Good defaults, fewer decisions, faster teams…
I'm Daria Calwell — a platform engineer working where frontend architecture meets build, deploy and developer tooling. I design the shared architecture, modular deploys and CI that let many teams move independently, and fast.
- Pull requestopened by any team
- BuildTurborepo · only what changed
- TestVitest + Cypress · 4 shards
- Previewephemeral env · pr-214
- ShipS3 + CloudFront · independent deploy
Good defaults, built in.team decides: what · platform decides: how
Problems worth a platform.
Each started as something slowing many teams down at once. Pick one to read how it went.
Performance · 01 / 05
UI load time: 14s → 2.5s
Scope · User-facing
- The problem
- The UI took 14 seconds to load.
- What I did
- Benchmarked real UI metrics with Chrome DevTools and Lighthouse to see what users actually felt.
- Fixed what the numbers pointed to, one bottleneck at a time.
- Outcome
- Load time down to 2.5 seconds.
CI/CD · 02 / 05
An environment for every pull request
Scope · Multi-team pipeline
- The problem
- Build, test and deploy were coupled, so feedback on a change was slow for a multi-team platform.
- What I did
- Implemented ephemeral PR environments with automated build, deploy and teardown.
- Built multi-stage pipelines with S3-based artifacts to decouple build, test and deploy.
- Parallelized Cypress with sharding, added conditional jobs and dependency caching; led the Jest → Vitest migration.
- Outcome
- Shorter CI runs and faster feedback on every pull request.
Frontend architecture · 03 / 05
From one deploy to many
Scope · Org-wide platform
- The problem
- One monolithic frontend deployment meant teams blocked each other on every release.
- What I did
- Split it into modular, independently deployed applications on S3 + CloudFront, Turborepo and CI/CD.
- Introduced Terraform and GitHub Actions for infrastructure as code.
- Outcome
- Teams release on their own schedule, with better scalability and release velocity.
Platform foundations · 04 / 05
A starter architecture teams actually adopt
Scope · Adopted across teams
- The problem
- Teams needed a consistent, production-ready starting point for new applications.
- What I did
- Built a reusable starter architecture with the good defaults baked in.
- Designed a micro-frontend architecture with CI/CD pipelines and observability (Datadog, Rollbar) included.
- Outcome
- Adopted across teams as the default foundation for new work.
Systems integration · 05 / 05
Astra DB × watsonx.data
Scope · Cross-product, cross-org
- The problem
- Two separately built products had their own identity, org and provisioning flows.
- What I did
- Spearheaded the UI integration of Astra DB with watsonx.data.
- Worked with backend teams on API design, auth flows and system contracts.
- Outcome
- Identity, org mapping and provisioning aligned across both products.
Where I add leverage.
The areas I get pulled into most, and the tools I reach for.
Frontend architecture
Application structure, state and GraphQL integration patterns for multi-tenant control-plane UIs.
- React
- TypeScript
- GraphQL
- Node.js
- Design systems
- Micro-frontends
Build & deploy platform
Modular, independently deployable apps with CI/CD, caching and infrastructure as code.
- Turborepo
- Webpack
- GitHub Actions
- AWS CDK
- Terraform
- S3 + CloudFront
Developer tooling & AI
Internal tools that give engineers time back, including an AI assistant built with LangChain and GPT.
- LangChain
- OpenAI
- Unstructured
- Vitest
- Cypress
Infra-aware frontend
Caching, performance, auth and observability treated as part of the UI, not an afterthought.
- Datadog
- Splunk
- Rollbar
- OIDC / JWT / SSO
- AWS
Technical leadership
Setting technical direction, partnering with product and backend on API contracts, and growing engineers into system thinkers.
- Technical strategy
- API design
- Cross-functional alignment
- Mentorship
- Talks
Where I've been.
2019 — now
2026 — NowSenior EngineerDeveloper Portal · Workday
2024 — 2026Tech Lead / Staff UI LeadAstra DB Control Plane (Frontend Platform) · IBM / DataStaxLed the control-plane UI for a serverless database and moved it from one monolithic deploy to independently shipped apps.React · TypeScript · GraphQL · Turborepo · AWS
- Led engineering for the Astra DB control plane UI, a multi-tenant frontend platform for provisioning and managing a serverless database
- Drove the move from a monolithic deployment to modular, independently deployed apps (S3 + CloudFront, Turborepo, CI/CD)
- Owned frontend system design and technical direction: application structure, state management and GraphQL integration patterns
- Spearheaded UI integration with watsonx.data, aligning identity, org mapping and provisioning across systems
- Established best practices for infra-aware frontend development: caching, performance and observability
- Mentored engineers and partnered with product and backend teams on API design, auth flows and system contracts
2021 — 2024Senior Software EngineerFrontend Platform Engineering · Guild EducationBuilt frontend platform foundations, including a starter architecture adopted across teams.React · TypeScript · GraphQL · AWS CDK · GitHub Actions · Turborepo
- Built and scaled frontend platform foundations, including a reusable starter architecture adopted across teams
- Designed a modular deployment system (S3 + CloudFront + CI/CD) improving release velocity and reliability
- Led the migration from a monolith to independently deployable services and micro-frontends
- Developed internal tools, including an AI-powered chatbot using LangChain + GPT for developer productivity
2021Tech LeadAstra DB UI Platform · DataStaxLed the Astra DB UI: network security, private connectivity and multi-region features.React · GraphQL · Kubernetes · Datadog · TypeScript
- Led development of the Astra DB UI for managing cloud-native databases
- Delivered network access controls, private connectivity setup and multi-region configuration
- Facilitated architecture discussions and guided scalable frontend patterns
2019 — 2021Tech LeadFrontend Architecture · Kin + CartaLed frontend architecture for enterprise applications and mentored engineers.React · Redux · REST · Cypress · Jest · Docker · Apollo
- Led frontend architecture for enterprise applications, focused on scalability, performance and maintainability
- Introduced functional programming patterns and improved overall code quality
- Mentored engineers and guided technical decisions across projects
Talks & community
- State MachinesReact Denver
- React Architecture overviewMagellan dev team
- Why JavaScript?Galvanize reunion
Education
- Web Development ImmersiveGalvanize
- BA, English · French · Education