Photo of Kitty Giraudel

I am a non-binary frontend developer with about a decade of experience and a strong focus on web accessibility and workplace safety. Over the last few years, I have also learnt a lot about web security as well as building a healthy and productive team. Some other skills include (but are not limited to) automated testing, frontend performance, Node/GraphQL and agile practices and methodologies.

My pronouns are they/them, please kindly respect them.

Skills

Technology

HTML (knowledgeable), CSS (authored 2 books about it), JavaScript, React (main JS framework for the last few years), accessibility (steady theoretical knowledge)

Other skills

Documentation (tech-writer and passionate), hiring/team building, workplace safety (minorly involved in N26 Works Council formation), agile practices (informed)

Experience

Lead Web Engineer @ Gorillas Berlin, 2021–present

  • Growing the web team from 2 engineers to dozens to support Gorillas fast and wide expansion plans.
  • Building the Gorillas website as well as the underlying CMS, promoting the brand and letting editors own the content.
  • Advising on the architecture of other newly built web platforms so they can stand the test of time and support Gorillas objectives.

Web Tech Lead @ N26 GmbH Berlin, 2018–2020

  • Grew the web team from 1 to 20+ engineers, now in 4 different offices over the world.
  • Built a culture of feedback, inclusion and respect, now powering a very diverse and high-performing team.
  • Designed and implemented a test automation strategy and deployment pipeline to release multiple projects on a daily basis.

Senior Frontend Developer @ N26 GmbH Berlin, 2016–2018

  • Set up the groundwork for all N26 customer-facing web projects to ever come, now supporting the marketing website, the support center, the N26 webapp, the signup process and more.
  • Installed high quality practices such as security, accessibility and testability, shared with all members of the web team and beyond.
  • Initiated the web docs hub and wrote most of the existing documentation (70,000+ words).

Web Developer @ Edenspiekermann Berlin, 2015–2016

  • Worked on a variety of frontend client projects.
  • Paired with designers on a regular basis to ensure consistency between design deliveries and final implementations.
  • Encouraged authoring guidelines and practices across the organisation, especially around CSS.
  • Started the Edenspiekermann dev blog.

Web Developer @ Crédit Agricole Grenoble, 2011–2015

  • Implemented frontend of a now-retired e-commerce platform.
  • Set up Sass guidelines to author CSS which could scale.
  • Designed Twig (Symfony) architecture to support theming.
  • Developed a simple ad management system in PHP.

Projects

Notable open-source projects

Achievements

Publications

Honor & Awards

  • Former Google Developer Expert in Web Technologies
  • Web Developer of the Year 2015 Nominee

Hobbies

Playing pool (well, before the pandemic anyway…), hanging out with my cats, writing, cooking, and the occasional side project that never gets finished. 😅