Resume

Dr. Lars Lidén

206-367-5277 larsliden@gmail.com http://www.linkedin.com/in/larsliden

As an experienced individual contributor and team manager, I have taken numerous software projects from initial conception to worldwide deployment, both as founder of a new startup and as a team leader at a Fortune 500 company. Comfortable will all aspects of product lifecycle from concept development, to requirements gathering, design, implementation, deployment and operations.

KEY STRENGTHS

● Team Leadership and Team Building

● Managing the day-to-day Activities of an Engineering Team and the Development Life Cycle

● Management of Departmental Resources, Staffing and Mentoring

● Execution Against Project Plans and Delivery Commitments

● Emerging Technology Assessment and Strategic Technology Planning

● Client Needs Assessment, Usability and User Interface Design

● Grant Discovery, Grant Writing, and Advanced Research Administration

● Intellectual Property Assessment and Strategy

● Experienced Lecturer and Author with Publications in Scientific Journals and Textbooks

● Over 20 years of programming experience

● Specialized Expertise in Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY

Principal Software Development Engineer Microsoft Artificial Intelligence & Research (Sept 2016 - present)

Co-founder of Microsoft's Bot Framework, the core technology powering Microsoft's chat interfaces. Grew platform from inception to over 128k developers and 7000+ active 1st and 3rd party Bots.

Principal Software Development Engineer Microsoft Research - FUSE Labs (July 2013 - Sept 2016)

Working in partnership with product and research teams at FUSE Labs to ideate, develop, and deliver new social, real-time and media-rich experiences for home and work. Co-creator of Xim - a cross platform synchronous photos browsing application. Chosen by Gizmodo and USA Today as one of the top mobile apps of 2014.

Software Development Manager Amazon.com - IMDb subsidiary (April 2012 – June 2013)

Managed the three teams that run IMDb’s .com website and backend services that support the website (with over 230 million users and 2.6 billion page views monthly). Initiated agile software development methodology. Managed process of migrating IMDb from a static perl-based web site over to a modern SOA architecture built on a Java stack.

Software Development Manager Amazon.com - Retail Systems (November 2010 – April 2012)

Started and defined goals for Amazon’s new Softlines Systems team, including Product, Program and Software Development. Responsible for determining business needs for the company’s worldwide Softlines business. Managed day-to-day activities for the team and execution against goals. Built Amazon’s systems for Top Down Budget Planning, Assortment Planning, Forecasting and Commitment Tracking for the Softlines business, representing over a ½ billion market including Apparel, Shoes and Sporting goods.

Senior Technical Program Manager Amazon.com - E-Commerce Platform (October 2009 – November 2010)

Co-founder of the new Amazon Commerce Web Services (ACWS) program, the goal of which is to decouple Amazon’s e-commerce web services from the Amazon retail pipeline making them available for standalone use by external parties. Responsible for determining business opportunities, analyzing development and process bottlenecks for each service, and setting prioritization of teams. Defined ACWS roadmap and deliverables across multiple organizations and 14 subsidiaries including Zappos, Audible, Woot, Shopbop, and IMDb. Set platform standards for APIs, documentation and developer support. Worked closely with Amazon’s worldwide subsidiaries to design solutions to meets their needs. Regularly reported status to VPs and senior VPs.

Technical Program Manager Amazon.com - Website Application Framework (February 2008 – October 2009)

As a member of the group program manager team helped to prioritized the work of 13 development teams within the Website Applications Platform group, including content management, personalization, recommendations, email and the web framework. Responsible for creating a consolidated roadmap and status reporting standards across the entire org and ran weekly Program Management meetings. Met regularly with and participated in roadmap reviews with senior management. Drove group requirements and delivery for Amazon.com, Target.com and other big internet enterprises, as well as several new retail websites including Javari, Wireless.Amazon.com and Amazon’s new “Webstore 2” product.

Founder, CTO TeachTown, Inc. (January 2003 – January 2008)

Founded company and developed vision for a subscription-based software treatment system for individuals with autism that is currently used in over 3000 schools nationwide. Developed strategic business plan and raised (>$1M) private equity for product development and marketing. Successfully applied for and served as Principal Investigator for multiple Department of Education grants (totaling over 500k). Provided executive leadership, served on board of directors and oversaw all company operations including product design, development, testing, product deployment and marketing strategy. Awarded prestigious national Tibbetts award for an important economic impact and business achievement based on SBIR funded research. Company chosen by the National Center for Technology Innovation as a case study for successful innovation. Named best small company by Working Mother magazine.

Software Technology Manager UW Digital Ventures (February 2003 – August 2004)

Assessed the commercial opportunity for software based technology developed at University of Washington. Responsible for Computer Science & Engineering and Electrical Engineering departments. Determined the appropriate intellectual property protection on a per project basis Prepared custom marketing and distribution plans for each managed project. Evaluated the potential value of technologies in the context of a prospective deal or licensing program. Negotiated license agreements.

Founder, Technical Director Apex Nanotechnology (April 2002 – January 2003)

Designed computer aided molecular design platform with an artificial intelligence tutor for computational chemistry. Provided technical leadership and development of R&D plan. Developed and presented pitch to venture capital and wrote grant applications.

Software Engineer Valve, LLC (May 2000 – April 2002)

Developed software for award winning artificial intelligence engine for Valve’s computer game platform (“Half-Life”, “Counter-Strike”). Responsible for building navigation systems for physically simulated flying entities. Created behaviors and smart combat strategies for computer controlled characters.

Senior Programmer Presto Studios, Inc. (August 1998 – April 2000)

Designed and build company’s artificial intelligence engine. Created message handling and event management system. Created core systems, in game user-interface and designed fundamental data structures. Supervised & advised production staff during production for multiple games.

Research Assistant Pacific Northwest National Laboratory - U.S. Dept. of Energy (May 1995 – August 1995)

Built neural network pattern recognition model for identification of environmental odors. Developed open-source simulation package for Adaptive Resonance Theory neural networks

EDUCATION

Ph.D. Cognitive and Neural Systems Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts (September 1994 - August 1998)

  • GPA 3.97
  • Awarded Dept. of Energy Computational Science Graduate Fellowship (94, 95, 96 & 97)
  • Offered Boston University’s Presidential Graduate Fellowship (94)

B.S. Cognitive Science University of California, San Diego (September 1990 - June 1994)

  • GPA 3.74
  • Magna Cum Laude, Departmental honors with highest distinction. (#1 in major)
  • University of California Regents Scholarship (90, 91, 92 & 93)
  • Oscar & Mildred Larson Scholarship, Vasa Order of America (90, 91, 92 & 93)
  • Alexander and Elizabeth Irvine Memorial Scholarship (90)

PERSONAL LIFE

In my spare time I enjoy hanging out with smart, creative folks and making things - from designing and building an omni-directional car to metal work for a 26-ft Rubik’s Cube that was on display at the Pacific Science Center.

SELECTED WORK

  • 5 issued and 13 additional provisional patents. Areas include: Mobile Identity & Payments, Email Marketing, Personalization, Budget Planning and Video Object Detection
  • Winner of Microsoft's 2015 Millennials Hackathon
  • Certified in Product Management (Pragmatic Marketing Certification 2010)
  • Winner of Amazon’s Social Media Hack Day (2010)
  • Member of advisory board and curriculum committee for University of Washington, Computer Science & Engineering programming courses on game development (2001 – 2003).
  • Program committee for the AAAI Symposium on Artificial Intelligence & Interactive Entertainment (2000-2002).