Hi, I'm Emma

I began my engineering journey at college in Albany, New York USA where in 2015 I graduated with a degree in Computer Science and Business.

Following my degree I moved down to Austin, Texas USA where I began as a Frontend Engineer on IBM Spectrum Storage. I led the accessibility audit of the product and implemented fixes to make the apps more inclusive. One year later I joined a design team as the sole engineer where I completed projects like building the IBM Q network site which was aimed at sharing information about IBM's quantum computing initiative.

A few years later I packed up and moved myself and my two cats to Karlsruhe, Germany where I joined GoToMeeting as a Frontend Engineer. After a year of building the product I founded and led a design system which meshed the company's brand identity across it's product suite. I coordinated a team of both designers and engineers to build a component library that served the needs of every product, as well as a style guide to share knowledge and evangelize the system.

In 2020 I moved to Stockholm, Sweden to join Spotify as a Frontend Engineer. I built the Spotify app on desktop and web player for about a year before taking parental leave with my first child. During parental leave I interviewed for an Engineering Manager role on my team, which had expanded and was thrilled to get the role. I managed a team of six engineers, five of whom were senior.

After two years managing the Desktop team I moved to a new department to manage a team of ten Backend and Frontend Engineers with split seniority. We own numerous backend services as well as a frontend web application. This is where I am today!

I started out as a frontend engineer and design systems person, and I moved into management because I found I cared more about how a team works than about any single thing it ships. These days I spend my time coaching engineers, shaping strategy, and trying to make ambiguous work feel tractable for the people doing it.

Along the way I’ve had a career speaking at conferences, creating courses, and hosting podcasts. I also have a few side projects in the works!

I'm an upbeat and optimistic person who loves helping people be the best versions of themselves. I am a lifelong learner, taking courses at Oxford University for fun and reading as many books as I possibly can! (I have at least three books in rotation at any given time!) I have two wonderful children and a great husband. I adore living in Stockholm.