Chris Harlow

Software Architect · Full-Stack Engineer · Technical Leader

13+ years of software development experience spanning full-stack engineering, application architecture, technical leadership, custom business systems, applied AI integration, and production infrastructure. I operate at the intersection of strategy and implementation — I can discuss architecture and business goals with leadership, then design and build the system myself.

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Professional Experience

Chief Technology Officer

May 2026 – Present

Item, Inc.

Leading technology strategy, architecture, and development across the organization's software platform and technical operations. Responsible for engineering direction, infrastructure, AI integrations, and cross-functional technical leadership.

Director of Web Technologies

December 2022 – May 2026

Item, Inc.

Led web platform development, application architecture, and development team direction. Architected and developed full-stack Laravel applications, custom admin portals, and internal tooling. Built and deployed custom MCP servers and LLM integrations with deterministic tool guardrails. Engineered dual-platform WordPress + Laravel architecture separating content authoring from application rendering. Implemented application-level secure asset delivery and built custom detection/blocking middleware for bot and scraping mitigation. Managed server infrastructure, WHM/Apache environments, DNS, SSL, and security hardening.

Corporate Technology Developer

June 2022 – December 2022

Biltmore Estate

Corporate web development across the estate's digital properties with substantial React development. Built custom WordPress plugins and Gutenberg blocks, and developed responsive interfaces backed by REST API endpoints. Performed accessibility audits and remediation, built Figma UI prototypes, and worked within AWS deployment environments.

Project Manager

March 2022 – May 2022

coach.today

Managed remote development teams, coordinated client communication, and kept features aligned with project needs. Structured workflows, delegated technical tasks, introduced agile practices, and improved CRM visibility for project and client data.

Freelance Web Developer

February 2018 – June 2022

Cyber Leviathan

Delivered full-project-lifecycle web development directly for clients, managing the complete project lifecycle independently. Handled business requirements gathering, mockup creation, technical planning, full-stack development, production deployment, maintenance, and client support.

Web Designer

May 2021 – November 2021

Mosaic Learning

Converted Adobe XD mockups into functional, accessible WordPress sites. Built modular CSS and custom themes with an emphasis on performance and maintainability, integrated analytics, handled technical SEO improvements, and collaborated in agile teams using Jira, Basecamp, and Smartsheet.

Core Competencies

Engineering

React, JavaScript, PHP, Laravel, MySQL, WordPress, HTML5, CSS/SCSS, REST APIs, database design, application architecture, Vue.js

AI & Automation

MCP server development, LLM integration, agentic workflows, AI tool orchestration, deterministic AI systems, workflow automation

Architecture

System architecture, API design, database design, security architecture, application integration, scalability, infrastructure planning

Leadership

Technology strategy, developer mentoring, cross-functional leadership, vendor collaboration, requirements translation, technical planning

Infrastructure

VPS/server administration, Apache/WHM, SSL/DNS, CI/CD, security hardening, performance optimization, bot mitigation

Web Quality

Technical SEO, accessibility, Core Web Vitals, performance optimization, security testing