Christopher Pond

UX Engineering Director, Architect, Developer

chris@pond.design

Austin, TX

Experience

09/2023Current Role

Director of Software Engineering

Newfold Digital

Directly leading four full-stack software engineering teams to deliver web hosting applications that allow Newfold's users to manage their online presence. We focus on maintainability, performance and user experience.

Collaborating with Product, UX and Engineering teams to architect, identify and plan product requirements.

Evaluating and refining our software development lifecycle with a focus on improving collaboration, consistency, and coordination across departments.

Fostering an open and collaborative front end development community across Newfold's many teams.

09/2021 - 08/2023

Senior Principal Software Engineer

Newfold Digital

Defined and maintained front-end architecture and design patterns that ensure consistency, maintainability, and performance across projects. Collaborated with multiple UX, Product and Engineering teams to refine and plan major new initiatives. Represented the Newfold Hosting Experience Team in cross-departmental presentations.

03/2020 - 09/2022

Principal Software Engineer

Newfold Digital

Aided in multi-brand platform consolidation strategy. Principal front end consultant to multiple product and development teams.

01/2016 - 03/2020

Software Engineering Manager

Bluehost

Hybrid management, Product Engineer and UX Developer role working to bridge UX and Engineering teams to deliver improved web hosting products and experiences.

Built React-based proof of concept that evolved into the future product platform for Bluehost that is now contributed to by over a dozen product engineering teams.

Worked with engineering and design community to establish a scalable design system and component library based in React, SCSS. Maintainer of CICD workflows related to front-end build systems including interfacing with Webpack, Lerna, NPM, Github, Stash, Bamboo, Travis CI and more.

07/2013 - 12/2015

Director Of Web Development

Endurance International Group

Grew marketing-focused web development team into four new scalable Agile-based teams delivering work across three major brands (HostGator, Bluehost, Domain.com and iPage).

Led full redesign and overhaul efforts for each major brand, while moving each into a common platform.

Implemented cross-department and cross-brand Google Tag Manager implementation to enable end-to-end tracking across marketing and product applications.

01/2011 - 06/2013

Frontend Web Developer

Pond Design

Freelance-based web development and design for a variety of clients focusing on front-of-site redesigns for marketing and e-commerce websites. Client list included United Natural Foods, NuRoo, HostGator, StartLogic and Endurance International Group.

03/2008 - 12/2010

Web Designer

Endurance International Group

Designed and developed e-commerce websites in a fast-paced marketing environment. Led efforts to design branding and site experiences for new and existing web hosting companies. Created web templates that allowed a very small team of web designers to manage over 20 distinctly branded websites with reduced engineering effort.

11/2005 - 04/2007

Web Designer

Association of Health Care Journalists

Published and managed daily changes in layout, content, and functionality to a continually address evolving website. Managed comprehensive site transfer to a new server, ensuring functionality through the transition. (Part-time role while studying Journalism at University of Missouri.)

05/2002 - 09/2005

Web Designer

Missouri Attorney General's Office

Served in Communications Department to redesign the agency website with a focus on improving user friendliness, maintainability, and overall design.

Skills

Design TokensFigma (Software)TypeScriptWeb Design(Inactive profile) Endurance Group is Newfold DigitalHTMLWordPressIllustratorJestJIRANode.jsUser ExperiencePhotoshopMultivariate TestingGoogle Tag ManagerReact.jsPerlAtomGoogle AnalyticsWeb AnalyticsManagementDesign SystemsGraphic DesignGithubWeb DevelopmentTravel PhotographynpmConfluenceGitvimSingle Page ApplicationsSASSTeam LeadershipUXProject ManagementE-commerceWebpackAgile Project ManagementCSSResponsive Web DesignUser Interface DesignJavaScriptSEOReact

Education

2004 - 2007

Bachelor of Journalism

University of Missouri-Columbia

Journalism