Ken Kyger

Software Engineer & Technical Leader

ken@futurehax.com(407) 965-8510Winter Springs, FL 32708LinkedInGitHubWebsite

Summary

Software engineer and technical leader with 15+ years of experience spanning mobile, web, platform, embedded systems, infrastructure, and product delivery. Founding CTO at Safe Zones, an early-stage startup where I built the product and engineering organization from zero across iOS, Android, web, cloud services, CI/CD, and device-management infrastructure. Ranked in the top 11% on Stack Overflow. Background includes senior product engineering roles at Disney, JPMorgan Chase, Papa John's, Illumy, Lunar Wireless, and UniKey, with hands-on work across design partnership, DevEx, accessibility, metrics, production support, and hardware integrations.

RELEVANT PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Safe Zones

CTO
Orlando, FL2016 - Present
  • Served as founding CTO for an early-stage startup, building the first web, iOS, Android, cloud, and device-management systems from zero with a lean 3-6 person engineering team.
  • Set weekly release cadence, production support routines, code review standards, and engineering planning for a cross-functional team shipping web, iOS, Android, and hardware-adjacent features.
  • Built the Next.js management portal, Firebase RTDB data model, API routes, and access-control flows used to configure device policies and usage limits.
  • Migrated core data from Firebase RTDB to Firebase Data Connect with a staged rollout plan, keeping the portal and mobile clients stable during the transition.
  • Designed and implemented two device-management paths: a Family Controls-based toolset and a custom in-house MDM platform with iOS and Android applications.
  • Co-designed and integrated a custom Bluetooth peripheral that activates "safe" mode and applies patented device restrictions across supported mobile clients.
  • Implemented CI/CD for build, test, and deployment pipelines, including ArgoCD and Helm releases to a production Kubernetes cluster.
  • Built and maintained iOS and Android clients, the web portal, database layer, API layer, Kubernetes infrastructure, and release tooling instead of staying inside one engineering specialty.
  • Coordinated directly with founders, hardware partners, and product stakeholders on scope, rollout tradeoffs, device behavior, and end-user support issues.

FutureHax LLC

Founder
Orlando, FL2015 - Present
  • Built FutureHax as a product studio for shipped mobile, web, hardware, and tabletop software partnerships.
  • Shipped the HOT 97 alarm clock and soundboard Android app from product concept through production release.
  • White-labeled an Android NFC app for NFC Ring, a Kickstarter-funded wearable, and presented the integration at RFIDConnect on behalf of NFC Ring.
  • Developed encrypted radio integrations connecting ATAK workflows with communications hardware for SOCOM use cases.
  • Built mobile software for DANA, an FDA-cleared, HIPAA-compliant neurocognitive assessment app used at Johns Hopkins Hospital for cognitive monitoring.
  • Built Pirate Borg / FoundryVTT modules and tooling as an official Foundry developer for the tabletop roleplaying community.
  • Led small project teams when scope required more than one engineer, while staying hands-on with architecture, implementation, release, and post-launch fixes.

NGI Systems

Platform Engineer
Orlando, FL2017 - 2024
  • Maintained a seven-year platform engineering role building custom Android OS and firmware solutions for specialized hardware programs.
  • Led a two-person engineering team supporting Nexus 7 LTE/WiFi, Nexus 9 LTE/WiFi, and multiple custom hardware configurations.
  • Designed custom Android kernels with OTG, fast-charge, and secure kernel-to-userspace communication paths.
  • Implemented AOSP firmware modifications, device configuration changes, and platform integrations required by each hardware target.
  • Managed Bamboo CI jobs for repeatable OS builds, test runs, release artifacts, and deployment handoff.

Dynojet Research Inc.

Mobile Application Developer
Belgrade, MT2023 - 2024
  • Took over in-house development of iOS and Android applications from their external development firm.
  • Built mobile build and release workflows that delivered iOS and Android builds to internal testing teams and production users.
  • Added support for their external Wideband sensor monitors to both iOS and Android.
  • Migrated mobile applications from their legacy license model to unified "Universal token" model.
  • Resolved mobile app quality issues behind low app-store ratings on both iOS and Android.

Disney

Senior Android Engineer
Orlando, FL2022 - 2023
  • Rebuilt the Bluetooth libraries in use by all Disney projects, modernizing with Kotlin, Jetpack Compose, dependency injection, and Flow patterns.
  • Debugged and implemented Android features that later became known as "Car Locator".
  • Integrated Magic Band Plus devices before launch and shipped post-launch fixes for Bluetooth and Location Services surfaces.
  • Managed the build and release cycle for the Magic Band Plus, Bluetooth, and Location Services projects used by other teams within the Disney ecosystem.
  • Diagnosed root causes and designed fixes for production issues with financial impact measured in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
  • Shipped Android fixes for engagement issues impacting upwards of 100k users a day, with some issues affecting 40% - 50% of Android users.
  • Implemented accessibility improvements across the Android platform.
  • Conducted code reviews and mentored team members on Kotlin best practices.

Papa John's International Inc.

Android Software Engineer
Louisville, KY2021 - 2022
  • Built Android test coverage for ordering and account flows with Robolectric and Mockito.
  • Converted legacy Java screens to Kotlin and Jetpack Compose patterns inside the production Android app.
  • Developed UI with a modern MVP approach.
  • Coordinated with other engineers to evaluate and improve software and hardware interfaces.
  • Delivered unit-tested Android features through peer review and production release requirements.

JPMorgan Chase

Android Software Engineer
Orlando, FL2020 - 2021
  • Implemented and tested Android features for the Merchant Sales platform with Robolectric, Appium, and Cucumber.
  • Moved Merchant Sales code toward Kotlin and Jetpack Compose patterns while mentoring engineers on idioms and review standards.

Illumy

Senior Manager of Android Development
Orlando, FL2019 - 2020
  • Led a remote team of 6 engineers on an Agile sprint-based development cycle, managing biweekly releases to Google Play.
  • Established code review practices and coordinated Java-to-Kotlin migrations across Android codebases.
  • Developed internal tools for development, release preparation, and production support workflows.
  • Implemented MVVM and RxKotlin patterns across Android application modules.

Lunar Wireless

Software Engineer
Detroit, MI2018 - 2019
  • Built and modified LunarOS, a custom Android-based operating system that let users pay per app instead of buying a full phone contract.
  • Developed the onboarding app for SIM card activation and port requests.
  • Ran ad campaigns and funnel experiments to connect acquisition data with app behavior and onboarding changes.

Zeemee Inc

Software Engineer
Orlando, FL2017 - 2018
  • Developed ZeeMee's Android client.
  • Integrated video chat into the Android client while preserving compatibility with legacy devices.
  • Shipped daily feature additions and bug fixes from SCRUM planning through Android release builds.

UniKey Technologies

Software Engineer
Orlando, FL2015 - 2016
  • Developed the Android client for controlling the Kevo smart lock.
  • Created modular Android SDK components for lock communication and reusable app features.

Cloudspace

Software Engineer
Orlando, FL2014 - 2015
  • Managed a "skunk works" group building an open-source robotics platform for Arduino and Intel Edison.
  • Used software developed in-house to create telepresence and first-person POV race car bots.
  • Co-hosted weekly Android developer Meetups and presented at community events.
  • Developed one of the first third-party Android Auto applications for SoundCloud and their demo at CES.
  • Built Android features for PillPhone by Vocel, an FDA-cleared, HIPAA-compliant medication reminder app that interfaced with pharmacies for refills and worked across 125+ phone types.

Echo Interaction

Software Engineer
Orlando, FL2012 - 2014
  • Built the Android version of Pretty Masculine, an interactive art app for celebrity photographer Mike Ruiz.
  • Built Android applications for the Florida House of Representatives.

Technical Skills

Product & Cross-functional: End-to-end feature ownership, Technical scoping and tradeoffs, Design partnership, Metrics tracking (Crashlytics, Mixpanel, Facebook Analytics), DevEx improvements, On-call and production support, Accessibility, Release planning
AI-Assisted Engineering: Cursor (design and implementation), Claude Code (agent-assisted coding), Prompt engineering for code tasks, Generate-and-review workflows, AI-assisted test scaffolding and debugging, Human-in-the-loop review, AI-supported technical documentation, Workflow guardrails (rules, checklists)
Mobile Development: Android, iOS, AOSP Platform Development, Custom Android ROMs, Jetpack Compose, API Consumption (REST, GraphQL), Analytics (Crashlytics, Mixpanel, Facebook Analytics), Bluetooth Low Energy, NFC, Location Services, Family Controls, MDM
Languages & Frameworks: TypeScript, JavaScript, Java, Kotlin, Swift, Python, C, React, Next.js, Node.js, Express, PWAs
Cloud & Infrastructure: Google Cloud, Firebase, Docker, Kubernetes, ArgoCD, FluxCD, Helm, Kustomize, Ansible, GitHub Actions, CI/CD, CircleCI, Bamboo, BitBucket Pipelines, PostgreSQL, Redis, Edge Computing
Architecture & Patterns: MVVM, MVP, Dependency Injection (Dagger, Hilt), RxKotlin, Kotlin Flow, CI/CD Pipeline Design, Agile / Scrum, Code Reviews
Embedded & Hardware: Edge Hardware, Embedded C, ROS, Arduino, Custom Kernels, OTG
Project Management: GitHub, GitHub Issues, GitHub Projects, GitLab, Jira, Confluence, Bitbucket, Linear

Projects & Open Source

Pirate Borg / FoundryVTT (Official Foundry Developer) — Official Pirate Borg developer for FoundryVTT, building modules and tools used by the community worldwide.
Kickstarter Projects (Technical Partner) — Partnered with multiple Kickstarter creatives to bring their tabletop games into the digital world.