Benjamin Nelson, Developer in Austin, TX, United States
Benjamin is available for hire
Hire Benjamin

Benjamin Nelson

Software Developer

Austin, TX, United States

Toptal member since October 19, 2025

Expertise
TypeScriptPHPUbuntuMySQLPostgreSQLMongoDBRedisREST APIReact.jsVue.jsAngularNode.jsChart.jsArtificial Intelligence
Bio

Benjamin has 18 years of software development experience, including 14 years specializing in Ruby on Rails. He has been the CTO of multiple companies. At FinditParts Inc., he raised $45 million in Series A funding; at OnceThere, he helped raise $5 million from strategic investors. Benjamin also does front-end work in React, Vue, Angular, Backbone, and jQuery.

Portfolio

First Databank
Ruby, Ruby on Rails 6, REST APIs, TypeScript, Artificial Intelligence (AI)...
FinditParts
Ruby, Ruby on Rails 6, React, Heroku, Angular, REST APIs, TypeScript...
OnceThere
PHP, Ruby on Rails (RoR), React, REST APIs, TypeScript

Experience

  • PHP - 17 years
  • MySQL - 14 years
  • Ruby on Rails (RoR) - 14 years
  • PostgreSQL - 12 years
  • MongoDB - 10 years
  • React - 6 years
  • Vue - 5 years
  • ECS - 4 years

Preferred Environment

Ubuntu, Ruby on Rails 8, PHP, React, Vue, Docker

The most amazing...

...app I've written, designed, & maintained is OnceThere, with 4 Rails APIs, 2 React clients, & a full-stack Rails admin portal & recruitment management system.

Work Experience

Staff Software Engineer

2022 - 2025
First Databank
  • Oversaw the Infusion Knowledge application that was used in over 400 hospitals for Prime-a-Pumps.
  • Managed two MySQL RDS databases, 10 EC2 instances, ElasticSearch, and various other technologies.
  • Migrated EC2 instances to Docker using Amazon ECS.
Technologies: Ruby, Ruby on Rails 6, REST APIs, TypeScript, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Chart.js

Director of Engineering

2020 - 2022
FinditParts
  • Oversaw all API integrations with partner suppliers.
  • Managed the Ruby on Rails application running on Heroku.
  • Helped raise $40 million in Series A funding and added 10 new integrations.
Technologies: Ruby, Ruby on Rails 6, React, Heroku, Angular, REST APIs, TypeScript, Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Chief Technology Officer | Ruby-on-Rails & PHP Developer

2015 - 2020
OnceThere
  • Oversaw all development of two Ruby on Rails APIs, two React clients, two PHP applications, two PostgreSQL databases, a MongoDB instance, a Memcache layer, and 60 servers on AWS.
  • Managed six developers that included two back-end developers, two front-end developers, and two QA engineers.
  • Helped raise $5 million from strategic investors to help roll out the platform.
Technologies: PHP, Ruby on Rails (RoR), React, REST APIs, TypeScript

Experience

FinditParts

An eCommerce site for heavy-duty truck parts. I was one of two engineers on the team when we tripled revenue and raised $40 million in Series A funding. For three years, I wrote all the new features for the platform.

Education

2002 - 2006

Bachelor's Degree in Biochemistry

Texas Tech University - Lubbock, TX, USA

Skills

Libraries/APIs

React, Vue, REST APIs, Node.js, Chart.js

Tools

Chef

Languages

PHP, TypeScript, Ruby

Frameworks

Ruby on Rails (RoR), Angular, Ruby on Rails 6

Platforms

Ubuntu, Docker, Heroku

Storage

MongoDB, PostgreSQL, MySQL, Memcached, Redis

Other

ECS, Chemistry, Ruby on Rails 8, Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Collaboration That Works

How to Work with Toptal

Toptal matches you directly with global industry experts from our network in hours—not weeks or months.

1

Share your needs

Discuss your requirements and refine your scope in a call with a Toptal domain expert.
2

Choose your talent

Get a short list of expertly matched talent within 24 hours to review, interview, and choose from.
3

Start your risk-free talent trial

Work with your chosen talent on a trial basis for up to two weeks. Pay only if you decide to hire them.

Top talent is in high demand.

Start hiring