James Neely
Verified Expert in Engineering
Software Architect and Developer
Grand Junction, CO, United States
Toptal member since March 13, 2026
James is an accomplished lead architect with 15+ years of experience designing scalable systems for enterprise environments like Meta and Charles Schwab. He specializes in integrating AI-augmented workflows and full-stack cloud architectures to drive operational efficiency, and has recently led design decisions for high-stakes financial platforms. James is passionate about mentoring high-performance engineering teams and delivering high-impact solutions that solve complex challenges.
Portfolio
Experience
- TypeScript - 15 years
- React - 12 years
- Docker Compose - 10 years
- Python 3 - 10 years
- Enterprise Cybersecurity - 10 years
- Architecture - 10 years
- Kubernetes - 5 years
- Claude Code - 1 year
Preferred Environment
TypeScript, Python 3, React, Kubernetes, Claude Code, Next.js, FastAPI, Docker Compose, Django, Architecture
The most amazing...
...project I've led was Meta's condition-based maintenance (CBM) program, taking it from pilot to production while building a scalable data center IoT framework.
Work Experience
Lead Software Architect
Novogradac & Company
- Owned end-to-end architecture for enterprise platforms, integrating AI-augmented workflows to accelerate development and improve stability.
- Led senior-level design decisions for web and iOS applications serving high-stakes financial clients.
- Integrated innovative AI solutions that drove revenue growth while mentoring engineers toward high-performance outcomes.
- Delivered scalable systems for enterprise environments that increased operational efficiency by 40%.
Senior Software Engineer | Project Lead
Meta
- Led the Condition-based Maintenance (CBM) program from pilot to production, collaborating with stakeholders to meet strict SLAs.
- Built a scalable framework that significantly reduced per-project coding time and improved overall system stability.
- Enhanced front-end UX using React Hooks, Redux, and Relay while creating a library of reusable components and custom hooks.
- Improved test coverage and system reliability by implementing modern design systems and rigorous front-end architectures.
Senior Software Engineer
Charles Schwab
- Reduced monolith build and setup time from 20 minutes to 2 minutes, enabling a transition to reactive PaaS via legacy strangulation.
- Designed a homegrown service-level testing plugin for CI/CD that saved developers 15 minutes per build cycle.
- Led a React UI redesign using TypeScript and served as the subject matter expert for other senior engineers.
- Reverse-engineered undocumented systems to reconstruct business rules, effectively halving onboarding time for new team members.
- Correlated telemetry data within the CI/CD pipeline to enable faster debugging and improved system visibility.
Experience
My Website
As the sole architect and developer, I designed the entire front- and back-end infrastructure, ensuring the platform was fully responsive across mobile and desktop devices. I utilized my expertise in modern design systems and front-end frameworks—similar to the reusable component libraries I built at Meta—to create a modular and maintainable codebase. By applying SRE principles and DevSecOps best practices, I achieved near-instantaneous load times and a 100% Lighthouse performance score.
The successful launch of this site has served as a primary tool for technical engagement, directly facilitating high-level professional consultations.
Enterprise Application Manager
I designed the back end to ingest fragmented data and normalize it into a unified dashboard, enabling stakeholders to visualize the health and compliance posture of their entire ecosystem at a glance. By implementing advanced data mapping, I enabled the system to surface hidden dependencies that traditional tracking methods missed.
This project directly improved organizational transparency and streamlined the governance process for complex software suites.
Education
Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science
Colorado Mesa University - Grand Junction, CO, USA
Certifications
Foundations of Privacy and Data Protection
IAPP
Professional Certificate Cybersecurity
Colorado Mesa University
Skills
Libraries/APIs
React, REST APIs, Node.js, Stripe API, Stripe, Playwright
Tools
Claude Code, Docker Compose, Celery, GIS, Apache Maven, Gradle, RabbitMQ, Splunk, Amazon Elastic Container Service (ECS), Codex
Languages
TypeScript, Python 3, Python, JavaScript, Java, PHP, GraphQL, Kotlin, Groovy, SAML
Frameworks
Next.js, Django, Selenium, Selenide, Redux, Spring Boot
Storage
PostgreSQL, MongoDB, MySQL, Redis
Platforms
Kubernetes, iOS 10+, Azure, VMware Tanzu Application Service (TAS) (Pivotal Cloud Foundry (PCF)), Docker, Java EE (Jakarta EE), DigitalOcean
Paradigms
DevSecOps, Automation, ETL, Agile, Change Management
Other
FastAPI, Full-stack, GitHub Actions, SaaS, Third-party Integration, Enterprise Integration, Full-stack Development, APIs, Payment APIs, Architecture, Enterprise Cybersecurity, Large Language Models (LLMs), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Agentic AI, Bun, Cloudflare, Vite, Infrastructure as Code (IaC), Multi-tenant Architecture, Data Privacy, HIPAA, California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Divio, Internet of Things (IoT), Sensor Data, Web UX, OAuth, DNS, Software, Machine Learning, Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), Algorithms, Networks, Data Visualization, Risk Management, Storybook, Cursor AI
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