It’s not just about a “pretty” website
28 Dec 2022
Frontend development is often misunderstood as either web development or the process of making an application look “pretty,” but it is so much more than that. There is also often a perception in businesses that frontend developers are not as strong as developers on the backend of the application stack. However, a strong frontend development team is complex and consists of people with expertise in multiple disciplines. It encompasses the development of any type of frontend experience-web, mobile, desktop and more.
The Mythical “Full Stack” Developer
The frontend unicorn created by complacent managers and recruiters
22 Feb 2023
As a manager in the frontend development space, I understand the difficulty in recruiting for key roles. On one hand, candidates may lack any knowledge of graphic design and the tools associated with designing engaging experiences. Then there are those candidates that do have a grasp on layout, fonts, and color theory, but have no understanding of software development. Frontend roles bring an interesting challenge to a business. Though few will possess strong development as well as design skills, having deep knowledge in one area, while a cursory understanding or experience in the other is essential. This is the balancing act that many in the business world get wrong. Managers and recruiters alike believe a frontend engineer or developer needs to be an expert in all things frontend. They have developed the “unicorn”.
The Impact of Job Titles in Software Engineering: Pitfalls and Solutions
How the focus to normalize titles benefits employees and firms
12 Apr 2023
Job titles have a long and important history in engineering, but this has become ever more crucial in modern software engineering. With the range of engineering titles available, people can be easily identified for their skills and experience when it comes to recruiting for a software engineering position. In recent times, layoffs due to economic, external, or pandemic factors have regrettably become far too commonplace, leaving engineers needing to find new positions again. By having clearly defined, industry aligned job titles, whether traditional like frontend software engineer or project manager, or something more custom tailored, those searching for work will be better able to market their experience and position themselves in the engineering workforce.
20+ Years / Engineering / Graphic Design
Summary
VP of Software Engineering,
UX, and UI
Full Stack Experience
Accomplished VP of Software Engineering & UX/UI Design, recognized for pioneering the front-end transformation at Citadel with the creation of the first UX/UI Frontend Design and Development team that set a benchmark for user-centric development with a thoughtful full-stack architecture. Adept in building and leading global teams to innovate, architect, and execute multiple real-time and data-intensive applications, fortifying software with scalable, secure infrastructures. Expertise in merging technical acumen and strong architecture with intuitive design to accelerate product cycles by 25%, bolster user engagement, and drive operational excellence aligning team roadmaps to firm defined OKRs.
𝑰𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂 𝒅𝒓𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒆𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝑬𝒏𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝑼𝑿/𝑼𝑰 𝑫𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒏, 𝒐𝒓 𝑺𝒐𝒇𝒕𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝑫𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒑𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒎𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔, 𝒍𝒆𝒕'𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒄𝒕!✉️ Contact me at Christopher.R.McGuire@gmail.com
Experience
Akuna Capital
Head of UX / UI Design and Development
2021 - 2023
Serving as VP of Engineering, UX/UI Design, and Director of Front-End Development, I started a course of transformation at Akuna Capital. The team initiated the organization of application logs into a single, consolidated dashboard. In the face of team-building, I cultivated an environment of knowledge-sharing, significantly reducing onboarding time and boosting satisfaction. With this strategic and collaborative approach, I accelerated product delivery by 25%, merging speed with quality in a testament to efficient innovation. Firm-wide, I ignited discussions around defining career paths for the technology teams, helping to support the career progression of development and IT individuals.
SpiderRock Platform
Director of Application Engineering
2021 - 2023
During my tenure as SpiderRock's Director of Product Design and Engineering, I kicked off a process to modernize our application designs, nurtured a productive development team, and effectively transitioned our work processes amidst a global pandemic. A firm believer in the power of good design, I also implemented a design system library transforming UI/UX strategies across the firm.
Citadel, LLC
Director of UX and UI Design and Development
2005 - 2019
At Citadel, I held several roles, where I notably built and led a the largest UX/UI team with frontend engineering focus within the firm. I reduced UI development time by 50% by introducing styled control libraries that promoted consistency across applications and intuitive workflows. Additionally, the team increased performance with a scalable microservices architecture. I facilitated cross-departmental communication, fostered vendor relationships, and laid the foundation for effective product marketing and training campaigns.
GE Medical
Lead Tools and CM Engineer
2001 - 2005
At GE Healthcare, I designed various software tools and automated processes, significantly improving the efficiency of design and testing procedures. Apart from testing Radiology Information Systems and PACS software products, I was instrumental in implementing a digital document management system and advancing common design and test processes.
Motorola
Lead Quality Assurance Engineer
1997 - 2001
During my time at Motorola Mobility, I supported all stages of the software lifecycle for Motorola's GSM, GPRS, and UMTS products. I provided robust field support, designed an in-house GPRS IP Network, automated testing efforts, and contributed significantly to the testing of key functionalities within the telecommunication systems. As a team lead in Vancouver, I also coordinated cross-location test efforts and conducted training sessions for the local test team.
Education
1996
Purdue University
B.S. Computer and Electrical Engineering
Skills
Programming Language Skills
CSS
HTML
Java
JavaScript
.NET
SQL
| CSS | HTML | Java |
| JavaScript | .NET | SQL |
Software Skills
Adobe CS
Balsamiq
Figma
Git
Grafana
Greenhouse
Tableau
VS Code
Visual Studio
| Adobe CS | Balsamiq | Figma |
| Git | Grafana | Greenhouse |
| Tableau | VS Code | Visual Studio |
Technical Skills
| API Design | Data Analysis | Data Visualization |
| Design System | Electron | Frontend Dev |
| Full Stack Dev | Graphic Design | MacOS |
| MS Windows | Mobile Dev | Node.JS |
| OOP | Prototyping | React.JS |
| Quality Assurance | SDLC | Software Dev |
| System Architecture | User Design | User Research |
| UI Design | UX Design | Web App Dev |
| Wireframe Dev | WinForms | WPF |
API Design
Data Analysis and Visualization
Design System Libraries
Electron
Frontend Application Development
Full Stack Development
Graphic Design
MacOS
Microsoft Windows
Mobile App Development
Node.JS
Object-Oriented Programming
Prototyping
React.JS
Quality Assurance
SDLC
Software Development
System Architecture
User-Centered Design
User Research
UI Design
UX Design
Web Application Development
Wireframe Development
WinForms
WPF
Leadership and Soft Skills
| Active Listening | Agile | Business Acumen |
| Business Strategy | Change Mgmt | Communication |
| Cross-Fun. Leader | Conflict Res. | Cross-Team Collab. |
| Finance | Innovation | Management |
| Mentorship | People Mgmt | Product Mgmt |
| Stakeholder Mgmt | Strategic Plan. | Strategic Think. |
| Team Building | Team Leader. | Tech. Interviews |
| Tech. Support | Tech. Training | Training |
| Vendor Mgmt | ||
Active Listening
Agile Methodologies
Business Acumen
Business Strategy
Change Management
Communication
Cross-Functional Leadership
Conflict Resolution
Cross-Team Collaboration
Finance
Innovation
Management
Mentorship
People Management
Product Management
Stakeholder Management
Strategic Thinking
Strategic Planning
Team Building
Team Leadership
Technical Interviews
Technical Leadership
Technical Support
Technical Training
Training
Vendor Management
Respected Colleagues
 | Chief Technology Officer at Janus Henderson Investors "Chris is a game-changing UI/UX expert and team leader, with a rare combination of modern technical skill on the best platforms, ability to partner with key business stakeholders, and a great instinct for workflow efficiency." - via LinkedIn |
 | Owner at World Headquarters, Inc. "Chris is one of those rare people who gets every step of making a successful digital product. His ability to pair a solid strategy with top-tier design and development is unmatched and shows in the products he successfully creates. We’ve worked with Chris for several years through many types of engagements and have found his critical thinking and collaborative approach always motivates everyone involved to do their best work." - via LinkedIn |
| Asset Name | Type |
|---|---|
| Personal Brand Logo | @2Xpng |
Contact Me
Contact
+1 (312) 972-9724
Christopher.R.McGuire@gmail.com
5238 N Wayne Avenue
Chicago, IL
60640
Online Presence
Hard Skills
.NET C#
Agile Methodologies
Applicant Tracking System
CSS
Data Visualization
Database Schema Design
Design System Libraries
Desktop Development
Enterprise Software
Frontend Architecture
Frontend Development
Graphic Design
HTML
JavaScript
Microservices
Mobile Development
MVC
MVVM
Node.JS (Project Management)
Prototyping
Pub Sub
Quality Assurance
React.JS (Project Management)
Requirements Analysis
RESTful APIs
RESTful Communication
SDLC
SQL
User Experience (UX) Design
User Interface (UI) Design
User Interface (UI) Development
Web Application Development
Web Page Design
Web Sockets
WinForms
Wireframing
WPF
Software Skills
Adobe Acrobat
Adobe Creative Suite
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Photoshop
Atlassian Confluence
Atlassian JIRA
Balsamiq
Figma
MS Office Suite
Sketch App
Visual Studio Code
Coding Languages
C#
CSS
HTML
JavaScript
PHP
Soft Skills
360 Reviews
9-Block
Behavioral Interviews
Communication
Cross Functional Leadership
Cross-Team Collaboration
Empathetic
Employee Compensation
Highly Motivated
Intellectual Curiosity
Leadership
Mentor
Minimal Supervision
Performance Evaluations
Self Starter
Talent Retention
Team Building
Team Leadership
Technical Interviews
Technical Presentations
Technical Recruiting
Technical Training
Technically Savvy
Vendor Management
Christopher R McGuire
Director of UI / UX Design and Development
Summary
Seasoned Engineering Director with over 20 years in finance, focusing on frontend, UX, and UI design and development. Proven track record in creating user-centric products, leading large, multi-region engineering teams, and implementing strategic application architectures. Skilled Product Manager, experienced in the overall management of a product’s life cycle from conception to fruition. Experienced in assessing customer desires and requirements and generating a product or feature set that successfully meets those standards. An analytical thinker who works and leads collaboratively across multiple teams to successfully plan, design, build, and deploy products. Expertise in .NET, desktop and web applications, Android, and iOS platforms.
Key Achievements
Strategic Application Architecture
Bridged the gap between software development and UX, UI, and graphic design skills. Built and scaled design systems, and .NET and web application software libraries.
Performance Optimization and Resource Management
Optimized software performance and resource usage, managing client resource usage for optimal performance. Consolidated system logs and real-time analytics into single, accessible dashboards.
User-Centric Product Design and Execution
Led user-centered product design and execution, focusing on creating innovative, user-friendly products. Conducted user research, defined product strategy and roadmaps, built wireframes, mockups, prototypes, and full applications.
Leadership and Team Management
Managed large engineering teams across multiple locations, fostering a supportive and innovative team culture. Devised career strategies and implemented mentoring programs.
Full Lifecycle Software Development
Experienced in all phases of the software development lifecycle, with hands-on experience in both development and management capacities. Applied Agile methodologies to ensure efficient design and release cycles, and effective team management.
Cross-Functional Collaboration
Established strong cross-functional partnerships, fostering collaborative relationships with business analysts, infrastructure, help desk, legal, compliance, and service development teams to ensure quality deployments.
Strategic Planning
Demonstrated ability to develop and implement strategic plans that align with company goals and objectives.
Change Management
Proven skills in managing change within organizations, ensuring smooth transitions during periods of transformation.
Work Experience
Head of UX and UI Design and Development
Akuna Capital, Chicago, IL
July 2022 - January 2023
Performed a business analysis of traders by leading visits to 5+ trading desks and the Chicago Board of and then generated user role definitions, use cases and workflows, and business requirements.
Improved team satisfaction and formed career development strategies for team members by identifying 3 key areas of discontent, advising the C-Suite of pay compression, career paths, and expertise focus issues, resulting with the implementation of an onboarding and mentoring program as well as a team re-organization to better support the team during new development activities.
Directed performance optimization, consolidating system logs and real-time metrics from 20+ applications into a single Grafana dashboard.
Director of User Experience, User Interface Design and Development
Akuna Capital, Chicago, IL
June 2021 - July 2022
Envisioned and executed the application architecture, managing client resource usage for optimal performance.
Managed a large engineering team, conducting over 100 software phone screens and interviews, expanding the UX/UI team from 6 to 15 members across 3 locations.
Assumed technical leadership for all front-end applications, leveraging Agile methodologies for design and release, as well as the team management role following the departure of the global head of UI.
Rolled out solutions for different parts of the stack, leading the development of a business analysis dashboard to monitor user workflows.
Director of Application Engineering
SpiderRock Platform, Chicago, IL
November 2019 - January 2021
Managed a team of 5 developers, re-architecting monolithic .NET applications into multi-tiered applications with Node.JS microservices, enhancing scalability and reusability.
Developed design system library for use in 10+ firm applications, improving UI and UX.
Defined requirements, built wireframes, visual comps, and full prototypes for a web-based dashboard supporting options block trading, and led the development of the application.
Director of UX and UI Design and Development
Citadel Investment Group, Chicago, IL
August 2016 - January 2019
Led the largest Equities-aligned UX/UI design and development team, enhancing user satisfaction and productivity.
Directed the re-architecture of 20+ WPF into application dashboard modules using React, Node.JS, delivering a user-friendly, scalable dashboard system.
Managed data analysis efforts across the frontend product suite, replacing 75% of live data grids within applications with live data visualizations based on data patterns and values.
Acted as the de facto Head of Product, facilitating communication with users to gather requirements, and led team efforts in addressing those requirements, prioritizing issues, consulting with vendors and cross functional teams to develop and release a solution to the user base.
Participated in vendor identification and contract meetings and pitched new applications to Ken Griffin and the C-suite resulting in business impact.
Educated the firm on the value of a user-centered approach and thoughtful frontend architecture, leading the largest equities-focused UX and UI team.
Conducted training for new feature and application rollouts, resulting in improved user adoption and satisfaction.
Software Engineering Manager
Citadel Investment Group, Chicago, IL
November 2012 - August 2016
Led the user-centered product design and execution of a JavaScript-based mobile platform supporting both iOS and Android for Equities and Commodities businesses.
Managed a team to design and develop 5+ iterations of the mobile platform and performed all user-focused usability testing prior to deployment.
Spearheaded a user-centered product design approach, conducting over 50 user interviews which led to the design and launch of the first mobile app supporting investor workflow in Equities Research.
Played a critical role in reducing development time by creating reusable controls for internal and external facing applications developed with C#, .NET, WPF, and WinForms as well as HTML/CSS.
Fostered cross-functional relationships with business analysts, infrastructure and help desk, legal and compliance, and service development teams to ensure quality application deployments.
Demonstrated cross-functional leadership by building strong relationships with business analysts, infrastructure and help desk, legal and compliance, and service development teams to ensure quality application deployments.
Senior Software Engineer
Citadel Investment Group, Chicago, IL
October 2005 - November 2012
Oversaw and executed the design of the Equities Research Broker Vote and Broker Research platform, serving as the lead UI designer using Java and JSTL, then migrating the code to .NET C# with WPF.
Played a crucial role in the rebranding of internal and external facing web and desktop applications, creating a consistent user experience through a Citadel-specific style guide and supporting brand libraries.
Developed a real-time data Alpha collection web and mobile application using extJS and Lightstreamer frameworks that became the first data collection app serving live data external to Citadel.
Software Engineering Contractor
Citadel Investment Group, Chicago, IL
January 2005 - October 2005
Redesigned an internal research library system, resulting in a centralized, web-based resource catalog improving resource usage by 15%, designing a custom database schema and optimizing SQL queries.
Designed and deployed GUI and backend of an internal development portal, including a PHP/XML middle-tier and Sybase database, centralizing all software development.
Previous Experience
Lead Tools and CM Engineer
GE Healthcare, Mount Prospect, IL | January 2001 - January 2005
Senior Quality Assurance Engineer
Motorola, Vancouver, BC Canada | March 1998 - August 1998
Senior Quality Assurance Engineer
Motorola, Arlington Heights, IL | January 1997 - January 2001
Education
B.S. Computer and Electrical Engineering, Purdue University
West Lafayette, IN | 1996