ABOUT

I build things from zero to production.

15+ years of turning vague problems into production systems. Payments, distributed platforms, AI tooling. I prototype fast, validate with real users, and ship things that last.

James Klipp

What I Do

Payments & Money Movement

Designed STP automation with Stripe Connect and NMI. Payment routing, virtual card execution, ACH/Nacha, processor integrations. The systems I've architected process $84B annually.

Distributed Systems

Event-driven architecture, CQRS, saga orchestration, queue-based load leveling. Created a delivery property classification framework adopted across dozens of engineering teams.

AI-Augmented Engineering

I build with AI daily. Claude Code, Cursor, LangChain. Built CareerForge (7,400+ LOC), an AI check template migration tool, and a deployment observability platform syncing thousands of CI/CD pipelines.

How I Work

I prototype first. The STP automation started as a POC I built with NMI to prove automated virtual card execution could work. That POC became production infrastructure processing hundreds of suppliers through automated settlement — and was extensible enough to plug in Stripe Connect with no major change to the architecture.

I write architecture — solution blueprints, RFCs, DR strategies, weighted decision matrices, non-functional requirement specs. I've facilitated 200+ cross-functional design sessions. I evaluate AI output instead of trusting it blindly. The goal is leverage, not autopilot.

What I'm Looking For

Staff or Principal Engineer roles where I can build from zero to production. Payments, fintech, distributed systems, or platform engineering. Remote. High-growth companies that pay for impact.

  • I want to build, not just advise
  • I want to ship things that handle real money at real scale
  • I want a team that values technical depth over title inflation

    • What I Believe

    • The best way to validate an idea is to build it
    • Staff engineers still write code
    • Delivery guarantees determine your architecture, not labels
    • AI tools are multipliers, not replacements
    • Credibility comes from shipping, not from slideware
    • If you can't explain the tradeoff, you haven't made the decision

    Beyond Work

    Fitness

    Conjugate-style powerlifting, basketball, daily training. Progressive overload applies to engineering too.

    Faith & Family

    Grounded in conviction, community, and building things that matter. Hickory, NC.

    Building in Public

    Content creation, technical blogging, YouTube. Sharing the journey through architecture, AI, and compounding progress.

    Let's Connect

    LinkedIn → GitHub → Email →