# Derek Desentz

> Senior Fullstack Engineer | UX Driven

Location: Greater Boston, United States
Profile: https://flows.cv/derekdesentz

Over the course of my career I've developed a strong passion for Full Stack Development.  Having a complete understanding of how the data is passed from the front-end to the back-end gives me full confidence that any problem can be solved.  This, along with the creative thinking from UI/UX design, encompasses everything I enjoy the most about Software Engineering.

In particular, I've grown to love Full Stack Development for AI/ML/DL applications.  The challenge of properly displaying data that is easy to view and understand thats derived from very complex ML research has been the most rewarding part of my job thus far.  

In order to get better at this process I recent finished my Master's Degree in Computer Engineering with a thesis on "Partial Facial Re-Imaging Using Generative Adversarial Networks". By learning more about how these Deep Learning algorithms are working, I'm able to make better engineering decisions for how to display this data in a web application.  I will be continuing this research over the next few years in my PhD program (part time) which will also give me even more practice as a Full Stack Engineer.

Since completing my Master's I've learned that I have an even stronger passion for Deep Learning and would love to see my career start to lean more towards becoming an ML Engineer.  The most important thing I've learned about being an ML Engineer is the importance of visualizing and understanding your data, and my experience as a Full Stack Engineer will allow me to excel with this.

## Work Experience
### Senior Full Stack Engineer @ Acadian Asset Management
Jan 2025 – Present | Boston, Massachusetts, United States

### Senior Front-End Engineer @ CytoTronics
Jan 2024 – Jan 2025 | Boston, Massachusetts, United States

### Principal Full Stack Engineer / Frontend Lead / Design Lead @ SAIC
Jan 2021 – Jan 2024
Frontend & Design Lead. Designed and built a new UI from scratch using React that leveraged existing product APIs.  Worked with various leads within the program to implement a UI/UX that focuses on creating a flexible product for data visualization and validation.  Implemented new APIs with Spring Boot to enhance the user experience and add functionality to our product.  Traveled on-site to assist in many software deliveries, test & validate our application, and enhance our existing CI/CD pipeline.

### Full Stack Developer @ MIT Lincoln Laboratory
Jan 2020 – Jan 2021
Worked on various projects acting as the sole Full Stack Developer to integrate different AI/ML research into web applications to enable interactive data visualization and understanding.
Created a custom framework for automation testing on a large-scale web application. This framework allows for Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery for an application with multiple deployments.

### Full Stack Developer @ Kessel Run
Jan 2019 – Jan 2020 | Boston, MA
Developed a production ready application used to streamline Target System Analysis on a secure network. Experience with agile development, paired programming, and secured pipelines.
Primarily utilized the tech stack: React, Typescript, Node, & MySQL.

### Cyber Security Analyst @ Air Force Materiel Command
Jan 2018 – Jan 2019 | WPAFB
Received Acquisition Intelligence Engineering training by taking various online sources for Acquisition Intelligence Certification and DAWIA Core Certification (Level 1)

Performed cyber intelligence research and implemented network security tests

### Software Developer @ U.S. Air Force Institute of Technology
Jan 2016 – Jan 2019
Built a functional programming environment for Machine Learning Research by implementing
autonomous agents, modifiable settings, data logging, GitLab repository, opensource licensing, and
full documentation with detailed step-by-step guides

Participated in a team based software development project by adding unit testing to filtering 
algorithms in Java, C++, and MATLAB

Integrated a web based visualization tool using opensource WebGL software to show real time
non-gps positioning with various sensors and filters

### Software Engineer @ NextGen Federal Systems
Jan 2016 – Jan 2016 | Dayton, Ohio Area
Developed an Android Studio application porting data from a server by implementing a WebGL 
package that visualized real time aircraft positioning and attitude

Installed various frameworks on Ubuntu using CMake to build testing software from source code


## Education
### Master of Science - MS in Computer Engineering
Wright State University

### Bachelor of Science - BS in Computer Science
Wright State University

### Bachelor of Science - BS in Computer Engineering
Wright State University

### Cyber Analytics Certification in Cyber Security
Wright State University


## Contact & Social
- LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/ddesentz
- GitHub: https://github.com/ddesentz

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Source: https://flows.cv/derekdesentz
JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/derekdesentz/resume.json
Last updated: 2026-03-28