# Areena A. > Software Engineer at  Photos Intelligence Location: San Francisco, California, United States Profile: https://flows.cv/areena 🌍 As an applied ML engineer on Apple’s Camera and Photo Intelligence team, I am prototyping, architecting and scaling personalized Apple Intelligence features for Photos, such as Create a Memory Movie and Memories Slideshows. The goal of my work is to design intentional, human-centred AI experiences that can be deployed to diverse audiences at scale. 🎒 To complement my industry experiences, I also spent time exploring research pathways in deep learning and AI ethics at uWaterloo. In 2022, I pursued an NSERC Responsible AI Undergraduate Research Assistantship with Professor Maura Grossman, where I conducted a literature review to augment the syllabi for ethical AI courses she teaches at Osgoode Hall Law School and Waterloo's Cheriton School of Computer Science. I completed a capstone research project under the supervision of ECE Professor Elliot Creager and in partnership with the Refugee Law Lab at Osgoode Hall, where we are researching how to build and evaluate a privacy-preserving model to redact refugee court documents by leveraging open-source datasets to fine-tune large language models. 🎨 I'm also passionate about creating art, writing, indoor cycling (think SoulCycle) and creating homes in cities across the world :) ## Work Experience ### Software Engineer @ Apple Jan 2024 – Present | Cupertino, California, United States The Photos Intelligence team in Camera & Photos develops privacy-respecting, Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies to ship Photos features and emotional experiences to hundreds of millions of users worldwide. In this role, I am ideating, prototyping and building intelligence algorithms and end to end features to power Apple Intelligence experiences for Photos, including Memories and Make Your Own Memory Movies. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0BXZhdDqZM ### Senior Data Quality Specialist @ Cohere Jan 2024 – Jan 2024 | Toronto, Ontario, Canada Labeled, ranked, audited, and corrected machine learning data with a focus on code-generation models. ### Software Engineer Intern @ Bloomberg LP Jan 2023 – Jan 2023 | New York City Metropolitan Area Running ML engineering experiments to leverage LLMs for question-answering on Bloomberg Law's Search Intelligence team in New York 🍎 ### Software Engineer Intern @ Apple Jan 2023 – Jan 2023 | Cupertino, California, United States Prototyping and pitching new features as an applied machine learning engineering intern on the Photos and Camera Storytelling team in Winter 2023. 📸 ### Software Engineer Intern @ Uber Jan 2022 – Jan 2022 | San Francisco, California, United States Frontend engineering intern building knowledge graphs to power Uber Eats on the Local Graph team at Uber AI 📊 ### UI Software Engineer Intern @ Formlabs Jan 2021 – Jan 2021 | Somerville, Massachusetts, United States * Coded 30+ embedded UI components for 3D printer touch screens in QML and Qt, collaborating with designers, engineers, and PMs to optimize the user’s 3D printing workflow * Architected new motor control panel by coding responsive and animated UI in QML/Qt and the corresponding DBUS listener in C++, enabling users to efficiently + safely perform maintenance * Identified need for and led QML knowledge sharing sessions between design and engineering to increase cohesion and ease of development between Figma design system and UI components ### Software Developer @ Nova Jan 2021 – Jan 2021 | Waterloo, Ontario, Canada • Coded new Django (Python) RESTful endpoints and model fields to improve ad campaign management system, leveraging Jenkins for CI/CD build management • Implemented reusable and scalable React components to simplify UI of campaign creation page used by 5000+ brands globally, using Jest for JavaScript testing • Led end-to-end feature development by collaborating with PMs to define requirements and tickets in Jira, coordinating 100% ticket completion in Agile sprint for a team of 10 developers and QAs ### Full Stack Developer @ LumenEd Jan 2021 – Jan 2021 | Waterloo, Ontario, Canada • Designed and developed a high-visibility tutor profile page using Bootstrap, PHP and Twig, simplifying UI and decreasing time required to book tutors by 20% • Refactored code for 30% of pages in web app using PHP, Twig, and HTML/CSS to modernize product and simplify development work • Leveraged Google Analytics and Hotjar data to prototype UI improvements with Figma and HTML/ CSS that were designed to improve conversion rates by simplifying user workflow ### Fellow @ Year Zero Studios Jan 2020 – Jan 2020 | Ottawa, Ontario, Canada • Developed new mentorship program connecting marginalized & BIPOC students with industry professionals in response to student needs in COVID-19 era • Created product roadmap and set KPIs used to manage tasks, leading to 150+ users registered in 8 weeks, while being mentored by startup founders within incubator • Devised technical solution for mentorship program by conducting user personas, using Figma to map user experience, and Wordpress to develop beta prototype ### Software Developer In Test @ Polar Inc. Jan 2020 – Jan 2020 | Remote • Increased efficiency for ad campaign feature by implementing new backend Django models and React.js views w/Chef for feature that supports 5 billion campaigns globally
 • Leveraged Charles, Python and Selenium library to implement 50+ automated tests and refactored 5000+ lines of code to maximize regression testing suites
 • Identified need & scope for remote onboarding guide by conducting user interviews and creating functional MVP to be used company-wide, decreasing onboarding time by 50% ### Director of First Year Outreach @ Waterloo Women in Computer Science Jan 2020 – Jan 2020 | Waterloo, Ontario, Canada • Worked with 20+ undergrad committee members to lead 5 events targeted at 8000+ women through user surveys, social media marketing, and personal mentorship • Initiated targeted marketing for freshmen by creating user database/personalized events Previously: Director of Publicity, Jan to April 2020 ### Co-Founder @ Code Queens Jan 2018 – Jan 2020 | Ottawa, Canada Area Co-founder of an Ottawa-based initiative in partnership with Nokia and Shopify to encourage middle school girls to engage in STEM from a young age. Organized a girls in STEM conference to teach Python coding, hold a pitch challenge, and inspire them to pursue future careers in computer science and engineering. ### Future Tech Intern @ Nokia Jan 2018 – Jan 2018 | Ottawa, Canada Area Designed, built, and tested a full Python-based web application written with the Flask web framework to create a solution for the NokiaEDU team as they transition to the Microsoft Azure cloud lab hosting platform. Gained experience using Git VCS, Flask, Python, the Microsoft Azure SDK for Python (making rest calls to external APIs including Azure Resource Manager and Microsoft Graph), Docker Container Service, and Azure Active Directory. Gained confidence in software development skills, including autonomous and efficient project management, designing (wire framing and pseudocode) and testing code. ### Summer Intern @ Mitel Jan 2017 – Jan 2017 | Ottawa, Canada Area Worked with Lab Support at Kanata location to maximize team efficiency through thorough inventories of mobile devices, servers, and routers. Developed a report generating system in Excel 2016 using VBA for management to easily analyze team and individual productivity by triaging customer support tickets. ### Assistant Teacher @ Spirit of Math Schools Inc. Jan 2016 – Jan 2016 | Kanata, Ontario Managed a group of eight first grade students as they learned the standardized Spirit of Math enriched math curriculum. Support their learning through crisis management, problem solving, and effective communication with both parents and students. ## Education ### Bachelor of Computer Science University of Waterloo ### International Baccalaureate Diploma Colonel By Secondary School ## Contact & Social - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/areenaakhter --- Source: https://flows.cv/areena JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/areena/resume.json Last updated: 2026-03-22