# Tyler Clay

**Senior Software Engineer · AI Automation**

Open to Senior/Staff Software Engineering & AI Automation roles

- Location: Houston, Texas
- Email: tylerclay1@gmail.com
- Phone: (713) 269-2011
- Website: https://tylerthedeveloper.com
- GitHub: https://github.com/slicktdog08
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tyler-c-435455b8

## Objective

To obtain a Senior Software Engineering or AI Automation position that applies 8+ years of full-stack development knowledge to modern AI applications and workflows. Using modern AI tools, I build enterprise-grade software that drives business efficiency.

## Background

8+ year software engineer with experience across online marketplaces, oil & gas, insurance, and cybersecurity. A foundation of network administration, Windows/Linux servers, and complex infrastructure, formed before the rise of modern AI, paired with early adoption of modern AI tools (Cursor, Claude Code, n8n, LangChain). I specialize in prompt-engineering AI agents to build commercial-grade web applications: performant, stable, secure, and optimized.

## Professional Experience

### Lead Software Engineer — VerifyToday (Current)

April 2026 – Present · Houston, TX (Hybrid)

- Leads architecture and development of an I-9 digitization and remediation platform that converts paper/PDF employment-eligibility forms into structured, audit-ready records and surfaces compliance defects before they become I-9 audit liabilities.
- Designed AI-driven document classification & validation pipelines using Microsoft Foundry (Azure AI) to identify document types, extract Form I-9 and List A/B/C fields, and auto-detect errors (missing signatures, expired docs, invalid combinations, Section 1/Section 2 mismatches).
- Engineered secure processing of highly sensitive PII (SSNs, government IDs, immigration paperwork) with strict access controls and separation of relational vs. document data stores.
- Built guided remediation workflows that flag deficient records, explain each violation in plain language, and route them for correction, reducing manual review time and lowering ICE Form I-9 audit exposure.
- Architected on a NestJS backend + Vue.js front end, MySQL for transactional/relational data and MongoDB for document storage/extraction output.
- Sets technical direction, code standards, and review practices; translates federal I-9 compliance requirements into scalable, maintainable, secure services.

### Software Engineer — Vivid Seats

July 2022 – October 2025 · Houston, TX / Remote

- Built & maintained a ticketing marketplace with millions of users in traffic.
- Real-time application monitoring & debugging for revenue-critical systems using Datadog, OpenSearch, GTM, FullStory.
- Designed/implemented complex multi-variant A/B experiments via Optimizely across the checkout funnel, directly improving conversion and informing product decisions.
- Led migration of a legacy Java checkout system to a modern Next.js architecture, improving site speed and developer velocity.
- Published NPM component packages using geospatial/visualization tools WebGL and MapLibre.
- Architected end-to-end replacement of a legacy Java auth system with AWS Cognito (security model → production deployment) to combat ATO attacks at scale.
- Integrated new payment providers into checkout (Apple Pay, PayPal).
- Mentored/onboarded junior & mid-level engineers; established TypeScript standards and enforced type-safe patterns across the frontend via code review.

### CEO & Lead Product Engineer — Candy Creative Digital

January 2017 – Present · Houston, TX / Remote

- Founded a boutique web/marketing agency helping startups & small businesses build, stabilize, and upgrade infrastructure.
- Led creation of custom client-facing websites, internal tools, and customer portals; secure hosting, monitoring, and deployment pipelines.
- Helped a local business reach page 1 of Google and increase website traffic 632% via performance optimization, SEO, and UX upgrades.
- Rebuilt testing & intake system for a medical clinic, adding online appointment booking + document submission, reducing in-person processing time and improving patient flow.
- Offers 10–14 day "Product Rescue Sprints" to SaaS operators with buggy codebases, improving performance and restoring product momentum.
- Designed/deployed custom AI automation pipelines using n8n to streamline internal business processes and data handling.
- Deployed custom Shopify storefronts using Liquid theme development.

### Software Developer — EOG Resources

October 2019 – April 2022 · Houston, TX

- Collaborated with cross-functional teams at a Fortune 500 energy company to design applications for operational efficiency.
- Built highly responsive React interfaces integrated with complex backend microservices.
- Used .NET and C# to extend backend functionality and support scalable API development.
- Managed DevOps systems, oversaw full-stack deployments, ensured high-performance, stable releases.

### Sr. React Developer / Network Administrator — Benchmark Insurance Group

October 2017 – October 2019 · Houston, TX

- Architected an administrative portal for employees to track customer insurance quotes and service requests.
- Built the company's customer self-service portal and main business website using React & Node.js.
- Implemented/maintained Windows servers, Active Directory, internal network infrastructure.
- Integrated Azure Active Directory for IAM, enabling SSO across internal tools, enterprise security compliance.
- Managed AWS cloud infrastructure and all physical on-site equipment (switches, domain controllers).
- Managed/coordinated offshore web developers (deliverables, code quality, timelines).

### IT Assistant — Houston Texas Federal Credit Union

March 2016 – November 2017 · Houston, TX

- Daily operational IT support and financial data processing (ACH, Share Draft, etc.) in a secure financial environment.
- Used proprietary core banking system to generate management reporting.
- Ensured financial-regulation compliance across company systems.

## Technical Expertise

- **AI & Automation:** Cursor, Claude Code, n8n workflow orchestration, prompt engineering, LLM integrations (OpenAI / Claude / Gemini SDKs), Microsoft Foundry (Azure AI), agentic workflows, RAG
- **Full-Stack Development:** Next.js (App & Pages Router), React, Node.js, Express, TypeScript, MUI, Tailwind, PostgreSQL, SQL, WebSockets, GraphQL, REST APIs, PHP, WordPress, MySQL, multi-variant product experimentation (Optimizely)
- **Cloud & DevOps:** AWS (EC2, S3, RDS, SQS, Lambda, ECS, API Gateway, DynamoDB), Azure (App Service, Blob Storage, Azure SQL, Service Bus, Azure AD), Docker, Linux (Ubuntu/native), Jenkins, CI/CD, reverse proxy config (Nginx/Caddy), Redis
- **Systems Engineering:** Enterprise architecture, performance optimization, API design, scalable deployments
- **Security & Sensitive Data:** Secure handling of PII, PHI, and financial data (SSNs, government IDs, payment & patient records); identity & access management; secure data pipelines; compliance-driven development across employment-eligibility (I-9), healthcare, and financial domains

## Education & Certifications

- Associate of Arts, Computer Science, Wharton County Junior College
- George Ranch High School, Richmond, TX, 2015
- CompTIA Network+ certified
- CompTIA A+ certified