Chris Harris

Chris Harris Email and Phone Number

Vice President Engineering @ VRChat Inc.
Chris Harris's Location
Greater Boston, United States, United States
About Chris Harris

I enjoy solving challenges, particularly with teams and technology and have a track record of helping leaders do their best work. My leadership style is grounded in an agile, iterative approach and focused on continuously delivering value. I have a knack for seeing the big picture, synthesizing information and then helping teams focus on what matters. I tend toward the servant style of leadership because I have seen amazing ideas come from people at all levels. I’ve had the pleasure of fostering the development of managers and engineers across disciplines and levels including directors, VPs and CTOs. I’ve been fortunate to help grow startups to IPO and acquisition and be a part of scaling organizations and technology at large companies.

Chris Harris's Current Company Details
VRChat Inc.

Vrchat Inc.

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Vice President Engineering
Chris Harris Work Experience Details
  • Vrchat Inc.
    Vice President Of Engineering
    Vrchat Inc. Mar 2024 - Present
    San Francisco, Ca, Us
    helping scale social VR experiences
  • Spotify
    Senior Director Of Software Engineering
    Spotify May 2016 - Mar 2024
    Stockholm, Stockholm County, Se
    Engineering leader for the Quest studio at Spotify. Manage a global and diverse team of over 150 technical staff including managers, data, machine learning, applied research, back end, web and mobile engineers. Team leverages AI, machine learning, big data, and human expertise to combine music and talk audio into personalized listening experiences for over 574 million people in more than 180 markets. Products account for over 50% of total consumption time on Spotify globally and include flagship products like The AI DJ, Daylist, Wrapped, Daily Mix, Discover Weekly, Release Radar, Radio, Smart Shuffle, playlist extender and explore feeds.Key accomplishments• Globally launched the first generative AI based product at Spotify, the AI DJ, which combines the best of LLMs, human experts and AI voice technology.• Created and executed a multi-year technical strategy aligned with Spotify’s long term objectives for programming listening experiences at scale leveraging state of the art ML.• Led the transition from a curation first to a recommendation first product by growing personal recommendations from about 15% to over 50% of total Spotify consumption.• Grew the engineering team from about 30 to over 150, dramatically expanding ML and applied research capability and hiring and growing senior leaders up to director level.• Partnered closely with tech research to leverage state of the art technologies including objective balancing, reinforcement learning and generative AI.* Partnered with business leaders to pioneer a new business line that generates hundreds of millions/year.• Drove significant evolution of the Quest studio created the knowledge platform, added personalized recommendations to search and built a voice stack to partner with emerging smart speakers.• Led tech due diligence resulting in the acquisition of Sonantic in 2022 to be the AI voice of Spotify.
  • Invaluable
    Vp Engineering
    Invaluable Jul 2014 - May 2016
    Boston, Ma, Us
    Led and grew the team building an e-commerce marketplace and real time bidding platform connecting millions of online buyers to thousands of auction houses and galleries such as Sotheby’s and eBay. Managed the evolution of the engineering team doubling to over 20 engineers. Introduced agile development practices, scaled engineering to 4 scrum teams and built out the QA and DevOps functions. Enhanced scalability and addressed massive technical debt while continuously delivering business value.
  • Visible Measures
    Svp Engineering
    Visible Measures Mar 2011 - Jul 2014
    Boston, Ma, Us
    Reported directly to the CEO and accountable for all technology including software development, quality assurance, research, technical operations and IT. Managed geographically diverse team of 44 with 6 direct reports. Grew the team from 15 with virtually no attrition. Helped drive agile development practices and break the barriers between development, quality and operations. Oversaw development of the ad server, real time bidding and data platforms that enabled the company to pivot from pure measurement to full ad serving, growing revenues over 20x.
  • Yahoo!
    Director Of Engineering
    Yahoo! Feb 2008 - Feb 2011
    Sunnyvale, Ca, Us
    Led a team of 20 full stack developers building video player experiences and management tools for Yahoo! properties. Supported the transition of the Maven engineering team and systems to the Yahoo! culture and tech stack. Managed engineering teams across 3 locations. Collaborated with product management and strategy to align development priorities with business needs.
  • Maven Networks (Acquired By Yahoo!)
    Director Of Engineering
    Maven Networks (Acquired By Yahoo!) May 2006 - Feb 2008
    Helped navigate successful acquisition by Yahoo! Led the development of an end-to-end white label video platform that enabled large scale web publishers to easily add custom video experiences to their sites and manage large volumes of video content. Grew the team from 7 to 16 full stack developers and adopted agile development practices.

Chris Harris Skills

Agile Methodologies Management Software Development Product Management Software Engineering Scalability Scrum Leadership Saas Enterprise Software Mobile Applications Cloud Computing Mobile Devices Distributed Systems Engineering Management Ruby On Rails Start Ups E Commerce

Chris Harris Education Details

  • Northeastern University
    Northeastern University
    Computer Engineering
  • Northeastern University
    Northeastern University
    Electrical Engineering

Frequently Asked Questions about Chris Harris

What company does Chris Harris work for?

Chris Harris works for Vrchat Inc.

What is Chris Harris's role at the current company?

Chris Harris's current role is Vice President Engineering.

What is Chris Harris's email address?

Chris Harris's email address is ch****@****ers.com

What is Chris Harris's direct phone number?

Chris Harris's direct phone number is +178177*****

What schools did Chris Harris attend?

Chris Harris attended Northeastern University, Northeastern University.

What skills is Chris Harris known for?

Chris Harris has skills like Agile Methodologies, Management, Software Development, Product Management, Software Engineering, Scalability, Scrum, Leadership, Saas, Enterprise Software, Mobile Applications, Cloud Computing.

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