Monte Thakkar

Summary

Software engineer with proven track record scaling applications from early-stage growth (0 to $1M ARR) to enterprise platforms (300K+ MAU), combining deep technical expertise with business impact. Key achievements include architecting cross-platform subscription infrastructure processing $100K monthly revenue, leading React Native adoption at Vrbo driving 50% improvement in development velocity, and maintaining an open-source project with 400K+ monthly downloads.

Seeking Senior Software Engineer opportunities to drive technical excellence at scale. Require H1B sponsorship; open to relocation with preference for hybrid work environment.

Experience

Founding Engineer · Rosebud AI Journal2023 – Present · Santa Monica, CA

The #1 AI-powered journal for mental health and personal growth.

• Scaled the business from 0 to $1M in revenue
• Established engineering processes and monorepo infrastructure for a team of 5, improving development velocity by 80%
• Identifying user intent for memory feature driving 10x increase in conversions and becoming top acquisition channel with 25% of new subscriptions
• Built subscription infrastructure handling $100K monthly revenue, with seamless state sync between Stripe (web) and RevenueCat (mobile)
• Architected iOS 14+ compliant attribution system using AppsFlyer and Meta SDKs, achieving $45 cost per activation in the native app
• Built and scaled notification infrastructure processing 20K+ daily notifications, improving open rates by 14% through personalization
• Increased user conversions by 85% through A/B tested subscription flows, improving conversion rate from 11.1% to 20.6%

Senior Software Engineer · Expedia Group2018 – 2022 · Austin, TX

Vrbo is the vacation rental division within Expedia Group, the world's travel platform.

• Led Vrbo Owner iOS app development serving 300K+ monthly active users with 99.9% uptime
• Spearheaded React Native adoption in iOS app, boosting development velocity by 50% through shared UI library; shipped 6 features across multiple teams
• Implemented the redesigned "Inbox" feature eliminating 3 major blockers, driving 50% increase in iOS booking conversion rates
• Enhanced iOS app reliability with automated testing by increasing coverage by 30% and reducing manual QA time by 20% during each release

Software Engineer · Pillow2016 – 2018 · San Francisco, CA

Pillow is a technology-driven hospitality company that helps short-term rentals work for everyone.

• Pillow was acquired by Expedia Group (NASDAQ: EXPE) in Sept. 2018
• Led a team of 4 engineers to build our mobile app in React Native
• Responsible for implementing the homepage redesign
• Implemented full-stack features using React, Ruby on Rails and Postgres

Side Projects

React Native Elements (OSS)2017 – 2019

reactnativeelements.com — Lead maintainer of the most popular open source UI toolkit for React Native, driving significant growth and community impact.

• Grew contributor base by 15x over 2 years with 400K+ monthly downloads
• Achieved milestone of 25,000 net promoters on GitHub, outperforming 20K+ competing libraries
• Secured $6,000+ in fundraising for ongoing development

Kandou Volunteering App2018 – 2020

Launched a mobile app connecting volunteers with local opportunities and CSR management tools.

• Built full-stack mobile app (iOS & Android) using React Native in 3 months
• Attracted 600 users and established partnerships with 17 San Francisco non-profits
• Facilitated 25 volunteer events, resulting in 125+ community service hours

Education

Bachelor's in Computer Science · San Francisco State University2014 – 2017

Technical Skills

• Languages & Frameworks · React Native, React, Next.js, TypeScript, Node.js, Swift, PostgreSQL, Redis
• Tools & Platforms · LLMs, Git, AWS, Turborepo, Expo, Vercel, Native Mobile, Open Source
• Testing & Analytics · Jest, React Native Testing, Google Analytics, Mixpanel, Segment