Jonathan Dunlap (@jadbox)
27 karma
Startup Founder & Product Engineering Specialist
Ann Arbor, MI
Founder, product developer, senior engineer, and longevity researcher. Alum of Adobe and Consensys.
About
Driven to build intentional technology that empowers developers and scales positive impact, I offer 18 years of experience in software engineering from engineering, product, management, and being a founder. Proven ability architecting solutions, leading high-performing teams, securing $1.7M funding, and delivering results (10k+ users, 400k events/sec). Expertise with product development, full-stack engineering, cloud (AWS/Azure) deployments, and actively exploring AI/LLM research.
Skills
Leadership & Management
Strategy & Product
Software Development ⋅ Expert
Programming Languages ⋅ Advanced
Cloud & Infrastructure
Databases
Startup & Entrepreneurship
AI & Emerging Technologies ⋅ Advanced
DevOps & Tools
Projects
Experience
Founder & CTO
MintGate linkedin.com
Jul 2020 to Present ⋅ Remote / Ann Arbor, MI
Founded and led MintGate, securing $1.7M in venture funding to build and scale a new content creator platform. Conceptualized, architected, and directed product strategy, engineering (leading a team of 7), marketing, and operations. Drove platform growth from MVP launch to over 10,000 users and 1,000+ hosted storefronts through iterative development based on user feedback and market analysis, while scaling underlying infrastructure. Stack: TypeScript, SQL, Node.js, Python, AWS, Fly.io, Cloudflare, Docker, Airflow, S3, SST deploy, VSCode copilot
Founding Engineering Director
New Dialogue Foundation linkedin.com
Dec 2017 to Jan 2020 ⋅ Santa Monica, CA
Established and directed the engineering strategy, team leadership, and execution for the non-profit foundation's technology platforms fostering meaningful engagement. Oversaw product management, the full software development lifecycle (SDLC), and technical operations. Managed and mentored a distributed remote engineering team across multiple locations, ensuring effective collaboration and delivery while aligning technology solutions with stakeholder needs and the foundation's mission.
Engineering Manager
ZEFR linkedin.com
Nov 2016 to Dec 2017 ⋅ Venice, CA
Managed and mentored two Agile engineering teams focused on ad-tech (BrandID) and digital rights management (RightsID) for social video platforms. Partnered with Product Management to define vision, strategy, and roadmap execution. Coordinated sprint planning and execution using Agile methodologies, improving team velocity and delivery predictability, while providing hands-on technical leadership within Python/Java codebases and promoting engineering best practices.
Co-Founder & Engineering Manager
VidRoll (now MetaX) linkedin.com
Nov 2014 to Nov 2016 ⋅ Greater Los Angeles Area
Co-founded the video ad technology company, serving as the foundational engineer and Engineering Manager through initial growth. Architected and implemented a high-throughput event processing system capable of ingesting 400,000+ events per second. Designed and developed cross-platform video ad players and reporting dashboards. Recruited, hired, and led the initial engineering team, fostering a collaborative high-performance culture and spearheading early adoption of Azure Container Service (ACS) for scalable ad-tech infrastructure.
Sr. Product Manager - Flash & Brackets
Adobe linkedin.com
Dec 2012 to Sep 2014 ⋅ San Francisco, CA
Led product management for Adobe Flash platform tools and the Brackets open-source editor (precursor to VSCode), defining product strategy, vision, and roadmaps. Managed Agile/Lean engineering teams (Scout, LCVM - Languages, Compilers, VMs), enhancing development velocity and release processes. Coordinated technical partnerships with third-party developers, analyzed market trends to inform strategic decisions, and aided strategic business value alignment for group endeavors.
Senior Lead Software Engineer
Bigpoint GmbH linkedin.com
Nov 2011 to Nov 2012 ⋅ San Francisco Bay Area
Led software infrastructure development for front-end (Unity3D) and back-end (Java/Erlang) systems on high-traffic MMO games like Battlestar Galactica Online. Managed an Erlang server cluster architected to support ~1 million concurrent users. Mentored engineers, established code quality guidelines, conducted 1:1 performance reviews, implemented unit testing frameworks, and set up build systems.
Engineering Manager
Metamoki, Inc. linkedin.com
Jan 2011 to Oct 2011 ⋅ San Francisco Bay Area
Served as Engineering Manager, leading project development for both frontend and backend engineers in the social gaming space. Spearheaded the architecture and development of a custom, high-performance graphics engine featuring advanced rendering (anti-aliasing, mipmapping), simulated 3D physics, and a persistent world. Established code quality standards, organized code reviews, and conducted 1:1 performance reviews to foster team growth and technical excellence.
Principal Software Engineer
Crowdstar
Jan 2010 to Jan 2011
Architected and developed front-end systems for high-traffic social Facebook games at Crowdstar, handling over 6 million weekly active users. Contributed to server-side Java/PHP socket handler development during sprints. Utilized technologies including AS3, Java/Android, PHP, MySQL, Redis, JS, and C++ for mobile and browser application development.
Senior Engineer and Sales Coordinator
ePrize [HelloWorld, Inc.]
Jul 2007 to Jan 2010
Built web games for several of the largest brands like Subway, Conagra, Microsoft, LG Electronics, Sharp, GAP, Disney, Miller, Stouffer’s, General Mills, Coke, and Old Navy.
Education
Davenport University
Computer Information Systems: Programming
Dec 2009 to Dec 2013
Volunteer