Jay Cary | Full-Stack Engineer, Software Engineering Manager & Founding Engineer

You're building the future.
I know how to make it scale.

I'm Jay Cary. If you're looking for a full-stack engineer or an engineering manager who can lead teams, architect rock-solid cloud infrastructure, and deliver innovative platforms, we should talk. I focus on what matters most: your users, your market, and the stability of your systems.

Let's build together

The Impact

Results over tech jargon.

You need an engineer who understands the business context just as much as the technical execution. Let's look at the numbers.

12+

Years of Experience

Architecting reliable solutions for the web across various modern stacks and cloud ecosystems.

100+

Cities Empowered

Using community resilience decision platforms I led, driving impactful climate decisions.

$1MM+

ARR Reached

By the petabyte-scale carbon platform I built from concept to production.

Carbon Direct

Platform Software Engineer

The Challenge: Leading a turnaround for a pivotal geospatial analysis platform.

What I Did: I aligned the teams, resolved core technical challenges, and bridged classic data analysis with powerful AI workflows to supercharge efficiency.

Market Representation: Drastically reduced the operational costs of delivering high-quality due diligence reviews for nature-based carbon projects.

Chloris Geospatial

Product Software Engineer

The Challenge: Building a flagship forest monitoring carbon platform from the ground up. (demo video)

What I Did: Set up the entire full-stack cloud infrastructure for the platform, actively managed the cross-functional product roadmap, and established robust team workflows.

Market Representation: Pushed the platform to a petabyte-scale production system, directly securing the company's first $1MM ARR milestone.

Fernleaf

Lead Software Engineer

The Challenge: Providing local governments with accessible data for climate resilience planning.

What I Did: Led the engineering of a suite of critical decision support products, standardizing mapping tools and scaling our data ingestion.

Market Representation: Delivered platforms like AccelAdapt and NOAA's U.S. Climate Explorer, which established the company as a critical partner for over 100 cities planning for climate change.

The Stack

Tools of the trade.

I pick the right tool for the job. From modern data analysis to robust cloud infrastructure and responsive front-ends, here are some of my go-tos.

Python

JavaScript / TS

Rust

React

Node.js

AWS Ecosystem

Docker

PostgreSQL

Terraform

Source: University of Maryland Department of Geographical Sciences (Hansen et al.), USGS, NASA.

Specialized Expertise

Geospatial Data & Web Mapping

I build amazing, interactive, and accurate geospatial visualizations for the web. From analyzing complex spatial datasets using distributed computing to rendering fluid, high-performance web maps, I bridge the gap between rigorous data analysis and incredible user experiences.

Data visual: Global forest cover (cyan) and GHCN ground-based climate sensors (orange) illustrate how vital remote sensing is to fill the gaps in our understanding and ability to manage forest carbon.

Mapbox GL JS / MapLibre

ArcGIS JS API

PostgreSQL / PostGIS

GDAL

Pangeo / Xarray

QGIS / ArcGIS Pro

Do you work with companies outside of climate tech?: Yes. While I have deep experience in climate projects, my core skills in scaling applications, engineering leadership, and working with complex data translate seamlessly to any industry.
Do you have experience hiring and managing?: Yes. As an engineering manager, I have hands-on experience hiring, building, and leading engineering teams to deliver high-velocity, reliable products.
Are you open to relocation?: Yes, for the right opportunity. I'm currently based in Asheville, NC, and appreciate the benefit of overlap with both West Coast and European time zones.
Are you available for freelance or short-term contracts?: No. I'm strictly looking for full-time engineering and management roles where I can take long-term ownership of the product and team.
Do you contribute to open source?: Yes, but highly pragmatically. My focus is on patching and fixing specific bugs in the open-source tools that I rely on during my professional work, rather than casually maintaining separate side projects.

Make Contact

Let's talk about your next project.

Whether you need an individual contributor to tackle complex data challenges or an engineering manager to amplify your team's velocity, I'm ready to get to work.

You're building the future.I know how to make it scale.