Tyler Clay

Senior Software Engineer · AI Automation

Open to Senior/Staff Software Engineering & AI Automation roles

tylerclay1@gmail.com
(713) 269-2011
Houston, Texas
LinkedIn · GitHub · tylerthedeveloper.com
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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

VerifyToday · Lead Software EngineerCurrent

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.

Vivid Seats · Software Engineer

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.

Candy Creative Digital · CEO & Lead Product Engineer

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.

EOG Resources · Software Developer

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.

Benchmark Insurance Group · Sr. React Developer / Network Administrator

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).

Houston Texas Federal Credit Union · IT Assistant

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