# Em Orendorff

> Full-Stack Engineer | Building agentic AI workflows into how teams actually ship code

Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Profile: https://flows.cv/emorendorff

I'm a full-stack engineer who loves building things people actually touch — polished frontends, complex data visualizations, features that ship at conferences. But what I've gotten obsessed with lately is the meta-problem: how do you make an entire engineering org better at building with AI? I've been helping lead that at Vanilla — designing CLAUDE.md architecture, building self-improving AI agent pipelines, and setting up systems where agentic tools don't just assist developers but actually learn from code review feedback over time.

## Work Experience
### Software Engineer III (Full Stack) @ Vanilla
Jan 2024 – Present
User Experience / PDF Team 

Spearheaded migration from custom-built UI to React Flow with Dagre, delivering a performant, draggable family tree diagram with a 35% speed improvement and dramatically enhanced user experience.

Engineered and implemented reusable GraphQL hooks, cutting Sentry errors by 40% and adopted as a department-wide standard.

Served as a key maintainer and reviewer for Aether, our Storybook-powered design system, ensuring scalable, consistent UI across the platform.

Mentored junior and backend-focused engineers in frontend practices via code reviews, pair programming, and technical deep-dives.

### Software Engineer II @ Vanilla
Jan 2023 – Jan 2024
Developed client-facing features for advisor tools in estate planning, with a focus on responsive, accessible, and pixel-perfect UI.

Reduced rendering time for complex data visualizations by 30% through thoughtful component optimization and React performance tuning.

Implemented PDF generation pipelines across key user workflows, collaborating cross-functionally to ensure accurate formatting and flexible data mapping.

Consistently addressed high-priority bugs within 2–3 day turnarounds, improving reliability and client trust.

### Software Engineer I (Contract -> Full-time) @ Vanilla
Jan 2022 – Jan 2022 | Remote
Built performant, responsive React components with a strong emphasis on user experience and performance.

Converted from contract to full-time based on high-impact delivery and collaborative team contributions.

### Frontend Developer @ Dojo4 LCA
Jan 2021 – Jan 2022 | Boulder, Colorado, United States
Front-end Developer (contract) on multiple projects such as InvitedHome and NavPass for Dojo4, a certified B Corp tech cooperative focused on building technology for positive change. Developed and designed UI components and responsive pages utilizing a CMS (Dato) for client-side modification. Self-taught new tech stack while jumping into large-scale code bases using Vue/Nuxt, Apollo/GQL.

### Retail & Training Leadership – Specialty Coffee Industry @ Various Companies (Boxcar Coffee Roasters, Intelligentsia Coffee)
Jan 2015 – Jan 2020 | Colorado & Texas
Led hiring, onboarding, and training for teams of up to 20+ staff, with a strong focus on consistency, customer experience, and cross-functional communication.

Designed and delivered educational programs for wholesale clients, tailoring content to different learning styles and roles.

Collaborated with product teams (education and roasting) on quality control and seasonal product rollouts.

Earned top placements in national barista competitions, including 6th in the U.S. and 3rd regionally, demonstrating dedication to craft and detail.


## Education
### Turing School of Software & Design

### Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Major: Asian Studies/Civilization Minor: Business Certificate: South Asian Languages/Civilizations
University of Colorado Boulder

### Interaction Design/Graphic Design
Maryland Institute College of Art

### High School
Colorado Academy


## Contact & Social
- LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/em-orendorff-2a2b4987

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Source: https://flows.cv/emorendorff
JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/emorendorff/resume.json
Last updated: 2026-03-29