Steve Kinney

Hi, I’m Steve.

I’m a software engineer, leader, educator, and artist based in Denver, Colorado. Currently, I serve as the Head of Front-End Engineering at Temporal, where I lead a team focused on creating scalable and intuitive user interfaces for orchestrating workflows across complex distributed systems. Over the last 15 years, I’ve taken on various roles—from developer and speaker to mentor and technical leader—each one emphasizing my passion for solving complex problems in a way that empowers both individuals and organizations.

At Temporal, I focus on modernizing UI frameworks and ensuring our products meet the demands of large-scale, distributed environments. I joined Temporal founding front-end engineer and built out the foundation for both our open source and cloud-based experiences. Over the last few years, I have built up the team that supports all of Temporal’s UI, websites, and developer tooling. Previously, I served as the very first Front-End Architect at Twilio and SendGrid — which was acquired by Twilio in 2019 — guiding cross-functional teams toward robust solutions that stand the test of time. These experiences taught me how to build consensus across a large number of teams across the globe and lead through influence, rather than authority. I was also on the architecture team where I collaborated with back-end and experienced distributed systems architectures as we reviewed engineer blueprints and triaged incidents.

My commitment to education runs deep. I started my career as a New York City Teaching Fellow and worked in high-need schools across Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens. I’m a frequent instructor at Frontend Masters, where I teach full-day workshops and share strategies for effective software development—from coding best practices to collaboration techniques. I also founded the Front-End Engineering program at the Turing School of Software and Design, helping emerging software engineers gain a strong foundation in problem-solving and critical thinking—skills that transcend any particular technical stack.

I thrive in leadership roles that merge technical depth with empathetic coaching. I’ve guided teams through everything from front-end optimizations to distributed architecture overhauls, always aiming to foster a culture of continuous learning and open communication. Whether I’m debugging a late-night production issue or aligning stakeholders on a product vision, my goal is to create an environment where innovative ideas can flourish and everyone feels supported. I’ve tried to carefully balance remaining hands-on as an engineer while also cultivating my skills as an effective leader inside of the organization that I’ve worked.

I’ve also made it a point to invest in the communities that I am a part of. I co-founded DinosaurJS, a JavaScript conference — part of the JSConf Family of Conferences — in Denver that brings developers together to share knowledge and spark inspiration. Over the years, I’ve spoken at events like JSConf, RailsConf, and Node Interactive, focusing on practical insights that developers can apply immediately. I’m also the author of “Electron in Action” — though technology often changes faster than any book can keep up and I can’t recommend it anymore, it’s still feels worth mentioning as an example of tackling complex problems through hands-on exploration.

Across all these pursuits, I remain committed to sustainable engineering principles and a learning-first mindset. I’ve taught topics ranging from web security to building programming languages from scratch, and I see my role as both a facilitator and a catalyst for growth. If you share a passion for creating software that solves meaningful problems — and for nurturing the next wave of developers — I’d love to connect and collaborate… ideally with proper error handling in place.