Doug Thompson

Hands-on Engineering Leader helping to bridge Technology, Strategy, and People to mature technologies and teams ultimately driving results.

Redondo Beach, California, United States1.1k followers

Slalom

ex-Toast

ex-Zendesk

Engineering leadership isn’t about the leader, it’s all about the team. Without a happy, healthy team (one that trusts and has purpose), projects are more “herding cats” than “getting things done.”
More
To help business be successful, I focus on building teams that trust each other, collaborate safely, and commit to the goal, even if there are some reservations. With a good team, following Agile methodologies comes naturally as does increased delivery. After more than 10 years experience as a full-stack NET professional working in industries such as Manufacturing, Web design, Logistics, and Finance, I switched to Salesforce development using Apex, Visualforce, Lightning and LWC augmented by JavaScript frameworks such as VueJS. I expanded into Learning, Sales Automation, Healthcare, and Service. Anyone who has worked deeply with Salesforce knows that it can’t do it all, especially if you have millions of records -- those pesky governor limits require some creative solutions. To maximize Salesforce investment, I’ve helped create integrations using C# and NET, Python, and NodeJS using databases such as SQL, PostgreSQL, MySQL/MariaDB, and MongoDB. I’ve helped my teams treat Salesforce much more as a PaaS, than just a Sales SaaS platform, with great success for business.

LinkedIn Browse people

Claim profile

Career Timeline

JobSchool

GTM Index

SLALOMJOB
1. Eng Dir, Product Delivery
  1Y 7M
TOASTJOB
1. Senior Dir, GTM Eng
  1Y 2M
ZENDESKJOB
1. Senior Dir, CXS Eng
  2Y
EPISOURCEJOB
1. Senior Dir, Salesforce Eng
  8M
2. Dir, Salesforce Eng
  3Y 8M
VELOCIFYJOB
1. Dir of Eng
  4M
2. Salesforce Platform Mgr
  11M
3. Senior Software Eng
  7M
CORNERSTONE ONDEMANDJOB
1. Software Eng
  1Y
HOULIHAN LOKEYJOB
1. Mgr, Enterprise Systems
  9M
2. Principal Software Eng
  2Y 9M
3. Senior Programmer Analyst
  2Y 11M
4. Programmer Analyst
  1Y 7M
SYSPRO AMERICASJOB
1. Programmer Analyst
  2Y 11M
UNIVERSITY CALGARY, ALBERTASCHOOL
1. MSc., Geology
  2Y 11M
HVACWEBSITE.COMJOB
1. Web Developer
  2Y 11M
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SANTA BARBARASCHOOL
1. BS, Geology
  3Y 11M
EL CAMINO COLLEGESCHOOL
1. El Camino College
  1Y 11M
HARVEY MUDD COLLEGESCHOOL
1. Harvey Mudd College
  1Y 11M

Job: Slalom — Engineering Director, Product Delivery · 2025-03 – present · 1y 5mo
Job: Toast — Senior Director, GTM Engineering · 2023-09 – 2024-11 · 1y 2mo — Selected to mature and transform business operations and optimize organizational effectiveness in a 60-person global Salesforce team (Solution Architects, Admins, and Engineers) supporting Sales, Service, and Knowledge Clouds. Drove cost saving measures projected to save approximately $3M. • Completed application rationalization effort reducing costs by $1.1M annually. • Executed contractor reduction saving approximately $1.8M transferring ownership to Toast FTEs. • Guided teams through on-going Agile Transformation away from “tech-stack” to Product teams. • Implemented monthly product team reviews tracking key KPI improvements.
Job: Zendesk — Senior Director, CXS Engineering · 2021-09 – 2023-09 · 2y — Hired to mature engineering group, implement CPQ, and execute an Agile Transformation to improve delivery predictability and efficiency. Managed a 25-person team across three main tech stacks (Salesforce, AWS, and Ruby on Rails) supporting the internal Zendesk Customer Experience and GTM. • Delivered a challenging Salesforce CPQ implementation on-time and on-budget with improved Sales experience saving ~1.1M annually. • Migrated costly iPaaS (Workato) recipes to AWS Lambda saving costs (~$2.3M annually), improving end-user experience (reduced latency by over 90%), and improved stability (enabled preventative notifications). • Hit 125% of targeted cost savings across contingent resources, so…
Job: Episource LLC — Senior Director, Salesforce Engineering · 2021-01 – 2021-09 · 8 mo
Job: Episource LLC — Director, Salesforce Engineering · 2017-05 – 2021-01 · 3y 8mo — I manage two Salesforce Orgs, the largest with over 3000 licenses and 200GB data, and a small but great engineering team split on- and off-shore. We use Salesforce as our enterprise platform to retrieve and code millions of medical charts with a very high degree of accuracy. We have been strongly focused on tech debt improvements while providing new and improved features to optimize the outreach and coding efforts.
Job: Velocify — Director of Engineering · 2017-01 – 2017-05 · 4 mo — I am managing the fantastic team behind Velocify Pulse, a sales acceleration platform found on the Salesforce AppExchange. Our product leverages Salesforce best practices and current technology to provide an effective tool to enhance a sales team. I am enjoying the daily challenge of juggling management with development. We combine Apex, Visualforce, AngularJS, JavaScript Remoting to communicate with a powerful back-end (using C#, SQL, MongoDB among others) used for Dialing, Distribution, and Prioritization.
Job: Velocify — Salesforce Platform Manager · 2016-02 – 2017-01 · 11 mo
Job: Velocify — Senior Software Engineer · 2015-07 – 2016-02 · 7 mo — I am a senior engineer working on Velocify Pulse, a Salesforce AppExchange product that is the only full featured, enterprise class sales solution that optimizes every stage of the sales cycle – from prospecting to lead engagement. Some of the technologies we use: • Apex • Visualforce • Javascript Remoting • AngularJS • .NET 4.5: C#, MVC, WCF • SQL • MongoDB
Job: Cornerstone OnDemand — Software Engineer · 2014-07 – 2015-07 · 1y — I am an engineer working on Cornerstone for Salesforce, the only natively built Learning Management System (LMS) on the Force.com platform. I am focused on adding new features, improving the UI/UX experience, improving the architecture, and providing better tools to monitor application behavior and improve customer support. The product is a native Salesforce application supported by Amazon S3 services to handle content uploading, playing, and learning progression. Some of the technologies we use: • Apex • Visualforce • Javascript Remoting • Remote Objects • AngularJS • .NET 4.5: C#, MVC, WCF, ASP.NET • SQL • MongoDB Interested in learning more about…
Job: Houlihan Lokey — Manager, Enterprise Systems · 2013-10 – 2014-07 · 9 mo — • Managed a team of 12 consisting of developers, database admins, analysts, and other staff. • Interfaced with business stakeholders to prioritize new projects, evaluate past team performance, and establish more transparent relationships • Responsible for hiring, training, and mentoring of new staff. • Worked closely with team and IT Projects Lead to reevaluate and prioritize project backlog. • Continued as lead developer on several key projects. • Focused development efforts on new technologies, improving standards, and training for upcoming Salesforce CRM implementation. • Lead several implementation tracks for Salesforce CRM implementation. • Coordinated two new platform implementations…
Job: Houlihan Lokey — Principal Software Engineer · 2011-01 – 2013-10 · 2y 9mo — • Implemented policies and procedures to bring all database objects under TFS Source Control. • Improved performance of a vital conflicts check system by over 99% for certain checks. • Increased reliability of several key web applications reducing errors by over 95%. • Instructed team on technologies such as AJAX, jQuery, LINQ (including LINQ to SQL), and the new ASP.NET Chart Control. • Authored PowerShell scripts to further streamline migrations, automate DBA tasks, and provide management with limited data-mining tools. • Managed and completed development team migration to Visual Studio 2010. • Migrated existing 5GB, 65 project VSS database to TFS retaining all history and source integrit…
Job: Houlihan Lokey — Senior Programmer Analyst · 2008-01 – 2010-12 · 2y 11mo — Please see current position
Job: Houlihan Lokey — Programmer Analyst · 2006-05 – 2007-12 · 1y 7mo — Please see current position
Job: SYSPRO Americas — Programmer Analyst · 2004 – 2006 · 2y — • Responsible for the analysis, design, development, and implementation of n-tier applications and web applications to meet client needs and business rules. • Created and implemented numerous applications using .NET Remoting and Web services. • Developed in-house applications and libraries to reduce development schedules. • Designed, created, and aided in creating numerous Pocket PC applications. • Trained customers on-line and on-site in the use of SYSPRO e.net Solutions, supporting XML technologies, and best-practices coding styles. • Produced presentations to educate co-workers on new and existing technologies. • Assisted technical support in the solution of n-tier configuration and SYSP…
Job: HVACWebsite.com — Web Developer · 2001 – 2003 · 2y — • Authored USACTracker, a ASP.NET and J2ME application providing live GPS tracking and TIGER/Line data for geocoding, reverse-geocoding, and dynamic map generation. • Authored Operating Cost Analysis tool for HVAC professionals. • Authored an hourly weather conditions tool in ASP.NET, Flash MX and a VB back-end. • Implemented Macromedia Flash in educational, illustrative, and functional capacities.
Job: No-company. (Self-employed.) — Director of Engineering · unknown – present
Job: No-company. (Self-employed.) — Salesforce Platform Manager · unknown – present
Job: Go To Market Engineering — Web Developer · unknown – present
Job: Mike Ollefs — Web Developer · unknown – present
Job: Mike Ollefs — Salesforce Platform Manager · unknown – present
Job: Go To Market Engineering — Salesforce Platform Manager · unknown – present
Job: Go To Market Engineering — Senior Software Engineer · unknown – present
Job: No-company. (Self-employed.) — Senior Software Engineer · unknown – present
Job: Mike Ollefs — Senior Software Engineer · unknown – present
Job: No-company. (Self-employed.) — Web Developer · unknown – present
Job: Go To Market Engineering — Director of Engineering · unknown – present
Job: Mike Ollefs — Director of Engineering · unknown – present
School: University of California, Santa Barbara — BS, Geology · 1991 – 1994
School: University Calgary, Alberta — MSc., Geology · 2004 – 2006
School: El Camino College · 1990 – 1991
School: Harvey Mudd College · 1989 – 1990
School: RUHS — Diploma, General

Skills

SalesforceautomationsqlOperational ExcellenceDevelopment ManagementApex ProgrammingVisualforce Pages.NETVisual StudioASP.NETSoftware DevelopmentT-SQLDatabasesXMLAJAXpythonLeadershipCommunicationC#JavaScriptMicrosoft SQL ServerjQuery

Playbooks

No playbooks indexed for this profile yet.

Doug Thompson

Skills

Playbooks

More GTM Engineers