Joe Brauckmann
Product Manager | Developer | Bitcoin
Building the future of bitcoin financial services at Unchained. Technical PM who codes, ships mobile apps, and automates everything.
About Me
A technical product manager
I'm a Product Manager at Unchained with a unique background that combines deep technical expertise with product leadership. My journey from QA Engineer to PM has given me a rare perspective: I understand both the code and the customer.
Currently, I lead product development for Unchained's native iOS and Android applications, built with Swift and Kotlin respectively. My team has championed the adoption of Kotlin Multiplatform (KMP) and are actively working on integrating Compose Multiplatform to create shared infrastructure and components, dramatically improving development velocity and code quality.
Beyond mobile, I drive AI initiatives across the organization—from Slack bots that auto-generate release notes to engineering-friendly CLI tools for task management. I believe in building tools that make developers' lives easier and shipping products that empower users to take control of their financial future.
Bitcoin obsessed & builder
My work in bitcoin and self-custody technology isn't just professional—it's personal. I'm passionate about building tools that give people true ownership of their wealth through collaborative custody and multisig security.
At Unchained, I've worked extensively on our enterprise key security and "Signing Stack"—a critical infrastructure project that expanded our daily signature capacity from ~50 to thousands. This work directly enables clients to engage in collaborative custody at scale while maintaining the highest security standards.
Outside of work, I contribute to the bitcoin community through projects like BitLancaster (Lancaster's Bitcoin/BitDevs meetup), build educational tools like a browser-based bitcoin miner simulation, work on Caravan stateless multisig coordinator, and experiment with Nostr protocol integrations. I'm a freedom maximalist who believes bitcoin is essential infrastructure for human liberty.
Skills & Technologies
Product Management
- iOS & Android Apps
- Agile
- Figma
- Product Strategy
- Cross-functional Leadership
Development
- Python
- JavaScript/TypeScript
- Kotlin
- Swift
- React/Next.js
Bitcoin
- Bitcoin protocol
- Nostr
- Multisig security
- Hardware wallets
- Enterprise key management
Modern Mobile
- KMP (Kotlin Multiplatform)
- Compose Multiplatform
- Native iOS/Android
- Shared infrastructure
- Passkeys
AI & Automation
- Slack bots
- LLM integration
- Process automation
- CLI tools
- Claude Code, Cursor
Experience
From QA Support Engineer to Product Manager—nearly 4 years of growth leveraging technical depth to ship impactful products
Product Manager
Unchained
Remote
- Product lead for native iOS (Swift) and Android (Kotlin) applications serving thousands of Bitcoin self-custody users
- Launched Android app in November 2025, expanding Unchained's mobile reach to the Android ecosystem
- Shipped vault spending feature enabling users to send Bitcoin from multisig vaults on iOS
- Launched modular feature flag system across web, iOS, and Android platforms for coordinated feature rollouts
- Rolled out Braze in-app messaging across all three platforms to improve user engagement and communication
- Leading AI initiatives including Product Context Repository leveraging AI agents to reference documentation, stakeholder requests, and client interviews for PRD development
Associate Product Manager
Unchained
Remote
- Led enterprise key management team building Signing Stack 2.0 with signature authorization gateway platform and new signing software rollout
- Expanded daily signature capacity from ~50 to thousands, enabling Unchained to scale to the next 10000 users
- Authored comprehensive technical documentation and onboarded all operations teams to new signing infrastructure
- Built disaster recovery variants of signing software ensuring business continuity and system resilience
- Wrote PRDs for 'Capacity Killer' initiative that relieved 40 hours per month of operational burden through automation
- Joined Mobile team full-time in February 2025, transitioning focus to iOS and Android app development
QA Engineer
Unchained
Remote
- Served in release manager capacity, managing production releases via Helm charts for Kubernetes deployments
- Improved Test Bridge API to generate testing data in development environments, accelerating QA workflows
- Established end-to-end testing infrastructure, initially in Cypress then migrating to Playwright for improved reliability
- Collaborated with engineering teams on release planning and deployment strategies
QA Support Engineer
Unchained
Remote
- Led company-wide migration from Jira to ClickUp, streamlining bug tracking and project management workflows
- Built Flask API webhook integration connecting GitHub activity to ClickUp, automatically syncing tickets with git commits and PRs
- Performed comprehensive manual acceptance and regression testing across web applications and Bitcoin wallet integrations
- Established QA best practices and documentation for the growing engineering team
Featured Projects
Highlighted work showcasing Bitcoin technology, developer tools, and educational applications
Bitcoin Miner
Interactive web application demonstrating SHA256 hashing and Bitcoin mining difficulty adjustment. Built as an educational tool to help people understand proof-of-work consensus at a fundamental level.
KEY FEATURES
- Real-time SHA256 hashing visualization
- Adjustable mining difficulty
- Educational proof-of-work demonstration
- Browser-based, no installation required
Sportstr
Python-based RSS feed aggregator that automatically posts sports news headlines to Nostr relays. Features intelligent duplicate detection to prevent spam and supports multiple free US sports news platforms.
KEY FEATURES
- Automated RSS-to-Nostr bridge
- Multi-platform sports news aggregation
- Smart duplicate detection algorithm
- Decentralized social media integration
Bitcoin Voice Price
Voice-activated Bitcoin price checker that integrates with Mempool running on Umbrel. A practical tool demonstrating IoT integration with Bitcoin infrastructure on local networks.
KEY FEATURES
- Voice-activated price queries
- Local Mempool integration
- Umbrel network compatibility
- Hands-free Bitcoin price checking
Other Projects
Additional work spanning Bitcoin tools, automation, and developer utilities
BitLancaster
Lancaster's Bitcoin and BitDevs hybrid monthly meetup website. Forked from BitDevsNYC to create a local community hub for Bitcoin developers and enthusiasts.
Labor Notifications
Python scripting project to send periodic notifications during active labor. Creative problem-solving for a very specific use case.
Caravan Contributions
Contributions to Caravan, Unchained's multisig coordinator. Working with TypeScript and Bitcoin wallet infrastructure.
Umbrel App Store
Contributions to Umbrel's app ecosystem, making Bitcoin and self-hosted applications more accessible.
RSS Kindle
Python tool for converting RSS feeds into Kindle-friendly formats for distraction-free reading.
Logseq Automation
Python scripts for automating and enhancing Logseq workflows and knowledge management.
Get in Touch
Interested in collaborating or have a question? Reach out via email or connect with me on social media.
For all inquiries, please reach out via email:
jbrauck417@gmail.com