Andrew Charneski

Full-Stack Software Engineer, AI Architect & Researcher 📍 Westerville, OH (Remote) | ✉️ andrew@simiacryptus.com | 🌐 simiacrypt.us | GitHub | LinkedIn —

Summary

Full-Stack Software Engineer and AI Architect with 20+ years building scalable enterprise systems and 9+ years delivering AI/ML solutions. Expert in Java/Kotlin, Distributed Systems, and High-Performance Computing. Creator of the Cognotik open-source AI orchestration platform (57k+ downloads, early-market JetBrains plugin predating ChatGPT) and the MindsEye deep learning framework. Deep expertise from GPU programming (CUDA/CuDNN) and native interop (FFI/Project Panama) to cloud infrastructure (AWS/K8s) and AI-powered developer tools. Proven track record at Amazon, Expedia, and Grubhub delivering real-time systems (<5ms latency, 10k+ TPS), large-scale data pipelines, and platform infrastructure. —

Core Competencies

  • AI Product & LLM Orchestration: Creator of Cognotik platform (early-market JetBrains plugin, 57k+ downloads) integrating 10+ AI providers (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, AWS Bedrock, Azure, Groq, Mistral, DeepSeek, Perplexity, local models). Expert in multi-model orchestration, context-aware planning, prompt engineering, declarative DocOps pipelines, and building self-healing agentic workflows with eight cognitive modes across three categories: Conversational (chat, persona, REPL), Planning & Execution (Waterfall, Adaptive, Hierarchical), and Advanced Orchestration (Council voting, Protocol state-machines, Parallel batch processing). Approximately 95% of the platform’s codebase is AI-generated with human review, and the platform maintains its own documentation and product site via its own DocProcessor pipeline.
  • GPU Computing & Deep Learning: Built MindsEye framework from scratch in Java with custom CUDA/CuDNN integration via FFI/JNI. Expert in hybrid memory management, geometric transformations, and novel optimization algorithms (QQN/RSO).
  • Enterprise Software & Microservices: 20+ years architecting robust backends using Java, Kotlin, and Spring Boot. Expert in decomposing monoliths, API design, and ensuring high availability in distributed environments.
  • MLOps & Infrastructure: Extensive experience designing production ML platforms on AWS and Kubernetes. Proficient in Docker, CI/CD (Jenkins/GitLab), and orchestration tools (Azkaban, Oozie).
  • AI-Powered Content & DocOps: Creator of the Fractal Thought Engine — an AI-powered publishing system using declarative operator pipelines to transform raw notes into multi-modal publications (articles, comics, game theory analyses, Socratic dialogues). Pioneer of ‘Content-as-Code’ and ‘Compliance-as-Code’ methodologies.
  • Real-Time Systems & Performance: Deep expertise in low-latency systems (10k+ TPS, <5ms). Proven ability to optimize JVM performance, reduce resource consumption by 90%, and implement real-time anomaly detection.
  • Data Engineering & Database: Expert in SQL (PostgreSQL, MySQL), schema design, and distributed data processing (Spark, Hadoop, Hive). Experience managing petabyte-scale data pipelines.

  • Observability & Reliability: Advanced skills in monitoring (Splunk, Datadog), automated canary analysis, distributed tracing, and building self-service diagnostic tools.

    Experience

    Chemical Abstract Services (CAS)

    Software Consultant - Data Engineering | Columbus, OH (Hybrid) | Jan 2026 – Present Technologies: Java, Apache Spark 4, Hadoop, Cascading, Generative AI, LLM Orchestration, Python

  • Legacy Migration: Migrating complex data flows from legacy Cascading/Hadoop pipelines into a modern Spark 4-based application, ensuring data integrity and performance parity throughout the transition.
  • AI-Powered Code Migration: Constructing an automated AI coding pipeline to accelerate the migration process, leveraging LLM-based code generation and transformation to convert legacy Cascading workflows into idiomatic Spark 4 code.

  • Data Engineering: Working with large-scale scientific and chemical data processing workflows, optimizing Spark jobs for throughput and reliability.

    Simia Cryptus (Self-Employed)

    Independent Consultant & AI Researcher | Westerville, OH | Aug 2025 – Dec 2025 Technologies: Kotlin, Rust, TypeScript, React, Generative AI, Agentic Workflows, LLM Orchestration, Jekyll, DocOps

  • R&D Sabbatical: Intentional period after Grubhub dedicated to personal life, portfolio development, and independent research, extended by a hand injury and a challenging job market.
  • Cognotik AI Platform Polish: Continued refinement of the Cognotik open-source AI orchestration platform (a long-running hobby project predating this period), expanding multi-LLM provider support and refining the declarative DocProcessor engine. The original JetBrains Marketplace plugin (“AI Coding Assistant”) was an early-market entrant predating the post-ChatGPT explosion, accumulating 57k+ downloads.
  • QQN Research & Publication: Authored and published the QQN (Quadratic Quasi-Newton) formal academic research paper (DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.15200.19206), including a comprehensive Rust benchmarking framework achieving a 72.6% benchmark win rate. Published as a ResearchGate preprint.
  • Fractal Thought Engine: Built and demonstrated the Fractal Thought Engine — an AI-powered publishing system using declarative operator pipelines to transform raw notes into multi-modal publications (articles, comics, game theory analyses, Socratic dialogues).

  • Platform Demos & Evangelism: Created comprehensive demonstration suite (CognotikDemo) showcasing real-world agentic AI workflows including package documentation generation, multi-stage research pipelines, and self-bootstrapping codebases.

    Grubhub

    Senior Software Engineer - Data Platform Infrastructure | Remote/Westerville, OH | Oct 2018 – July 2025 Technologies: Kotlin, Java, Spring Boot, React, TypeScript, Python, PySpark, AWS, Kubernetes, Docker, Azkaban, Apache Ranger, Splunk, Datadog, PostgreSQL

  • Data Platform Infrastructure: Served as cross-functional support engineer for the data organization, providing hands-on troubleshooting, optimization guidance, and technical education to data scientists and analysts across multiple teams. Maintained and optimized infrastructure spanning dozens of data clusters running PySpark workflows on Azkaban. Maintained custom builds of core open-source platforms (Apache Ranger, Azkaban) with patches contributed back to the community.
  • Performance Optimization: Led deep performance analysis of mission-critical JVM applications including Apache Hive, Apache Ranger, and Azkaban. Achieved significant CPU/memory reductions through advanced profiling, GC tuning, and algorithmic optimization.
  • High-Performance Java & FFI: Leveraged Java 21’s Project Panama (FFI) to build direct bindings to native SSL/SSH libraries, resolving critical connectivity failures during an Ubuntu infrastructure upgrade when standard Java libraries failed.
  • Deployment Orchestration: Designed zero-downtime multi-stage deployment platform with automated canary analysis, rollback capabilities, and comprehensive audit trails. Developed novel deployment methods enabling reliable, non-disruptive upgrades for critical services.
  • Observability: Designed Datadog dashboards and Splunk diagnostic queries for deep system observability. Built custom tools for latency tracking, throughput analysis, and automated error logging.
  • Generative AI & Developer Tools (Self-Initiated): Architected agentic AI systems using LLMs for automated troubleshooting with declarative document-driven orchestration. Built full-stack AI-powered developer tools (React/TypeScript + Kotlin/Spring) for analyzing build failures, reducing Mean Time To Resolution (MTTR). Applied multi-model orchestration patterns (different models for planning, code generation, and summarization). Demonstrated technical initiative and leadership by piloting AI-augmented workflows ahead of organizational adoption.
  • Vendor & Architecture Review: Evaluated a pilot program with a commercial Apache Ranger vendor, providing technical assessment and recommendation (declined). Participated in formal design reviews and contributed architectural proposals for deployment orchestration and infrastructure tooling.

  • Incident Response & Operational Readiness: Participated in on-call rotations, incident response, and post-mortem processes for data platform infrastructure. Contributed to preparing and reviewing operational response documentation.

    Expedia Inc

    Software Consultant - Data Engineering | Seattle, WA | Oct 2014 – Oct 2018 Technologies: Scala, Java, AWS, Apache Spark, Hadoop, Hive, Redis, Apache Storm, Qubole, Docker

  • Real-Time Data Services: Architected high-performance ads targeting system achieving TP95 <5ms latency at ~10k TPS using Scala, Redis, and Apache Storm.
  • Cloud Migration: Led migration of big data infrastructure (~15-node Hadoop cluster) from on-premise to AWS/Qubole. Optimized Spark/Hive pipelines for cost and performance.
  • Open Source Customization: Maintained a custom build of Apache Oozie featuring internal management tools to support data engineering workflows.
  • Infrastructure Optimization: Reduced infrastructure costs and data processing time through profiling and targeted optimization.

  • Technical Leadership: Led a team of 5 developers, establishing coding standards and best practices for high-performance distributed systems.

    Amazon.com

    Technical Consulting | Seattle, WA | Nov 2016 – Feb 2017 Technologies: Java, Spring

  • Web Service Productionalization: Led the productionalization of a prototype Java web service for decision support and automation.

    HBO Code Labs

    Senior Software Engineer | Seattle, WA | Dec 2013 – Sep 2014 Technologies: Java, Spring Framework, Scala, Eclipse AST, Performance Tuning

  • Performance Engineering: Refactored large-scale Spring web services, reducing CPU and memory load by 90%. Root-caused a critical bug in a custom gzip decompression loop that pegged threads at 100% CPU on errant HTTP sessions — the organization had been masking the issue with continuous rolling restarts (~30-minute server lifetimes). Fixing this single bug restored cache effectiveness and eliminated the need for constant restarts.

  • Developer Tooling: Developed static analysis tools based on Eclipse’s Java AST to enforce coding standards (parameter sanitization, transaction management, caching) and facilitate large-scale refactoring.

    Various (Consulting)

    Technical Consulting | Seattle, WA | April 2011 – Nov 2013 Technologies: Java, C, Android, ffmpeg, Hibernate, Cassandra, Thrift

  • Plugged-In Technologies: Created a cross-platform video conferencing app (Android, Windows, Mac) and media server backend for video streaming, authentication, and session management using Java/C.
  • Big Fish Games: Developed desktop/browser and Android video game streaming clients using Java, JNA, and libffmpeg.

  • Serials Solutions: Implemented new Java data services based on Hibernate, Cassandra, and Thrift.

    Distributed Energy Management

    Team Lead and Architect | Bremerton, WA | 2010 – 2011 Technologies: Java, Python, Berkeley DB

  • Team Leadership & Architecture: Led a team of six, designed a high-performance data service and analytics platform for time series data using Java, Python/Jython, and Berkeley DB.

    Marchex

    Senior SDE | Seattle, WA | 2009 Technologies: MySQL, GWT, Java

  • Database & Web Development: Designed a MySQL partitioning service and maintained a GWT web application.

    Amazon.com

    SDE II - Website Platform | Seattle, WA | 2007 – 2009 Technologies: C++, C, Java, Perl, AWS, SQL, Distributed Systems

  • Real-Time Security AI: Developed DDoS detection and response systems processing millions of requests per minute using ML for pattern recognition.
  • High Availability: Built distributed services ensuring 24/7 availability for critical infrastructure and payments data.

  • Systems Programming: Developed Apache httpd C modules for routing and security.

    Aristocrat Technologies, Inc

    Software Engineer | Las Vegas, NV | 2005 – 2007 Technologies: C#, .NET

  • Gaming Industry Applications: Developed C# .NET commercial business applications for the gaming industry.

    Skills

    Programming Languages

    | Language | Level | Years | Details | |—|—|—|—| | Java (8+) & Kotlin | Expert | 20 | Core, Concurrency, JVM Tuning, Spring Boot, FFI/Project Panama (HPC) | | Python | Proficient | 10 | PySpark, Scripting, ML ecosystem familiarity. Primary language of supported teams at Grubhub. | | JavaScript | Advanced | 15 | Long-standing secondary skill for web UIs, utilities, and lightweight tooling | | TypeScript | Advanced | 7 | React, Node.js, Cognotik web interface. Preferred for production-scale frontend work. | | C / C++ | Proficient | 20 | Systems Programming, CUDA, Performance. Primary language in early career; long-standing secondary skill for native bindings and GPU work. | | Scala | Advanced | 8 | Spark, Functional Programming | | Rust | Intermediate | 2 | QQN Optimizer benchmarking framework. Prior experience with custom ownership-based memory management in Java (MindsEye) and C++ provided strong conceptual foundation. |

    AI & Machine Learning

  • Generative AI & LLMs: Multi-model orchestration, RAG, Agentic Workflows, Prompt Engineering, Context Management
  • Deep Learning Frameworks: Custom Frameworks (MindsEye). Familiarity with PyTorch and TensorFlow concepts; primary deep learning experience is through MindsEye (Java/CUDA).
  • Computer Vision: Neural Style Transfer, Image Generation, Geometric Transformations
  • GPU Computing: CUDA, CuDNN, OpenCL, Kernel Optimization, Memory Management
  • Optimization Algorithms: Quasi-Newton methods, Gradient Descent, Custom Loss Functions
  • Agentic AI & DocOps: Declarative document-driven AI orchestration, multi-step task planning, cognitive mode selection, self-healing workflows, Content-as-Code pipelines

    Infrastructure & Cloud

  • AWS (Expert, 12 years): EC2, S3, Lambda, ECS, EMR, SageMaker, IAM
  • Containerization: Docker, Kubernetes (Usage & Troubleshooting)
  • Big Data: Apache Spark, Hadoop, Hive, PySpark, Qubole
  • Databases: PostgreSQL, MySQL, Redis, Elasticsearch, Vector Databases

    DevOps & Tools

  • CI/CD & Build: Gradle, Maven, Jenkins, Git, GitHub Actions, DocProcessor (AI-powered build pipelines)
  • Observability: Splunk, Datadog, Prometheus, Grafana

  • Orchestration: Azkaban, Oozie, Airflow concepts, Cognotik DocProcessor (declarative AI task orchestration)

    Projects

    Cognotik AI Platform | GitHub

    Open-source AI-powered development platform distributed as cross-platform desktop app, JetBrains IDE plugin (57k+ downloads, early-market entrant predating ChatGPT), and React/TypeScript web interface. Built on a declarative DocProcessor engine (Markdown + YAML frontmatter) that orchestrates AI tasks as a build system. Supports Agentic Workflows, RAG, multi-LLM orchestration across 10+ providers (BYOK model), eight cognitive modes across three categories (Conversational, Planning & Execution, Advanced Orchestration), and 15+ specialized task types. Approximately 95% of the codebase is AI-generated with human review and automated demo-based testing. The platform bootstraps its own documentation and product pages using its own DocProcessor pipeline. The React frontend features moderate complexity with real-time server-driven UI via HTML snippets over WebSocket. Technologies: Kotlin, TypeScript, React, Generative AI, Agentic Workflows, LLM Orchestration, RAG, PostgreSQL, JetBrains Platform, WebSocket, Docker, YAML, Markdown

    Fractal Thought Engine | GitHub

    AI-powered research platform and publishing system using a declarative operator pipeline (DocOps) to transform raw notes into multi-modal publications — articles, comics, Socratic dialogues, game theory analyses, and state machine diagrams. Features circular feedback loops where analytical operators evaluate content against multiple cognitive frameworks, and a Jekyll-based frontend with automatic format detection and tabbed interfaces. Technologies: Jekyll, Markdown, YAML, Generative AI, Agentic Workflows, DocOps, Multi-Modal Content Generation

    MindsEye Neural Network Framework

    Comprehensive Java deep learning library built from scratch with CUDA/CuDNN integration (predating TensorFlow’s first release). Architected a custom ownership-based memory management system using AST-based static analysis to enforce safety. Achieved 10x performance improvement by bypassing GC for GPU buffers. Technologies: Java, CUDA, CuDNN, OpenCL, Spark

    MailDB

    Comprehensive email database system with AI-powered summarization, full-text search, and .mbox import tools. Technologies: Java, H2 Database, REST API, AI Integration

    SimiaCryptus Chess

    Advanced online chess platform featuring real-time multiplayer, variant gameplay (Hexagonal), and WebGL graphics using React and TypeScript. Technologies: JavaScript, WebGL, Node.js, Real-time Systems

    HTML Tools Suite | GitHub

    Client-side developer toolkit featuring secure encryption tools, package upgraders, and data transformation utilities. Technologies: JavaScript, Web Crypto API, PWA

    reSTM

    Distributed transactional memory prototype with MVCC, achieving ACID guarantees in scalable distributed systems. Technologies: Java, Distributed Systems, Concurrency —

    Publications

  • QQN: Quadratic Quasi-Newton Optimization — Formal academic research paper presenting a novel optimization algorithm bridging first/second-order methods with 72.6% benchmark win rate. Includes comprehensive Rust benchmarking framework. Published as preprint via ResearchGate (DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.15200.19206).
  • Cognotik AI Platform - Demo Videos & Presentations (2022-Present) — YouTube channel featuring comprehensive demonstrations and presentations of practical agentic AI applications. Showcases real-world use cases and platform capabilities.
  • Cognotik Demos: AI-Powered Workflows in Action (2025) — Comprehensive demonstration suite showcasing Cognotik’s declarative AI orchestration: Package README Generator, Puppy Research Workflow, Software Factory, Fractal Thought Engine integration, and Bootstrapping. Illustrates the ‘Makefile for AI’ paradigm and the shift from generative toil to evaluative toil.
  • Test-Driven Development for Neural Networks — Methodology for applying TDD principles, gradient validation, and A/B testing to neural network development.
  • Geometric Symmetry in Deep Texture Generation — Breakthrough research in neural art achieving perfect mathematical symmetry through kaleidoscopic preprocessing.
  • Fractal Thought Engine — Personal blog and AI-powered publishing platform featuring ideas elaborated through multi-modal cognitive lenses — dialectical reasoning, game theory, Socratic dialogue, and computational modeling — using the Fractal Thought Engine’s declarative operator pipeline.
  • Volumetry: Multidimensional Probability Modeling — Research on modeling complex multidimensional distributions (including fractals) using gaussian kernels, PCA transforms, and decision trees.

  • Modeling Network Latency — Statistical analysis of network latency distributions in distributed systems, comparing various parametric forms against an experimental dataset.

    Education

    University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

    Bachelor of Engineering in Physics | Minor in Mathematics

  • Strong foundation in mathematical modeling, numerical methods, and computational science
  • Research assistant developing computational labs for Nonlinear Dynamics