Damon Hayhurst
London, UK
damonhayhurst@gmail.com

Experience
Elsevier
2020 - 2025
Senior Software Engineer
Software Engineer VI
Software Engineer III
Spring
React
AWS
PingFederate
Keycloak
New Relic
Figma
Jenkins
OAuth
Adobe Analytics
Accessibility
  • Developed and maintained the authentication flows and it’s underlying infrastructure used by over 3 million users a day.
  • Spearheaded the collaboration with UX designers, identifying user challenges and iterating on reusable React components for a shared UI library which was adopted company-wide.
  • Pioneered the integration of our new identity system within the scope of any product.
  • Provided technical feedback to Elsevier’s internal front end development team, innovating on Elsevier’s UI primitives with a developer-first mentality.
  • Communicated technical concepts to other cross-functional product teams, ensuring seamless integration of login flows across multiple Elsevier products.
  • Focused on elements of user-centered design, performing AB experiments within the authentication system and building the infrastructure for it.
Flox
2020
Full Stack Web Developer
Python
VueJs
WebRTC
Flask
GCP
PlotlyJs
  • Designed and deployed a scalable web architecture on GCP, enabling real-time alerts and live camera stream displays for farmers.
  • Developed microservices and REST APIs using Python and Flask to process real-time data, schedule jobs, and push alerts via text, email, and WhatsApp.
  • Implemented WebRTC solutions, including private TURN servers, to retrieve and display live camera feeds in a media player-like interface.
  • Containerized the system architecture using Docker and automated the build process for production deployment.
  • Collaborated with the computer vision team to define and implement a testing framework using Pytest, ensuring system reliability.
Filmdoo
2019
Web Developer
PHP
AWS
VueJs
NodeJs
JQuery
WebSocket
  • Conducted R&D to select the tech stack for Filmdoo’s edutainment venture, considering business requirements and scalability.
  • Developed the foundational architecture for the product, including data structures and front-end component hierarchies.
  • Built a user upload feature using AWS S3 API and jQuery, enabling chunked video uploads to the platform.
  • Performed usability research on VOD competitors, identifying UX patterns to improve Filmdoo’s user experience.
Crunch
2018 - 2019
Web Developer
MySQL
Spring
Microservices
Python
Docker
  • Developed features for Crunch’s core Spring app, improving client managers’ ability to resolve user issues
  • Automated database updates using Python scripts, reducing manual intervention and improving efficiency
  • Contributed to the development of single sign-on (SSO) technology within a microservices architecture
  • Designed MySQL queries and procedures to identify and resolve widespread client issues, improving system performance
  • Introduced and implemented a unit testing framework (MyTap) for MySQL procedures, ensuring code reliability
Highwire Press
2016 - 2017
Java Developer
Spring
AngularJs
PostgreSQL
  • Developed features for SAMSigma, a SaaS solution, using Agile methodologies and test-driven development (TDD).
  • Acted as Scrum Master, organizing sprint meetings and retrospectives to improve team collaboration and productivity.
  • Collaborated with cross-functional teams to refine product requirements and deliver high-quality software within tight deadlines.
Education
Birkbeck College
2022 - 2024
Cognitive Science and Artificial Intelligence MSc
Cognition
Neural Computation
Statistics
Psychology
Machine Learning

This course takes the core assumption that human cognition is a computational process, implemented in neural hardware. It provides the skills for studying the cognitive processes and representations underlying human thought, knowledge and behaviour through computational models and techniques. Thesis focused on whether search strategies employed in social decision making affect honest outcomes.

Sussex University
2012 - 2015
Music Informatics BSc
Computer Science
Digital Music
Artificial Intelligence
Natural Language Engineering

The course focused on the broader field of computer science with modules specializing in artificial intelligence and digital music. Dissertation looked at whether natural language content of a webpage could inform an appropriate music choice in a music recommender system.

Projects
Modelling the effects of information gathering on social decision making
Python
Pandas
Time Series Clustering

Analysis of mixed length time series data using dynamic time warping and agglomerative clustering. Modelling information search patterns across honest and dishonest outcomes.

Cocality
Typescript
SvelteKit
Vercel
AI

LLM Chat Interface focusing on Mentorship for Startup Founders.

Intentional Browsing
Javascript
WebExtension
AI

A browser copilot that determines that extracts the current content of the browser and a uses local LLM instance to determine it’s relevancy against a given intention.

Matching music with the semantic content of the web
Python
NLP
Embeddings
Information Music Retrieval

An exploration into using HTML content for the context of automatic playlist generation.

SongRec
Rust
Gtk

Shazam client for Linux. Key contributor, developing the interface with new favourites function.