Xiaoling Yao is a Senior Software Engineer with 13 years of experience specializing in real-time rendering and graphics systems, now based in Bellevue and recently joining Apple after a decade at Unity. She progressed from engine and rendering roles at Ubisoft to senior and staff graphics engineering at Unity, where she led shader refactors and optimizations for high-definition pipelines. Her open-source contributions to Unity-Technologies/Graphics include removing legacy features and implementing instanced per-pixel normal mapping and terrain layer blending—work that demonstrates deep shader expertise and practical optimization at scale. Known for balancing low-level performance tuning with pragmatic engineering trade-offs, she brings both game-engine pedigree and cross-platform experience to complex rendering challenges.
13 years of coding experience
17 years of employment as a software developer
Bachelor Information Security, Bachelor Information Security at Shanghai Jiao Tong University
Unity Graphics - Including Scriptable Render Pipeline
Role in this project:
Full-stack Developer
Contributions:4 reviews, 210 commits, 5 PRs in 3 years 3 months
Contributions summary:Xiaoling primarily focused on modifying and refactoring the terrain shader within the Unity Graphics repository. Their work involved removing unused features such as vertex animation, displacement modes, and subsurface scattering. The contributions included implementing instanced per-pixel normal mapping and the ability to blend terrain layers, showcasing a deep understanding of shader programming and optimization within the context of a high-definition rendering pipeline.
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