James Smith is a pragmatic engineering leader with 25+ years of experience turning complex problems into reliable software and over a decade in senior engineering roles. Based in Denver, he has risen through hands-on development to Director and now Vice President of Engineering at Lumen Learning, blending day-to-day coding empathy with strategic delivery and team scaling. His background spans higher education and enterprise systems—roles at Indiana University, The University of Arizona, Kuali, and Cotiviti—giving him deep domain knowledge in academic and financial systems. Known for translating stakeholder complexity into audit-ready, maintainable solutions, he pairs technical rigor with a communicator’s sensibility rooted in an MA in Theatre. Colleagues value his ability to bridge legacy architectures and modern practices while keeping teams focused on outcomes.
11 years of coding experience
26 years of employment as a software developer
The University of Arizona
Bachelor's Degree Behavioral Sciences, Bachelor's Degree Behavioral Sciences at Western International University
Contributions:5 pushes, 1 branch in 5 years 10 months
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