Jamal Jackson

Experience

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  FAI

  Founder | Fractional CTO & Architect

  Nov 2008 - Present

  FAI is a boutique engineering and AI consultancy led by Principal Engineer and Fractional CTO Jamal Jackson. We collaborate with startups and enterprise clients to architect, ship, and scale modern software systems—especially those leveraging AI, rich interfaces, and real-time infrastructure. From building Albertsons’ pandemic supply chain portal to re-platforming Techstars companies, we deliver production-grade systems that accelerate time-to-value and raise the technical bar for internal teams.

  • Collaborate with global enterprise corporations, Fortune 500 companies, Y-combinator backed startups, and early stage Techstars backed startups to develop and deploy strategy, architecting multi-platform applications and service layer implementations.
  • Collaborated with key executives at a leading enterprise grocery chain, subcontracting to develop and implement a new supply chain application during the COVID-19 pandemic; architected front end for mobile and web-based applications and led a team of five
  • Partnered with gov vendor to create mass communication app. Led 4-person team using React/React Native for front/back-end optimization. Managed resources, roadmap & velocity to meet SLAs for critical messaging deployment
  • Led 5-person cross-functional team at corporate-backed startup. Rebuilt front-end with modern React stack & refactored backend processes. Achieved 30% improvement in sprint task completion and 20% boost in work output performance
  • Transformed engineering culture by customizing and deploying Agile processes focusing on iteration speed, maintaining velocity, establishing a weekly buffer for critical outages and bugs, and ensuring seamless collaboration across diverse business units.
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  Jumpcut

  Head of Engineering

  Apr 2022 - May 2025

  (Acquired by Cinalytic, February 2025) Architected a first-of-its-kind AI assistant platform, initially focused on enterprise entertainment clients, designing distributed systems for complex language model orchestration and real-time content generation with sub-200ms latency. Built industry-agnostic multi-tenant infrastructure with role-based access control, custom LLM integration layer, and configurable workflow pipelines supporting diverse business requirements.

  • Engineered multi-tenant architecture with polyglot persistence strategy (PostgreSQL for transactional data, MongoDB Atlas for dynamic content, Pinecone for vector search), implementing read replicas to maintain sub-200ms response times
  • Designed scalable API architecture using CQRS patterns for LLM integrations, with request batching, caching strategies, and asynchronous processing pipelines optimizing cost while ensuring consistent performance at scale
  • Developed a sophisticated multi-agent AI system for domain-specific content generation and analysis
  • Designed hierarchical agent system with specialized domain experts, implementing prompt optimization and critique workflows for high-quality outputs
  • Engineered agent orchestration layer managing concurrent executions, state management, and robust failover handling
  • Developed SSR-optimized data management layer utilizing Zustand, Context/Providers, and intelligent caching
  • Implemented comprehensive design system with 40+ reusable components, achieving pixel-perfect consistency while reducing UI development time by 35%
  • Created RAG-enabled analysis pipeline with real-time chat capabilities for seamless conversation and document analysis
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  Snackpass

  Engineer | Architect

  Feb 2021 - Feb 2022

  Snackpass is social commerce for restaurants ✨ We started Snackpass at Yale and within a few months of launch we had over 80% of Yale using Snackpass. Several years later, we are in 30+ markets with a goal of scaling Snackpass to every college campus and city in the country. Snackpass has raised over $90M from the top investors in the country such as Craft Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst, First Round, Y Combinator along with leading voices in entertainment and hospitality such as the Jonas Brothers, Steve Aoki, Draymond Green, and David Grutman.

  • Defined generational approach to data management across applications, utilizing TypeScript and React for front-end development, React Native on back-end, JavaScript and GraphQL for mobile apps, and Roku as cloud host. Mentored and coached engineers to accelerate software engineering without sacrificing quality.
  • Introduced and championed best practices to optimize the testing protocol and implement modular development processes.
  • Built roadmap and infrastructure for shared libraries throughout the corporation.
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  Box

  Senior Software Engineer | Tech Lead

  Jun 2018 - Mar 2021

  Box (NYSE:BOX) is the Cloud Content Management company that empowers enterprises to revolutionize how they work by securely connecting their people, information and applications. Founded in 2005, Box powers more than 87,000 businesses globally, including AstraZeneca, General Electric, P&G, and The GAP. Box is headquartered in Redwood City, CA, with offices across the United States, Europe and Asia. To learn more about Box, visit http://www.box.com/.

  • Primary point of contact for Administration Console(Enterprise client dashboard), providing technical leadership for the organization's full stack development cycle of Admin Console for post-IPO enterprise cloud storage service provider. Spearheaded internal feature framework and beta agreement functionalities. Streamlined and improved the user interface (UI) architectural process to optimize performance. Accountable for the performance of a team of five indirect reports, including technical review, coaching, and mentoring. Managed the administration of the platform, including security access. Championed the creation and execution of standard best practices and developed benchmarking scores to assess the stability of applications.
  • Took over and improved internal feature flagship, with oversight of the strategic planning and execution of all technical initiatives.
  • Directed cross-functional growth strategy to build, hire, and onboard an organizational team of up to eight members.
  • Architected ability for nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) required for beta features to be automatically reported to Salesforce CRM.
  • Oversaw troubleshooting technical issues to facilitate efficient resolution with zero disruption to corporate workflows.
  • Defined a new performance metric and architected an automatic mechanism for monitoring React router page transitions, yielding a 5 to 15x improvement in performance.
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  BitPay, Inc.

  Senior Software Engineer

  Jul 2016 - Sep 2017

  The first and most experienced company in bitcoin payments, BitPay builds powerful tools for spending, accepting, and building with bitcoin. The company has offices in North America, Europe, and South America and has raised over $70 million from top investors including Index Ventures, Aquiline Technology Growth, Menlo Ventures, Founders Fund, and Sir Richard Branson.

  • Served as lead developer of BitPay’s global debit card platform, core developer for the official BitPay mobile wallet app(initial release and post iterations), coaching and mentoring a team of three interns on industry and internal best practices to drive efficiency related to software development for leading Bitcoin merchant processors. Cowrote back-end API layer architecture design, facilitated implementation, and troubleshoot issues.
  • Spearheaded globalization and scalability development and related strategies to enable exponential revenue growth.
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  Apple

  Sr. Application Engineer(iCloud R&D)

  Mar 2015 - Jun 2016

  apple revolutionized personal technology with the introduction of the macintosh in 1984. today, apple leads the world in innovation with iphone, ipad, the mac and apple watch. apple’s three software platforms — ios, os x and watchos — provide seamless experiences across all apple devices and empower people with breakthrough services including the app store, apple music, apple pay and icloud. apple’s 100,000 employees are dedicated to making the best products on earth, and to leaving the world better than we found it. apple is an equal employment opportunity employer that is committed to inclusion and diversity. we also take affirmative action to offer employment and advancement opportunities to all applicants, including minorities, women, protected veterans, and individuals with disabilities.

  • Collaborated with a small team, delivering subject matter expertise to build the user interface (UI) of an internal application contributing to the health and scalability of successful iCloud growth, utilized by the entire iCloud department. Utilized Vanilla.js, Angular.js, Bootstrap, and D3.
  • Cowrote backend API layer architecture for design and implementation of platform.
  • Cowrote database architecture to support application
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  Brown Bag Marketing

  Senior Web Developer

  Jul 2013 - Mar 2015

  As an Atlanta Digital Marketing Agency, we combine future-focused strategy with expert execution across traditional, digital and social channels. We pair mad skills with killer creative to implement innovative solutions to help you drive growth and convert leads. We have content, design and development -- all under one roof. Come on. We're ready. Check us out at brownbagmarketing.com

  • Defined and Spearheaded FE Development Standards and Best Practices
  • Architected WordPress MultiSite and Multi Lingual Platform Build For Global Brands
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  PGi

  Application Engineer

  Jul 2012 - Aug 2013

  PGi powers virtual events and meetings for customers safely and reliably, helping people, teams, and enterprises connect worldwide with advanced broadcasting and webcasting solutions. To learn more about empowering advanced virtual experiences that enable the future of work, visit pgi.com.

  • Owner of FE on large scale enterprise video communications platform
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  BKV

  Web Developer

  Nov 2011 - Aug 2012

  At BKV, we're passionate about direct marketing. We've been delivering integrated marketing solutions since 1981, so we really know what we’re doing. With a staff of over 100 direct marketers in Atlanta, we work alongside clients whose names show up on Fortune 500 lists and among the top nonprofit organizations in the world. Our experts address the entire marketing picture using a combination of traditional and digital media—all to ensure we’re measurably growing clients’ brands and sales. We measure success one call, click or visit at a time. Because that's how we know our strategic innovation and creative imagination are doing their jobs: driving brand, response, results and revenue for your business. Specialties: Strategic account planning Brand identity & execution Media planning and buying: digital, broadcast (DRTV) and print Creative development: digital and traditional Digital marketing: Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Display, Video, Shopping feeds, Cost Per Action, Email Mobile Marketing Social planning/marketing: monitoring, planning, development and engagement Website development & analysis: e-Commerce, landing pages, campaign sites Tracking, reporting & analytics Database management & analysis Data modeling CRM strategy; execution Broadcast, print, direct mail & email production List management Public relations Market research iMap: website usability analysis

  • Owner/Tech Lead on all three of our most major clients(Delta, Home Depot, AT&T)