About me
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Hello! My name is Jens Johnson. I am a full-stack software engineer based in San Diego, California, currently working with the Product Management team at the Gemological Institute of America, where I help build tools and software solutions to empower and serve consumers and manufacturers across the global gemological and diamond industries. I am deeply passionate about the intersection of technology and human-driven design, and I believe that the most impactful products are created when technical excellence meets empathy, creativity, and a genuine understanding of the people they serve.
Background
San Diego
California
The Engineer
I'm an engineer in the classical sense. I love understanding how things work, and designing, building, and (sometimes) breaking systems to solve problems creatively. But I also consider myself a product-focused, design-oriented solutionist: I love understanding how I can employ technological solutions to address users' needs, from interface design to feedback integration. My passion in technology lies at the intersection of engineering rigor and design focus, and I believe this is where the best products and solutions are created.
5+ Years
Industry experience
Technology is best when grounded in natural principles and designed in service of the people that use it.
The Builder
My professional career has provided me with the ability to develop and create solutions for a variety of organizations and end-users, from designing sport research platforms at Nike to developing data center observability, reliability, and sustainability tools for Amazon Web Services. I enjoy the entropy and complexity of full-stack development: orchestrating microservices, building omni-source data pipelines, and working closely with end-users to define seamless, accessible, and elegant interfaces.
The Human
When I'm not behind a keyboard, my passions lie outdoors: hiking, trail running, going to the beach to catch a sunset on the southern California coast. You'll inevitably see some "non-tech" subject matter on this site, and I hope it gives you a chance to see all sides of me. Whether navigating terrain on a trail run or designing a new product, I believe nature and technology have a surprising amount of crossover.
GitHub
647 contributions
Weekly contributions · last 16 wks
* Public contributions only; excludes activity in enterprise GitHub organizations.
Strava
2910
miles
222
runs
182,650
ft gain
Weekly miles · last 16 wks
Experience
5+ years across sports technology, cloud infrastructure, and gemological science.
Sep 2023 to Present
Carlsbad, CA
Senior Software Engineer
Gemological Institute of America
- Currently a lead engineer on the Product Engineering team, responsible for the design and implementation of software and technology products for both GIA's external-facing services and internal teams.
- Led the design and creation of, and currently maintain, several shared internal packages which power GIA's product suite and technology ecosystem, including a custom UI component library, a TypeScript library for the extensive domain of diamond industry-specific typings and enumerations, and other utility packages that help our teams build faster and more accurately.
- Currently leading a project which will provide a first-of-kind platform that allows diamond manufacturers to obtain real-time cut estimates and feedback, powered by an internal large language model (LLM) with diamond cut proportion and industry insights that are unattainable for regular consumers in the current landscape.
Jul 2022 to Sep 2023
Denver, CO
Software Engineer
Amazon Web Services
- Software engineer with Amazon's Data Center Engineering Organization (DCEO) on the InfraMap team, creating platform services that provide a consolidated, real-time view of the health and activities across AWS' 900+ data centers in 123 global availability zones.
- Led the design and implementation of a global alarming and visualization tool for AWS data centers that allows data center engineers to rapidly respond to real-time aggregated and transformed data from an expansive source of input signals and pipelines, from electrical metering to network throughput, allowing our data center teams to rapidly mitigate high-impact events and reduce costs for downstream consumers.
Jun 2021 to Jul 2022
Beaverton, OR
Software Engineer · Sport Science Platform
Nike
- Software engineer with Nike's Sport Science Platform (SSP), the technology organization powering the Nike Sport Research Lab (NSRL), responsible for innovations like Nike FlyKnit fabric, Vaporfly carbon-plated running technology, Nike Adapt self-lacing shoes, and more.
- Developed and created data pipelines, research platforms, and user experiences to enable world-class sport research through the Nike NSRL.
- Led the design and creation of a platform for remote study management, providing Nike researchers with the capability to create and conduct studies with external participants across the world, rapidly expanding the pace and reach of Nike's research capabilities, expanding the opportunity for Nike research participation for athletes across the world, and overcoming physical barriers imposed by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Aug 2020 to Jun 2021
Beaverton, OR
Product Owner · Nike Music
Nike
- Product owner for Nike Music under the Nike Store Technology (NST) team, responsible for product management, evaluation, and growth strategies to support music and audiovisual (A/V) activations throughout the entire Nike brand experience, including promotions and marketing, corporate events, and Nike retail stores and infrastructure across the globe.
- Facilitated vendor relationships to develop and design integrations in the store technology landscape and A/V strategies for Nike retail footprints at scale.
- Helped implement an omni-channel marketing campaign which used targeted music strategies and A/V designs for local markets in Nike retail footprints, helping the company scale its specialty store expansions to experiences like Nike House of Innovation and Nike By You.
Aug 2019 to Aug 2020
Beaverton, OR
Software Engineer · Product Data Hub
Nike
- Software engineer on the Product Data Hub (PDH)/API 360 team within Nike's Enterprise Data and Analytics (EDA) organization, responsible for the development and maintenance of applications in the Nike Data Foundation (NDF) platform to deliver dimensional and transactional data products to Nike consumers, supporting functions across the company including e-commerce, marketing, and product design and development.
- Designed a data provenance solution to automatically validate SQL scripts and transactions as part of our pipelines' CI/CD, allowing developers and researchers to safely deploy updates to tools like Snowflake and RDS at scale.
Stack
Languages
Frontend
Backend
AWS
Data & Search
DevOps
Tooling