Head of Engineering · SaaS · GenAI · FinOps · M&A
Engineering as a profit driver, not a cost center.
Two acquisitions. One engineering team that stayed. 13 years building and leading GatherUp’s engineering - today Head of Engineering for GatherUp and Grade.us, with CTO-scope ownership.
- Remote since 2013
- US-based teams
- Cyprus, EU
- Years in software
- 15+
- SaaS acquisitions
- 2
- Fastest-growing
- Inc. 5000
- Compliance owner
- HIPAA
- GenAI since
- 2023
01 / About
What that looked like in practice
I’m a Head of Engineering with a product mindset - from an inherited MVP skeleton taken to production within a year, to the largest product by MRR in a 6-company portfolio, through two acquisitions.
Lean by design
A 6-engineer team runs both SaaS platforms end to end. The majority of our shipped code is now written by AI agents - with the team owning architecture, quality, and production accountability.
AI that ships
I built our first generative AI features hands-on, starting weeks after the ChatGPT launch (Smart Reply, then Smart Insights) - the pilot scored 40%+ on the Sean Ellis PMF test.
Technology that’s profitable
I architected the platform for cost from day one. FinOps isn’t a project for me; it’s how I design.
Player / coach
A working architect and engineer, designing systems and shipping alongside the team. In the AI-agent era, a lean engineering org is led from inside the codebase, not from above it.
Teams that stay
4 of my 6 engineers have been with me for 5+ years - three of them since before the first acquisition. I build cultures of trust and autonomy.
M&A-tested
I ran the technical due diligence process for the 2019 acquisition of GatherUp and navigated GatherUp and Grade.us through a second one in 2025.
02 / Experience
From MVP to two acquisitions
Fully remote since 2013, working with US-based teams from Europe.
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2007 - 2013
Freelance & early career
60+ remote projects for international clients on Elance (4.97/5 average rating). Cloud billing systems at 123Cloud.
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2013
Senior Software Developer, GatherUp
Joined at the MVP stage and brought the product to production release within a year.
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2017
VP of Engineering, GatherUp
Led engineering through hyper-growth to Inc. 5000 recognition. Ran the entire seller-side technical due diligence for the 2019 Alpine Software Group acquisition.
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2019
Software Development Manager, Traject
Kept leading GatherUp engineering after the acquisition. GatherUp rose from the smallest to the largest product by MRR in the 6-company portfolio.
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2023
Principal Software Engineer, Traject
Built our first generative AI features hands-on. Audited and optimized AWS infrastructure, substantially reducing monthly cloud costs.
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2025
Head of Engineering, GatherUp & Grade.us
Full ownership of both platforms, reporting directly to the CEO. Led engineering through the Insight Integrity acquisition.
03 / Recommendations
From the people I worked for
Lucas worked for me when I was co-founder and CEO of GatherUp. Lucas is not only a rock-star engineer who produces amazing code, but he’s also a pleasure to work with. He always delivers quality work, and designs for the big picture. He’s a rare engineer/architect who can deliver tight code, and also think about the architecture of the overall project and design. He also built out and led our engineering team with top talent, and was an excellent manager. And on top of all that - he’s a great person. I sincerely appreciated working with Lukasz and look forward to working with him again.
Don Campbell
Partner, FounderPartners
Not only has Lucas been the leader in engineering a best-in-class SaaS solution for GatherUp, but he’s built an outstanding team as well. My history with Lucas is 6+ years and he has grown into an incredible engineer. GatherUp has matured into a reliable, feature-rich, secure, and stable application that helps over 25,000 businesses globally under his watch and work including the company being acquired in 2019. Lucas has a great attitude, is loyal, curious, talented, reliable, dedicated, and ambitious. The company, team and product would not be where it’s at without Lucas guiding its development.
Aaron Weiche
Co-founder / CEO, Leadferno
Quoted in full from public LinkedIn recommendations.