Krista Dotzenrod.
Backend Engineer
I design and ship scalable backend services, data pipelines, and AI-augmented platforms. ~7 years across Spotify, Target, and ad tech.
A bit about me
I'm a results-driven backend engineer with roughly seven years of experience designing and delivering robust, scalable services in fast-moving product companies — Spotify, Target, and a stretch in ad tech (Accenture / Sovrn / Starcom).
Lately I've been building backend infrastructure and AI-augmented platforms — leveraging LLMs, MCP servers, code-generation tools, and intelligent automation to accelerate development velocity and time to production. I care about user-centric products, ethical AI, and leading cross-functional teams from ideation through production.
More about me
What I work with
Backend & Infrastructure
AI Development & Tooling
Languages & Tools
Where I've worked
Backend Engineer / Senior Software Engineer · Spotify
Aug 2021 – Present — New York, NY
- Built core backend services powering Spotify for Artists internal tooling and streaming personalization at the scale of millions of monthly active users.
- Architected the systems powering audiobooks expansion for 80M+ eligible users across multiple countries, focused on content personalization.
- Integrated Claude MCP servers to automate backend service documentation and AI-assisted code-review workflows, improving delivery speed, code quality, and test coverage.
- Lead an observability working group standardizing reliability best practices — SLO tuning, GKE right-sizing, and disaster-recovery exercises. Mentor junior engineers and contribute to hiring & onboarding.
Backend Engineer / Senior Software Engineer · Target
Sep 2017 – Jan 2021 — Minneapolis, MN
- Rotated through two backend teams — inventory management and customer-data pipelines.
- Partnered with product teams to translate business requirements into scalable services and API endpoints.
- Helped build Target advertising tooling in-house on top of third-party APIs.
Support Engineer / Ad Operations Manager · Sovrn / OAO / Starcom
2013 – 2017 — Boulder, CO & Chicago, IL
- Transitioned from ad ops into technical engineering support, troubleshooting high-volume programmatic ad platforms.
- Automated tag-matching scripts in JavaScript, eliminating 20+ hours/week of manual work.
- Built a strong foundation in analytics, tracking, and tag-based ad-tech infrastructure.
Things I've built & where I help
Social-group dating app
A prototype dating experience built around social groups rather than solo swiping — full-stack architecture, mobile shell, and OAuth sign-in.
Lily's Florist — inventory system
Backend schema and REST APIs for a small business to manage inventory and orders — a product-minded look at modeling a real domain.
This site
Personal portfolio built (and rebuilt) quickly with Claude and Cursor for an MSSE project — Next.js, MUI, deployed on Vercel.
Advisor — Women in Leadership with AI-Driven Engagement
Advisory board member for a leadership-development program at Minnesota State University, Mankato — guidance on applying AI to engagement, learning outcomes, and ethical, human-centered decision-making.
When I'm not shipping code
Let's connect
Whether it's a backend problem worth chewing on, an AI-augmented workflow, or just a hello — my inbox is open.