Kaz Schmanski

Hey! I'm a software engineer based in Minnesota who loves building things that are clean, useful, and well-considered.

I work at the intersection of technology and community, whether that's writing software professionally or volunteering my skills to organizations I care about. I'm currently a board member at Upper Midwest Trail Runners, where I'm helping modernize the website and improve how the org serves its members.

Outside of work, you'll find me on the trails with one of my numerous run clubs. I started trail running in 2024 and ran my first ultra in 2025, and since then I've been hooked.

I'm interested in how technology can serve people better, particularly in community, nonprofit, and local contexts where good software often doesn't reach.

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Experience

Senior Software Engineer

Wellspring Worldwide

Design and maintain a custom MVC-based PHP web application framework enabling hundreds of client-specific plugins, improving system extensibility and long-term maintainability.
Design and implement custom integrations with external platforms including Google, AWS, SumoLogic, Okta, and US government agency systems, ensuring secure and reliable data exchange.
Architect CI/CD pipelines using Jenkins and Groovy to automate deployments, security scanning, and frontend testing, reducing manual engineering effort and increasing release reliability.

2019 – Present

Consultant

West Monroe Partners

Developed ETL packages on client data platform using SSIS, ingesting over 200 sources of data per day.
Created functions, stored procedures, and database objects to manipulate data in PostGres and SQL Server.
Developed a dashboard in QlikView for a call center client and migrated features from previous legacy tool.

2016 – 2017

Education

M.S. Computer Science

DePaul University

2018 – 2021

B.S. Mathematics & Economics

University of Minnesota

Summa Cum Laude

2012 – 2016

Skills

PHP JavaScript Python Java SQL HTML / CSS Git Jenkins

View full resume (PDF)

Selected Work

UMTR Website Redesign Web Development

Modernizing the website for Upper Midwest Trail Runners, a nonprofit trail running organization. Rebuilding page templates within WildApricot using custom HTML and CSS, introducing a component-driven design system aligned with the UMTR brand.

UltraSignup Waitlist Tracker Automation

A tool I created to automatically email you your place on an UltraSignup event waitlist. Uses PHP to scrape the waitlist page, parse the HTML for the target name, and emails the place in line.

I take on freelance projects for small businesses, nonprofits, and individuals who need thoughtful, well-built web work.

What I can help with

Website Design & Build

Clean, fast, mobile-friendly sites from scratch or working within existing platforms like WildApricot, Squarespace, or WordPress.

Custom HTML & CSS

Polishing and extending existing sites with custom components, layout improvements, and responsive design work.

Web App Development

Lightweight tools, dashboards, or interactive features built with modern JavaScript and a focus on simplicity.

Nonprofit & Community Orgs

Especially interested in working with mission-driven organizations where good technology can make a real difference.

I keep my project load small and prefer working closely with clients over a longer relationship rather than quick one-off handoffs. If you have something in mind, I'd love to hear about it.

Get in touch