Kanad Gupta
Summary
Senior Product Engineer with 7+ years owning API- and JavaScript-centric developer products. Strong at zero-to-one development, designing intuitive developer tooling, and executing quickly in startup environments. Deep experience with TypeScript, Node.js, and OpenAPI, with a track record of driving product adoption and leading small teams.
Experience
- Senior Product Engineer
- Ideated, scoped, and led engineering efforts for OAuth 2.0 support in the API playground, unblocking access for 25% of enterprise customers within 2 months.
- Optimized client and backend performance for large OpenAPI files (up to 10MB), cutting load times and eliminating redundant parse/validate/dereference cycles via selective dereferencing and result caching.
- Architected React/Zustand client-side state management for interactive API products (e.g., API playground, OpenAPI visual editor); closed dozens of customer issues and significantly improved internal developer experience.
- Owned a major API and CLI rewrite addressing customer feedback and new roadmap requirements; drove org-wide alignment on API design standards, data models, and documentation.
- Coached small teams (1–3 engineers/designers) on technical and product development, delivering several cross-functional projects on tight deadlines.
- Introduced Zod, Fastify, and Vercel’s
aiSDK into internal TypeScript/OpenAPI workflows to increase type safety and shipping velocity. - Ran internal and customer-facing office hours and product trainings to drive adoption of advanced platform features.
- Developer Advocate
- Established ReadMe’s first Developer Advocate role to support the developer ecosystem and lead technical marketing and enablement initiatives.
- Drove engineering, product, marketing, and education efforts for
rdme, ReadMe’s official API client and CLI, resulting in nearly a 10× increase in developer adoption over two years. - Led major improvements to
rdme, including:- Expanded distribution options by adding first-class GitHub Actions support and a self-serve onboarding flow; grew GitHub Actions adoption from zero to ~50,000 weekly downloads.
- Optimized Docker image sizes, reducing build times by ~90% and saving customers thousands of dollars in CI costs.
- Partnered with organizations including Amazon, GitHub, 1Password, and the OpenAPI Initiative on co-marketing and technical integrations; produced blog posts, tutorials, documentation, and webinars.
- Produced ReadMe’s first ever recurring customer changelog, the Owlet Weekly Update, serving as primary author for three years and establishing internal guidelines for technical and marketing communications.
- Full Stack Engineer
- Built and maintained several key collaboration- and security-focused product features, including Slack integrations, suggested edits workflows, and two-factor authentication.
- Contributed across the stack, including React component libraries, MongoDB query performance optimizations, and Cloudflare SSL certificate infrastructure.
- Authored launch documentation and blog content to support feature adoption and customer education.
- Analytics Consultant
- Performed data analysis using Python and Excel on regulatory reports for major financial institutions to meet regulatory compliance requirements and minimize financial and operational risk.
ReadMe
Deloitte
Skills
TypeScript Node.js OpenAPI / Swagger JSON Schema Express Fastify Hono Zod GitHub Actions React Zustand GitHub Copilot MongoDB Docker Heroku Render Fly.io Vercel Shell Python SQL Git Twilio Stripe
Selected Projects
- MN Precinct Finder
- REST API and lightweight web interface for locating Minnesota voting precincts and electoral boundaries. Designed for portability across JavaScript runtimes and deployment providers. Integrated with Google Maps and Twilio SMS APIs.
Node.jsTypeScriptCloudflare WorkersHonoFly.ioDockerGoogle Cloud APIsTwilioVitestNock -
rdme - Official ReadMe CLI and GitHub Action for syncing Markdown and OpenAPI content to ReadMe projects. ReadMe’s most widely adopted developer tool. Distributed via the
npmregistry and the GitHub Actions Marketplace.Node.jsTypeScriptGitHub ActionsDockeroclifRollupVitestNock - Glitch Sync
- GitHub Actions workflow for syncing repository contents to Glitch projects.
Node.jsTypeScriptGitHub ActionsVitestMock Service Worker - Developer Dashboard Quick Start
- End-to-end walkthrough video for integrating APIs with Developer Dashboard, one of ReadMe’s most complex products. Owned engineering, script, recording, and editing.
- Helping Your Users Write Succinct API Calls With
api - Technical deep dive on
api(ReadMe’s open-source SDK generator) covering API design patterns, industry SDK trends, and developer experience philosophy.
Education
- University of Minnesota, Bachelor of Science, Computer Science Sep 2012 - May 2016
- University of Minnesota, Bachelor of Science in Business, Management Information Systems Sep 2013 - May 2016