Lead of a team of US and international solution architects (partner engineers) responsible for integration work with strategic partners (Disney, Wynn Hotels, K4Connect, Aiva, etc.) deploying Alexa voice experiences worldwide in hospitality, residential, healthcare, senior living, and business verticalsServe as the voice of our enterprise customers to define Amazon product and engineering prioritization to address customer needs in yearly/quarterly planning cycles. Reprioritized the business in 2020/2021 due to COVID-19 away from hospitality to healthcare and senior living properties, which now represent half of total deploymentsManaged alpha/beta/preview process with strategic partners for new products and new marketsCreated and manage a channel strategy model to increase the scalability of the pipeline by managing relationships with external solution providers, solution integrators, and agencies who implement our technologyLead evangelism for the Alexa Smart Properties product, responsible for creation of software proofs of concept, new tooling, and developer resources like best practice documents and videosAmazon hiring Bar Raiser, 300+ interviews in 5 years, helping hire SDE, SDM, PM, etc. candidates across Amazon

Hired and managed a team of solution architects in the UK responsible for strategic partner integrations with voice experiences, music, and video with customers like: BBC, Pottermore, Bauer Media, Ocado, Sainsburys, Global Radio, TV Guide, Audible, etc.Launched brand-new Alexa features like monetization, screen devices, and on-the-go devices with strategic customers in Europe Served as partner engineer for Audible UK to use Alexa to maximize customer impact and Audible subscriptions.Asked to take on EU tech lead (20+ SA/Evangelist dotted-line ICs) after identifying a technical leadership gap; created a communal set of tools and resources and defined EU SME roles to eliminate redundancy; directly managed 2 EU UX designers to create cross-Europe design standards; participated in EU-wide performance evaluation and coaching of Alexa International employeesDefined organizational health mechanisms to increase engagement and retention and improve quality of feedback including cross-region team trainings and meetings, improved knowledge sharing tools

Developed new tools to scale partner support and monitor in real time for thousands of third-party Alexa skillsReduced load on existing Solution Architects in the broader organization to scale their efforts to focus on high-touch, net-new experiences (+50% estimated time savings)Served as Alexa Skills Kit tech lead for Alexa Spain, Mexico, and Brazil launches working directly with strategic partners and country managers; set technical direction, standards and best practices; and participated in hiring decisions for tech, business, and marketing roles

Manage team of 4-6 direct reports, 6-10 indirect reports; work with project managers to assign resourcing to projects and tasks to reportsDevelop applications with tens of millions of monthly users; manage Google Play Store dashboards for clients; create accurate estimates for these applications based on known information about the project to inform resourcing needs and client expectationsArchitect applications, services, and APIs with cross-platform and cross-company developers and product ownersTackle and resolve problems that have eluded other developers on the teamCreate custom Alexa Skills, custom speech recognition solutionsWork directly with reports to set SMART Goals for the year, review progress throughout the year, as part of the milestone and annual review cycleConduct technical and cultural screens to assess skill level and workplace compatibility, coordinate with HR to schedule other team members for interview rotations and effect hires; create standards and selection criteria for HR to streamline and formalize the interview process to reduce overhead and wasted timeCollaborate with other directors to explore best practices including developing unit and integration test standards; champion the use of open source, proven libraries which improved performance and stability, and reduced development timeWork directly with the business development development team and conduct workshops for US and European clients to create custom, innovation solutions and develop long-lasting business relationshipsExplore new technologies including speech recognition engines, internet of things devices and platforms, Android TV, Android Wear, Android Auto, Amazon Alexa, Microsoft Cognitive Services, and Chromecast to assess application to internal initiatives and client projectsSpeak at company-sponsored events and participate in Hackathons, mixers, and other community events to build relationships with local groups and businesses

Develop and publish more than 20 personal and client applications to the Google Play, Amazon Appstore, Alexa Skills Store, and Blackberry World; applications using a range of technologies: Android mobile, Amazon Alexa, Chromecast, Android Wear, Android TVActively participate in developer communities:- Stack Overflow: http://stackoverflow.com/users/2353588/wblaschko- XDA Developers: http://forum.xda-developers.com/member.php?u=7163036Actively participate in the open source community:- GitHub: https://github.com/willblaschko- BitBucket: https://bitbucket.org/willblaschko/Iterate on existing designs through feature and usability discussions with customers on both phones and tablets, maximizing usability and compatibility while using modular programming techniques to increase expandabilityDeveloped a complete, modern, custom full social media experience Android application in close collaboration with iOS, HTML, Ruby developers and the client’s employees based on best practices and Android design language

Introduced analytics (SEO, visitor) into previous website implementation to analyze user behavior/needs to facilitate planning of MEDEX’s updated website; continued analytics to refine the current website including quarterly performance reports on significant statistics to leadershipResearched current best practices for reaching a diverse audience(traditional computing and mobile), proposed responsive design on a CMS (WordPress) backend to leadership as the most viable option based on capabilities and limitations of available resources and technologyDeveloped a web content strategy in collaboration with leadership based on findings from the analytics and within the constraints of our CMS, web standards, and design paradigm in order to best address the needs of the site’s usersDesigned the current public-facing website based on the outcome of the strategy meetings and continued collaboration and refinement with content owners throughout the processOptimized the website and image and multimedia assets for the majority of devices through fluid layouts and responsive design using best practices, as possible based on resourcesGave trainings on social media best practices, realities, and expectations to the entire department and leadership from the parent department including live demonstrations; gave presentations on current implementations of social media in faculty meetingsCreated a marketing-oriented social media strategy for community outreach & education, application acquisition, and brand promotion. Assisted in the strategy’s implementation, management, and analytics

Communicated with guest lecturers to prepare for 200 lectures annuallyRedesigned the course evaluation process using Excel macros to save 100 hours annuallyCreated Javascript Scantron ParTest to Moodle test conversion tool to save 50 hours annuallyManaged the program’s Blueprint project: directed and facilitated with faculty to create a summative exam of 300 questionsIntegrated Moodle tools with prior HTML/CSS knowledge to create a more secure testing platform

Designed and maintained 20 commercial and community websitesModified an existing ecommerce CMS front-end and back-end to client specificationsCreated and maintained 9 Wordpress CMS templates from scratch to fit custom needsAdvised clients on best practices for content management and presentationRedesigned 4 websites to be mobile-friendly using CMS tools and media queriesDesigned and wrote a mobile-friendly dynamic and interactive website for a live theatrical performance at BumbershootCollaborated with content managers and graphic designers to create a custom package for each client while maintaining cross-browser compatibilityDeveloped timelines and prototypes with clients to ensure clear communication of expectationsFormatted, converted, edited, and published over 30 eBooks using Smashwords and other tools

Photographed engagements and weddingsCreated, maintained, and hosted custom WordPress theme including addons, caching, and media optimizationHosted photos for clients using cloud storage tools and custom front-end galleriesProgrammed and distributed photography apps on the Android and Blackberry platformsExperienced with high-end photography equipment and knowledgeable about photography theory and practice

Completed a 7-month internship with MMI to fulfill an internship requirement the Master's Program.Official mission photographer, updating web albums for promotional purposesWriting and translating bilingual (Spanish/English) correspondenceAssisting in planning of 2-week missions throughout PeruWorking with disabled children at a local orphanageMedical (general medicine and dental) interpretation

Assisted with the opening of the Cervantes Institute (Instituto Cervantes) at the University of Washington.Writing, designing, and sending promotional informationPlanning event space and preparationOfficial event photographer

Worked as an intern in the Mexican consulate as part of an extra-credit community outreach program.Planning and coordinating the visit of President Fox to Seattle, including calling potential attendees (bilingual)Composing, editing, and responding to concerns and questions addressed to the consulate (bilingual)Working with Mexican citizens in need of their government's assistancePerforming assorted clerical work