# Ryan Stecher > Senior Software Engineer at Ginkgo Bioworks, Inc. Location: Greater Boston, United States Profile: https://flows.cv/ryanstecher Nice to meet you! I'm an Ex-Amazonian currently in the automation + biotech space proudly working as a Senior Software Engineer at Ginkgo Bioworks. I'm a full stack developer with expertise ranging from proprietary safety devices at Amazon warehouses to designing a high-throughput liquid transfer web app in the wet lab. My sweet spot is where software meets practical application. ## Work Experience ### Staff Software Engineer @ Ginkgo Bioworks, Inc. Jan 2025 – Present ### Senior Software Engineer @ Ginkgo Bioworks, Inc. Jan 2023 – Jan 2025 | Boston, Massachusetts, United States - Migrated our LIMS system off of ElasticSearch and leveraged the existing MySQL database to save ~$400k/year - Consolidated testing environments across all software teams and scientists, saving an estimated $250k/year - Oversaw the transition of Ginkgo's studio workflow application tool to a new team and trained a team of engineers on the internals. Managed transitioning the jira project, user discussions and created fresh new architecture diagrams to get everyone up to speed. Little time was lost on feature work and we were still able to make our project deadlines during the transition - Extended the liquid transfer application by integrated it with automation for machine parameter validation and execution results reporting while also overseeing to support of more transfer modes like serial dilution - Migrated critical infrastructure from Rancher to Kubernetes with no downtime while serving 100s of lab workers. Also oversaw many database migrations, and separately MySQL, Django, Python, and React major version upgrades and provided guidelines for teams ### Software Engineer 2 @ Ginkgo Bioworks, Inc. Jan 2021 – Jan 2023 - Oversaw a year long project consisting of a series of Ruby on Rails database migration to the Ginkgo LIMS system and new web app interface that reshaped how research assistants track strain engineering with no interruptions to lab work. - Delivered an MVP for redefining how bioworkers in the lab setup high throughput liquid transfers on automation equipment. Consisted of Ruby on Rails changes and creating a brand new React/Redux interface for setting up 10000+ transfers in a single run. The app has been used in over 150,000+ liquid transfers since its inception. - Saw a cost savings opportunity and transitioned an app's database from DynamoDB to Postgres and saved ~$300,000 / year (a 97% cost reduction) - Integrated apps with NewRelic and created dashboards and alerts ### Software Development Engineer @ Amazon Robotics Jan 2017 – Jan 2021 | North Reading, Massachusetts • Technical lead for new critical workflow for inventory movement at new human work cell in Amazon’s robotic transportation network for last-mile delivery. Executed on a vision for the interplay between backend Docker microservices and a RESTful, React-based front end. • Improved the work-from-home experience during COVID-19 by modeling and mentoring my team on pair programming. Documented best practices and drove adoption across teams. • Led a coordinated effort between multiple stakeholders to design a robust, automated firmware update system for a critical safety device at human work cells. The system runs across Amazon’s global fulfillment network and has updated 4.3K safety devices in 15min. • Designed and built an AngularJS web app to manage and configure 10K+ warehouse hardware peripherals. Built AWS ElasticSearch integrations to power fast, searchable configurations. Worked with customers to successfully launch the first robotic package sortation facility. I monitored ramp-up to scale the web app to support 10K+ instances of 100+ unique work cell and device templates. • Managed a full-stack project from start to finish to kick off async jobs to recalculate routing plans at package sortation facilities. Led the project end-to-end, gathered requirements, defined integration points, and devised ways to overcame blockers with other teams. • Certified as a Security Reviewer. Responsible for reviewing other teams’ software solutions (such as a controller for a robotic arm) and validating that their architecture meets the standards of Amazon’s InfoSec bar. ### Research Assistant @ Bucknell University Jan 2016 – Jan 2016 | Lewisburg, PA • Created a multisensory integration test as a web app that will be used by thousands of participants using an AJAX interface with a MySQL/PHP backend • The site features a responsive design that supports all browsers and devices and was built with the Sass CSS preprocessor • Funding awarded through a grant from the Bucknell Geisinger Research Initiative. The data collected from the site will help diagnose autism spectrum disorder in children earlier on. ### Teaching Assistant @ Bucknell University Jan 2014 – Jan 2016 2015: Grader and lab TA for CSCI 205 (Software Engineering) course. 2014: Held weekly office hours and was a TA for lab sessions for the intro CSCI 203 course. Was also responsible for grading homework assignments. ### ITLP EID - DBA Apprentice @ GE Healthcare Jan 2015 – Jan 2015 | AMSTC Van Buren Charter Township, MI • Designed and created a script that utilized AWS’s SDK for Ruby V2 to automatically detect and audit databases that did not meet defined standards. The script also self-corrected a database if needed. • Taking advantage of cloud flexibility, I created a Python script using AWS’s SDK for Python (Boto3) that detects and shuts down idle databases saving $20-$40/database/day. • Wrote Python script that automatically scales databases’ CPU and memory ensuring that databases are consistently operating at a comfortable load • Drove operational velocity by automating the refresh of SQL and Oracle servers in AWS • Remotely lead a programming project for the Raspberry Pi that simplified scheduling a meeting between multiple people. ### Software Engineer Intern @ Braze Jan 2014 – Jan 2014 ### Web Development Intern @ Braze (formerly Appboy) Jan 2013 – Jan 2013 | New York, NY ## Education ### Bachelor of Science (BS) in Computer Science and Engineering Bucknell University ## Contact & Social - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/ryan-stecher-413aab8b --- Source: https://flows.cv/ryanstecher JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/ryanstecher/resume.json Last updated: 2026-03-28