Dellean Santos

Joined Caraway, a rapidly scaling e-commerce brand, as a full-stack engineer, working within a fast-paced environment with weekly product releases and high stakeholder involvement.

Help the development of new e-commerce features, maintain existing systems, and support a robust content infrastructure — all while ensuring performance, stability, and scalability.

Spearheaded implementation of features across the stack using Node.js, React, and Next.js.

Played a key role in developing and maintaining reusable UI components that power the site’s content system.

Actively contributed to debugging and resolving platform issues to ensure consistent user experience.

Collaborated with a multidisciplinary and geographically distributed team under agile methodologies (Scrum, retrospectives, dailies, etc.).

Maintained flexibility to adapt quickly to shifting priorities and rapid deployment cycles.

Delivered stable, scalable features on tight weekly release schedules.

Learned that e-commerce is relentless, and success depends on agility and adaptability.

Understood that technical debt is like Tetris — the longer it’s ignored, the harder it becomes to deal with.

Gained deep experience in balancing speed and quality in a high-stakes, customer-facing environment.

As the visionary Chief Technology Officer (CTO), I am the driving force behind our company's technological innovation and advancement. With an unwavering passion for leveraging cutting-edge solutions, I lead the strategic direction of our technology initiatives, ensuring they align seamlessly with our business objectives. My role encompasses overseeing the entire technology landscape, from architectural design to execution, and I play a pivotal part in shaping our company's digital future.

Brought in as a consultant via Ambush to join a cross-functional team at PayPal, tasked with building a SaaS product to improve e-commerce return experiences.

Develop and deliver a full-fledged product return management system ("Happy Returns") that enhances customer satisfaction and provides performance insights — originally estimated to take 2 years.

Collaborated with a highly skilled and autonomous team using React, Golang, Postgres, and REST APIs.

Built both frontend and backend components of the system to support complex return logistics and analytics.

Navigated enterprise-level processes, including rigorous security protocols and testing standards.

Adapted to working in a globally distributed team across multiple time zones and cultural contexts.

Delivered the entire SaaS platform in just 4 months, far ahead of the 2-year estimate.

Launched “Happy Returns,” which streamlined the return process for customers and enabled stores to gather detailed performance data per location.

Maintained high-quality standards while complying with PayPal’s strict enterprise requirements.

Learned that bureaucracy and security protocols are necessary evils in large corporations — patience and adaptability are key.

Gained experience collaborating across time zones and cultures in a high-functioning global team.

Reinforced the value of autonomous, well-structured teams in delivering ahead of schedule without compromising quality.