Andrew Mason
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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
Programming
- JavaScript - ESNext
- TypeScript
- CSS - Sass
- HTML5
- Node.js - Deno
- Bash - Shell
Tools & Frameworks
- React - Preact
- Three.js - Pixi.js
- Webpack - Esbuild
- Jasmine unit tests
- Git - Perforce
- Coherent Gameface
Web Development
- UX responsive design
- Performance analysis
- Media Optimisations
- WebGL
- Progressive Web Apps
- Accessibility - WAI
Software
- VSCode
- Chrome DevTools
- Figma
- Photoshop - Gimp
- Illustrator - Inkscape
- FFmpeg - ImageMagick
Cloud & OS
- AWS - Azure - GCP
- Serverless functions
- CDNs - REST APIs
- Linux
- Mac
- Windows
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.