# Gonzalo Uceda

Senior Software Engineer | Product Engineering

Source: https://gooucas.com

I lead the product experience and frontend direction for Datadog’s Change Tracking product, shaping scope and interaction flows with Product and Design. My work spans product decisions, implementation, architecture, and mentoring engineers. Previously, I led data visualization work at Devo, built its open-source Genesys design system, and developed browser-based tools for real-time anomaly-detection research. My HCI background helps me connect technical choices to how people use complex software.

## Interpretation notes

Employment-level dates cover the entire job; roleProgression gives the dates of individual titles, including the December 2025 Senior promotion at Datadog. The telecommunications first-year status and thesis/design adoption claims are preserved as published but pending confirmation by the CV owner.

## experience

- jobs:
  - title: Senior Software Engineer
  - company: Datadog
  - location: Hybrid · Madrid, Spain
  - start Date: 2024-01
  - end Date: Present
  - current: true
  - description: Lead the product experience and frontend direction for Change Tracking, Datadog’s product for correlating changes across the stack with incidents and reliability signals.
  - role Progression:
    - title: Senior Software Engineer
    - period: 2025-12 - Present
    - description: Promoted to Senior in December 2025, leading the product experience and frontend direction for Change Tracking.
    - responsibilities:
      - Shape product scope, interaction flows and priorities with Product and Design
      - Define frontend architecture and review code
      - Mentor engineers on product thinking and interaction design
      - Agentic SDLC
    - title: Software Engineer
    - period: 2024-01 - 2025-12
    - description: Joined when the product was established. Developed user-facing features.
    - responsibilities:
      - Developed user-facing features
      - Collaborated with Design and PM on interaction patterns and information architecture
      - Contributed to technical direction and delivery process
      - Developed an AI-assisted workflow used by the team for feature work, refactoring, tests and documentation
  - technologies:
    - TypeScript
    - React
    - UX
    - Interaction design
    - Claude Code
    - Codex
  - title: Affiliate Teaching Staff — Human-Computer Interaction
  - company: Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
  - location: Remote
  - start Date: 2022-09
  - end Date: 2026-10
  - current: false
  - description: Taught Human-Computer Interaction in the Computer Engineering degree at UOC and supervised Bachelor's theses in HCI.
  - role Progression:
    - title: Bachelor's Thesis Supervisor & Defense Panel
    - period: 2024-01 - 2026-10
    - description: Supervised HCI Bachelor's theses and sat on defense panels.
    - responsibilities:
      - Supervised HCI thesis projects end-to-end: framing, research, execution, defense
      - Coached students through user research and evaluation
      - Evaluated defenses on the academic panel
    - title: Course Instructor — HCI
    - period: 2022-09 - 2023-12
    - description: Instructor for the HCI course in the Computer Engineering degree.
    - responsibilities:
      - Taught core HCI principles: perception, interaction models, evaluation methods
      - Coached students on applying HCI to product decisions
      - Graded assignments and design projects
  - technologies:
    - Human-Computer Interaction
    - Research methods
    - Teaching
    - Academic supervision
  - title: Senior Software Engineer — Data Visualization
  - company: Devo
  - location: Hybrid · Madrid, Spain
  - start Date: 2022-01
  - end Date: 2024-01
  - description: Led data visualization work at Devo and built its open-source Genesys design system. Progressed from UX Engineer during my MSc thesis to Senior Software Engineer, combining user research, frontend development and technical and product planning.
  - role Progression:
    - title: Senior Software Engineer
    - period: 2023-06 - 2024-01
    - description: Led frontend development and technical and product planning within the Data Visualization team.
    - responsibilities:
      - Led information-visualization features used across Devo's platform
      - Ran user research to inform design and evaluation
      - Owned technical decisions and mentored the team on visualization
      - Planned and prioritized initiatives, managed the backlog and coordinated release planning
      - Built dashboards to analyze planning metrics
      - Facilitated agile ceremonies and maintained CI/CD pipelines
    - title: Software Engineer — Design System
    - period: 2022-07 - 2023-06
    - description: Built and open-sourced Genesys UI, Devo's design system, and led the React component library's migration to TypeScript.
    - responsibilities:
      - Designed and open-sourced Genesys UI — Devo's design system
      - Migrated the component library to TypeScript
      - Maintained the legacy component and data-viz libraries during the transition
      - Built the CI/CD pipelines for the design system
    - title: UX Engineer — MSc Thesis (with Aalto University)
    - period: 2022-01 - 2022-07
    - description: Research and MVP for a domain-specific code editor, co-supervised by Aalto University.
    - responsibilities:
      - Redesigned a query editor for an internal DSL
      - Prototyped a dual search engine with progressive evaluation
      - Ran usability studies comparing the prototype against the existing editor
      - Thesis grade: 5/5; design adopted by the product team
  - technologies:
    - TypeScript
    - D3.js
    - Python
    - Design systems
    - Information visualization
    - User research
  - title: Software Engineer
  - company: Hopsworks
  - location: Stockholm, Sweden
  - start Date: 2020-12
  - end Date: 2022-01
  - description: Worked across product, design and engineering at an MLOps startup.
  - responsibilities:
    - Designed flows in Figma and implemented them in the product
    - Built custom data visualization for feature stores and ML workflows
    - Contributed to the design-system foundation for the web UI
    - Owned the CI/CD pipelines
  - technologies:
    - React
    - TypeScript
    - D3.js
    - Figma
  - title: Software Engineer — Machine Learning Team
  - company: Devo
  - location: Madrid, Spain
  - start Date: 2018-08
  - end Date: 2020-06
  - description: Engineer inside Devo's ML research team. Built interactive tools around anomaly-detection research.
  - role Progression:
    - title: Software Engineer Associate — ML Team
    - period: 2019-08 - 2020-06
    - description: Developed interactive tools for the ML team's research.
    - responsibilities:
      - Designed and shipped interactive widgets for real-time time-series anomaly detection
      - Built an in-browser environment for the team to train, evaluate and iterate on models
      - Packaged the anomaly-detection work as a reusable JavaScript library
      - Built a Jupyter-like Python notebook running entirely in the browser via Pyodide
    - title: Junior Software Engineer — ML Team
    - period: 2018-08 - 2019-08
    - description: Developed interfaces and internal tooling for ML research.
    - responsibilities:
      - Prototyped early visualization widgets for the ML research workflow
      - Contributed to internal ML tooling used by researchers day-to-day
  - technologies:
    - Interactive tooling
    - Data visualization
    - Time-series ML
    - Pyodide
    - React
    - Python

## projects

- projects:
  - title: DiscoEd — Discoverable Query Editor
  - description: MSc thesis with Devo and Aalto University: a domain-specific query editor with in-editor dual search and progressive evaluation for exploratory tasks and language discovery. Evaluated through user studies, design walkthroughs and informal summative evaluations; design adopted by the product team.
  - url: https://github.com/guceda/discoed
  - type: github
  - title: Genesys UI — Design System
  - description: Built and open-sourced Devo's Genesys UI design system, including components, tokens, icons and a CLI. Led the React component library's migration to TypeScript and built its CI/CD pipelines. Used in Devo's platform.
  - url: https://github.com/DevoInc/genesys-ui
  - type: github
  - title: Combinatorial Linear-Menu Optimization
  - description: Menu-ordering toolkit using objective functions based on Fitts's Law and semantic association. Available as an npm package.
  - url: https://github.com/guceda/menu-opt
  - type: github
  - title: Dyre — Dynamic Text Masking
  - description: Reading tool that masks text outside a moving window. Developed as an HCI experiment.
  - url: https://github.com/guceda/dyre
  - type: github
  - title: Dual-Space Embeddings Search Engine
  - description: Semantic search engine using dual-space word embeddings and vector-space models.
  - url: https://github.com/guceda/word-embeddings-search-engine
  - type: github
  - title: Static Query Analyzer
  - description: AST-based analyzer for static analysis and performance optimization of SQL queries.
  - url: https://github.com/guceda/static-query-analyzer
  - type: github

## skills

- categories:
  - name: Interfaces & systems
  - skills:
    - name: TypeScript & web development
    - level: 95
    - name: React & component systems
    - level: 95
    - name: Design systems
    - level: 90
    - name: Data-viz engineering (D3, custom)
    - level: 90
    - name: Frontend architecture & code review
    - level: 85
    - name: Node.js & CI/CD
    - level: 85
  - name: Product engineering
  - skills:
    - name: Product scoping & implementation
    - level: 95
    - name: Product framing & scoping
    - level: 90
    - name: Prototyping
    - level: 90
    - name: Interaction design
    - level: 90
    - name: Product & Design collaboration
    - level: 95
    - name: Requirements definition
    - level: 90
  - name: HCI & research
  - skills:
    - name: Human-Computer Interaction
    - level: 95
    - name: Computational Interaction
    - level: 90
    - name: User research & usability evaluation
    - level: 90
    - name: Information visualization
    - level: 95
    - name: Teaching HCI (UOC)
    - level: 90
    - name: Applied HCI research
    - level: 90
  - name: Development workflow
  - skills:
    - name: AI-assisted development
    - level: 90
    - name: Coding agents
    - level: 90
    - name: Spec-driven development
    - level: 90
    - name: Refactoring, tests & documentation
    - level: 90
  - name: Leadership & communication
  - skills:
    - name: Technical & UX leadership
    - level: 90
    - name: Mentoring product engineers
    - level: 90
    - name: Cross-functional collaboration
    - level: 95
    - name: Public speaking & conferences
    - level: 85
    - name: Writing & thesis supervision
    - level: 90

## ai tools

- headline: How I build products
- summary: Research, problem definition, prototyping and software development.
- pillars:
  - title: Understand
  - description: I back my decisions with data and research, using interviews, usage traces, competitive reviews and HCI literature to understand users and evaluate assumptions.
  - title: Frame
  - description: I write problem statements, hypotheses, PRDs and specifications to communicate requirements to the team.
  - title: Prototype
  - description: I create interface prototypes to review flows, test assumptions and gather feedback.
  - title: Ship & iterate
  - description: I implement features, refactor code, write tests and document decisions. After release, I review usage and iterate.

## articles

- articles:
  - title: Low Disruption Adaptation (LowDA): A Framework for Cognitive-Friendly Personalization
  - publication: Medium
  - date: 2025-05-18
  - url: https://medium.com/@gonzaloucedacastro/low-disruption-adaptation-lowda-a-framework-for-cognitive-friendly-personalization-8b8926a04f13
  - description: Introduces Low Disruption Adaptation (LowDA), a framework for building adaptive user interfaces that preserve spatial consistency and cognitive flow.
  - tags:
    - Adaptive User Interfaces
    - User Experience (UX)
    - Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)
    - AI in UX
  - title: “Where’s Wally?”: Elevating Gameplay with Saliency Editing
  - publication: Medium
  - date: 2024-01-25
  - url: https://medium.com/@gonzaloucedacastro/wheres-wally-elevating-gameplay-with-saliency-editing-c57d6d0b4a00
  - description: Explores using visual saliency models to dynamically adjust difficulty in 'Where’s Wally?' by modifying Wally’s visual prominence.
  - tags:
    - Computer Vision
    - Visual Perception
    - Game Design
    - Saliency
  - title: Introduction to Computational User Interface Design
  - publication: Medium
  - date: 2022-10-14
  - url: https://medium.com/design-bootcamp/introduction-to-computational-user-interface-design-d9226beabfb
  - description: Overview of algorithms and mathematical models used in user interface design.
  - tags:
    - UI Design
    - UX
    - Computational Design
    - Optimization
  - title: Simplify Complex Conditionals Using Karnaugh Maps
  - publication: Medium
  - date: 2020-10-16
  - url: https://medium.com/swlh/simplify-complex-conditionals-using-karnaugh-maps-1bd0bf94e223
  - description: Demonstrates how Karnaugh maps can simplify complex Boolean conditionals for clearer and more maintainable code.
  - tags:
    - Boolean Logic
    - Code Simplification
    - Karnaugh Maps
    - Programming
  - title: Memoization: Speed Up Your Code by Storing Expensive Calculations
  - publication: Medium
  - date: 2019-11-22
  - url: https://medium.com/swlh/memoization-speed-up-your-code-by-storing-expensive-calculations-1b130a99726b
  - description: Introduces memoization in JavaScript to cache results of function calls.
  - tags:
    - JavaScript
    - Memoization
    - Performance Optimization
    - Functional Programming
  - title: Object Immutability in JS: Achieve Immutability by Deep-Freezing or Cloning Your Objects
  - publication: Medium
  - date: 2019-09-24
  - url: https://medium.com/@gonzaloucedacastro/mute-your-bugs-b1b97b4aec6d
  - description: Explores techniques like Object.freeze and deep cloning to enforce immutability in JavaScript objects.
  - tags:
    - JavaScript
    - Immutability
    - Functional Programming
    - Best Practices

## research

- papers:
  - title: Redesign of a query editor to support exploratory design tasks and foster language discovery
  - description: Master's thesis on redesigning a query editor to support exploratory design tasks and language discovery.
  - url: https://aaltodoc.aalto.fi/items/fd004462-78d5-4792-b546-97c787b4804b
  - type: thesis
  - title: Dynamic Text Masking for Improved Reading on Digital Devices
  - description: Study of a dynamic text masking tool that reveals text in a moving window. In experiments with college-age participants, 71% reported increased concentration and fluency.
  - url: https://github.com/guceda/dyre/files/7394414/GonzaloOscarUcedaCastro_LiuMiaomiao_Final_Report_20201129.pdf
  - type: paper

## packages

- packages:
  - title: menu-opt
  - description: Menu-ordering optimization using Fitts's Law and semantic association.
  - url: https://www.npmjs.com/package/menu-opt
  - type: personal
  - category: Personal
  - title: @devoinc/genesys-brand-devo
  - description: Brand assets and design tokens for Devo's Genesys design system.
  - url: https://www.npmjs.com/package/@devoinc/genesys-brand-devo
  - type: work
  - category: Devo
  - title: @devoinc/genesys-icons
  - description: Icon library for Devo's Genesys design system.
  - url: https://www.npmjs.com/package/@devoinc/genesys-icons
  - type: work
  - category: Devo
  - title: @devoinc/genesys-tokens
  - description: Design tokens for Devo's Genesys design system.
  - url: https://www.npmjs.com/package/@devoinc/genesys-tokens
  - type: work
  - category: Devo
  - title: @devoinc/genesys-tokens-cli
  - description: Command line interface for managing Genesys design tokens.
  - url: https://www.npmjs.com/package/@devoinc/genesys-tokens-cli
  - type: work
  - category: Devo
  - title: @devoinc/genesys-tokens-types
  - description: TypeScript type definitions for Genesys design tokens.
  - url: https://www.npmjs.com/package/@devoinc/genesys-tokens-types
  - type: work
  - category: Devo
  - title: @devoinc/genesys-ui
  - description: Core UI component library for Devo's Genesys design system.
  - url: https://www.npmjs.com/package/@devoinc/genesys-ui
  - type: work
  - category: Devo
  - title: @devoinc/genesys-ui-code
  - description: Code-related UI components for Devo's Genesys design system.
  - url: https://www.npmjs.com/package/@devoinc/genesys-ui-code
  - type: work
  - category: Devo
  - title: @devoinc/genesys-ui-datetime
  - description: Date and time UI components for Devo's Genesys design system.
  - url: https://www.npmjs.com/package/@devoinc/genesys-ui-datetime
  - type: work
  - category: Devo
  - title: @devoinc/genesys-ui-form
  - description: Form UI components for Devo's Genesys design system.
  - url: https://www.npmjs.com/package/@devoinc/genesys-ui-form
  - type: work
  - category: Devo

## education

- degrees:
  - degree: M.Sc. (Tech) in HCID - Computational Interaction
  - institution: Aalto University
  - location: Espoo, Finland
  - start Date: 2021
  - end Date: 2022
  - grade: Final grade: 4.58 / 5 — Graduated with Honors
  - description: Master of Science (Technology) in Human-Computer Interaction and Design with specialization in Computational Interaction. Covered techniques including abstraction, automation, and analysis for human-computer interaction. Courses included Computational UI Design, Machine Learning with Python, User Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Explorative Information Visualization, and UI Construction. This was the exit year of the EIT double degree program.
  - projects:
    - Thesis: Redesign a query editor to support exploratory design tasks and foster language discovery (Grade 5/5)
    - Advanced studies in computational interaction and machine learning
    - Minor in Innovation and entrepreneurship
  - degree: M.Sc. in ICT Innovation - HCID
  - institution: KTH Royal Institute of Technology
  - location: Stockholm, Sweden
  - start Date: 2020
  - end Date: 2021
  - grade: Final grade: 4.58 / 5 — Graduated with Honors
  - description: Master's in ICT Innovation, majoring in Human-Computer Interaction and Design and minoring in Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Focused on usability, user-centered design and technology development. Entry year of the EIT double degree program.
  - projects:
    - Human-Computer Interaction and user-centered design coursework
    - Development of new technologies and digital innovation
    - Innovation and entrepreneurship focus
  - degree: EIT Digital Summer School - Reshaping Cities for a Healthy Environment
  - institution: University of Rennes
  - location: Rennes, France
  - start Date: 2021-07
  - end Date: 2021-07
  - description: Two-week summer school focused on innovation and sustainable urban environments. Combined lectures, workshops, and group projects to explore solutions for designing healthier cities.
  - projects:
    - Group project on technology for community gardening and sustainable food systems.
  - degree: Bachelor in Telecommunication Technology Engineering
  - institution: Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
  - location: Online
  - start Date: 2020
  - end Date: Present
  - description: Part-time, distance-learning bachelor's degree in Telecommunication Technology Engineering. Currently finishing first year.
  - degree: Fullstack Web Development Bootcamp
  - institution: Neoland School
  - location: Online
  - start Date: 2018
  - end Date: 2019
  - description: Practical program focused on the development of web applications using Typescript, Angular, Node.js, Express, MySQL and MongoDB.
  - degree: Bachelor's Degree in Fine Arts
  - institution: Universidad Complutense de Madrid
  - location: Madrid, Spain
  - start Date: 2012
  - end Date: 2017
  - description: Bachelor's degree in Fine Arts with a focus on technology applied to art.
  - projects:
    - Dissertation: Communication in Abstract Interactivity (Grade 9.0/10)
    - Interactive artwork on technological image communication
    - Built a vertical plotter using Arduino and Processing for interactive artwork exploring technological images.
    - Research on spectator interaction in interactive art
  - degree: Intercultural Studies (Exchange Program)
  - institution: Tsukuba University
  - location: Tsukuba, Japan
  - start Date: 2016
  - end Date: 2016
  - description: International exchange program through Erasmus Mundus scholarship focused on Intercultural Studies.
  - degree: Illustration (Exchange Program)
  - institution: ESA Saint-Luc Liège
  - location: Liège, Belgium
  - start Date: 2015
  - end Date: 2015
  - description: International exchange program through Erasmus+ scholarship with focus on Illustration.
- certifications:
  - name: Datadog 101: Developer
  - issuer: Datadog
  - date: 2024
  - name: Building AI
  - issuer: University of Helsinki
  - date: 2023
  - name: Advanced Typescript tips for React Devs
  - issuer: Udemy
  - date: 2023
  - name: Elements of AI
  - issuer: University of Helsinki
  - date: 2021
  - name: ChatGPT Prompt Engineering for Developers
  - issuer: deeplearning.ai
  - date: 2023
  - name: Leadership Workshop
  - issuer: GrowthSpace
  - date: 2023
  - name: R Programming
  - issuer: Coursera
  - date: 2019
  - name: The Data Scientist’s Toolbox
  - issuer: Coursera
  - date: 2019

## scholarships

- scholarships:
  - name: Aalto University Excellence Scholarship (Dean's Scholarship)
  - issuer: Aalto University
  - period: 2021 – 2022
  - description: Merit-based scholarship awarded by the dean for academic excellence during the second year of the Master's.
  - url: https://www.aalto.fi/en/international-students/aalto-university-excellence-scholarship-terms-of-acceptance
  - name: EIT Digital Master School Scholarship
  - issuer: EIT Digital
  - period: 2020 – 2022
  - description: Full tuition fee waiver for the two-year ICT Innovation double degree (KTH → Aalto).
  - url: https://masterschool.eitdigital.eu/admissions/fees
  - name: Fundación Mutua Madrileña — Postgraduate Scholarship
  - issuer: Fundación Mutua Madrileña
  - period: 2020 – 2022
  - description: Foundation grant supporting postgraduate studies abroad.
  - url: https://www.fundacionmutua.es/accion-social/jovenes/becas-posgrado/
  - name: Erasmus+ Internship Grant
  - issuer: European Commission
  - period: 2017
  - description: Grant supporting an international professional internship within Europe.
  - name: Erasmus Mundus Scholarship
  - issuer: European Commission
  - period: 2016
  - description: International exchange grant for Intercultural Studies at the University of Tsukuba, Japan.
  - name: Erasmus+ Scholarship
  - issuer: European Commission
  - period: 2015
  - description: EU mobility grant for the Illustration exchange program at ESA Saint-Luc Liège (Belgium).

## conferences

- events:
  - name: Commit Conf
  - role: Speaker
  - location: Madrid, Spain
  - date: Apr 2023
  - description: Presented the development and open-source release of Devo's design system.
  - name: Codemotion Madrid
  - role: Attendee
  - location: Madrid, Spain
  - date: Nov 2019
  - description: Attended sessions on Java, DevOps, Kubernetes and AI.
  - name: Predictive Analytics World
  - role: Attendee
  - location: Berlin, Germany
  - date: Nov 2019
  - description: Attended a conference on predictive analytics and machine learning.

## miscellaneous

- curious Facts:
  - title: Curious Facts
  - intro: A few things you might not learn from a CV.
  - facts:
    - label: Lived in 6 countries
    - value: Belgium, Japan, France, Sweden, Finland and Spain.
    - icon: globe
    - label: G7 in Tsukuba
    - value: Acted as EU liaison at the G7 Science & Technology Ministers Meeting in Japan.
    - icon: flag
    - label: Conference speaker
    - value: Spoke at Commit Conf 2023 on open-sourcing a design system.
    - icon: mic
    - label: Outdoor activities
    - value: Skiing, surfing, kayaking and biking.
    - icon: mountain
- hobbies:
  - title: Urban Development
  - description: Sustainable urbanism and green city development
  - title: Traveling
  - description: Exploring new places and cultures
- languages:
  - name: Spanish
  - level: Native
  - name: English
  - level: Highly Proficient
  - name: French
  - level: Working Knowledge

## Contact and personalization

Email: gooucas@gmail.com
- github: https://github.com/guceda
- medium: https://medium.com/@gonzaloucedacastro
- linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gonzalo-uceda/

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