5.5+ yrs
Professional experience
Hands-on shipping products, platforms, and developer tooling.
Remote fractional engineering · async-friendly · product-focused
I help startups ship product fast.
I'm Taylor Beeston — a hands-on VP of Engineering and startup engineer who builds React/TypeScript products, prototypes AI features, and smooths out the backend and deployment work needed to get software running well in production.
20 hrs/wk
Available for side consulting
Remote-first, async-friendly, and comfortable jumping on calls when useful.
4–6 devs
Team leadership
Player-coach leadership while staying deep in the code.
<5 sec
Performance wins
Took a 3+ minute query down to under 5 seconds.
How I can help
Services built for startup teams that need momentum.
I do my best work with small teams that need someone practical, fast, and comfortable owning the last mile between idea and deployed product.
Fractional Startup Engineer
For startups that need a senior hands-on engineer to ship product without committing to a full-time hire.
- React/TypeScript features and UI polish
- Node APIs, backend glue, and integrations
- Bug backlog cleanup and product stabilization
AI Prototype Sprint
I build practical AI features that go beyond demos and get into a usable product state quickly.
- Agent workflows and automation loops
- Chat interfaces, copilots, and internal tools
- Fast MVPs, eval-minded iteration, and deployment
Deploy & Stabilize Sprint
When the app mostly works but production, CI/CD, or environment rough edges keep slowing the team down.
- AWS Lambda and deployment cleanup
- Redis, caching, and environment debugging
- Developer experience, build speed, and release reliability
Selected work
Proof that I like making real things work.
Open-source lifelong learning passport platform. I have led major development efforts across the monorepo and the systems that power LearnCard products.
ViteReactTypeScriptNodeNeo4jMongoDBRedisAWS LambdaRust
SSI / DIDKit Rust Work
Hands-on work with Rust-based decentralized identity tooling through my ssi and didkit forks, integrated as submodules in the LearnCard ecosystem.
RustSSIWASMDeveloper Tooling
AI Workflow Prototyping
Built agent loops and AI-powered workflows that actually work in practice — with a bias toward useful automation, clear product behavior, and fast iteration instead of demo-only prototypes.
LLM workflowsAgent loopsAutomationProduct prototyping
Experience
Leadership without stepping away from implementation.
Mar 2022 — Present
VP of Engineering · Learning Economy Foundation
Leading engineering while staying hands-on in the codebase: shipping product, improving developer experience, mentoring engineers, and keeping LearnCard systems moving smoothly.
Aug 2020 — Mar 2022
Software Engineer · Learning Economy Foundation
Built across frontend, backend, infrastructure, performance, and developer tooling, then grew into broader technical ownership and leadership.
Selected impact
- Promoted to VP of Engineering after growing into technical leadership.
- Led a migration away from a Meteor monolith and helped modernize frontend, backend, and build workflows.
- Reduced CI deployment time by roughly 75% and dramatically improved local build speed with better tooling.
- Cut a 3+ minute query to under 5 seconds and improved initial load performance from ~15 seconds to a few hundred milliseconds.
- Built a custom translations microservice that reduced recurring cost from $500+ per month to effectively negligible spend.
About me
I like getting things up, running, and deployed.
I'm strongest when a team has momentum to recover: a product backlog to burn down, an AI idea that needs to become real software, or infrastructure and build issues that are slowing everybody down.
My toolkit spans React, Vite, TypeScript, Node, Redis, MongoDB, Neo4j, AWS Lambda, and Rust. I enjoy building visible product work, especially when there's a frontier-tech angle and a clear path to shipping.
I'm based in Washington, work remotely, and prefer async-heavy engagements with lightweight calls when they help unblock execution.
Tech + domain fit
Stack I work in regularly
ReactViteTypeScriptNode.jsRustAWS LambdaRedisMongoDBNeo4jCI/CDMonoreposAI agent loopsOpen source
Ideal engagement
5–20 hours/week, remote, startup-friendly, and scoped around shipping features, AI prototypes, or stabilizing product and deployment workflows.
Open for side consulting
Looking for your first fast-moving extra set of senior hands?
If you need product shipped, AI functionality prototyped, or a rough deployment situation made sane, send me a note. I'm aiming for focused remote engagements that turn into visible progress quickly.