Andrew Mason

Download cv.pdfDownload cv.docx

As a dedicated Senior Design Engineer, I have a passion for creating captivating web experiences that blend visual storytelling, design and code. I thrive in collaborative environments, where I leverage my React, TypeScript, accessibility, and UI expertise to bring complex user interfaces to life, focusing on optimising performance and championing impactful storytelling.

Skills

Experience

UI Engineer | Rare

Aug 2022 – Present

My role at Rare is to deliver UI features for Sea of Thieves and develop the UI for their next title, EverWild.

• Code UI components and services for Sea of Thieves using TypeScript, SASS and Coherent Gameface.
• Write comprehensive unit tests for all components and services in Jasmine.
• Collaborate directly with designers using Figma, turning designs into UI components.
• Optimise in-game UI performance and memory usage using Chrome DevTools and Xbox PIX captures
• Author JSON data contracts and TypeScript definitions for Unreal event models.
• Improve workflow efficiency by analysing Node.js deployments, reducing UI unit test runtime by 90% and CI/CD UI build times by 16 minutes.
• Create animation and CSS filter prototypes demonstrating the functionality and performance impact of Coherent Gameface middleware for Rare's next-gen game, Everwild.

Senior Prototyper | The Telegraph

Jul 2018 – Apr 2022

My time at The Telegraph was embedded in the Product team, collaborating with designers, journalists, and editors to create prototypes, tools, interactive web experiences, and visual storytelling:

• Created Milton, an SND award-winning open-source Figma plugin using TypeScript and React, enabling designers to convert designs into responsive HTML without developer involvement.
• Developed “A Year in Lockdown,” an interactive scrolling story with a custom in-browser editor, achieving over 100K views and a 15-minute average dwell time, and an SND award.
• Built a video-wall interactive displayed in both the newsroom and lobby, animating real-time captures of the Telegraph’s homepage and print paper. TypeScript, React, and Pixi.js powered the front end, while the server used Node.js, Puppeteer, Google Cloud Functions, and Firebase.
• Developed a TypeScript and React single-page application, enabling video editors to create embeddable animations using Lottie JSON, complete with a GUI for customization and a self-contained HTML output.

UI Engineer | Simpplr

Feb 2018 – May 2018

At Simpplr, my focus was on:

• Developed UI components in React, Redux, and Immutable.js for a large-scale single-page application.
• Collaborated closely with UX designers in an agile environment.
• Authored REST JSON API specifications for Salesforce Database engineers.

Creative Technologist | The Guardian

Nov 2011 – Oct 2017

As part of the Interactive team, I developed bespoke data visualisations and interactive experiences for spotlight stories:

• Led the technical delivery of several virtual reality episodes for platforms such as Google Cardboard, Daydream, and Gear VR, including development in Unity with PlayMaker.
• Crafted promotional landing pages using JavaScript, WebGL, three.js, and animation libraries, building a custom debug GUI for camera motion and shader parameter scripting.
• Created live election data-dashboards in JavaScript and D3, backed by a Node.js engine using Google Sheets APIs, achieving over 500k views with sub-15-second latency on election night.
• Built React and Node.js workflow tools, enabling designers to upload illustrations to Amazon S3 buckets and generate embeddable iframe HTML.

Front-End Developer | BBC

Apr 2010 – Nov 2011

• Developed UI components, including the main navigation carousel for the BBC homepage redesign, using JavaScript, CSS, and PHP.
• Produced WCAG AAA compliant code, supporting a broad range of web browsers.
• Collaborated with UX designers to prototype and validate UI interactions.

Senior Developer | Digitas (AKQA)

Mar 2008 – Apr 2010

• Managed UI development of a multilingual booking system in Dubai.
• Developed location-based websites using REST GeoIP location APIs and Postcode lookup services.
• Created and presented proof-of-concept prototypes for client pitches.
• Established an internal innovation lab to foster collaboration between design and development teams.

Education

BA (Hons) Creative Multimedia | Teesside University

2001 – 2005

• Developed a point-and-click adventure game with an audio-only interface for the visually impaired.
• Studied Human-Computer Interaction and multimedia creation, including video and audio production, 3D modelling, and web development.

Personal

• Created an art project exploring privacy and surveillance of webcams, inspired by Philip K. Dick.
• Developed a glitch generation tool to experiment with databending of images and learn about JPEG compression artifacts.
• Passionate about both retro and modern video games, 8-bit computing, and 3D rendering technology.
• Engaged in the open-source community.
• Interested in the Demoscene, 64K demos, ROM hacking.
• Keen on reverse engineering, performance analysis, and internet security.