Avi Finkel
Technical Skills
Android, iOS, Java, Objective-C, Swift,
C#, Python, Clojure, Ruby
Experience
Lead Software Engineer
Snap, Inc.
Seattle, WA
08.2018
Present
Telemetry
Maintained and extended a mobile logging library for
iOS, Android, Javascript, and server-side Java clients
Built a C++ shared library for very low-impact performance telemetry
on both iOS and Android
Simplified and improved a code-generation library to share metrics
definitions between disparate client implementations.
Mobile Builds
Built a high-performance build system using Bazel and python to support
Snap's massive 1M+ LOC iOS app
Build a tool to measure app size, including per-file breakdowns for
size and team attribution
Built and monitored build metrics system to understand pain points
for developers using the build system
Lead Mobile Engineer
Comcast Technology Solutions
Seattle, WA
03.2015
06.2018
Video delivery SDK:
Built an iOS Framework SDK to display streaming
video
Supported custom video definition language
Integrated with multiple advertisement delivery
systems using a plugin system
Cross-platform architecture:
Worked with iOS, Android and Web teams to deliver
a consistent SDK API across multiple implementation
languages
Worked with product management and customers to
write specifications for new features across all
platforms
Worked across platform teams to define development
stories, manage sprint planning and resolve
questions arising during implementation.
Worked with remote teams to coördinate
development of products related to the Video
SDK
Independent Contractor
Seattle, WA
06.2014
02.2015
Legal services site:
Built a REST/JSON backend with Python/Flask,
hosted in Heroku
Built a responsive SPA website with AngularJS
Sports media company:
Developed a declarative REST service framework
for C#
Implemented service methods in C#, accessing
a backend using ElasticSearch, SQLServer and
Redis.
Built a dynamic iOS application surfacing
sports media content. Features include:
Authentication / Registration / Facebook
integration
Parsing custom markup for mobile display
Rendering of audio / video content
Integration with custom forum system
Principal Mobile Engineer
Agilysys
Bellevue, WA
01.2013
04.2014
Led a five-person team in the development of
InfoGenesis Mobile ,
a highly customizable mobile point-of-sale application for
use in the hospitality industry
Features included:
Data-driven customizable user interface supporting many different usage patterns
An extensible asynchronous architecture to support safe operation in areas of unstable or unavailable network access
Interface with enterprise-scale hospitality software services
My responsibilities included:
Project setup, including source control (git), code
reviews (Gerrit), test builds and artifact generation
(Jenkins)
High-level architecture of all major backend and
UI features
Implementation of core features such as:
remote message queuing, data modeling, and the
majority of the core order taking UI
Code review of all check-ins and responsibility for
project quality metrics
Mentoring of junior team members
Designed and prototyped an architecture for the
next generation of Agilysys' back office services
Senior Mobile Engineer
Zillow
Seattle, WA
11.2011
12.2012
Designed and implemented
Zillow Rentals
for Android. Primary developer for this application,
including development of all application logic, UI
implementation and test development
Redesigned and developed iOS app and backend services in
order to display home data with malformed addresses to users
Extracted re-usable code from the existing (non-modular)
Zillow App and created code libraries for future re-use
Developed various improvements to the Zillow Real Estate
app on both iOS and Android platforms
Senior Software Engineer
Brightcove
Seattle, WA
10.2010
11.2011
Maintained and improved a system for migrating large
amounts of video assets between CDNs
Designed, implemented and deployed a content distribution
system:
Used to upload video content to external sources,
such as YouTube
Handled millions of change notifications per day,
updating remote resources as appropriate
Designed modularly in order to easily add new
external distribution targets
Member of operations team overseeing a globally-accessed
website and web service, maintaining high availability
Senior Software Engineer
Microsoft
Redmond, WA
08.2008
08.2010
Developed and assisted in design of Search feature for
the new version of the Office Online website
Maintained search indices for test data and developed
test data generation code
Developed a high-traffic Clipart Search web service for
use by Office applications
Designed and implemented a commercial-scale content
upload and verification system for use by XBox game
developers
Software Development Engineer
Amazon
Seattle, WA
08.2005
07.2008
Refactored a high traffic system to be backed by a
secondary denormalized store in addition to a higher
latency transactional database
Developed unit tests to assist in refactoring of
this system
Developed a multi-threaded application to migrate data
from a single monolithic database to multiple
partitioned data stores
Gathered requirements for, designed and implemented a
highly available and high traffic centralized RBAC system
Developed a system for regular performance reports of
many prominent website features
Designed and implemented a dynamic landing-page
optimization system for the Amazon catalog
Improved development tools to allow for pre-release
syntax checking of perl source, and fixed many of the
bugs uncovered by this system
Senior Software Engineer
Vocollect
Pittsburgh, PA
01.2004
07.2005
Developed management software to manage large
installations of headless voice-managed wearable
computers, using WebSphere, Informix and J2EE methodologies
Developed software to provide Vocollect's speech
recognition and workflow software on third-party
handheld devices using C++
Earlier professional experience available upon request
Software Engineer
CombineNet
Pittsburgh, PA
09.2002
12.2003
Used apache, mod_perl and MySQL to develop large-scale
reverse auction and optimization systems
Developed a generic optimization scenario management
interface and bid taking interface
Developed a database abstraction system supporting
database clustering, fault-tolerance and object-reational
mapping
Re-architected and re-implemented the security, user
management and navigation system framework for project
development
Contract Programmer
eFlatbad
Pittsburgh, PA
05.2002
08.2002
Developed truckload-tracking application using Java
servlets and JSP under BEA Weblogic server
Software Engineer
WhizBang! Labs
Pittsburgh, PA
08.2000
05.2002
Developed machine learning tools, such as information
extraction engines and site classifiers
Designed and implemented a system of generic database
access classes (ORM) in Java
Implemented a system for interoperability between Java,
database, and XML representations of data
Implemented a Java Servlet and JSP front-end for pilot
phase of WBL's ChangeDetector service
Designed an Oracle database schema for backing arbitrarily
large compute clusters
Designed a distributed Java framework to drive the
aforementioned clusters
Developed install procedures for deploying WBL
software at client sites
Contract Developer
eFlatbed
Pittsburgh, PA
03.2000
07.2000
Used Java Servlets to develop a large scale
eCommerce website
Designed a complex data model, implemented in Oracle
Designed and built the complete
administrative interface
Programmer Analyst
Mellon Bank
Pittsburgh, PA
06.1999
02.2000
Developed online banking system in a Java servlet
environment:
Used JDBC to communicate with complex Oracle
database
Used MQ to communicate with legacy mainfrace
applications
Streamlined the entire application's
exception handling system
Assisted in development of a robust
document delivery system
Developed modular log parsing and hit reporting software:
Delivered large-scale monthly reports
Delivered real-time reporting of on-demand statistics
Simplified log reporting mechanism for
use by non-technical users
Designed a generic, XML-based online form system using perl
Production Support Analyst
Lycos
Pittsburgh, PA
02.1998
05.1999
Modified and maintained load-testing application
written in C
Extended load-testing system with network-based
statistics gathering
Built report and graphing frontend to load-testing
statistics backend
Member of small operations team, in charge of application
health, systems administration and quality assurance
Manager Team Lead / Consultant
UMass/Amherst Personal Computer Classroom Operations
Amherst, MA
07.1994
01.1998
Wrote programs to assist in consultant productivity
and record keeping
Maintained computer classroom facilities consisting
of more than 100 computers
Managed a consultant staff of over 150, and led a team
of 4 other managers
Student Researcher
SRI International
Menlo Park, CA
Summer 1997
Conducted independent research of adsorptive properties
of mesoporous crystals using computer modelling
Regular presentation of results to senior researchers
Education
B.S. Physics & Astronomy
University of Massachusetts
Amherst, MA
December 1997
Concentration in computational physics & simulation
Computer Science :
Introductory & intermediate programming;
Scientific simulation
Astronomy :
Instrumentation and observational techniques;
Advanced astrophysics
Mathematics :
Calculus; Linear algebra; Differential equations;
Numerical analysis
References available upon request