Brad Benjamin
Overview
I'm an engineering leader and builder focused on creating value - I build trust fast by connecting with leaders across roles and learning a team's product and technology quickly, then moving to deliver for customers while keeping the tech stable. I spent years growing and leading teams, then deliberately moved back into a principal engineering role to stay close to the code. I'm relentlessly optimistic and I see the potential in situations, and I've always tinkered on the side - making things for myself and my friends that they actually use, which keeps my skills fresh.
Technologies
Education
Montana State University, Bozeman, MT
Experience
- Chose to move from a director role back into hands-on engineering, closer to the code.
- Advise on new solutions and architecture across the GRC product line.
- Led implementation of the in-app AI experience and MCP tooling.
- Taking on product management responsibilities - customer discovery, new releases, and market research.
- Grew the engineering group to ~60 people by 2023.
- Led technical strategy and expansion of the Integrated Risk product line, launching new solutions.
- Workiva was named a leader in the Forrester Wave for Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC).
- Reached a difficult point of 20+ direct reports across multiple product areas.
- Managed 5 other managers for a year across multiple product areas.
- Moved back to leading a single team during a crucial growth period, stabilizing and scaling a graph database service.
- Then moved up to group manager in Integrated Risk, managing other managers, architects, and principal engineers.
- Managed the XBRL Services team while maintaining XBRL validation in production full-stack and building a filing index and data warehouse.
- Led promotion panel reviews (through 2019) and engineer and manager hiring.
- Gradually added direct reports across multiple teams out of organizational need.
- Developed the XBRL validation service and custom rules, replacing a 3rd-party system in production.
- Led a project with a key client, consulting at every stage from sales to requirements to development to production.
- Led multiple client loan-origination implementations to production.
- Led implementation of a next-gen loan origination system; built reusable Java MVC plugins.
- Performance optimization.
- Java web application frontend using the Struts framework.
- Java web application backend using Hibernate and Spring.
- SQL Server.
I enjoy discussing many hobby projects - see the portfolio.