Robert Niimi
New York, NY | US Citizen
me@robertniimi.com | robertniimi.com
github.com/robertn702 | linkedin.com/in/robertniimi
Summary
With over a decade in the startup ecosystem I've been as early as the first employee as well as founded my own company. I'm best described as a product engineer, or a full-stack engineer with a user and front-end focus.
Experience
Lead Front-End Engineer, Flexa
Aug 2024 - Present
Flexa is a pure-digital payments network enabling instant cryptocurrency payments at merchants worldwide.
- Lead front-end architecture and development using React, Next.js, and TypeScript for payment infrastructure processing digital asset transactions
- Architect and maintain the monorepo structure, enabling efficient code sharing and consistent development practices across multiple applications and services
- Own end-to-end product experience for Flexa Checkout with Base Pay, Mini Apps, and Payment Page products serving over 40,000 merchant locations
- Champion company-wide AI adoption as the primary advocate, delivering technical talks to drive innovation and productivity improvements
- Drive technical strategy and best practices for the frontend team, ensuring code quality, performance optimization, and developer productivity
Co-Founder & CTO, LIQ Auctions
Jun 2023 - May 2024 (1 year)
LIQ Auctions is a fully on-chain auction protocol and auction house for real-world assets (RWAs). It features instant liquidity for sellers and a bid-to-earn model.
- Co-developed the Liquid Auction Protocol on EVM-based blockchains
- Completed Outlier Ventures Polygon Base Camp accelerator program
- Architected and built the full web application
- Lead UI/UX design
Co-Founder & CEO, Plugd Inc.
Sep 2019 - Jun 2023 (3 years 10 months)
- Lead front-end development of the web and mobile apps (React / React Native)
- Lead strategy for growth (>100k app installs)
- Managed and hired design & engineering contractors
- Raised Angel / Pre-seed round
Founder, New App Technologies
2017 - Present (7 years) Single-member LLC
FareWell for Uber and Lyft - Ride sharing comparison mobile application
- Designed, built, and launched application for iOS and Android phones
- Used React Native along with the Uber/Lyft APIs to seamlessly compare prices and book rides
- Organically grew user base to over 10,000 monthly users and 50,000 total downloads in 1 year
- Lead acquisition by Bellhop Technologies, DBA Obi
Software Engineer, Shōgun (YC W18)
Dec 2018 - May 2019 (6 months)
- Built reusable React components and page builder elements for the drag-and-drop visual editor
Founding Software Engineer (Employee #1), Engagio
May 2015 - Aug 2017 (2 years 4 months)
Engagio was acquired by Demandbase in 2018
- Co-architected the core web application using React/Redux
- Created, implemented, and documented front-end best practice standards for the company
- Architected, built, and managed company’s core React component library
- Architected, built, and managed the company browser extension
- Configured building and testing the application using Webpack/Gulp and Mocha/Karma/Selenium respectively
- Lead root cause analysis meetings to improve and maintain product quality
Process Engineer, Procter & Gamble
Jul 2013 - Aug 2014 (1 year 2 months)
Open Source
MCP Sunsama - github.com/robertn702/mcp-sunsama
- Model Context Protocol server integration for Sunsama task management platform
Education
Purdue University - West Lafayette
Bachelor's Degree, Mechanical Engineering, 2008 - 2013
Skills
React.js, TypeScript, JavaScript, Next.js, Node.js, Express.js, PostgreSQL, GraphQL, React Native, REST APIs, Web3, AI/LLM Integration, Prompt Engineering, Claude AI