Grant Damron

Summary

I am a full-stack generalist Software Engineer who can dig into any problem, there are a few classes of projects I most often find myself working on:

0-1 MVP Development: As a product-oriented engineer, validating ideas is my favorite thing to do. On larger scale, that means starting a new product from scratch and taking it to market, building all the necessary teams along the way.
Legacy Systems: There might be something wrong with me, but I love the detective work of getting to know a system that everyone else is afraid to touch. I take pleasure in documenting them and charting a path forward for maintaining, upgrading, or replacing them.
Paying Down Tech Debt: I don't see tech debt as an inherently bad thing. It’s an investment in a product's future, but it's a loan that must repaid eventually. For me, it's a uniquely satisfying process.

And as a generalist, I am language and technology agnostic. That said, some of the tools I’ve been working with most recently include:

Backend development on AWS using Node, Python, and Golang. I tend to lean toward serverless, event-driven systems, but I’ll use the right tool for the job and strive to adhere to the principles of Frugal Architecture ↗ .
Mobile development for iOS using Swift and SwiftUI. I’ve worked in Flutter and native Android development as well, but I’ve always been most comfortable in iOS. It was my first love as a developer.
Full-stack web development using frameworks like React, Tailwind and Next.js. I’m also a huge fan of GraphQL as a backend-for-frontend.

Recent Experience

Head of Engineering // Aimi

2022-2024 // Generative AI, Music

I was the founding member of the production engineering team, an effort that had previously been outsourced. I scaled the team from one person (me) to multiple teams encompassing Android, iOS, web, desktop, and backend development. As an engineering leader and product owner, my approach was to define the foundational patterns of our apps, services, and process with the goal of handing them off to be improved by other members of the team as it grew. The extent to which I was hands-on as an engineer or focused on facilitating others varied depending on the needs of the team and our products. My overriding goal is always to foster a culture and design processes that promote rapid iteration, creativity, and a healthy team.

Built new iOS and Android apps for interacting with generative music.
Created fault-tolerant infrastructure for deploying generative live streams to YouTube on demand.
Launched development of the company's Studio product, a consumer desktop application for curating generative music.
Automated release and API integration of our Machine Learning models.
Led a modernization effort of our core technologies and backend. This multiphase effort included abstracting tightly coupled client-side code, injecting a GraphQL layer, migrating from a legacy monolith to a more flexible suite of services, and adding future-forward infrastructure to improve scalability and performance.

TypeScript, Python, C++, Swift, Kotlin, Electron, iOS, Android, AWS

Senior Software Engineer // Splice

2021-2022 // Music

Splice is a cloud-based music creation platform providing, audio loop, software instrument plugins, and creator tools that help musicians realize their visions. I was the first member of the Long-Term Bets team, reporting directly to the CEO. In addition to being an individual contributor, I helped grow the team to include multiple engineers and a designer, serving as an informal team lead and product manager.

Designed a new graph-based data architecture for managing music projects that might include components from DAW projects and sample collections to written notes and voice memos.
Helped bring the Studio product from the legacy Desktop app to the new one and created the initial integration of CoSo, the company's generative AI product.
Integrated the graph architecture into the backend of the CoSo app. This allowed for CoSo Stacks to be shared easily across users and applications.
Updated the internal Ableton Live parsers to support exporting Stacks from the CoSo app as DAW session files.

Golang, TypeScript, C++, Angular, Electron, AWS

Lead Engineer (Technical Director) // Enklu

2019-2021 // Augmented Reality

Enklu Cloud is the Google Docs for Augmented Reality. Enklu's software allows creative teams to collaboratively edit 3D content and instantly deploy experiences to Mixed Reality devices. I joined Enklu as a Lead and grew to manage the entire Engineering organization. Since the team was relatively small, I always remained a hands-on engineer.

Designed and implemented features for the Enklu Player, an Augmented Reality runtime built on top of Unity. This codebase is primarily C# and JavaScript.
Extended our containerized back-end services, hosted on Microsoft Azure. Services for authoring content are written primarily in Node.Js while the multiplayer services are written in .NET Core.
Developed the Enklu Cloud Web Editor front-end in React.
Design training materials for junior and aspiring developers.
Redesigned an existing asset pipeline to be more event-driven, scalable, and cost-efficient.

C#, Node.Js, React, Azure, HoloLens, Azure

Lead Engineer (Director of Sofware Engineering) // Nomadic VR

2017-2019 // Location-Based VR

Nomadic was a platform for creating and administering location-based VR experiences, where users interact with objects in the real world while also engaging with a virtual environment. I joined as an individual contributor and grew to lead the engineering team.

Designed and implemented on-premise services to manage IoT devices, concurrent multiplayer gameplay sessions, and motion capture in C, C#, and C++.
Architected cloud-based infrastructure (on AWS) for managing player accounts, operator accounts, ticketing, real-time analytics and leaderboards.
Created a software distribution system for deploying game content and internal applications to on-premise servers, embedded devices, and backpack computers.
Created web applications in Vue.Js that venue partners used to administer games and internal teams used to monitor operations.
Collaborated with internal teams to create tools to help them visualize, control, and understand experiences.
Managed Nomadic's SDKs and tools that allowed content partners to create immersive experiences without having access to the full-scale physical environment.

C#, Node.js, C++, Vue.js, Serverless, Motive, Unity, IoT, AWS

Senior Software Engineer // PullString

2015-2017 // Conversational AI

PullString developed tools for crafting computer conversations during the first wave of chatbots and conversational AI. Alexa, Cortana, and Google Home were released during this period. I focused on integrating our core technologies with external services and developing SDKs for external users to do the same.

Developed new features in C++/Python/Go for PullString Author, a tool for creating interactive conversations.
Integrated 3rd party APIs into Author, including the Microsoft Bot Framework, Amazon Alexa, and Google Assistant.
Led development and maintenance of our 8 open source SDKs, including for JavaScript, Unity, iOS, and Android.
Led development of a .NET platform for conversing with 3D characters on Skype, in partnership with Microsoft.
Provided technical guidance to internal and external clients, including Mattel, iHeartRadio, Activision, and Amazon.

Golang, C++, Python, Docker, AWS, JavaScript, C#, Objective-C, Swift, Java, Unity

Creative Technical Architect // Razorfish

2014-2015 // Digital Advertsing R&D

SapientRazorfish is one of the world's largest digital agencies. I was a member of the Creative Technology team in San Francisco. Our focus was product discovery for current or prospective clients.

Rapid prototyping, primarily of mobile apps, for clients such as Honda, T-Mobile, Kia, and Best Buy.
Developed a real-time, semi-autonomous customer service platform using WebRTC and Speech to Text. Messages and visual content were synchronized between a customer’s phone and an agent’s desktop application.

iOS, Swift, Objective-C, C# Unity, Android, Java

Software Engineer // Zynga

2013-2014 // Online/Mobile Social Games

Full stack mobile development on some the most widely played social games, including Zynga Poker and Words With Friends.

Feature development development on the native mobile and Unity clients for Poker; DAU on mobile crossed 1 million for the first time during this period.
Helped rebuild a Single Sign On product used in such games as Solstice Arena and Draw Something 2.

iOS, Objective-C, C++, Android, Java, PHP, C#, Unity

Freelance Music Composition // ilusiv

2002-Present // Stage, Screen, and Immersive Environment

Over the years, I have composed dozens of compositions, varying from traditional, notated compositions and commercial scores to interactive installations and generative works that exist only as code.

Creating a serverless framework from streaming dynamically generated audio for generative compositions.
Continuously composing Improvisations, generative musical sketches using a variety of languages. The intention is to explore a different musical idea each week and release the results as code.
Created Paramitas, where users are encouraged to solve a tangible, musical puzzle by playing with a set of spherical objects on a small table. Solving the puzzle uncovers a pre-composed work for solo violin.

Chuck, JavaScript, AWS, Player Piano, C/C++, Swift, Objective C, Arduino, Processing, Cinder

Education

M.S., Computer Science // New York University // New York, NY
M.M., Music Composition // New York University // New York, NY
B.M., Music Composition // Berklee College of Music // Boston, MA