
A builder
at heart.
20 years of turning ideas into working products.I connect the experience people see with the systems that make it work.
I’m a principal software engineer working at the intersection of engineering, product, and UX. I like taking an ambiguous idea, figuring out what it should become, and staying hands-on through production. I’ve started products from scratch, shaped their architecture and design, and grown the teams that carry them forward.
That same curiosity runs through my own projects: games with a sense of adventure, tools that make ambitious ideas easier to build, and notes on what I learn along the way.
David GravesA few chapters along the way
SELECTED WORK- Signify IntelligencePrincipal Software Engineer2026
Building the human-in-the-loop experience for AI products.
I led UX and front-end architecture for two AI applications launched in 2026, with a focus on human-in-the-loop workflows. I designed the visual layer that let people answer agent questions, direct the agent’s work, and review its results, alongside self-service tools for managing their own projects.
I built the new AI group’s application platform from scratch, connecting that React and Next.js experience with authentication, permissions, delegated administration, and deployment on AWS.
For one application, I designed the workflow around AI-assisted lighting audits and human review. For the other, I helped turn a 30–45 minute manual product lookup into a conversation taking minutes, and designed the contract that let the AI backend return interactive tables, images, and controls.
- Signify / Philips LightingFounding engineer & technical lead2017–2026
Engineering a multi-region, multi-account IoT portal.
Given a broad requirement to let customers interact with Signify’s IoT Platform, I designed and built its self-service management console. With multi-tenant account support, customers could sign in and manage their own cloud resources and microservices without relying on the platform team for routine tasks. I shaped the portal to grow with the platform as new services and capabilities were added.
I led the IoT Portal from 2017 to 2026, taking it from the first commit to 85+ production releases. I began as the sole developer and grew the team to four engineers, while remaining its hands-on architect and owning UX design and delivery. I led the roadmap, code review, and releases across EU and China deployments.
I later designed its second-generation architecture around a Node.js server for authentication and sessions, with independently composed front ends. Along the way, I established a release-every-sprint cadence with 85%+ automated test coverage and delivered every committed roadmap item in 2024 and 2025.
- BridjLead Mobile Engineer2015–2017
Owning the mobile experience—from code to customers.
I joined the startup before its Series A as Bridj’s first full-time app developer, owning native Android and iOS development for the rider app and the internal app used by every Bridj driver.
Building on my experience in mobile and location-based applications, I deepened my work on customer-facing products and support for multiple languages and regions. I led mobile development, performed releases, and responded directly to customer reviews.
I rebuilt the Android app around a testable architecture, added unit and UI tests, and owned the two-week Android release cycle. Working with product and design—and hearing from customers—kept that work grounded in what riders and drivers needed.
- HERE & NokiaWeb, mobile & developer tools2006–2014
A foundation in mobile and location-based applications.
At HERE, I built the Collections feature and supporting API for Android HERE Maps, keeping it memory-efficient and fully functional offline across a wide range of devices. I also prototyped an offline-first iOS app.
At Nokia, I built developer portals, code-sharing and analytics applications, and tools for testing mobile enterprise systems. Together, these roles grounded my mobile and location-based work in the demands of real devices, offline use, and the systems behind the experience.
TypeScript · React · Next.js · Node.js · AWS · AI agents