Jacob Stephens

Work

Senior Infrastructure Developer and Full Stack Engineer

Educational Travel Adventures | Feb 2022 - Present | United States, Remote

• Architected automated reservation cancellation workflows in PHP and MySQL, preventing bad debt accumulation with business-rule-driven automation that protects revenue and improves cash flow management
• Built payment notification queue management system with Twilio SMS, transactional email, and voice capabilities, enabling self-service configuration and reducing manual work by 80%+ while ensuring timely customer communication
• Optimized alert system performance through caching infrastructure and database query improvements, reducing page load times from 5-10 seconds to under 1 second and reducing database load by 70-80%
• Led PCI compliance initiative, architecting secure API integration with TranSafe and Monetra merchant processors across both platforms, implementing security best practices including bank account encryption
• Directed enterprise-wide PHP 5 to PHP 8 migration across entire codebase and server infrastructure, modernizing technology stack and improving application performance
• Owned architecture for internal and customer-facing platforms, conducted code reviews, mentored a development team member, and established development practices for a multi-million-dollar travel business

Web Developer and Client Support Specialist

Sharp Innovations | Nov 2021 - Feb 2022 | Conestoga, PA

• Developed automated database migration scripts using SQL and PHP, reducing migration time from hours to minutes and eliminating manual errors, improving deployment efficiency and reliability
• Delivered comprehensive technical support for web clients, troubleshooting and resolving complex issues including UI/UX updates, security vulnerabilities, and Linux server configuration and optimization
• Implemented project management task board system to replace email-based workflow, improving team productivity, project visibility, and cross-functional collaboration

Full-Stack Developer (Independent)

Steward Goods | Mar 2020 - Nov 2021 | United States, Remote

• Architected and developed full-stack responsive nutrition-tracking web app, implementing both frontend and backend functionality for mobile-first use
• Optimized website performance through code optimization and infrastructure improvements, achieving perfect scores (100/100) on Google Core Web Vitals
• Engineered PCI-compliant subscription payments with Stripe and designed a custom full-stack CMS using PHP and MySQL