Engineering background
Two decades of senior engineering. Deployed where it counts.
I’ve built and run production platforms blending automation, data, and applied AI for 20+ years — from PCI-audited bank systems to a self-funded portfolio of live products. Senior on the architecture, hands-on to the last commit.
Every AI engagement begins with clear constraints, data protections, and a human in the loop. AI amplifies senior engineers — it doesn’t replace the judgment.— Kevin Champlin
01 — Focus
High-stakes platforms, built to last.
Platform rebuilds and AI initiatives for agencies, banks, consumer brands, and higher education — shipped with architecture diagrams, incident playbooks, and measurable KPIs.
Platform modernization
- .NET / PHP monoliths → SOA
- Legacy VB / Classic ASP → PHP 8 / TypeScript
- Componentized, maintainable template layers
Data & warehousing
- SQL Server & MySQL at volume
- SSIS pipelines & reporting stacks
- Query tuning & storage optimization
AI workflow design
- Copilots & prompt orchestration
- RAG & retrieval pipelines
- Self-tuning & evaluation harnesses
DevOps & observability
- CI/CD & release process
- Telemetry & incident reviews
- On-call leadership
WordPress engineering
- Custom plugins & multisite
- Headless WP · WPGraphQL
- Performance & Core Web Vitals
Reliability
- PCI-audited deployments
- Architecture diagrams & runbooks
- Human-in-the-loop guardrails
02 — Track record
Where I’ve shipped.
Founder & Principal Engineer
Independent senior engineering and applied-AI work for Chicago-metro and remote clients — SaaS launches, platform rebuilds, enterprise WordPress, and a self-funded portfolio of 14 live products. Recent contract roles include Levi Strauss & Co. (via Xebia) and Mark Anthony Group.
Senior / Lead Software Engineer
.NET / C# services and SQL Server tuning on PCI-audited transaction systems. SSIS data pipelines, SAN storage optimization, and the reliability discipline that calibrated everything since.
Programmer · DBA · Sysadmin
Full-stack ERP customizations, backup & recovery, campus networking, and faculty tooling — wearing every hat across the institution’s technology stack.
Programming Instructor
Taught the next generation of engineers, maintained the computing labs, and built registrar utilities in VB6. The shipping habit started here.
03 — The shape of it
Breadth across four eras.
Want this on your team?
Open to W-2, contract, or contract-to-hire — remote or Chicago-metro.