Rune Madsen

Professional Experience

Senior Software Engineering Manager – Retail

Jan 2024 – Present
Shopify
  • Lead Retail Foundations, the platform layer powering Shopify Point of Sale. Every POS feature team builds on what my org ships. Serves hundreds of thousands of merchants worldwide
  • Manager of managers: 4 engineering managers, senior and staff ICs, 30+ engineers across 4 teams — App Platform (runtime, framework, design system), Extensions (the POS extensibility layer that internal and third-party developers build on), Infrastructure & Services (device-edge data, sync, and backend services), and Developer Tooling (CI/CD, observability, and the workflows that shape the POS engineering experience)
  • Own the architecture of a multi-platform client stack — React Native with Kotlin Multiplatform, Swift, and Rust — across iOS, iPad, Android, and first-party hardware. The native-vs-shared-code call is a weekly conversation
  • Own the multi-quarter platform roadmap in trifecta with product and design; translate strategic priorities into executable technical plans
  • Set the operating rhythm: high-velocity delivery paired with reliability and safety. Lead within Shopify's AI-first engineering culture and push my teams to raise their baseline of AI-assisted development
  • Hire, coach, and develop engineering managers and senior/staff ICs across career stages

Senior Software Engineering Manager – Messaging

Feb 2023 – Jan 2024
Shopify
  • Promoted to Senior and to manager of managers: 3 engineering managers, 25 engineers (including 1 staff) across the Messaging org
  • Engineering lead for Shopify Inbox, the merchant messaging product unifying customer conversations across channels — mobile app and online store chat widget powered by the Messaging API
  • Set multi-quarter engineering strategy in trifecta with senior product and design partners; owned the technical roadmap across services and first-party integrations
  • Hired and developed senior and staff engineers; raised the bar on craft, reliability, and operating rhythm across the org

Software Engineering Manager – Messaging

Aug 2018 – Feb 2023
Shopify
  • Transitioned from individual contributor to engineering manager; led the engineering team as it grew from Shopify Ping into the broader Messaging product area
  • Owned engineering across the full stack: backend APIs, the online store chat client, and the merchant mobile app
  • Partnered with product and design counterparts to set direction for the Messaging product area
  • Coached engineers across career stages; invested heavily in engineering culture and career development

Senior Software Engineer

Sep 2017 – Jul 2018
Shopify
  • Team lead on Shopify Ping, a free mobile app for Shopify merchants unifying customer conversations, marketing efforts, and business tools
  • Coached and grew the engineers on the team; set technical direction and mentored ICs across career stages

Software Engineer

Jan 2017 – Sep 2017
HotelTonight
  • Led the team through a major app redesign which shipped in August 2017
  • Served as product manager during resourcing constraints while leading the technical redesign
  • Decreased build times by 33% by migrating dependencies from Cocoapods to Carthage
  • Modernized the codebase by implementing Auto Layout across the application

Software Engineer

Feb 2016 – Dec 2016
Apple
  • Part of the team responsible for Find My Friends and Find My iPhone, apps used by hundreds of millions of people
  • Developed iOS 10 notification extensions featured at WWDC in the State of the Union address
  • Updated map annotations for the new iOS 10 monogram design across multiple platforms
  • Created internal QA tools for testing the new notification systems

Mobile Developer

Oct 2014 – Jan 2016
Shopify
  • Worked on Shopify's open source Mobile Buy SDK for iOS
  • Built the Apple Watch app, glance, and notifications for Shopify Mobile
  • Collaborated on the launch of Shopify POS for iPhone
  • Created the BUYPaymentButton open source library for Apple Pay integration

iOS Lead

Sep 2013 – Sep 2014
Milq Inc.
  • Led a major rewrite and redesign of the app, including a custom media player and updated UI
  • App was featured in the App Store's Best New Apps category and with a banner on the Korean App Store

Lead iOS Developer

Jul 2012 – Aug 2013
Triggerfox Corporation
  • Developed a social CRM enterprise app that secured a major enterprise deal and helped raise additional investor funding

Founder + iOS Developer

Feb 2011 – Jan 2016
The App Boutique
  • Founded and ran an iOS app studio with full ownership of product, development, and business
  • Shipped Next TTC for iPhone, a transit app used daily by thousands of Toronto commuters to navigate the TTC
  • Open-sourced RMSwipeTableViewCell, which topped Objective-C GitHub rankings when released
  • Built a custom in-store iPad app for Tiger of Sweden, deployed across retail locations

Product Lead

Jun 2008 – Jul 2012
Lakeshore Distribution Inc.
  • Led the e-commerce site PlanetAxel.com, with end-to-end ownership of product direction, campaigns, and promotions
  • Designed and launched a customer loyalty program and an affiliates program
  • Built the Axel iPhone app to enable browsing and shopping from mobile

Communications Manager

Jul 2004 – Aug 2005
Lakeshore Distribution Inc.
  • Managed external communications and customer relations
  • Designed banner and promotional material for the site and newsletters

Education

BA in Marketing and Management Communication

Aarhus School of Business, University of Aarhus
2005 – 2008

Electives, Marketing Management

Toronto Metropolitan University
2007

Higher Commercial Examination (HHx), Business, Language, English, Mathematics, Media

Tietgen Business College
2000 – 2004

Languages

Danish and English — Native proficiency