Niko Schwarz
Research Engineer at Google DeepMind
Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Summary
👤
Senior🎓
Top SchoolNiko Schwarz is a research engineer with 15 years of experience building large-scale, evaluation-driven systems for geo and information-retrieval problems, currently at DeepMind after a decade at Google in Geo. He combines deep research credentials (PhD summa cum laude) with hands-on engineering across Go, C++, Java, Python and distributed systems, having shipped production serving infrastructure, eval design, and map-reduce/TensorFlow pipelines. An active open-source contributor, he has improved the widely used S2 geometry Go library by adding distance and compressed-loop encoding/decoding features, reflecting a focus on robustness and efficient geospatial data handling. Niko’s background in scalable clone detection, novel regex and visualization tools, and mentoring/taught skills (presentation, eval design) shows he moves smoothly between research prototyping and production-grade implementations. Based in Zurich, he brings a rare mix of formal mathematical training and pragmatic engineering leadership, with a knack for speeding up algorithms by orders of magnitude.
15 years of coding experience
17 years of employment as a software developer
Technische Universität IlmenauDoctor of Philosophy (PhD), Computer Science, summa cum laude, Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Computer Science, summa cum laude at University of BernMathematics, Mathematics at University of HeidelbergAbitur (like High School, Mathematics and English, 1.4 (excellent), Abitur (like High School, Mathematics and English, 1.4 (excellent) at GymnasiumDiplom-Mathematiker, Mathematics, 1.7 (good), Diplom-Mathematiker, Mathematics, 1.7 (good) at Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena
Italian, Spanish, Russian, French, Portuguese, English, German
Github Skills (10)
data-structures10
encode10
go10
decode10
geometric-algorithms10
encoding10
data-structure10
decoding10
geom10
unit-testing8
Programming languages (4)
Github contributions (5)
golang/geo
Sep 2016 - Dec 2020
S2 geometry library in Go
Role in this project:
Back-end Developer
Back-end DeveloperContributions:23 commits, 1 comment, 1 issue in 4 years 3 months
Contributions summary:Niko primarily contributed to the `golang/geo` repository by adding new functionalities and improving existing ones related to the S2 geometry library. Their work involved implementing the `DistanceFromSegment` function and ensuring the consistent use of `uint32` for SiTi coordinates. Furthermore, they introduced support for encoding and decoding compressed loops, including the implementation of polyline and polygon decoding functionalities, suggesting an active role in enhancing the library's capabilities and data handling. These changes, along with bug fixes, show a dedication to the library's core functionality.
geometry-librarygogeometrysphere
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