Founder @ Savanto · Fractional CTO · Applied AI

I build AI products
and help companies
ship them.

25+ years of production software, most recently as CTO at Dovetail. Now founder of Savanto and independent consultant in applied AI and software engineering.

Work with meSee my work
Sean Desmond

What I do

01

Applied AI & LLM engineering

Production-grade AI features, not demos: RAG and semantic search, LLM-powered workflows, and AI agents and MCP integrations, with the observability and cloud architecture underneath (AWS/GCP).

02

Fractional CTO & engineering leadership

Technical strategy, architecture reviews, and hands-on leadership for teams that need a senior operator without a full-time hire. Currently serving as fractional CTO for Dovetail.

03

Full-stack product delivery

Two decades of shipping across React/Next.js, Node, and cloud platforms, from payment SDKs used by thousands of developers to healthcare platforms that scaled from 5 engineers to 75.

Founder

Savanto

AI-powered search and chat for any website.

Visitors ask for what they want in plain language, and Savanto understands the site's content and answers with the right products, articles, and solutions. A shopping assistant for stores, self-service support that deflects tickets, and content discovery for publishers. An MCP server even lets AI agents like Claude use your site directly.

Try Savanto ↗
  • Semantic search & conversational assistant
  • Autonomous crawling: no feeds, no uploads
  • One-click WordPress & WooCommerce plugins
  • Remote MCP server for AI agents

Built end to end: plugin, multi-tenant AWS platform, crawler, and ops.

Selected work

Savanto2025 – present

An AI assistant for every website

Designed and shipped the full product: WordPress plugin, multi-tenant AWS cloud with hybrid semantic search, LLM chat pipelines, autonomous crawler, and a remote MCP server (OAuth 2.1) so AI agents can use connected sites.

  • LLM
  • RAG
  • MCP
  • AWS
ExxonMobil2016 – 2018

Personnel safety in high-risk regions

Led the InSite initiative tracking personnel in high-risk regions, modernizing a legacy front end with Vue.js while navigating strict compliance and security requirements.

  • Vue.js
  • Security
  • Enterprise
COTA Healthcare2014 – 2016

Oncology data from inception to scale

Core team member building an oncology data platform from its first line of code: Node.js, NoSQL, and AWS infrastructure that supported the engineering team growing from 5 to 75+.

  • Node.js
  • AWS
  • Healthcare
Global Payments2011 – 2014

SDKs thousands of developers rely on

Led the creation of multi-language payment SDKs (Node, Python, PHP, .NET, Java) and the transition from legacy SOAP to a scalable REST API. Transformative for their developer ecosystem.

  • SDKs
  • Payments
  • API design
What distinguished Sean was his holistic understanding of digital product development. His approach to technical architecture actually expanded what our design teams could achieve.
Larry BaltutisLarry BaltutisPocket Made
What stands out about Sean is his practical approach to software engineering. He balances technical excellence with business needs.
Chad StanselChad StanselAltaFiber
Sean was instrumental in our early success. He led the team in creating robust, well-documented solutions that were transformative for our developer ecosystem.
Jerry RobertsJerry RobertsGlobal Payments

Clients & employers over the years

  • Global Payments
  • Procter & Gamble
  • ExxonMobil
  • Eataly
  • COTA Healthcare
  • Argonne National Laboratory
  • AltaFiber
  • Dovetail
  • Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
  • CoinList
  • SLP Toolkit

Let’s talk.

An AI feature that needs to actually ship, a team that needs a fractional CTO, or a store curious about Savanto. I read every message.

sean.desmond@gmail.com