Dmitry Vasilyev
Verified Expert in Engineering
Software Developer
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Toptal member since January 12, 2022
Dmitry is a seasoned CTO and principal engineer with 20+ years of experience across AI, telecom, medtech, gamedev, VR/AR/XR, and Web3. He has built high-load systems used by tens of millions, led deep tech initiatives in VR and embodied AI, and delivered polished products to companies like Vodafone, NASA, Pfizer, BMW, and more. Dmitry combines full-stack expertise with strong leadership, product vision, and a drive to execute world-class software from 0 to market.
Portfolio
Experience
- Game Development - 16 years
- JavaScript - 15 years
- Product Design - 11 years
- Unreal Engine 4 - 7 years
- User Experience (UX) - 7 years
- Product Management - 7 years
- Virtual Reality (VR) - 6 years
- Augmented Reality (AR) - 6 years
Availability
Preferred Environment
Unreal Engine, Node.js, JavaScript, WebGL, C++, Three.js, Unreal Engine 5, ARKit, Web3.js, OpenAI
The most amazing...
...products I've built include a social app for 60+ million users and a pioneering AI-based animation engine for realistic avatars.
Work Experience
CTO
Iconiq
- Developed technology for automatic character animation, which was used to animate one of the world's best conversational AI. It was a 5-time Loebner prize winner.
- Developed an Unreal Engine-backed H&M Instagram campaign, which was featured on Instagram showcase as one of the most successful campaigns on the platform ever.
- Developed a back-end API with speech-to-text and text-to-speech integrations.
CTO | Co-founder
elize.AI
- Developed technology for automatic character animation, which is now used to animate one of the world's best conversational AI–Kuki, Mitsuku.
- Created an Unreal Engine 4 plugin with full MetaHuman support.
- Developed a back-end API with speech-to-text and text-to-speech integrations with Google Voice and Amazon Polly.
Co-founder | CTO
sfera.one
- Developed proprietary full-body free roam tracking technology; we were the first in the world to implement real full-body tracking with haptic feedback and hand tracking in LBVR venues.
- Designed and developed Phantom Squad and Arena games for the project. They were Unreal Engine 4-based.
- Managed the whole process of building and opening our first VR park and hired and managed operational staff.
- Raised $1 million in investment to bring sfera.one parks to China.
Head of Marketing | Product Manager | Advisor
Senso
- Joined the Senso team to help market and sell their products when the company had no clients. Now, Senso products are being sold in more than 30 countries worldwide, and clients include NASA, the US Military, Disney Research, and Airbus.
- Designed Senso Suit and Senso Eye systems for industrial VR training and LBE venues.
- Developed and designed an MVP of the SensoRehab product, a haptic glove helping patients to rehabilitate after a stroke.
Principal Developer
Mobilfon
- Designed and managed developer teams to create iOS, Android, HTML5, and web applications for the Galaxy social network with 60+ million users.
- Managed a team of 14 developers and artists to create Parallel Worlds, a cross-platform social app and game.
- Developed an MVP and later managed a development team to create and support MTS Fitness, a mobile health app for the largest mobile carrier in Russia.
Lead Developer
In-galaxy
- Led the development team to create Web, iOS, and Android versions of the product, which grew into a 70 million-user app.
- Designed the cross-platform architecture, which significantly reduced development time and budget.
- Ported the application from feature phones (J2ME) to emerging smartphone platforms, where the application grew to over 70 million users.
Experience
SensoRehab
I've used VR haptic gloves from Senso, which were created for VR games, and developed MVP of post-stroke rehabilitation product - games that motivated patients to exercise more and restore theirs hand motoric. I developed a cross-platform JavaScript app and later hired and managed a team of an artist and three developers to expand the product. Nowadays, I'm providing advisory for the project, which has successfully passed several clinical trials and is used in many hospitals in Russia.
AI for Character Animation
I developed in-house technology for my projects for real-time automatic 100% procedural animations of character facial expression and lipsync. The project gained much interest from developers and game studios, so I started a company and allowed third-party use of the technology. Now it is used to animate one of the world best conversational AI – Kuki and
Mitsuku www.kuki.ai.
Breakthrough Full-body Tracking Technology
http://www.sfera.oneEducation
Specialization in Parallel Computing
Institute of Computational Modelling of the Siberian Branch of the RAS - Krasnoyarsk, Russia
Specialist Degree in Economics
Siberian Federal University (former Krasnoyarsk State University) - Krasnoyarsk, Russia
Engineer's Degree in Mathematics and Computer Science
Siberian Federal University (former Krasnoyarsk State University) - Krasnoyarsk, Russia
Skills
Libraries/APIs
Node.js, WebGL, React, REST APIs, Babylon.js, OpenAI API, Three.js, Web3.js, HTML5 Web Workers, WebRTC, WebXR, Vue
Tools
Git, GitHub, Jira, Unreal Development Kit (UDK), Celery, Visual Studio, Cluster, Xcode, Adobe Flash
Languages
Python, JavaScript, C++, TypeScript, PHP, SQL, CSS, HTML, GraphQL, RPG, ActionScript 3, C#, Rust, HTML5, Flash ActionScript
Frameworks
Unreal Engine 4, Unreal Engine, Blueprint, Express.js, Next.js, JSON Web Tokens (JWT), Redux, Unity, Tailwind CSS, ARKit, Laravel
Paradigms
Object-oriented Programming (OOP), Data-oriented Design, Mobile Development, HIPAA Compliance, Management, Parallel Computing, Mobile UX Design, Scrum, Agile
Platforms
Oculus Rift, Oculus, Firebase, WordPress, Azure AI Studio, Azure, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Mobile, Desktop, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Shopify, iOS, Android, Blockchain, PlayStation, Xbox, Web
Storage
MySQL, MongoDB, JSON, Databases, PostgreSQL, Redis
Industry Expertise
Healthcare, Project Management, Cybersecurity, Marketing
Other
Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), Game Development, User Experience (UX), APIs, Full-stack, Blueprints Visual Scripting, Unreal Engine 5, Multiplayer, 3D Games, Interactive UX, App Infrastructure, CTO, Networking, 3D, Plugins, Mobile Game Development, Architecture, Software Architecture, MMORPGs, WebSockets, HTTP, Data Scraping, Data Processing, Full-stack Development, Game Design, Leadership, Animation, Smartphones, Tablets & Smartphones, Front-end, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Data Management, Web Scraping, API Integration, Software QA, Back-end, Visualization, Quality Assurance (QA), Software Design, User Interface (UI), Technical Design, Solution Architecture, Gaming, 3D Character Animation, Immersive Experiences, Gaming Platforms, Online Gaming, Training, iGaming, Game Engine Programming, FastAPI, RESTFul APIs, OAuth, AI Tools, Platform as a Service (PaaS), Fractional CTO, AI Design, AI Programming, Voice Chat, Mathematics, Data Science, Video Streaming, Healthcare Services, Healthcare IT, Gameplay Development, Web Development, Interactive UI, Team Leadership, Cloud Infrastructure, Visual Effects (VFX), Technical Leadership, Game Production, Extended Reality (XR), CI/CD Pipelines, Code Review, Airtable, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), TCP/IP, UDP, OpenAI, Game Animation, WebAssembly (Wasm), Electronic Health Records (EHR), Robotic Process Automation (RPA), Infrastructure as Code (IaC), Econometrics, Statistics, Programming, Economics, Business, Supercomputers, Distributed Systems, Machine Learning, Investor Relations, Fundraising, Entertainment & Leisure, Web Marketing, Offline Marketing, Product Design, MVP Design, Product Management, IT Project Management, Web Project Management, Web Programming, Web Product Management, Mobile UX, Enterprise SaaS, Frameworks, Tracking, Location-based Virtual Reality (LBVR), Scalability, Conversational AI, Supabase, GeoPandas, Enterprise
How to Work with Toptal
Toptal matches you directly with global industry experts from our network in hours—not weeks or months.
Share your needs
Choose your talent
Start your risk-free talent trial
Top talent is in high demand.
Start hiring