Richard Navarrete

Richard Navarrete

Product Engineering Leadership.

Delivered 30+ Products | Global Teams - Europe, Asia, and South America
Accomplished software engineering leader with a proven track record of driving complex programs and leading high-performing teams. Experienced in building strategic partnerships, launching new products, and aligning initiatives. Exceptional technical proficiency, strong relationship-building skills, and outstanding communication abilities.

About Me.

I strive to elevate the team to do our best work, always with a focus on user experience. There is a balance between perfection and getting work out the door. My life's work is maximizing both.

In my off time, I spend it with my family, preferably at our second home, Disney World.

Watch my webinar on engineering accountability, Sep 11, 2020.

Here's me speaking at Capital Factory Jul 29, 2019.

My latest articles on Medium:

working
Product development

Built 10+ products with integration to systems like SAP and cloud applications

Global leadership

Led and built remote teams in 8 countries

Cost reduction

Reduced budget by half ($2M+), while improving company tools and services

More about me.

I'm driven to give products and the company a competitive advantage by providing creative strategies and implementing solutions through secure, high-performing business applications. I'm keen on creating higher competitive barriers, leading to greater returns which give us greater strategic flexibility in engineering, distinction and influence.

programmer

Collaborator

Inspired by design and customer needs, I work with the CEO, Sales, and Operations to bring to life the most competitive products.

creative

Creative

Having worked with the world's best creative talent gives me a unique perspective into problem solving.

innovator

Innovator

What are the tools like at Stark Industries? This idea drives me to innovate simple and complex solutions alike.

Recommended.

Don't take my word for it, here are some wonderful people I loved working with.

"Richard led the applications development team at frog. In this role he truly embraced the tenets of customer-centered design. He is versatile - having played multiple roles of project leader, developer, and business and requirements analyst. He is also a good-natured and positive team member. Always open to input from the teams who used the tools and constantly looking for ways to improve and evolve solutions, Richard would be an asset to any development team."
"Richard is one of those rare managers who naturally brings a team together. With a background in development and many years' worth of experience as a project leader, Richard has a strong macro perspective and a unique ability for empathy. These qualities are directly passed on to his team which motivates them to care about their projects and be invested in the companies success. Though he's never one to draw attention to himself, Richard's positive attitude and the respect others feel toward him are palpable."
"Richard has shown a willingness to work across team boundaries and get things done. He has shown a strong ability to manage multiple and sometimes competing projects while keeping the work on track. I have greatly appreciated his desire to look for solutions that are in the best interest of the company and provide resources to get them done. I have enjoyed our collaborations and look forward to doing more."
"He possesses the right mix of creativity plus technical know-how to make any product thrive. Also, he's able to direct and lead a team to use their best talent in the right places. Richard is unafraid to jump in and assist when he's needed in any role while always empowering each person to do their best and grow each day. He ensures that a team works together smoothly as a whole while each individual is set up for success..." more
"...Really it boils down to his intuition for people. He develops the talent around him and facilitates communication across the aisle. He sees the best in people and that brings the best out of them. And at the end of the day, when he's against a deadline and has to call an audible, his stock is good and it gets done." more
"Richard is a highly skilled technical architect, adept at a broad set of technologies and landscapes. He is able to manage a variety of applications and environments with ease, translating business requirements and problems into technical solutions that work well..." more

Experienced.

"Be brave. Take risks. Nothing can substitute experience." - Paulo Coelho

FAANG Achievement Unlocked

Google

2022

Built Multiple Engineering Offices

GLOBAL GROWTH

2018

Managed Multiple Teams

12 LOCATIONS GLOBALLY

2016

Responsible for Engineering, IT, & Security

frog

2015

General Management

THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS - MCCOMBS SCHOOL OF BUSINESS

2015

Lawyer App

MEDIATION ARBITRATION

2008

CI/CD Implementation

DEVOPS

2007

First Healthcare App

TABLET HEALTHCARE

2002

First .COM

DEJA.COM

1999

Bachelor of Business Administration - Computer Information Systems

WEST TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY

1999

Programming on the Web

MORRIS COMMUNICATIONS

1995

Unix Systems Engineer

SCO XENIX

1994

First Programming Job

DATABASE

1992
Times

The Beginning of Times

Work Experience.

From UI engineer to business owner and from technical architect to global director, my experience in the technology industry allows me to drive the best solutions possible. I'm efficient, shifting spend for the most impact. I build teams, structuring them to best support the company's goals, providing levers for the leaders to nimbly stear the company.

Engineering Manager

Google

Leading a team of 25 software engineers, overseeing product development and strategic initiatives including AI/ML   LLMs. Driving innovation and collaboration across the org, resulting in the successful launch of new products and features on an AI-first platform. Building and maintaining strategic partnerships with key industry players to drive growth and expand market presence. Navigating compliance challenges by working closely with policy, privacy, and security teams, ensuring compliance and minimizing risks. Foster a culture of continuous learning and development, supporting team members in significant high-visibility roles.

2022 - present

VP of Engineering

sticky.io

Planned and executed three new revenue centers, delivered successful new products. Rebuilding monolithic platform into robust and scalable event-driven services. Worked with other departments to turnaround and land new clients.

2020 - 2022

CTO

TeleVet

Defined and led the implementation of our long-term technology roadmap. Created foundational engineering team, process, and infrastructure supporting explosive 20x growth. Led architecture design of system that enabled series A funding.

2019 - 2020

VP of Engineering

OwnLocal

Responsible for 180° change in Engineering. Implemented agile methods producing measurable results and trackable quality. Increased sprint completion from 20% to over 90% within 3 months, while reducing costs by 75%. Improved product-engineering-sales relationships and accountability. Serving on average 82M requests per day, per app.

2018 - 2019

Head of Engineering

YouScience

End to end responsibility for application product. Grew user base by 50% with ~15% accessing YouScience app on mobile devices. Launched College directory product, and future of product vision - Analytics platform (patents filed). Implemented Agile sprint process and increased frequency of releases from months to days (soon will be many times per day (CI/CD)). Member of executive team, contributing strategic product direction (Please ask me about this!). Built software engineering division with key hires from Wash. Post, RetailMeNot, and Stanford.

2017 - 2018

Global Director

frog

Implemented technical vision of cohesive toolset through design, engineering, and deployment with agile methodologies working across multiple countries. Forecasting and planning development became more predictable when rooted in automation and testing. The flow of work through IT (infrastructure and end-user support) improved queue times with weekly Kanban meetings and a supply chain management approach. Reduced IT spend by nearly half while greatly improving network bandwidth and workforce collaboration. Developed Risk Management, Directory Services/Access Management, Information Security and Privacy, and Disaster Recovery, Business Continuity Plans.

2007 - 2016

Founder

D2P

D2P's focus was threefold: 1. Strategic consulting focused on client feature enhancements, 2. Software Development - mobile, web, desktop applications and 3. Devops - guiding teams to work together to improve feedback loops.

2000 - 2007

Member of Technical Staff

Deja.com

Implemented core features to Deja's Buyer's Portal and Usenet engine until eBay and Google purchase. Led development for incorporating LinkShare into Deja's offerings.

1999 - 2000

Contact me.

I live in Austin

contact@navarrete.org