I build lean
engineering teams
that ship like big ones.
Technical enough to be dangerous, focused enough to build teams that don't need me to be.
I'm Kathryn, an engineering leader who specializes in taking undefined or under-structured engineering organizations and building the foundation they need to scale, including org design, backend platform engineering, service reliability, and team growth.
What I care about most is where engineering meets the business: which investments actually unblock revenue, when to build versus buy, and how the shape of an org decides what it can ship.
What People Say
"Kathryn had both broad and deep understanding of the technologies and products we were working on, while recognizing the areas in which others had expertise. She always remained a person I could bounce ideas off of, pair debug with, and go to with odd questions — and if she didn't know the answer, she would know who did."
"She juggled an extraordinary number of responsibilities and made it look effortless, with a rare gift for asking exactly the right questions at the right moment. She was consistently available, kept the focus on outcomes that mattered, and was simply a pleasure to work with, the kind of manager who makes the work itself more enjoyable."
"Kathryn leads with sincerity, honesty, empathy, and a no-nonsense approach that earns trust and respect across teams. She held a very high bar for both execution and people leadership, protecting and advocating for her team while empowering them to perform at their best, balancing accountability with empathy in a way that created strong, healthy teams and drove meaningful results."
Problems I Enjoy Solving
Turning Ambiguity Into Ownership · Scaling Sustainably · Teams Organized by Priority, Not Layer · Owning Reliability Before the Crisis · Platform Work That Unblocks Revenue · Build vs. Buy · Growing Engineers as Unique Individuals
Let's Work Together
Whether you're a company looking for engineering leadership or a team that needs senior help for a bounded stretch, I'd like to hear about it.