Christopher Knight
Founder. Engineer. Builder.
I'm an anthropologist turned programmer based in Denver. I build products that matter, and I'm fascinated by the intersection of technology, human behavior, and business.
Currently, I'm building Hazzard, cited hazard risk assessment for local government emergency management. I'm also involved as a fractional CTO consultant at 2nd Summit, helping startups build and scale their engineering teams.
Previously, I was a Forward Deployed Engineer at Palantir, and led engineering at Guild Education (data integration for 60+ Fortune 500 companies) and Xero (developer platform serving thousands of integrations). I've been building on the web since 2010.
Have a project in mind?
I'm available for fractional CTO consulting and technical advisory work.
Contact me on LinkedIn
Career timeline
Founder
Building cited hazard risk assessment software for local government emergency management. Hazzard reads plans and records, drafts assessments of likelihood, impact, and readiness, and keeps them current as new evidence arrives.
Fractional CTO
Helping startups build and scale their engineering organizations. Strategy, architecture, and hands-on technical leadership.
Palantir Technologies
2025 — 2026Forward Deployed Engineer
Forward Deployed Engineer on Foundry, AIP, and OSDK. Client work included Sierra Nevada Corporation (engineering drawings and bill-of-materials automation) and SurfAir (FAA-regulated flight management system and AI-enabled operational software for a Part 135 airline and a private jet brokerage).
Guild Education
2022 — 2024Senior Engineering Manager
Managed 8 engineers across 2 squads for data integration pipeline & services. Facilitated daily ingest for 60+ Fortune 500 companies.
Xero
2020 — 2022Senior Developer Evangelist
Led OpenAPI Spec & SDK development across 6 languages. Managed app certification pipeline launching 45+ partnerships.
Guild Education
2019 — 2020Senior Software Engineer
Led Tuition Reimbursement application processing $25+ million for 100k+ people using TypeScript, GraphQL, and serverless architecture.
Remote Year
2018 — 2019Software Engineer
Built lead generation UX flow converting ~500 leads/day to ~40+ sales conversations while working remotely across 12 global cities.
Scratch Music Group
2015 — 2018Senior Web Developer
Built eCommerce platform processing over $2.5M in first 2 years, enrolling 3300+ students using Ruby on Rails.
Adventure Local (Advlo)
2013 — 2015Co-founder & Developer
Technical co-founder of adventure marketplace connecting travelers with guides. Participated in BlueStartups Accelerator.
Maui New York
2010 — 2013Web Developer
Developed eCommerce solutions for fashion and luxury brands including beyonce.com, nylonmag.com, and victoriabeckham.com.