Alex Lisk Email & Phone Number

Los Angeles, Ca, Us

Los Angeles, Ca, Us

Somerville, Massachusetts, United States

This role is a hybrid between machine learning and software engineering, with some sprinkles of data engineering and cloud ops. I focus on software engineering problems that intersect the machine learning space, responsible for high-level planning, cross-computational-team collaboration, and the design and build of the solution.Specifically, there are two primary streams of engineering for machine learning at Tessera: 1. building the foundational ML platform to support general computational workflows (”Build" stream), and 2. working directly with ML scientists to bring initiatives to the production platform (”Tactical" stream).Highlighting some of my impacts of each stream, starting with Build:- Engineered a model CI/CD platform with MLFlow and Ray Serve to enable traceability in model training and serving, actionable telemetry, and one-click updates, eliminating manual data tracing and lengthy deployment processes.And Tactical, where I've been most involved:- Overhauled protein folding pipelines with Dagster and AWS Batch, reducing costs by over 25% and enabling faster engineering iteration.- Integrated a multi-stage tgRNA efficacy model into a key scientific workflow, designing for traceability and observability under strict data lineage requirements, accelerating RNA candidate screening and improving usability.

Somerville, Massachusetts, United States

Acting on the interface of engineering and scientific leadership, I'm leading the software standardization of our genotoxicity data pipelines.- Took over the leadership of the engineering and scientific teams (~7 total) for a year-long data pipeline standardization initiative, re-directing efforts and saving the delivery of a properly scoped and on-schedule MVP.- Enabled incredibly efficient engineering by soliciting and translating ambiguous scientific requirements into actionable engineering tasks, working iteratively with leadership and scientific teams on behalf of engineering.- Developed and managed detailed project timelines and milestones using Jira, proactively identifying and mitigating risks and maintaining transparency across stakeholders.- Continued to be actively involved in high-level engineering, optimizing the Postgres database and restructuring the data model, reducing downstream query retrieval time by 90%.

Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States

The “data person” at a ~100-person startup. This is intentionally vague, as many hats were worn, but to give some highlights of my work:Built Atlas, a GenAI manufacturing advisor, from ideation to launch using OpenAI’s GPT-4 LLM, LangChain, and large-scale vector databases, deployed on AWS. Atlas interfaces directly with the flagship software product to automate workflows, provide context-aware advice, and un-silo organizational engineering knowledge (click the attached link to learn more). If the code touched the agent (backend interfacing, data utilization, prompt engineering), I probably touched it. As a result, our team filed for a U.S. patent in August 2024.Owner of the centralized data platform (Databricks), responsible for delivering data access tools and insights to 7+ teams across the company.

Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States

Bringer of data to the people through efficient and reliable pipelines. Modeled the data for some fancy graphs and even fancier predictions.

Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States

Translated fun business questions into even funner data questions. Combined many data sources into one data destination.

Remote

(RPS Canada Inc., formerly Geminare, was acquired by Recovery Point Systems in November 2021)Revamped the onboarding process to allow for an easier transition into the project. Onboarded group of four new interns and provided support with technical project questions and product direction.

Remote

Researched and developed proprietary ML models for a computer vision classification and prediction application. Improved product-critical model accuracy, leading to a more robust and reliable prediction system. Optimized and deployed models with Docker and Kubernetes on Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure for serving predictions using a REST API. Presented development work to key project stakeholders in weekly company demos and informed of project progress, roadblocks, and new potential avenues of exploration. Designed and implemented new development, deployment, data management, and documentation processes to improve developer efficiency and reduce low value-added tasks.

Remote

Pioneered development of a call classification model for a real-time communications analytics platform to improve the speed of classification of calls, prevent network congestion, and decrease customer annoyance. Extracted features from customer calling records using the EDA process and generated visualizations with Python, providing features for the call classification model and allowing the customer to understand network issues. Corrected bugs in existing ML algorithm, allowing the project to be reliably demoed to clients and leadership team. Mentored high school intern in various aspects of software development, including practical AI/ML R&D.

Kanata, Ontario, Canada

Implemented new features and bug fixes as a front-end developer on an Angular application. Designed application components for new features to integrate into existing user interface, ensuring a seamless user experience. Reviewed code and advised team on automated testing suite architecture and best practices.

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Designed and developed an automated testing suite with Selenium, increasing the efficiency of feature verification and ensuring the product met client standards. Presented development work to key project stakeholders in client and company demos. Communicated with the lead developer and project managers to give project updates. Validated features in an agile iterative manner.