covering agile methodologies, risk management, and project planning.
• Enhanced ability to lead cross-functional teams, manage project timelines, and deliver business-critical outcomes.

Software Development Engineer Adobe, Inc.: 2018 - 2022

• Developed front-end applications integrated into Adobe Creative Cloud (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign), supporting file sharing and collaboration workflows across web and iOS platforms using React and Swift.
• Built customer-facing web applications for Adobe Express using ReactJS, connecting to REST APIs and microservices.
• Led architectural decisions for scalable web component interfaces and event-driven integrations, shortening integration timelines for internal and external teams.
• Implemented UI analytics using Adobe Analytics platform; managed cross-team technical discussions and backlog prioritization.
• Conducted non-production trials of React Native as alternative mobile delivery approach.
• Related projects: Adobe Cloud Collaboration, Adobe Express

Software Development Team Lead Level 11 Consulting: 2015 - 2018

• Led frontend and full-stack development for 3D interactive web applications, delivering mapping and navigation tools for Carnival Cruise ships on mobile, web, and large touch-enabled displays.
• Developed production iOS applications using Swift to host web experiences within native apps; evaluated React Native for mobile delivery.
• Delivered browser-based WebGL (React, ThreeJS) and Unity 3D versions of applications, with responsibility for technical execution and deployment logistics.
• Presented live product demos at CES 2017; coordinated with clients, engineers, and designers to deliver polished interactive experiences.
• Related project: Carnival Cruise Lines Wayfinding

Web Developer Sur La Table, Inc.: 2013 – 2015

• Designed, developed, tested, troubleshot, and debugged mobile and desktop e-commerce applications using HTML, CSS, JavaScript, jQuery, and AJAX in Visual Studio. Projects included:
  • Hand-coded global site header with multi-tiered navigation, reactive browsing, and custom styling.
  • Splash layouts, product comparison charts, product anatomies, and more.
• Leveraged A/B user testing with Monetate in collaboration with internal and external marketing teams.
• Related project: Sur La Table Retail Website

Web Developer ShapeUp, Inc.: 2011 – 2013

• Developed code using modern HTML, CSS, and JavaScript display techniques, as well as scalable PHP and MySQL logic linked via AJAX exchanges, to create stand-alone and integrated MVC components such as:
  • Organization-grouped social network functionality, including supporter searching, compatibility-based supporter suggestions, scoped privacy settings, and a comprehensive profanity filter.
  • Administrative panels providing intricate database operations through a concise user interface, allowing in-depth user management, eligibility maintenance, frontpage banner editing, and more.
  • Customizable newsletter generation and preview with integrated, up-to-date platform statistics.
• Contributed to continuous integration with automated unit testing in an agile development cycle.
• Received, escalated, and resolved over 2,700 technical incident tickets per year regarding browser compatibility, UI issues, backend logic, and database problems from over 600,000 international users.
• Related project: ShapeUp Health Platform