Hi, I'm Brenden 👋
The bottleneck in software isn't code anymore.
It's everything around it.
About
I build products and care a lot about how they get built.
Over the past decade, I've built client-facing platforms, scaled teams, and launched my own products from 0→1.
More recently, I've been focused on how AI changes that process. Not just using it, but defining how it fits into real development workflows. I've been building internal tools, designing agentic systems, and shaping how teams use LLMs across the SDLC.
Outside of my role at Morgan Stanley, I've built products like Forwheel and Rbitrage Capital. I still spend most of my time building, experimenting, and improving.
Beliefs
Sprints slow teams down.
Work expands to fill the sprint. Teams end up optimizing for metrics instead of what actually ships.
Engineering managers should write code every day.
If you're not in the work, you lose touch with how it's done, especially now.
Microservices are overengineered and work against agents.
They fragment context and turn systems into something agents can't reason about effectively.
Every org needs garbage collection.
Organizations naturally accumulate process. Without pressure to remove it, it just compounds.
Prototyping is the input to requirements, not the output.
Rapid prototyping exposes bad assumptions early. Specs should follow what's proven.
Burnout comes from friction, not overwork.
Most teams don't burn out from hard problems. They burn out from systems that slow them down.
The best AI strategy is 20-year-old engineering fundamentals.
AI is just the trojan horse pushing teams to finally fix what's been broken for years.
The best teams will be optimized for one-person ownership.
When one person can move end-to-end, execution speeds up — fewer handoffs, fewer blockers, clearer decisions.
Work Experience
Morgan Stanley
Applied AI & DevEx Lead, Client Platforms
Defined and now lead the division strategy for AI-assisted development across two tracks: increasing developer adoption through measurement, training, and enablement, and redesigning the SDLC for the building-with-AI era through new squad models, tooling, and process standards. Authored the guiding principles and maturity model now used for division-wide adoption, and founded a cross-regional Center of Excellence spanning 5 regions.
Built internal tools and agentic systems for code generation, testing, API development, and CI/CD, including a multi-agent parallel orchestration system using git worktrees. Published reusable prompts, skills, and agents as shared assets, authored the AI bootcamp curriculum adopted across the broader business unit, and surfaced a 42% telemetry gap before it distorted adoption reporting.
Engineering Manager, Client Platforms
Led engineering strategy and delivery for 5 client-facing planning apps across Morgan Stanley Online and E*TRADE, managing 12 engineers across 3 global squads.
Influenced stakeholders to back a modern rebuild over a legacy-first approach, launching a unified platform that merged two experiences, reduced UX complexity, improved scalability, and saved $2M+ annually.
Business Analyst -> UI Developer -> UI Development Lead
Progressed from Technical Business Analyst to Front-End Engineer to UI Development Lead. Led UI development for two zero-to-one financial planning applications in Angular, partnering closely with product and backend teams to ship and scale them.
Created technical and functional requirements, workflows, and dependency plans, while mentoring junior engineers and helping establish frontend best practices.
Forwheel
Founded mobile app helping food truck owners save time and money. Built and shipped end-to-end mobile and backend systems using Flutter and Firebase. Developed Garnish, our AI food truck advisor using OpenAI for menu pricing, permits, and operations guidance. Secured partner discounts with Square, Food Service Direct, and FLIP Insurance. Serving 150+ food trucks nationwide.
Rbitrage Capital
Designed and built algorithmic trading systems using Java, React, and AWS, growing AUM to $750K in 18 months. We exited in 2019.
Skills
Languages
Libraries & Frameworks
Platforms & Tooling
A few things I've built
Mostly focused on solving small, real problems quickly. I've worked on a variety of stuff, from LLM Agents to mobile apps & extensions.
AI lowered the barrier to build, but just because you can doesn't mean you should. So I'm combining blind peer ratings with AI scoring to surface which ideas are actually worth building.
Things I'm tinkering on
Early-stage ideas and technologies I'm passionate about exploring.
Technical interviews still feel nothing like how engineers actually build. That seems fixable.
X bookmarks are a graveyard — because the feature was built to save things, not to use them.
Get in Touch
Best way to reach me is email or a DM on X. I'll get back to you within a day.
View my resume →