Hey there, I'm Lorenzo đź‘‹
Bio #
I’m Lorenzo Sciandra, a staff engineer at Shopify (building Shop app) who thrives at the intersection of technical excellence and ecosystem‑scale impact. Over the past decade, I’ve combined deep engineering, open‑source leadership, and cross‑company coordination to ship durable outcomes.
From 2018 to 2024 I served as a React Native core maintainer and releaser, handling 1,000+ issues, authoring 100+ PRs, and leading 20+ releases used by millions of developers. That work was as much about coordination across Meta, Microsoft, Amazon, and the wider community as it was about code.
At Microsoft , I worked as both engineer and bridge‑builder, driving React Native adoption across Office 365, Outlook, and Skype, establishing cross‑company best practices, and representing the work at industry events.
In 2024 I contributed to the Sovereign Tech Fund, supporting open‑source sustainability and critical infrastructure projects. That engagement concluded at the end of 2024. I then took a short sabbatical in early 2025, did a period of independent consulting, and in August 2025 joined Shopify as a staff engineer on the Shop app.
Beyond the technical work, I’m a long‑time advocate for mental health in tech, hosting the debug:mind podcast and speaking at 20+ industry events. I’ve been recognized on the OpenUK “Next Generation Open Technology Leaders” list.
If you’d like to connect, reach me at notkelset@kelset.dev or on LinkedIn. I occasionally mentor maintainers and contribute to OSS where I can.