Don Smyth
Engineering Leader | Backend & Distributed Systems | Cloud & Embedded Architectures | IoT Edge Devices & Field Deployment
- Role
- Chief Software Architect at Thruwave Inc
- Location
- Seattle, WA, US
- LinkedIn followers
- 500 followers
About Don Smyth
Engineering leader with 15+ years’ experience delivering backend and embedded systems for IoT edge devices and cloud-connected products. I thrive at the intersection of hardware and software, guiding cross-functional teams through the full SDLC—from architecture design to real-world deployment.At ThruWave, I built our core technology platform from the ground up to pilot readiness in under a year, and built the software engineering team to deliver and evolve the system into a cloud-connected embedded appliance on Yocto Linux with containerized microservices. My work spans embedded systems, AWS cloud infrastructure, C++ and Python services, REST APIs, distributed messaging, and infrastructure monitoring with Prometheus and Grafana. As part of the field deployment team, I helped to install, configure, and validate pilot and production systems at customer sites across the U.S, ensuring smooth integration between hardware, embedded software, and cloud infrastructure.I’m passionate about mentoring teams, fostering agile, high-execution cultures, and delivering technology that works as well in the field as it does in the lab.Specialties: Backend Architecture • Distributed Systems • Cloud & On-Prem Infrastructure • Embedded Systems • IoT Edge Devices • Agile/Scrum Leadership • Field Deployment
Experience
Chief Software Architect
Jan 2019 — Present · Seattle, WA, US
Startup developing millimeter-wave radar for 3D object modeling in logistics and security- Built core technology platform from zero to pilot-ready in under 12 months, enabling early customer demos and securing pilot deployments- Evolved architecture into a cloud-connected embedded appliance using Yocto Linux and containerized microservices (Docker), integrated with analytics pipelines for real-time processing- Built and led the software engineering team, defining processes, mentoring engineers, and guiding technical direction- Contributed as part of the field deployment team, assisting with installation, configuration, and validation of systems at customer sites across the U.S- Implemented infrastructure monitoring (Prometheus, Grafana) and automated provisioning with Ansible.\"Make the invisible visible with human-safe millimeter waves\"
Education
The University of British Columbia
BASc, Electrical Engineering
Simon Fraser University
MBA, Management of Technology
Skills
- Project Management
- Technical Leadership
- Network Architecture
- Open Source
- Operating Systems
- Consumer Electronics
- Device Drivers
- Tcp/Ip
- C
- Wireless Networking
- Staff Development
- Software Engineering
- Integration
- Embedded Software
- Distributed Systems
- Software Design
- Team Leadership
- Product Development
- Embedded Systems
- Architecture
- Start-Ups
- Ip
- Java
- Streaming Media
- Arm
- Engineering Management
- Firmware
- Debugging
- Linux Kernel
- Program Management
- Linux
- System Architecture
- Iptv
- Cloud Computing
- Wireless
- Software Project Management
- C++
- Rtos
- Set Top Box
- Embedded Linux
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