Scaled engineering orgs from 50 to 1,500, transformed legacy platforms, and led Qualtrics from $100M to $1.5B ARR through IPO.
Experience
Experience
Executive Roles​
Qualtrics
Chief Technology Officer
Amazon
Director of Engineering - Amazon Echo
Senior Manager
Software Development Manager
Technical Program Manager
Openwave Systems, Inc.
Software Architect
Microsoft
Software Engineer
Board & Advisory Roles
Clozd - Board Member
Sequoia Capital - Builder
Madrona - Founder/Advisor
SaaS Operating Advisor & Investor
Mason
Forest Vision
GoGuardian
Trially
Madrona
Qualtrics
John Thimsen
Partner
About Me
I’m a technology executive with over 20 years of experience scaling R&D organizations and leading platform transformation at Microsoft, Amazon, and Qualtrics. As CTO at Qualtrics, I led the company’s evolution from a single-product business to a multi-product, multi-tenant, global SaaS platform, scaling the business from $100MM in ARR to $1.5BLN through an acquisition by SAP and an IPO. Today, I focus on helping companies navigate the challenges of growth-stage scaling, platform modernization, and AI strategy.
Career Highlights
At Qualtrics, I led the company’s evolution from a single-product PHP monolith into a modern, multi-tentant SaaS platform. unlocking multiple new $100M+ product lines. Along the way, I scaled the engineering team from 100 to 1,500 globally, and took on a mandate encompassing InfoSec, IT, Program Management, Internal Systems, and Services Engineering. At Amazon, I was a founding member and Head of Engineering for Alexa at Amazon, where I scaled the team from 0 to 235 and shipped the first Amazon Echo. Earlier roles include engineering leadership at Microsoft, Openwave, and Active Voice Corporation.
Techquity Solutions
My superpower lies in helping companies scale after product-market fit—guiding the growth of engineering organizations from 50 to 500+ and architecting platforms to handle 10x+ usage. I bring experience in building high-functioning cross-disciplinary teams, solving complex operational challenges, and instilling engineering excellence. Whether it’s technical due diligence, scaling platforms, or defining program management frameworks, I help companies grow with intent and infrastructure.
Innovation & Impact
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Led Qualtrics’ transition to a modern SaaS architecture
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Directed R&D due diligence and tech readiness for SAP’s $8.2B acquisition
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Executive sponsor for multiple M&A transactions to expand the XM Platform
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Architected global infrastructure for XM Platform reliability, achieving 99.9% uptime and supporting regulated industry expansion (FedRAMP, GDPR, SOC2).
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Co-patent owner on Echo platform
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Developed and led AI strategy at Qualtrics, integrating proprietary deep learning models and early LLM adoption
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Established global R&D hubs in Kraków and Dublin for Qualtrics; created global operating structure
Why Techquity?
After stepping out of full-time operating roles, I’ve found deep satisfaction in helping companies tackle their hardest engineering problems. I’ve been surprised how often past experience translates into actionable insight and real impact. Techquity brings together people who’ve built, scaled, and solved the hard things and I’m excited to contribute that experience to clients navigating complexity and growth.
