Cristian Grunca Email & Phone Number

Santa Monica, CA, US

West Hollywood, California, US

• Grew, built, and innovated the world's top Free Ad Supported TV streaming service.
• Inspiring and nurturing teams building software solutions for content ingestion, transcode, packaging, streaming, content protection and ad serving across all Pluto TV platforms.
• Drove the evolution of the Revenue Technology that generated over $1 billion and made Pluto TV first in class.
• Provided vision and mentorship for a globally distributed team of leaders and engineers.
• Built scalable video streaming services (Live, VLL, VOD, HLS, DASH, DRM) supporting over 70 million monthly active users.
• Built framework and pipelines to ingest, aggregate and process high volume client-side events (Kafka, Confluent cloud)

Glendale, California, US

• Built media and metadata platform to drive VOD and OTT workflows.
• Expanded newly acquired properties to new Disney distribution pipelines, FX/Hulu and SDVI.
• Integrated VOD distribution platform with Mediahub media management platform, across multiple collaboration.
• Supported technology shift into Disney systems without business disruption.
• Evangelized “async communication first” culture to support working from home with increasing productivity.
• Reduced operation costs by more than 50% for linear and non-linear processes by leveraging vertical scaling on AWS EC2 instances and redesigning to serverless lambdas.

New York, NY, US

• Built automated digital supply chain platform, replacing legacy monolithic applications with modern microservices.
• Architected AWS-based cloud infrastructure for work order management and media workflow orchestration, EC2, SWF, SNS, SQS, CloudWatch, and Media Services (Elemental).
• Rebuilt the legacy VOD and OTT delivery platform keeping backwards compatible output as CableLabs ADI, BXF and proprietary timed metadata formats.
• Integrate systems and automate manual processes from ingress ( SCTE104 / SCTE35 ) from distribution and scheduling all the way to egress ( SCTE224 / ESNI ) with rights and DAI into MVPD/DVMPDs.
• Worked with AWS team in identifying enhancements and fixes to newly released MediaLive and MediaConvert services.
• Architected AWS based cloud infrastructure for work order management and workflow orchestration, EC2, SWF, SNS, SQS, CloudWatch.

Salzburg, Austria, AT

• Architected and implemented the global scale streaming service for Red Bull TV. Built HLS dynamic manifest services with server-side stitching for DAI and livestreams. Managed CI/CD solution and code reviews from.
• Drove operational and execution excellence of Red Bull TV towards an award-winning success (Google: Best TV Experience).
• Streamlined Architecture, resulting in reduction of code to 1/3, with over 10x performance increase.
• Built exemplary team from scratch and drove progress through principles revolving around team mind.

Seattle, WA, US

• Led machine learning team responsible for BI strategy on transportation logistics. Provided proactive mentorship for a team of ten engineers, to enable them for career growth.
• Built highly scalable machine learning classifier and integrated with classification workflow process to replace out-scaled legacy system.
• Drove services evolution and roadmap towards a microservice, event-based architecture.
• Achieved substantial performance upgrade while reducing the compute and store resource usage by 35%.
• Designed and developed traffic prediction service to provide data for transportation route planning, including transit times, stop times, and parking times; built geo-historical model.
• Developed dynamically scalable real time engine to process the high-volume inventory change stream (millions TPS) with optimized resource usage.

Los Angeles, California, US

• Directed all software and hardware design and development. Created strategy for hiring engineering staff. Led global engineering teams mostly in the U.S. and Asia while providing mentoring and career growth.
• Architected custom software/hardware system for distribution of high-resolution video streams on large, architecture-based, highly customized LED displays.
• Performed risk analysis and project optimization for aggressive deadlines.
• Researched and delivered several cost-reducing initiatives by simplifying design, assembly, and delivery of solutions.

Los Angeles, CA, US

• Designed and prototyped the new image recognition system for the Getty collections ahead of the public release of google goggles.
• Highly scalable and reliable feature based image detection with optimized multidimensional, database driven image search.
• Designed and developed the Getty online collections applications, including online calendar, multimedia galleries, videos.
• Website Redesign and performance enhancements, SEO.
• Metadata repository: customized a framework as a standard for sharing library metadata with museums around the world.
• Designed and developed new dynamic website: Applied scalability analysis and search engine optimization.

US

• Managed several projects and delivered project plans, schedules and progress reports including complex performance and progress analysis.
• Developed software and hardware suite for testing performance and validating requirements of several embedded devices.
• Prototype development, research, optimizations, reverse engineering, low level drivers.
• System Geometry Calibration designed and built, innovative calibration models and methods, including unique volumetric geometry calibration, volume renderer and polynomial multivariate fit. Built hardware controllers.
• Two axis robotic 3d scanning structure: handled the hardware and software aspects of the project. Project used by the Dept of Defense to catalog known 3d objects into a radar signature database.

San Jose, California, US

• Addressed the latest and more inconspicuous threats by reverse engineering machine code executables.
• Wrote heuristic virus detection engine.
• Worked with one of the world top scientists in the field of antivirus research

• Took several products through the full lifecycle.
• Designed and documented the automated feed system used to import information from multiple 3rd party sources. Designed and implemented the StatusTracker, used for real-time status reports of the feed system.
• Designed, implemented and documented the XML data binding tools set for the Toyota Financial System (According to the Toyota's DTDs and protocols).

• Managed the QA department. Delivered a test automation framework, wrote test plans and schedules.
• Managed the software dev. cycle with emphasis on regression tests and promoted test driven development.

Santa Monica, California, US

• Project Lead: Network Shell Library, used across multiple projects and platforms.
• Worked on several products including: Apocalypse, Zork Grand Inquisitor, Battlezone, Heavy Gear 2, Interstate '82, Civilization-Call to Power.
• Pioneered meta programming techniques (well ahead of its popular rise) using custom C++ templates in building a generic UI library.
• Programmed AI behaviors and physical interactions. Used simulation by simplified physics models, optimized for real time execution.

• Developed the company’s multimedia platform framework.
• Increased productivity in the visual effects post-processing pipeline.
• Researched and developed new algorithms related to post production effects.
• Built interactive Real Time Virtual Reality Engine.

• Developed the company’s security and antivirus products.
• Pioneered the code immunization method, one year ahead of major market players (Symantec, McAfee)

Master'S Degree, Computer Science

Certificate Of Specialization, Entrepreneurship And Innovation

Certificate In Disruptive Strategy

Certificate In Negotiation Mastery

Certificate In Entrepreneurship