Summary
Overview
Work History
Education
Skills
Accomplishments
Languages
Awards
Timeline
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Daniel Finkler

Boca Raton,FL

Summary

Emmy award-winning engineering professional with a strong focus on team collaboration and achieving results. Skilled in project management, process optimization, and technical leadership. Adept at adapting to changing needs, ensuring reliability, and fostering a high-performance culture. Known for strategic thinking, problem-solving, and effective communication.

Overview

24
24
years of professional experience

Work History

Head of Engineering

Bonsai
03.2020 - 06.2025
  • Company Overview: Bonsai is a platform for recording artists and their teams to elevate the fan experience. As Head of Engineering, I led a team building a social and messaging platform integration system that enabled artists to harness super-fan engagement across a variety of social and messaging platforms including Reddit, Instagram, Discord, and YouTube.
  • Led full-stack TypeScript platform with React frontend and Graph QL/Node.js backend serving fan interactions and their artists
  • Built content processing pipelines using AWS ML services (Comprehend, Transcribe) for analyzing fan engagement data and generating insights, dashboards
  • Collaborated with product team on super-fan identification algorithms and user behavior analytics
  • Architected media conversion systems handling multi-format content (audio, video, images) using AWS Media Convert and step function jobs to manage the user generated content life cycle
  • Developed social platform integrations Reddit, Instagram, Discord, YouTube allowing artists to respond to comments with audiogram MP4s
  • Implemented GraphQL APIs with Prisma ORM ensuring type-safe data layer and real-time updates to clients
  • Led team of engineers using Agile methodology with CI/CD

LiveLineFX Staff Software Engineer

SailGP/Oracle Racing
09.2018 - 03.2020
  • Company Overview: SailGP is an international racing sailing league. As LiveLineFX Staff Engineer, I worked for the league developing control systems and effects for broadcast graphics and race officials. Our goal was to bring the drama of sail racing to life for television audiences worldwide through stories told by real-time data generated by boats on the water.
  • Developed real-time canvas visualizations for sail racing performance data using Javascript and Graphene
  • Built telemetry processing systems handling high-frequency GPS and sensor data from racing sail and support boats
  • Created broadcast graphics control systems with real-time data rendering and augmented reality overlays using C#/.Net
  • Worked with data science team on boat performance for on-air stories and post race analyses and officiating
  • Architected Oracle Cloud integration for live data ingestion and processing for all SailGP events globally
  • Https://sailgp.com/

Platform Engineering Manager

GIPHY
02.2012 - 05.2018
  • Company Overview: GIPHY is the leading GIF platform and search engine. As Platform Engineering Manager, I scaled infrastructure and team during GIPHY's massive growth. We migrated from a PHP monolith to Scala/Python microservices while maintaining backwards compatibility for existing clients ranging from global scale messengers like Instagram, Apple Messages, and Twitter, to small scale hobbyist WordPress integrations and everything in between.
  • Scaled B2B API platform during explosive growth, handling billions of monthly requests for enterprise clients
  • Led monolith-to-microservices migration while maintaining backwards compatibility for existing API clients and web services
  • Built high-availability systems with advanced caching and CDN strategies for low latency content delivery using hybrid AWS and CloudFlare caches
  • Managed platform team responsible for infrastructure serving everything from consumer hobby to enterprise applications via the Giphy API
  • Designed API architecture supporting viral content distribution and real-time analytics
  • Https://giphy.com/

Senior Software Engineer

Sportvision
02.2001 - 01.2010
  • Company Overview: Sportvision pioneered sports broadcast enhancement technology. As Senior Software Engineer for Motorsports, I worked on the RaceFX platform that revolutionized NASCAR broadcasts by bringing real-time GPS tracking and interactive fan experiences to television for the first time.
  • Lead web engineer on RaceFX platform - GPS tracking system for NASCAR vehicles with real-time graphics
  • Built interactive consumer applications serving thousands of racing fans with live data visualization
  • Developed C++/OpenGL graphics systems with Java control interfaces for broadcast television clients
  • Created data processing pipelines for live sporting event analysis and visualization on NASCAR.com
  • 3x Emmy Awards for Science & Technology - broadcast enhancement technology
  • Https://smt.com/

Education

Bachelor of Arts - Computer Science

SUNY At Buffalo
Buffalo
01.2000

Skills

  • Proficient in Nextjs and React for single page applications
  • Backend development with Nodejs and GraphQL
  • Experienced with TypeScript
  • PostgreSQL expertise
  • Cloud infrastructure management: AWS services
  • Integration of ML models in content analysis
  • Test-driven development practices
  • Project engineering management
  • Mentoring team members

Accomplishments

    3x Emmy Award Winner for augmented reality effects for NASCAR telecasts.

    Webby award winner for Nascar.com "RaceCast" applet.

    Recognized in the NYT

Languages

English
Native or Bilingual

Awards

3x Emmy Awards for Science & Technology (2003-2005), Featured in NY Times for innovative technology in art

Timeline

Head of Engineering

Bonsai
03.2020 - 06.2025

LiveLineFX Staff Software Engineer

SailGP/Oracle Racing
09.2018 - 03.2020

Platform Engineering Manager

GIPHY
02.2012 - 05.2018

Senior Software Engineer

Sportvision
02.2001 - 01.2010

Bachelor of Arts - Computer Science

SUNY At Buffalo

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