Abraham Velazquez
Director of Engineering
Engineering leader with 18 years of experience building and scaling product and platform teams at Dropbox and Apple. Led organizations of 60+ engineers delivering multi-product systems powering monetization, developer workflows, and customer lifecycle. Proven track record of driving company-level initiatives, improving execution across 20+ teams, and building platforms that enable new product lines and revenue growth.
Experience
DropboxDirector of Engineering, Core2025 – Present
- Lead a 60+ engineer organization across 4 teams owning multi-product monetization, Admin platform, and Desktop Sync, supporting core revenue systems and customer lifecycle infrastructure.
- Led a 20-team execution reset, introducing the first unified planning and delivery system across Core — enabling measurable execution (>90% on-time delivery).
- Built and launched Dropbox’s first multi-product checkout and monetization platform, enabling Dash and FSS launches and unlocking new self-serve and sales-led revenue streams.
- Scaled Admin Console into a multi-product control plane, enabling provisioning, billing, storage, and lifecycle management across products.
- Improved account security and reduced costs by driving passkey adoption (>20% individuals / >40% teams) and deprecating SMS-based authentication.
- Improved engineering velocity and quality, increasing test coverage to 80%+ and saving 10k+ engineering hours annually through developer experience and reliability initiatives.
- Drove system health initiative across 450+ components, achieving full visibility and coordinated reliability improvements across Core systems.
- Led platform partnerships with Apple and Microsoft, delivering file system infrastructure supporting seamless cross-platform sync experiences.
- Owned hiring systems for all of Dropbox Engineering, improving candidate NPS by 16 points and scaling interviewer effectiveness.
DropboxSenior Engineering Manager (Area Lead)2022 – 2025
- Led a 35+ engineer organization across multiple teams building Admin platform, lifecycle systems, and product-led growth infrastructure.
- Drove double-digit millions in ARR growth through activation, onboarding, and expansion initiatives.
- Led redesign of Admin Console into a scalable multi-product platform, improving customer workflows and retention.
- Reduced infrastructure costs by millions through lifecycle and storage optimization strategy.
- Set technical direction for company-wide initiatives, aligning engineering execution with product, growth, and go-to-market strategy.
- Built leadership bench and hiring systems that increased talent density and engineering effectiveness.
DropboxEngineering Manager2019 – 2022
- Built and scaled a team from 2 → 12+ engineers focused on self-serve revenue growth for SMBs.
- Delivered product and funnel improvements generating tens of millions in incremental ARR, while building foundational systems for long-term self-serve growth.
- Established team operating model, roadmap planning, and cross-functional execution with Product and Design.
DropboxSenior Software Engineer, Tech Lead2016 – 2019
- Technical Lead for redesigned Dropbox desktop experience used by millions of users across Mac and Windows, building a scalable cross-platform architecture enabling rapid iteration.
- Led frontend architecture modernization across core web experiences, improving performance (TTI, latency) and driving increased engagement and usability.
- Built Dropbox’s first design system, accelerating product development and increasing conversion across key user flows.
- Established engineering standards across architecture, testing, and release quality, while contributing to hiring systems that scaled the team and raised the engineering bar.
AppleSenior Front-End Developer2013 – 2016
- Led frontend development for high-profile product launches (iPhone, Apple Music) on Apple.com.
- Advanced performance, accessibility, and mobile-first standards across large-scale web experiences.
- Partnered closely with design and product to deliver high-quality, detail-oriented user experiences.
Earlier Career: Digitas, Critical Mass, R/GA2008 – 2013
- Built web and mobile experiences for global brands (American Express, Samsung, Verizon).
- Led frontend development for early mobile-first and responsive platforms.
- Developed strong foundation in product, design, and user experience systems.
Core Strengths
- Engineering Leadership & Org Design
- Product & Platform Strategy
- Developer Experience & Velocity
- Monetization & Growth Systems
- Execution Systems & Engineering Operations
- Talent Development & Hiring
- Platform & Developer Tooling Strategy
Education & Community
Columbia College Chicago — BFA, Graphic Design & Photography
Board Member, Dev/Mission — non-profit supporting careers in tech