Kyle Klink — full-stack developer · ecommerce platforms
I build the machinery behind modern storefronts.
Product pages, platform integrations, and the unglamorous logic that makes commerce actually work — on Shopify, Optimizely, React, and .NET. Built faster than it used to be, because I direct coding agents the way a lead directs a team: precise briefs, hard constraints, and review on every line.
day job — consultant at XCentium · side gig — primary dev, DripDrop.com
demo-storefront / pdp
Hydration Mix — Lemon Lime
Price 2
$22.99$1.44/serving
under the hood
storefront.boot → ok
metafields.flavor_matrix → loaded
1 liquid + metafields · 2 variant pricing · 3 dataLayer + fulfillment — a toy fragment; the real ones are below
Currently
XCentium — Developer/Consultant on enterprise commerce implementations
Side gig
DripDrop — primary developer for the DripDrop.com Shopify storefront
Certified
3× Optimizely developer certifications · Shopify fundamentals
Method
Agents in the loop, engineering judgment on top
Selected work
Seven commerce implementations across three platforms — DTC and B2B, storefronts and portals. The index below; full case studies one click deeper.
- DripDropShopify · primary storefront developerPrimary developer for DripDrop.com — the storefront, the product page logic, and the integration mesh that keeps orders moving.
- Sky River CasinoOptimizely CMS 12 · lead frontend developerLead frontend on a CMS 12 implementation and Phase 2 of the Player Portal Dashboard — accessible, CMS-driven UI for a casino resort.
- Midland Industries / Midland PaperOptimizely Configured Commerce · developer / consultant
- Electric Motor ShopOptimizely Configured Commerce · developer
- Konami Card PortalOptimizely Configured Commerce · developer
- Burmax / Product ClubOptimizely Configured Commerce · developer
- FleetPrideSalesforce Commerce · frontend developer
Working with agents
AI writes a lot of my first drafts now. What it doesn't do is decide what to build, whether the plan is sound, or what merges. Walk the stages — the interesting part is what stays human.
“The differentiator isn't access to AI. It's knowing how to direct it, constrain it, validate it — and combine it with engineering judgment.”
Understand
01 / 08Define the actual problem before anyone — human or agent — writes code.
stays human
- Owns the intent: what this is for, who it serves, what done means
- Sets acceptance criteria and non-goals
goes to the agent
- Summarizes tickets, threads, and prior art into a working brief
- Surfaces ambiguities worth resolving before work starts
The expensive mistake in software is building the wrong thing well. Agents make code cheap — which makes getting the intent right matter more, not less.
intent brief
goal: pack-size selector respects flavor availability
done-when: OOS combinations are unselectable, not hidden
non-goal: redesigning the variant picker
The stack, as a system
Not a badge wall. Select a technology to see where it shows up — the dots mark what it ships alongside in real projects.
Commerce & CMS— The platforms — where the specialization lives
Frontend— What customers touch
Backend & Data— What holds it together
AI Tooling— The force multiplier
Operations— The surrounding machinery
= certified developer
How I got here
A decade leading production in manufacturing, then a deliberate rebuild into software. Nothing on this path was accidental — and nothing from the first act went to waste.
2011
Lead Painter / Production Lead · LMI Manufacturing
Over a decade on a production floor, finishing as a lead. Manufacturing teaches things a bootcamp can't: process discipline, root-cause troubleshooting under time pressure, quality standards that hold at volume, and leading a team through all of it. None of that expired when the tools changed.
+ gainedProcess thinkingTroubleshootingQuality at volumeTeam leadership2022
IT Software Developer, AAS
The deliberate pivot. A software development degree pursued while working — not a shortcut into tech, a rebuild of the foundation: programming fundamentals, databases, and the discipline of shipping working software.
+ gainedProgramming fundamentalsSQL & databasesJavaWeb foundations2023
Associate Developer · XCentium
First consulting role, straight into enterprise B2B commerce — Optimizely Configured Commerce, Spire, React, TypeScript, and .NET, on real client implementations across manufacturing, gaming, and distribution.
+ gainedReact & TypeScriptC# / .NETOptimizely Configured CommerceClient delivery2024
Developer / Consultant · XCentium
Promoted in roughly twelve months, and still the day job today. The work deepened with the title: lead frontend on Sky River Casino's CMS 12 build and Player Portal, full-stack Configured Commerce engagements, Salesforce Commerce component work, and three Optimizely developer certifications along the way.
+ gainedOptimizely CMS 12Frontend leadershipAccessible UI at scalePlatform certifications2025
Web Developer / Ecommerce Platform Specialist · DripDropside gig
The side gig, run alongside the XCentium day job: primary developer for DripDrop.com — Shopify, Liquid, and the full integration mesh: fulfillment, ERP, analytics, consent, TikTok Shop. And a working method rebuilt around coding agents: planning, implementing, and reviewing with AI in the loop, against a live storefront.
+ gainedShopify & LiquidDTC operationsIntegration architectureAgentic developmentNow
Commerce engineering, at the intersection
Enterprise commerce consulting at XCentium by day, a DTC Shopify storefront at DripDrop on the side — working where ecommerce platforms, full-stack engineering, and AI-assisted development meet, with the judgment to know which of the three solves the problem in front of me.
Paper trail
Published platform writing and formal certifications — the parts of expertise that leave receipts.
Technical writing — XCentium engineering blog
Introducing XCentium's Custom Components for Optimizely CMS
Announcing a set of reusable custom components built for Optimizely CMS implementations.
Optimizely CMS · Component architecture
Navigating the Shift: From Classic to Spire CMS
What actually changes when a Configured Commerce implementation moves from the Classic frontend to Spire — and how to plan the migration.
Configured Commerce · Spire · Migration
XCentium Mini Cart
A mini cart component for Configured Commerce storefronts: design decisions and implementation.
Configured Commerce · UX
XCentium Slideshow: New Feature for Optimizely's Slideshow Widget
Extending Optimizely's slideshow widget with full-width backgrounds and richer content fields for editors.
Configured Commerce · Editor experience
Certifications
- Optimizely Configured Commerce Certified DeveloperOptimizely
- Optimizely SaaS CMS Certified DeveloperOptimizely
- Optimizely Certified CMS DeveloperOptimizely
- Shopify Development FundamentalsShopify
Three developer certifications across the Optimizely platform family, plus Shopify development fundamentals — both halves of the commerce work above.
Contact
Working on something in commerce? Email is the fast path.
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