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Scott Schmalz
Verified Expert in Engineering
Software Developer
Exeter, NH, United States
Toptal member since May 3, 2022
Bio
Scott is a full-stack software engineer with 15 years of experience working with organizations of all sizes, from startups to Fortune 100 enterprises. He specializes in insurtech, helping companies build scalable, high-impact products. Recently, he integrated AI into a primary research firm, enabling clients to interact dynamically with research data. Highly adept in TypeScript, JavaScript, React, Next.js, and Node.js, Scott excels at creating efficient, user-focused software solutions.
Portfolio
Stepwise Innovation
JavaScript, Amazon DynamoDB, Node.js, Express.js, React, Redux...
Trellis Technologies
TypeScript, Node.js, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Cloud Firestore, React...
Liberty Mutual Insurance
JavaScript, TypeScript, Node.js, REST, MongoDB, Amazon Web Services (AWS)...
Experience
- REST - 15 years
- JavaScript - 12 years
- React - 8 years
- TypeScript - 7 years
- Node.js - 7 years
- Amazon Web Services (AWS) - 6 years
- GraphQL - 6 years
- MongoDB - 5 years
Preferred Environment
JavaScript, TypeScript, React, Node.js, MongoDB, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Next.js, Amazon DynamoDB
The most amazing...
...application I've led development for is an enterprise insurance shopping experience that generates hundreds of thousands of dollars in written premiums daily.
Work Experience
Consultant, Software Engineering
2018 - PRESENT
Stepwise Innovation
- Built an interactive AI experience that allows clients to ask their own questions from primary research conducted across various market segments.
- Built a fully integrated online experience for a life insurance startup that determines insurance coverage needs based on a proprietary recommendation algorithm.
- Integrated with third-party insurance providers to quote policies based on the user's recommended coverage needs.
- Developed projects using React, Node.js, Express.js and hosted on AWS.
Technologies: JavaScript, Amazon DynamoDB, Node.js, Express.js, React, Redux, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Next.js, OpenAI, Auth0, MongoDB
Engineering Manager
2021 - 2022
Trellis Technologies
- Joined Trellis, an insurtech startup focused on providing the best-in-class online insurance shopping experience. Trellis utilizes your current insurance information to make your shopping experience easy and seamless.
- Served as the technical leader in developing Trellis' online quote comparison tool, allowing shoppers to compare quotes from multiple insurance providers against their current policy.
- Built the front end on React and Next.js and the back-end on Node.js and Express.js with a Cloud Firestore database and hosted on Google Cloud Platform (GCP).
- Led the development of a sophisticated and dynamic interview experience that collected additional information from users to ensure we could provide them with an accurate insurance quotes.
Technologies: TypeScript, Node.js, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Cloud Firestore, React, Next.js, Express.js, REST
Solutions Engineer
2021 - 2021
Liberty Mutual Insurance
- Served in an architecture role leading a team of 15 engineers across three teams.
- Oversaw the building of the "next generation" of external-facing APIs for third-parties to perform insurance quoting and purchasing.
- Strove to offer a top-tier self-service integration experience. The business objective was to become the insurance carrier of choice for third-party integrators.
- Built APIs using a mixture of JavaScript and TypeScript on Node.js, Express.js, and MongoDB.
Technologies: JavaScript, TypeScript, Node.js, REST, MongoDB, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microservices, Express.js
Principal Software Engineer
2019 - 2021
Liberty Mutual Insurance
- Developed new online quoting and shopping experiences for auto, home, renters, and condo insurance.
- Provided hands-on engineering leadership in the development of a modernized technology stack.
- Developed the front-end as a collection of micro front-end apps written in React backed by a GraphQL server for state management and downstream back-end integration.
- Created a microservices back-end comprised of Node.js, Express.js, and Java Spring Boot services. Utilized MongoDB for data storage and Redis for caching. Integrated with enterprise services via REST and SOAP.
Technologies: JavaScript, TypeScript, GraphQL, MongoDB, Redis, REST, Node.js, Amazon DynamoDB, Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Tech Lead
2018 - 2019
HubSpot
- Served as the lead engineer and manager of a team of three software engineers.
- Spearheaded an experience that allows users to build custom reports and visualizations using their underlying CRM and analytics data.
- Delivered the front-end as a single-page app written in React with a mix of Redux and Flux.
Technologies: JavaScript, Flux, Redux, REST
Principal Software Developer
2017 - 2018
Liberty Mutual Insurance
- Developed a brand new consumer-facing motorcycle insurance shopping experience.
- Created the front-end as a single-page app written in React and Redux.
- Delivered a back end as a collection of microservices written on Spring Boot in Java.
- Collaborated with specialists from Pivotal Labs in the heart of "Tech Square" located in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Technologies: JavaScript, React, Java, Spring Boot, Microservices, Redux
Senior Software Developer
2016 - 2017
Liberty Mutual Insurance
- Developed a consumer-facing app used by customers to check the status of insurance claims.
- Wrote the front end as a single-page app written in React and Redux.
- Delivered a back end in Express.js on Node.js, exposing a GraphQL API.
Technologies: JavaScript, React, GraphQL, Express.js, Node.js, REST, Redux
Senior Software Developer
2013 - 2016
Liberty Mutual Insurance
- Developed a consumer-facing web app for users to shop for insurance.
- Provided leadership on an effort to rewrite the app’s entire front end from scratch following responsive web design practices.
- Created the front end as a single-page app with an advanced MVC architecture using the Dojo Toolkit.
Technologies: JavaScript, Dojo Toolkit, REST, SOAP, HTML, Sass, IBM Rational Team Concert (RTC)
Software Developer
2011 - 2013
Liberty Mutual Insurance
- Developed an internal web app to manage the book of business for surety clients.
- Built the app with ASP.NET MVC using C# and jQuery.
- Collaborated with business partners to elicit requirements.
Technologies: ASP.NET, C#, ASP.NET MVC
Experience
Everyday Life Insurance
https://insurance.everydaylifeinsurance.com/A fully-integrated online experience for a life insurance startup. It consists of an interview funnel that collects information about the user. That information is fed into a proprietary recommendation algorithm that I codified. The recommendation tells the user how to ladder life insurance policies to best meet their needs. Integrates with third-party insurance providers to provide quotes.
Savvy Insurance
https://www.savvy.insure/The easiest way to shop for insurance! The user is able to obtain accurate insurance quotes without needing to manually enter information.
This is done by providing users the ability to log in with their current insurance provider. Upon logging in, all of the user's information is used to provide them with quotes from other insurance providers. This allows users to easily check if they can get the same coverage for a better price.
This is done by providing users the ability to log in with their current insurance provider. Upon logging in, all of the user's information is used to provide them with quotes from other insurance providers. This allows users to easily check if they can get the same coverage for a better price.
Education
2006 - 2011
Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science
Western Washington University - Bellingham, Washington, USA
Skills
Libraries/APIs
React, Node.js, Stripe, OpenAI API, Dojo Toolkit
Tools
Slack, Zsh, GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, Jira, Git, SendGrid, Webpack, Rollup, IBM Rational Team Concert (RTC), Auth0
Languages
Bash, JavaScript, GraphQL, HTML, TypeScript, Sass, Java, C#
Frameworks
Jest, Express.js, Tailwind CSS, Material UI, Next.js, Remix, Redux, ASP.NET, ASP.NET MVC, Spring Boot, Flux
Paradigms
REST, Agile, Microservices
Platforms
Web, Visual Studio Code (VS Code), Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Twilio
Storage
MongoDB, Cloud Firestore, Redis, Amazon DynamoDB, MySQL
Other
Full-stack Development, ParcelJS, DocumentDB, SOAP, OpenAI
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