Hi, I'm Justin Bell
Senior Software Engineer
I build elegant solutions to complex problems, focusing on creating performant and user-friendly applications.
About Me
I'm a Senior Software Engineer with a passion for building scalable systems, streamlining architecture, and shipping thoughtful product features. At The Washington Post’s Arc XP, I solution-designed and shipped features across its most-used applications—Composer, WebSked, and Trident—building and enhancing tools for thousands of internal and client users, powering experiences for tens of millions of downstream users across global sites.
I'm currently on a focused career sabbatical, sharpening my system design and cloud architecture skills as I prepare for the AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate exam. Alongside that, I'm building full-stack applications in crowdfunding, blockchain, and real-time collaboration.
Outside of engineering, I produce music, explore LA’s food scene (and my own kitchen), train with rugby in mind, and cheer on the Lakers, Dodgers, and Eagles. Whether I’m coding or creating, I’m drawn to work that lives at the intersection of technology, creativity, and connection.
Full-Stack Expert
Specializing in React, TypeScript, and AWS cloud services
System Architect
Designing scalable solutions and modernizing legacy systems
Team Leader
Mentoring colleagues and leading technical initiatives
Continuous Learner
Pursuing AWS certification and exploring new technologies
Professional Experience
Career Sabbatical / Professional Development
Self-directed
Los Angeles, CA
- Studying for the AWS Solutions Architect – Associate exam (July 2025 target), with emphasis on core services and distributed systems design
- Modernizing legacy side projects and developing early-stage, potentially monetizable applications in crowdfunding, blockchain, collaborative writing, and user feedback—leveraging full-stack technologies including React, TypeScript, Node, and AWS
Senior Software Engineer
Washington Post (Arc XP)
Chicago, IL & Los Angeles, CA
- Led the complete rebuild of WebSked's List View; refactoring a complex legacy AngularJS CMS to use React, enhancing feature set and ensuring scalability and maintainability
- Crafted numerous React components using Bootstrap, Tailwind and CSS that were adapted into internal component libraries and used Chai, Jest and Cypress for unit, integration and end to end testing of single page applications comprised of said components
- Architected an org-wide, config-free user authorization system simplifying access control across all applications in Node.js and reduced client admin support requests by more than 40%
- Built a Node.js and AWS S3 metadata aggregation tool, providing real-time deployment/configuration visibility for each client instance/environment within Arc XP making CI/CD and container level debugging much easier to reason about
- Developed RESTful APIs, automation scripts, DynamoDB schemas enabling granular role-based access control (RBAC)
- Created a Lambda based, Node.js application that consolidated organization metadata and was used for monthly metering numbers
- Solution designed the ability to append featured media in Arc XP's most used user facing application (Composer) identifying a critical bottleneck in another team's backend service and facilitating a fix to keep the project's release timeline on track
- Acted as lead instructor for numerous "Trident Training Sessions" enabling colleagues across various teams to be confident ambassadors and GitHub reviewers for Trident, an app under our team's purview and the most used backend application at Arc XP
- Regularly performed i18n audits and text/string translation submissions to ensure our applications were fully translated and interpolated for all of our SLA languages and were right to left (RTL) compliant for the requisite languages
- Provided 24/7 rotational on-call support, handling questions in Slack and triaging bugs and support requests
- Implemented CI/CD best practices to oversee and validate numerous feature deployments within the AWS ecosystem, contributing to the setup and maintenance of cloud infrastructure and system health
Frontend Developer
GoFundMe (CrowdRise by GoFundMe)
Los Angeles, CA
- Developed Account Settings and Button Management projects using React, Redux, and modern frontend tools
- Sole frontend developer on the then new Report Center project, leveraging Symfony/Twig, jQuery, and CSS3
- Contributed to platform features, including enabling users to publish and unpublish campaigns
Technical Program Management Fellow
Microsoft (Azure Hybrid Networking ExpressRoute)
Redmond, WA
- Procured, diagrammed, and deployed over $800,000 of networking equipment for Ashburn and Seattle labs
- Optimized team-managed lab intake processes to expedite testing of new features and customer scenarios
Featured Projects
Através
An interactive web application that helps users find and explore the antipode (opposite point on Earth) of any location. Features include real-time map updates, address geocoding, a unique "Message in a Bottle" feature for leaving messages at antipodes, and support for 12 languages.
Coming Soon
A crowdfunding platform with a fun twist.