James Hilliard
Chief Technology Officer at Upstream Data Inc.
Denver, Colorado, United States
Summary
🤩
Rockstar🎓
Top SchoolJames Hilliard is a seasoned CTO and founder with 12+ years building end-to-end systems from embedded Linux firmware to cloud microservices, currently focused on disruptive fintech and crypto products. He has hands-on experience automating production lines for >100k embedded devices, operating mining farms and pools, and designing embedded ATM firmware paired with a real-time cloud management platform. A prolific open-source contributor, James has improved projects across the stack—from Buildroot, systemd and Mongoose to Rust’s Cargo and PipeWire—showing deep expertise in build systems, cross-compilation and low-level networking. Based in Denver, he blends operational rigor with product-led engineering, frequently solving portability and automation challenges that bridge hardware and cloud.
12 years of coding experience
Illinois Institute of TechnologyUniversity College Cork
Github Skills (120)
cargo10
python10
testing10
server-configuration10
bitcoins10
c1110
apache-camel10
bpf10
c1710
javas10
junit10
iso10
webserver10
embedded10
systemd10
Programming languages (33)
Github contributions (5)
buildroot/buildroot
Aug 2021 - Jan 2023
Buildroot, making embedded Linux easy. Note that this is not the official repository, but only a mirror. The official Git repository is at https://gitlab.com/buildroot.org/buildroot/. Do not open issues or file pull requests here.
Role in this project:
Back-end Developer
Back-end DeveloperContributions:254 commits, 5 comments in 1 year 4 months
Contributions summary:James Hilliard primarily worked on the Buildroot project, contributing updates and fixes across multiple areas. His contributions included bumping package versions (like those of python-aiojobs, python-flask, and more), integrating new packages (such as python-aioconsole and python-gstd), and addressing build issues related to dependencies. He also contributed to fixes for various modules.
buildrootembeddedembedded-linux
JoinMarket-Org/joinmarket-clientserver
Nov 2017 - Dec 2021
Bitcoin CoinJoin implementation with incentive structure to convince people to take part
Role in this project:Back-end & DevOps Engineer
Back-end & DevOps EngineerContributions:26 commits, 30 PRs, 99 comments in 4 years 1 month
Contributions summary:James primarily contributed to the Joinmarket project by enhancing the codebase and improving the build process. They addressed issues related to OS compatibility and portability by modifying installation scripts and dependencies. Furthermore, they focused on improving the robustness of the system by implementing automatic reconnection mechanisms for network connectivity. Additionally, the user modernized the project by updating dependencies to incorporate Python 3 style conversions, replaced deprecated testing syntax and used up-to-date testing tools.
bitcoinjoinmarketcoinjoinprivacytumbler
Find and Hire Top DevelopersWe’ve analyzed the programming source code of over 60 million software developers on GitHub and scored them by 50,000 skills. Sign-up on Prog,AI to search for software developers.