Rodney Gagnon
Engineering leader who still loves building.
I take responsibility for engineering in growing technology companies — architecture, delivery, and the teams that do the work. Thirty-five years building software, still writing it, using AI where it creates real leverage.
Currently: building Opus Populi, an open-source civic technology platform.
Available for: fractional engineering leadership, architecture & technical strategy, AI-native engineering practice, and hands-on engineering.
What I'm building
Opus Populi
Open-source civic infrastructure for engaged democracy. Federated regional nodes, deployment tooling, and an AI prompt service — designed, built, and operated independently, in the open.
opuspopuli-sdlc
An audit-ready, AI-assisted software development lifecycle packaged as a Claude Code plugin. Compliance evidence — SOC 2, HIPAA, 21 CFR Part 11 — produced as a byproduct of normal development rather than reconstructed before an audit.
What I believe
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AI isn't replacing engineering leadership. It's changing what engineering leadership means.
The scarce skill was never typing. It was deciding what should be built, and being accountable for the result.
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The best engineering organizations are built around judgment, not velocity.
Shipping faster is only an advantage if you were pointed in the right direction to begin with.
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AI amplifies the organization it enters.
Google’s DORA research is clear: healthy teams compound their advantage, dysfunctional ones accumulate technical debt faster. That is a leadership problem, not a tooling problem.
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Why I’m building Opus Populi.
Civic infrastructure should be open, inspectable, and owned by the communities that depend on it.
I write about software, democracy, and the long game on Substack.
Experience
35 years building software Engineering leadership AgTech · HealthTech · FinTech AI-native engineering Opus Populi
Full history on LinkedIn.
Work with me
I'm available for a small number of fractional engineering leadership engagements.
I'm in it because I still love building this stuff.