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Hi, I'm Ida ("ee-dah")

Full-stack Engineer

FROM ROCKETS
TO STARTUPS
TO AI.

Founding Engineer @ AI startup6 years experience
PythonReactAWSAI

Find out more

Tap an icon to see how I build, ship, and own outcomes.

Aerospace

Shipped Python tooling supporting 21 launches, 1,000+ engine tests, and NASA CAPSTONE propulsion systems, where reliability and failure tolerance are critical.

Portfolio

AI Data Platform

AI data pipelines that analyze complex datasets without requiring ML specialists.

ML4 IndustryReactPythonAWS+1

01 / 04

Wordpress E-commerce Integration

Implemented a custom e-commerce integration for Endura Equipped LTD

FreelancePHPWordPressCSS+1

01 / 01

Aerospace Data Engineer

Built data pipelines and analytics tools for rocket engine analysis at Rocket Lab USA

Rocket Lab USAPythonETLC# .NET

01 / 02

SaaS Full-Stack Engineer

Developed core features for a global SaaS platform.

JoyousReactTypeScriptAWS+1

01 / 02

BuildBeaver – BC Business Launcher

A guided web app that helps entrepreneurs start a business in British Columbia.

Next.jsTypeScriptTailwind+1

01 / 01

Wordpress Autocomplete Plugin

Enable use of Google Places API (New) in Woocommerce Checkout.

FreelancePHPWordPressWoocommerce

01 / 01

WebGazer

Web development on a browser-based eye-tracking research tool

JavaScriptCSSHTML

01 / 01

Professional Journey

Founding Software Engineer

Current

ML4 Industry (AI Startup)

May 2025 – Present

Remote

  • Sole engineer and technical lead building AI/ML analytics for industrial sectors.
  • Architected a multi-tenant data platform from scratch across AWS (ECS, Lambda, S3) and Next.js, designed for scalable industrial data processing.
  • Built a self-correcting Python ETL orchestrator that automatically ingests and processes large-scale datasets.
  • Implemented LLM orchestration (OpenRouter, Bedrock) to automate complex analysis workflows, delivering real-time insights that previously required manual analyst intervention.

Freelance Software & Professional Development

Various

Dec 2023 – Nov 2025

Canada & Global

  • Delivered e-commerce integrations for a logistics client across payment, inventory, and CRM platforms, alongside a planned relocation and career break.

Full Stack Software Engineer

Joyous

Apr 2022 – May 2023

NZ

  • Enterprise SaaS platform for employee feedback, serving 100k+ global users (Series A, US $10.4M).
  • Migrated observability infrastructure from CloudWatch to Datadog using Pulumi (IaC), with automated Slack alerting that reduced mean time to detect incidents across all production services.
  • Automated internal workflows that reduced manual overhead from days to minutes.
  • Established company-wide engineering documentation standards including Business Continuity Planning.

Operational Data Software Engineer

Rocket Lab USA

Oct 2018 – Mar 2022

NZ

  • Aerospace launch provider specializing in small satellite delivery (US $4.8B IPO).
  • Built reusable Python ETL tooling adopted across multiple teams, enabling time-synchronized telemetry analysis across 21 rocket launches and 1,000+ engine tests.
  • Reduced post-flight report generation latency, accelerating decisions during live launch campaigns.
  • Supported NASA's CAPSTONE mission to the moon with data processing for critical mission operations.
  • Mentored junior engineers through technical leadership and code review.

Core Stack

Languages

Strongest with

PythonTypeScriptJavaScriptC# / ASP.NET

Also used

PHPBash

Web & API

Strongest with

ReactNext.jsNode.jsREST

Also used

GraphQLExpressDjangoFlask

Cloud & Data

Strongest with

AWSPostgresPulumiMongoDBDatadog

Also used

DynamoDBGrafana

AI & Testing

Strongest with

BedrockOpenRouterCypressJest

Also used

Tensorflow

About Me

My background in Software Engineering and Psychology gives me a unique perspective on building tools that are not just powerful, but intuitive and human-centric. I’m naturally curious and never afraid to raise my hand in meetings to ask, “why?”

University of Auckland & McGill

B.Eng (Hons) Software & B.Sc Psychology

Based in Vancouver, Canada

Open to new opportunities!

Let's connect!

ida@katinkaa.com

Download my CV

Resume
Portrait of Ida De Smet
Portrait photo of Ida De Smet in the About section.