Khristian Gaines

Senior Software Engineer · 10+ Years · Technical Founder
● Open to full-time employment & consulting roles
Focused on backend architecture, automation, and integration-heavy systems.
I build systems that turn messy real-world inputs into structured, automated outcomes — across APIs, pipelines, and decision systems.
Building and shipping AI-native workflow tools — including a deployed agentic coaching system and an email intelligence pipeline running in production.
Projects

🚴 Cycling Coach Agent

AI system that automates training analysis, planning, and performance feedback using Intervals.icu data.
  • Runs daily, polling Intervals.icu to automatically ingest new ride data
  • Generates post-ride analysis and recommendations within ~30 minutes
  • Writes structured training sessions back to Intervals.icu based on athlete goals
  • Monitors workout execution and evaluates performance against planned targets
  • Replaced ad-hoc riding with structured, goal-driven training that adapts based on historical performance

📧 Email Action Extraction

System that converts unstructured email into structured, actionable workflows with shared visibility.
  • Built ingestion pipeline (SES → S3 → Lambda → Postgres) for reliable email capture
  • Parses participants to extract tasks, owners, and follow-ups from variable email formats
  • Creates a shared dashboard of actions visible to all parties
  • Replaced manual email triage and task entry with automated, structured tracking
  • Enables clear ownership and follow-up by showing what’s done, by whom, and what’s pending
Core Stack & Focus Areas
Core Stack
Ruby on Rails · PostgreSQL · REST APIs · AWS · Python · Docker · Redis / Sidekiq · LLM APIs
Focus Areas
Backend Architecture · Automation · Integration-Heavy Systems · Data Pipelines · Workflow Systems · LLM-Powered Automation
Experience
Cofounder & Principal Consultant · Faster Agile (2011–Present)
Cofounded a technical consulting firm in 2011. Lead architecture, client delivery, and engineering across web, API, cloud, and AI-powered projects. Available for new client engagements.
  • Delivered 8–10 production systems across web, API, and integration-focused projects
  • Led engineers on IoT data pipeline initiatives involving AWS ingestion and telemetry processing
  • Built AWS-backed pipelines and APIs for data ingestion and processing
  • Owned end-to-end delivery from scoping to production support
Senior Rails Engineer · Best Buy (2022–2023)
Built deployment tooling and integrations to support CI/CD and production change workflows.
  • Automated ServiceNow change requests for deployments
  • Enabled API-driven releases to AWS Kubernetes
  • Improved reliability and speed of production deployments
Senior Software Engineer · Dutchie (2021–2022)
Built back-end APIs and integrations on a cannabis POS and e-commerce platform serving dispensaries nationwide.
  • Developed Rails APIs for menu and order syncing with POS systems
  • Improved menu data accuracy by replacing brittle key/value lookups with regex-based parsing
  • Reduced mismatches between in-store POS updates and web menu representation
  • Supported feature rollout strategies using feature flags across a distributed system
Senior Software Engineer · Leafly (2019–2021)
Served as senior member of the engineering team delivering customer-facing features on one of the largest cannabis marketplaces.
  • Refactored legacy Ruby on Rails code to reduce tech debt using current best practices
  • Created and maintained API endpoints enabling new internal and external product features
  • Collaborated with external engineers to build new menu and order integrations
  • Mentored junior engineers and provided level of effort estimates to product managers
Software Engineer · Allovue (2014–2015)
First engineering hire at an education resource-planning startup serving K–12 schools and districts.
  • Oversaw selection and integration of Elasticsearch with a Ruby on Rails backend
  • Built ETL process to ingest inconsistent district data into PostgreSQL and index into Elasticsearch
  • Built RESTful API in Rails backing an Ember.js frontend
  • Automated Docker container deployment using Ansible
Education
Certificate in Entrepreneurship Harvard Business School Executive Education
B.S. Mechanical Engineering University of Maryland, College Park
Interview
What do you actually build?
I build systems that sit between messy real-world inputs and clean outputs — APIs, pipelines, and automation layers that make things reliable.
What kind of problems do you enjoy?
Integration problems, data normalization, and systems that require both technical depth and product thinking.
Contact
Interested in working together?
Email: khristian@fasteragile.com
GitHub: github.com/khristian
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/khristiangaines