Waseem Ahmad

Staff Software Engineer · Android · AI

14 years shipping software at Google, Meta, and Nextdoor. Pioneering AI-driven development — building tools that ship production code autonomously.

Resume

About

I've lived in a lot of places — Miami, Houston, Boston, London, Menlo Park, San Francisco, New York, Austin, and now Seattle. Each city shaped how I think about building things. I studied Computer Science at Rice University , lived at Brown College, and spent a semester abroad at UCL in London.

My career experience started with a research project building collision avoidance algorithms for unmanned aerial vehicles at Auburn University, followed by internships at Google in Boston and Meta in Menlo Park (where I earned a US patent on my intern project). I joined Meta full-time and spent seven years growing from new grad to Staff Engineer — shipping features on Facebook Search and News Feed in New York, leading a major framework migration across 50+ engineers, speaking at Android @Scale, conducting 175+ technical interviews, and eventually architecting the Calling experience for Meta's next-gen AR/VR hardware in Seattle.

Now I'm at Nextdoor as a Staff Software Engineer on Feed UX, where I'm pioneering AI-driven development — building Claude Code commands and AI tooling adopted across the engineering org, and driving cross-platform product delivery as DRI. I've transitioned to an entirely AI-driven workflow, shipping all features through AI tooling at production quality.

On nights and weekends, I'm deep in the AI agent space — building voice AI systems that make real phone calls, integrate with Google Workspace, and run autonomously. I believe the most interesting work in tech right now is at the intersection of platforms and AI, and I'm building there.

Outside of work, I'm a licensed private pilot flying a Cirrus SR22. I use it to explore new destinations, take friends on scenic flights over Seattle, and tour cities from the best seat in the house.

Experience

Nextdoor

Jun 2024 – Present

Staff Software Engineer

Feed UX (Android) · Seattle, WA

Pioneering AI-driven development tooling while driving end-to-end delivery of Nextdoor's highest-impact product initiatives as cross-platform DRI.

•Built 12+ Claude Code AI commands adopted across the Android org — transitioned to an entirely AI-driven workflow shipping all features through AI tooling at production quality
•Cross-platform DRI aligning iOS, Web, Backend, PM, Design, and Data Science across 10+ A/B experiments
•Shipped app-wide navigation redesign, NEXT feed overhaul, feed filters, and in-feed composer
•Led codebase-wide testing modernization: completed JUnit-to-Kotest and Mockito-to-MockK migrations, established automated AI-enforced testing standards across the Android org
•Rearchitected comment filtering/ranking system, banner system, and built a Jetpack Compose UI state framework
•Thought leader for AI-driven feature development company-wide

Meta (Reality Labs)

Dec 2020 – Jun 2023

Staff Software Engineer

AR/VR Calling · Seattle, WA

Led Calling integration for a multi-generational AR/VR consumer hardware product across 5 teams, 17 engineers, and 10 cross-functional partners.

•Implemented core call engine logic and genericized UI layer for use across multiple call engines
•Led architecture trade-off discussions, delegated features by level and scope
•Built analytics logging and worked with DS to derive key metrics for product health and engagement

Meta (Facebook App)

Aug 2014 – Oct 2019

SWE → Senior → Staff Software Engineer

Search · News Feed · Stories · Menlo Park → New York, NY

Grew from new grad to Staff across three high-impact teams on the Facebook Android app.

•Led the 2nd half of News Feed's Litho migration — planning and delegating to 50+ engineers across dozens of teams
•Key role in rewrite of News Feed to Litho, a React-style framework for multi-threaded UI rendering
•Led technical design of Birthday Stories; built automated screenshot testing library
•Built trending topics, keyword search, video search, and dark theme support
•Android @Scale 2018 conference speaker
•175+ technical interviews, Intern Director for 28 internships
•Designed and taught Android Testing course to new hires for 3 years

Meta (Intern)

Summer 2013

Software Engineering Intern

Payments Platform · Menlo Park, CA

Built a payment routing system matching users to optimal providers by country.

•US Patent #10496964 — Payment routing system

Google

Summer 2012

Software Engineering Intern in Test

QPX / Flight Search · Boston, MA

Built test dashboards and optimized server scripts for the engine powering Google Flight Search.

•Interactive dashboard aggregating smoke test data
•Optimized and parallelized server startup scripts — 2x speedup

Private Pilot

Nov 2020 – Present

Licensed Pilot — Cirrus SR22

General Aviation · Seattle, WA

Earned my private pilot license and fly a Cirrus SR22 through a partnership out of the Seattle area. Scenic flights, cross-country trips, and the best seat in the house.

Projects

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Ren

Full-stack AI assistant with voice calling, Google Workspace integration, cron scheduling, and WhatsApp interface. Makes real phone calls, books reservations, and manages daily workflows autonomously.

OpenClawVAPIClaude AITwilioElevenLabs