Mark Van Aken
AI Tech Lead at Defense Unicorns
Mountain View, California, United States
Summary
👤
Senior🎓
Top SchoolMark Van Aken is an AI Tech Lead based in Mountain View with 11 years of software engineering experience building production systems across defense, fintech, and startups. He progressed from internships at Amazon and CSAA to senior and principal engineering roles before transitioning into machine learning and AI leadership at Defense Unicorns. Known for blending hands-on coding with team-oriented leadership, he emphasizes learning, strong team chemistry, and pragmatic delivery of ML-enabled systems. His background spans full-stack and backend roles at companies such as PolySign and Edgesource, giving him a broad technical foundation for production AI work. Mark’s trajectory shows a pattern of stepping into technical leadership during periods of growth and change, often bridging product and engineering priorities. He holds a Computer Software Engineering degree from Rose-Hulman and brings a practical, collaboration-first approach to deploying reliable AI solutions.
11 years of coding experience
8 years of employment as a software developer
High School Diploma General High School Education, High School Diploma General High School Education at Saratoga High SchoolBachelor's degree Computer Software Engineering, Bachelor's degree Computer Software Engineering at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
English, Japanese
Github Skills (200)
image-generation10
python10
audio10
tensorflow10
flux10
machine-learning10
inpainting10
pytorch10
diffusion-models10
deep-learning10
generative-art10
jax10
diffusers10
text2image10
stable-diffusion10
Programming languages (14)
Github contributions (5)
vanakema/catalina-env-setup
Jan 2020 - Mar 2023
Contributions:9 pushes, 1 branch in 3 years 2 months
vanakema/TexasParksReservationScraper
Dec 2018 - Jun 2020
Contributions:2 pushes in 1 year 6 months
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