Silas Davis

cv@silasdavis.net silasdavis.net silasdavis

Summary

Software engineer and technical architect with a strong mathematical background and particular expertise in blockchain and smart contract systems as lead maintainer of the open source blockchain node Hyperledger Burrow and the Agreements Network.

A generalist with a broad range of technology experience across multiple domains (machine learning, distributed computing, health informatics).

Able to talk to people. Experience in managing small, nimble engineering teams.

Education

University of Cambridge

2009 - 2010

Part II in Pure Mathematics

University of Edinburgh

2004 - 2009

Master of Physics in Mathematical Physics (MPHys) (1st Class)

Experience

VP of Engineering - Inco

May 2024 - Present

  • Working on a protocol for confidential computing using fully homomorphic encryption and trusted execution environments

Chief Technology Officer - Monax

March 2016 - April 2024

  • Improved our code, testing, and software processes to measurably increase our engineering team velocity
  • Evolved our architecture to operate with a decentralised core with proprietary API and front-end supporting our pivot to a SaaS-product
  • Initiated business engagements with other companies in crowd-funding, supply chain, and crypto-currency
  • Performed and supervised original applied research in blockchain and smart contracts eligible for UK R&D tax relief
  • Re-architectured our open source blockchain (now Hyperledger Burrow)
  • Designed and implemented our encrypted storage serivce Hoard
  • Sat on the industry advisory board for the academic research project on blockchain-based voting

Hyperledger Technical Steering Committee member

September 2018 - August 2019

  • Elected by an annual popular vote of the Hyperledger membership
  • Oversaw technical decision making and voted on proposals
  • Stood up for smaller projects and contributors

Software Engineer - SwiftKey

February 2013 - March 2016

  • Successful smartphone keyboard app using adaptive machine learning based language models
  • Worked on platform team deploying a range of cloud-based services for our 300M active users
  • Worked on national language modelling and machine learning in data insights team
  • Stayed until we were acquired by Microsoft

Lead Healthcare Developer - Concentra Consulting

April 2012 - February 2013

  • Mixed technical consulting and development role - code and customer facing
  • Researched open standards and new legislation
  • Tendered for NHS and private contracts

Developer - Concentra Consulting

October 2010 - April 2012

  • Mixed technical consultancy and software development company founded by ex-McKinsey staff
  • Joined as graduate and given responsibility for our flagship cancer ward simulation software

Interests and skills

Speaking

  • Spoke at various Hyperledger conferences and ran workshops
  • Sat as a panelist at a UCLA blockchain event and Turing fest in Edinburgh
  • Appeared on the ‘Babbling Blockchain’ podcast

Open source

  • Successfully proposed Hyperledger Burrow into Hyperledger incubation
  • Lead maintainer of Burrow since its acceptance

Blockchain and smart contracts

  • Active interest in crypto-systems and consensus research participating in various groups and reading papers
  • Interest in constrained languages for smart contracts (domain-specific, functional, non-turing-complete)

Distributed systems

  • Knowledge of distributed and decentralised systems
  • Studied and implemented classic algorithms for consensus, reliable transport, and crash detection
  • Practical experience of building a blockchain with Tendermint in the form of Burrow
  • Extensive experience with cloud orchesteration systems (Kubernetes, mesos)

Mathematics and cryptography

  • Studied mathematical physics first and later pursued pure mathematics
  • Particular interest in mathematical logic, graph theory, algorithms, and topology
  • Knowledge of languages, grammars, and logic

Machine learning

  • Built topic-models using ‘classical’ methods (e.g. LDA, bayesian) for data insights work
  • Implemented training pipelines for neural network language models
  • Devised a custom binary language fragment format used as a lingua franca for training at SwiftKey

Technologies

  • Languages: Go, Typescript, C#, Java, Scala, Clojure, Solidity, Ruby, Python, Haskell, RDFS, F#, Rust (in descending order of competence)
  • Frameworks and tools: Kubernetes, React, Node, Containers (OCI), WASM, Linux, GRPC/Protobuf

Recreation

  • Swimming, running, cycling
  • Wrestling, Judo, BJJ
  • Learning Spanish
  • Free-form interpretative dance, crochet, PADI-qualified diver