Get to know the next addition to your team
About me.
Before we proceed any further, I must get one thing out in the open. I once declared a variable as:
long long ago // in a galaxy far, far away
Now that we have that out of the way, I am Kartik Chinda, a product engineer.
From DRDO to DigitalSchmeide Bayern, UWaterloo, and Web3 startups, I’ve had the chance to work on projects across continents, collaborating with teams around the world, winning hackathons, contributing to open-source, and publishing three research papers (a fourth is in progress!). Along the way, I’ve built high-performance, scalable web applications, designed end-to-end product features, and delivered production-ready solutions that drive user engagement, adoption, and measurable impact. At Birdeye, I take full ownership of frontend and full-stack features, turning complex APIs, AI systems, and dashboards into intuitive, revenue-critical products. I love building cool stuff end-to-end, learning from new challenges, and transforming ideas into impactful, user-focused experiences.
When I am not creating the most visually stunning websites with crisp, clear logic, or writing the most hilarious git commit messages, you can find me engrossed in literature, planning a trip to the nearest hidden jewel in the arms of nature, or at the movies.
A glimpse into my professional journey
Work Experience.
Software Frontend Engineer
Birdeye
Feb 2025 - Present- Led frontend development for Yelp integration across single-account and reseller workflows, enabling scalable review aggregation across thousands of customer locations.
- Architected and implemented SEO-enabled SSR widgets using Next.js, improving search rankings by ~40% and converting widgets into a premium revenue product with 10,000+ active adoptions.
- Took end-to-end ownership of the widget platform including architecture, implementation, optimization, and feature delivery.
- Optimized the reviews module (core product contributing ~90% of revenue), achieving ~10× faster rendering during high-frequency actions such as replying to reviews.
- Designed and built client-facing analytics dashboards to monitor API usage, quotas, and metrics in real time.
- Collaborated with backend and NLP teams to integrate AI-powered agents for automated customer engagement and analytics.
Software Engineer
DERA
May 2024 - Present- Integrated Web3 smart contracts into frontend applications using Next.js, TypeScript, Wagmi, RainbowKit, and Ethers.
- Improved Lighthouse performance from 52 → 95, delivering ~82% performance gains through UI optimization.
- Designed and managed CI/CD pipelines on AWS Amplify for a scalable production monorepo.
- Refactored Next.js codebases to improve performance, maintainability, and scalability, enforcing best practices through code reviews.
- Implemented Atomic Design systems and Storybook, accelerating UI development and consistency.
- Built Next.js API routes and a relay backend integrating with a VPC-hosted backend via custom Rust services.
Research Scholar
University of Waterloo, Canada (MITACS-GRI)
June 2023 - August 2023- Designed and prototyped a platform to reduce spoiler content on social media, applying user-centered design and survey-driven analysis.
- Conducted qualitative and quantitative research, translating insights into interactive frontend prototypes.
- Built high-fidelity UI/UX designs using Figma, improving usability and user engagement.
- Gained hands-on experience in frontend development, prototyping, and user testing, reinforcing UX-driven design and interaction workflows.
Software Development Engineering Intern
DigitalSchmeide Bayern, Munich
May 2022 - August 2022- Contributed to a secure internal communication platform for German Ministry staff, building responsive UI components with React.js, Redux, CSS and integrating REST APIs using Node.js and Express.js.
- Developed and tested backend API endpoints and data flows, ensuring reliability, security, and maintainability in a PERN stack environment.
- Participated in Agile sprints, collaborating with cross-functional teams to deliver incremental features.
- Conducted usability interviews and iterative testing to refine the frontend UX.
- Managed version control and CI/CD processes via GitHub Workflows.
Researcher
Defense Research and Development Organization of India (DRDO)
June 2021 - December 2021- Conducted applied research on Quantum Computing, Cryptography, Internet of Behavior, and Sentiment Analysis.
- Implemented algorithms and data pipelines using Python, prototyping models for research and national security applications, and synthesized insights from academic papers and experiments into weekly technical reports.
- Proposed applications of advanced computational and behavioral technologies to support data analysis and decision-making workflows.
Gettin' my hands dirty
Projects on display.
Jack of all trades,
Master of some.
C
C++
JavaScript
TypeScript
HTML
Rust
React.js
Next.js
Tailwind CSS
GSAP
Storybook
Atomic Web Design
MERN
T3
Prisma
tRPC
Zod
PostgreSQL
MongoDB
AWS Amplify
Wagmi
Ethers
RainbowKit
Figma
Git
Nx Monorepo
Redux
Narcissism begets humility, so
Here's what others have to say.
"Kartik is a joy to work with. He is hardworking and persistent, making sure to deliver the work assigned to him completely and on time. When there are things he doesn't know how to do yet, he is eager to learn and is fast on the pickup. Aside from his technical skills, he also has excellent soft skills. He deals with issues and provides constructive feedback tactfully, all while maintaining a positive outlook. Kartik is an indispensable team player and any software team will be lucky to have Kartik on the team. "
Kirsten Hipolito
Analytics Engineer, Feld M
"I had the opportunity to work with Kartik as his product manager. In the team, he took a lot of initiative and responsibility and thus decisively advanced the product. He also transferred his great motivation and persistence to the others, helping people with their issues, technical or design. He has the ability to explain complex technical topics in such a way that they can be understood even without SE background. It has been an honor to work with Kartik, and I wish him nothing but success on his future endavours."