Team leadership
Managing developers, QA contributors, contractors, volunteers, and technical liaisons with a practical focus on accountability, mentoring, quality, and steady delivery.
About Mike
Software leader for teams that need calm execution and technical depth.
I’m Mike Walker, the maker behind Moondust Studios. I bring more than two decades of software experience, including technical leadership, team leadership, SaaS product delivery, automation, platform modernization, stakeholder support, and hands-on work in complex production systems.
What I do
I lead engineering teams through delivery, modernization, and scale.
My work sits where product priorities, engineering execution, and operations meet: leading developers and QA, improving delivery practices, reducing operational drag, supporting product decisions, and helping teams ship dependable software without losing sight of the customer.
I’m comfortable owning the big picture while staying close enough to the code to make practical decisions. My background spans PHP, JavaScript, Node.js, SQL, NoSQL, Redis, cloud infrastructure, APIs, reporting systems, video workflows, QA processes, and the operational glue that keeps products running.
Core strengths
The leadership patterns that show up across the work.
Delivery ownership
Translating product priorities into shippable work, balancing roadmap needs with support escalations, technical debt, customer impact, and team capacity.
Hands-on technical depth
Staying close to architecture, data, infrastructure, integrations, automation, and legacy systems so management decisions are grounded in implementation reality.
Cross-functional communication
Working across product, customer success, operations, security, support, vendors, and non-technical stakeholders to keep execution clear and expectations aligned.
Experience
Experience across product, platforms, and people.
2025 – Present
Developer Team Lead · Navigate360
Lead developers and QA contributors on a learning management system with millions of active users. Balance roadmap work, customer solutions, escalations, quality, and team coordination in a production SaaS environment.
2021 – 2025
Senior Full Stack Developer and Automation Engineer · PostWorks New York
Owned automation and daily operational support for legacy software systems, robotic tape-management workflows, and non-standardized data conversion tools, bringing structure and reliability to complex production operations.
2018 – 2021
CTO and Software Engineering Manager · Community Resource Network
Led technology strategy and engineering execution for a central database connecting government, houses of faith, and nonprofits, supporting case management for 10,000+ people and coordinating technology with mission needs.
2019 – 2021
Software Engineering Manager · Spirit, Inc.
Managed engineering through a major vendor and team transition, scaling development capacity, supporting SOC 2 readiness, improving security posture, and helping reduce server costs by 75%.
2015 – 2018
Senior Full Stack Developer and Project Manager · Charisma Media
Led project work and hands-on development for web properties reaching roughly 5 million monthly unique visitors, including checkout systems, API integrations, and modernization of digital, print, audio, and marketing workflows.
2011 – 2014
Founder and Engineering Manager · Stream Monkey
Founded and scaled a streaming platform serving houses of worship and organizations. Built the MVP, hired and led the engineering team, managed AWS/Wowza/CDN infrastructure, and grew the product into a real customer business.
2007 – 2015
Front-end, research, simulation, and ministry technology roles
Built the technical foundation across ministry platforms, Roku integrations, giving systems, research tools, MySQL parsing systems, unmanned systems software, and serious-games UX research before moving into formal leadership roles.
Details
Role fit, context, and technical foundation.
Leadership focus
Engineering leadership, delivery ownership, technical strategy, team mentoring, and hands-on execution.
Leadership contexts
SaaS, education technology, automation, streaming media, nonprofit systems, high-traffic web platforms.
Technical foundation
PHP, JavaScript, Node.js, SQL, NoSQL, Redis, HTML, CSS, APIs, cloud infrastructure, QA workflows.
Background
University of Central Florida, Industrial Engineering. Longtime FIRST Robotics mentor and technical educator.
Connect
Want to talk about software, leadership, or systems that need a steady hand?
I’m always glad to connect with people working on thoughtful software, operationally complex systems, engineering leadership, or product ideas that need practical technical judgment.