Carlos Castro

Experience

Sixteen years on the web.

I’ve spent my career on the web at Netflix, PayPal, and consultancies in Tijuana and Los Angeles before that: leading small teams through hard deadlines, and building the shared pieces other engineers depend on.

Netflix

2021–now

  1. Senior Software Engineer, Games Web

    2021–now · San Diego, CA

    Leading technical initiatives for Netflix's gaming platform and web experiences, driving architecture decisions, and mentoring engineers across multiple high-impact projects.

    • Technical lead for the logged-in Netflix.com experience, setting the technical direction for features members use to find what to watch.
    • Created the first GraphQL client in the Netflix website monorepo, now adopted by 4+ applications, and served on committees that review GraphQL schemas and API best practices.
    • Part of the small tiger team that launched the Tudum global website.
    • Helped plan the first cohort of new graduates: technical materials, a specialized bootcamp, and guidelines for selecting mentors.
    • Worked on the main Netflix consumer application for smart TVs.

    Case studyNetflix’s first live event, on the web

PayPal

2014–2021

  1. Staff Software Architect 2

    2020–2021 · San Jose, CA

    Architected solutions for PayPal.com across backend and frontend, designing integrated solutions using headless CMS and Server Driven UI.

    • Architected PayPal.com pages built from a third-party headless CMS and server-driven UI, getting campaigns to market faster and saving millions in development costs.
    • Led six frontend engineers in rebooting the UI component library with TypeScript, React, CSS Modules, and GraphQL.
    • Architect for the web team across backend and frontend, designing solutions for the PayPal home page, which receives millions of unique visitors per year.

  2. Staff Software Engineer 2

    2019–2020 · San Francisco Bay Area

    Led frontend architecture for multiple teams including Billing and Developer Documentation, driving accessibility and performance improvements.

    • Engineering lead for PayPal UI, the design system for every customer-facing PayPal app on Web, iOS, and Android, used by roughly 90% of consumer apps; grew the team from a product manager and me to eight engineers.
    • Created the design tokens strategy and the NPM, CocoaPods, and Gradle delivery that turned it into packages for each platform.
    • Frontend architect for Billing and for Developer Documentation, two teams of ten, leading features, accessibility, and performance.
    • Launched a redesigned developer dashboard with a clear split between Sandbox and Production, and presented initiatives to C-suite leaders for funding.

    Case studyCreating a design system for PayPal’s customer-facing applications

  3. Staff Software Engineer

    2016–2019 · San Francisco Bay Area

    Created PayPal.com's Design System and successfully introduced React to a team of 50+ engineers.

  4. User Interface Engineer

    2015–2016 · San Francisco Bay Area

    Developed and managed corporate sites and marketing campaigns, including creating an in-house blogging tool.

    • Sites included About, Jobs, Stories, and Investor Relations; the blogging tool’s frontend was built in React.

  5. Full Stack Engineer

    2014–2015 · San Francisco Bay Area

    Worked on Merchant Signup Platform handling thousands of new merchants monthly across the world.

Sibatel

2014–2016

  1. Software Engineer

    2014–2016 · Greater Los Angeles Area

    Web Development Consulting for various companies.

Tekmexico

2013–2014

  1. Software Engineer

    2013–2014 · Tijuana, Mexico

    Web Development Consulting.

INDEBC

2010–2013

  1. Software Engineer / Systems Administrator

    2010–2013 · Tijuana, Mexico

    IT Department member handling systems, development, and support.

Education

Computer Engineering

Universidad Autónoma de Baja California · Baja California, Mexico

Case studies

Deeper write-ups of selected projects, with more surfacing soon.

  1. Netflix, 2023

    Netflix’s first live event, on the web

    Technical lead for the web experience of Chris Rock: Selective Outrage, the first live event Netflix ever streamed.

    Live broke assumptions the site had always made. A title could now change state in front of the member (upcoming, then live, then over), and the billboard, buttons, and badges had to change with it, in place, the moment the show started. Nothing on the web had done that before.

    OutcomeBrought live streaming to Netflix on the web, with a smooth launch

  2. PayPal, 2019–2020

    Creating a design system for PayPal’s customer-facing applications

    Engineering lead for PayPal UI, the design system for every PayPal app customers use (consumer, merchant, and checkout) on Web, iOS, and Android.

    The inconsistency was everywhere: navigation, links, typography, spacing, and color all changed from one app to the next. Buttons were the clearest example. Padding, corner shapes, shades of blue, and hover effects all varied, and the running joke was that PayPal had hundreds of buttons.

    OutcomeTeams stopped rebuilding the basics: roughly 90% of consumer apps on shared components