Software Engineer · Vancouver, WA
James Kunley
Making complex software systems simpler, faster, and more reliable.
Over 20 years building and modernizing production software across financial technology, enterprise logistics, and healthcare. I work across the stack, from real-time browser applications to distributed backend services, with a focus on architectural simplicity, data integrity, and solving difficult performance problems.
- Distributed Systems
- Architecture & Performance
- Real-Time Applications
Expertise
Architecture & Modernization
Drawing service boundaries, designing transactional and event-driven workflows, and untangling tightly coupled platforms while they stay in service.
Performance Engineering
Profiling slow systems under real load, removing wasted I/O, and caching where it pays off on the paths that matter most.
Real-Time Systems & Data Integrity
Keeping services and browser clients in sync, and keeping data correct when updates arrive concurrently or out of order.
Selected impact
Provider Scheduling & Operational Efficiency
Improved time-sensitive scheduling workflows by identifying and resolving assignment bottlenecks, reducing provider idle time and improving operational throughput on a large-scale healthcare platform.
Core Platform Modernization
Led cross-team architecture initiatives to modernize tightly coupled backend systems, establishing clearer service boundaries and separating transactional responsibilities from workflow coordination and integrations.
Real-Time Messaging & Data Synchronization
Owned real-time notification architecture connecting distributed services with browser applications. Introduced incremental update strategies to reduce redundant traffic, improve responsiveness, and keep client state synchronized with backend changes.
Transactional Integrity & Concurrency
Designed transactional workflows and concurrency-control mechanisms to preserve data consistency under heavy load, addressing conflicting updates and race conditions across asynchronous processes.
Performance Engineering & Scalability
Improved backend performance through targeted database optimizations, smarter caching strategies, and more efficient data-access patterns, reducing unnecessary processing and improving system responsiveness.
Cross-Team Architecture & Engineering Standards
Drove architectural alignment across engineering teams, establishing shared service patterns and data models that reduced fragmentation, improved maintainability, and made complex platforms easier to evolve.
Philosophy
Understand the system before changing it.
I start with how a system actually behaves in production, find the constraints that matter, and prefer small, deliberate changes to rewrites.
Background
Over two decades of engineering experience across financial technology, enterprise logistics, healthcare platforms, and enterprise software — from real-time user interfaces to distributed backend architecture.
Including work at
- TIBCO
- HP
- XPO Logistics
- J2 Interactive
- DexCare
Beyond Engineering
Outside of engineering, I’m usually spending time with my two kids, catching waves, or exploring backroads on my motorcycle.
Connect
- linkedin.com/in/jameskunley
- GitHub
- github.com/jtkunley