# Kiyan Ahmadizadeh > Generalist software engineer passionate about technical leadership Location: Emeryville, California, United States Profile: https://flows.cv/kiyan I am a generalist software engineer passionate about technical leadership. I enjoy working with teams to plan and implement robust systems that solve real world problems for users. I care about team culture and improving how teams work together. I love making software that simplifies, speeds-up, or empowers a user’s work. At Zymergen, I was technical lead for the software used by scientists, research assistants, and process engineers to define and execute laboratory workflows. I also helped design and deliver tools for specific challenges encountered in the lab, e.g. using constraint optimization to array plates used in laboratory assays. Later at Zymergen, I focused on improving developer productivity. This included collaborating with different software teams on their projects and using these experiences to inform tooling and architecture practice improvements. I also founded an ‘Architecture Group’ of senior engineers that helped surface and solve technical challenges with cross-team impacts. I believe investing in a healthy team culture leads to better quality work faster. I work to foster a team environment where it feels safe to communicate openly and honestly to solve problems. At Zymergen, I helped define the Technology Department’s initial scrum/agile processes and co-authored the department’s set of culture values. I also founded Zymergen’s LGBTQIA+ employee resource group. I’m a full-stack engineer, though I have more experience towards the backend. I have contributed to projects implemented in Java, Python, Javascript, and Typescript. I have helped deploy and operate systems using Docker, Kubernetes, and helm. I have extensively used the AWS cloud platform. I’m a big believer in using the right tool for the job and am always up for learning new technologies to solve problems. ## Work Experience ### Software Engineer @ Benchling Jan 2023 – Present | San Francisco, California, United States ### Principal Software Engineer @ Zymergen Jan 2021 – Jan 2023 | Emeryville, California, United States As a Software Engineer at Zymergen, I: - Was technical lead for software used to define and execute high-throughput laboratory workflows. Helped plan and implement various tools to assist in lab workflows, e.g. to facilitate liquid transfers, trigger downstream analyses, or optimize different operations. - Later, worked on improving developer productivity by embedding with software teams and using the gained experience to inform tooling and practice improvements. - Founded and helped lead an ‘Architecture Group’ of senior engineers that helped surface and solve technical challenges with cross-team impacts. - Co-authored the Technology Department’s set of cultural values. - Founded Zymergen’s LGBTQIA+ employee resource group. ### Senior Staff Software Engineer @ Zymergen Jan 2019 – Jan 2021 | Emeryville, CA ### Staff Software Engineer @ Zymergen Jan 2017 – Jan 2019 | Emeryville, CA ### Senior Software Engineer @ Zymergen Jan 2015 – Jan 2017 | Emeryville, CA ### Software Engineer @ Independent Freelancer Jan 2015 – Jan 2015 Developing solutions for customers, including web-based enterprise applications utilizing Big Data technologies. ### Software Engineer @ Deep Signal Jan 2014 – Jan 2015 Deep Signal developed data and analysis solutions for the oil and gas pipeline industry. As an early software engineer at Deep Signal, I worked with customers and the business team to help build Deep Signal's product roadmap, and to author requirements for individual software features. I worked on a team utilizing agile methodologies, including regular demos with customers, to develop product features. In product development, I worked on a team utilizing Java, AngularJS, and Spring to develop web-based data integration tools. I helped develop and maintain an infrastructure on Amazon Web Services utilizing EC2, RDS, DynamoDB, and other services both for continuous integration and application deployment. ### Member of Technical Staff @ WibiData, Inc. Jan 2011 – Jan 2013 | San Francisco, CA WibiData develops machine learning solutions for the retail industry. As an early engineer at WibiData, I helped develop the Kiji framework for Big Data application development (utilizing technologies like Java, Scala, Hadoop, HBase, and Avro). I was technical lead for the Kiji Express project that sought to provide a high-level domain-specific language for analysis on data stored in Kiji. I interfaced with customers, as well as the business and software teams, to help develop software requirements. I was responsible for sprint planning meetings and assisted in project management. ### Research Assistant @ Cornell University Jan 2011 – Jan 2011 ## Education ### MS in Computer Science Cornell University ### Bachelor of Science in Computer Science Penn State University ## Contact & Social - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/kiyan-ahmadizadeh-99978a44 - GitHub: http://github.com/lockoff --- Source: https://flows.cv/kiyan JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/kiyan/resume.json Last updated: 2026-04-11