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Douglas Wessel · Hudson Valley, NY

I build the team.
I build
alongside them.

Whether I’m growing an engineering organization, helping someone find their next level, or prototyping a new idea myself, I’m driven by the same thing: making work that matters to real people.

Explore my work Meet the person behind it
Currently leading co-innovation engineering at viax
Douglas Wessel, smiling, wearing glasses and a blue jacket
Hi, I’m Doug.
Rooted in experience.
Always making room for what’s next.
Enterprise experience. Startup energy.

Engineering leadership Applied AI Things built by hand

01 / A little about me

Curious by nature.
A builder by habit.

When I see a better way for something to work, my instinct is to build it so people can see what I mean.

That has taken me from SAP and large enterprise implementations to helping build a startup. At viax, I founded the customer-facing engineering function and grew it to eight direct reports while supporting a growing customer base. I lead the team, work with customers, and still build the demos and prototypes that get an idea moving.

I like having the agency to try something new in service of a bigger mission. I also care about the people doing the work: giving them room to experiment, clear expectations, and support when things get difficult.

Outside of software, I’m a husband, a dad of two, and co-owner of Hudson Valley Powerlifting. Building a gym and a community keeps me close to the everyday problems that useful software should solve.

The path that brought me here

02 / Selected work

From “what if”
to working.

Some things I build with a team.
Some start with a problem I can’t leave alone.

At viax / Enterprise AI

Helping good ideas
survive implementation.

I work across pre-sales and delivery, turning a customer’s goals into something they can actually try. That led me to build an agent-driven configuration tool, now used for demos and expanding into implementation.

Alongside it, I’ve helped bring MCP into customer environments for development, onboarding, and system queries. The point is to make the technology useful in the work people already need to do.

Explore viax
From conversation to configuration
01
Understand the goalCustomer intent
02
Put domain knowledge to workReusable skills + MCP
03
Build something we can tryWorking configuration
In use for pre-sales · Growing into delivery

An independent project / Powerlifting iOS app

Meet-day planning for
powerlifters.

I built Platform Ready specifically for competitive powerlifters—the moment months of training become nine attempts on a platform. The app keeps attempt planning, warm-up calculations, and live meet tracking in one place, so the lifter can focus on the next lift.

It’s a practical connection between two parts of my life: building software and helping people get stronger.

  • Attempt planning
  • Warm-up calculator
  • Live meet tracking
Find the powerlifting app on the App Store

Owner & operator / Hudson Valley Powerlifting

I built more than
a gym.

I’m a co-owner and operator of Hudson Valley Powerlifting, a 24/7 strength facility in Highland, New York. We built the kind of place we wanted to train in—and a community where serious lifters at every level can belong.

As an owner, I also help build the operation behind it: the member experience, the processes, and the day-to-day systems that keep a successful gym running. It’s another place where an idea became something real because we did the work to make it last.

Visit Hudson Valley Powerlifting

03 / Essays & field notes

A few things
on my mind.

Writing helps me work through the questions
I keep running into while building.

Implementation

Implementation is the new configuration

What changes when a business can turn intent directly into a working system?
AI & architecture

It’s Not the Year of Agents.
It’s the Year of Agency.

The architecture that lets a business act on what AI discovers.
Enterprise systems

Your ERP Doesn’t Need AI.
It Needs Relief.

Why putting intelligence on top of an inflexible system only gets you so far.
More essays & customer stories
Why integration and orchestration still miss the point Don’t wait for S/4HANA: How a Fortune 500 medical device manufacturer transformed order management during migration How a multi-ERP enterprise escaped SAP Commerce growth tax while supporting complex, mixed-product revenue models

Published on viax. I also contributed to From Orchestration to Autonomy with the MACH Alliance Enterprise Agent Architecture Working Group.

04 / The longer story

A foundation
to build on.

I’ve worked inside the systems businesses depend on. That experience shapes how I help them change.

Where it startedStevens Institute of Technology

BE, Engineering Management
Logistics & Supply Chain Management
Minor in Economics

  1. 2022 — Today

    viax

    Head of Co-Innovation Engineering

    Founded the customer-facing engineering function. Lead eight direct reports across customer delivery, prototyping, and applied AI. Took on pre-sales engineering alongside delivery in 2026.

  2. 2021 — 2022

    Stryker

    Solution Architect

    Helped design a greenfield SAP S/4HANA implementation for warehousing, distribution, and logistics.

  3. 2018 — 2021

    Techmates Group

    SAP Commerce Team Lead → Solution Architect

    Led development and QA teams of 20+ people. Built enterprise commerce experiences and asynchronous order management that kept orders flowing through ERP outages.

  4. 2015 — 2018

    Bob’s Discount Furniture

    SAP MM Lead & EWM Functional Consultant

    Led warehouse management implementation across three regional warehouses and 30 local distribution centers.

  5. 2012 — 2015

    SAP

    Senior Business Process Consultant

    Worked on retail implementations, purchasing, and inbound logistics. Learned how enterprise change happens from inside the vendor.

05 / Leave the door open

Have something
in mind?

A problem worth working on, a team to build, or just a good conversation about where all of this is going. I’d be glad to hear from you.

Say hello Connect on LinkedIn