Allen is a Professional Engineer licensed in 48 states, with more than thirteen years of structural engineering experience leading teams and delivering sealed calculation packages. He previously led a national structural engineering department at BASE4 and spent nearly eight years at R&S Tavares Associates in San Diego, rising to Director of Engineering with responsibility for gravity and lateral design, foundation and soil interaction analysis, and connection detailing. From 2017 to 2020, Allen served as an Expert Consultant to the California Board for Professional Engineers, developing and reviewing questions for the California Civil Seismic Principles exam. He holds an MS from USC and a BS from UC San Diego.