Will Zhao

CEO

San Francisco, California, United States12 yrs 8 mos experience

AI ML PractitionerHighly Stable

Key Highlights

Expert in building powerful software quality platforms.
Proven track record in optimizing mobile app performance.
Strong background in machine learning and distributed systems.

Stackforce AI infers this person is a SaaS leader with expertise in software quality and machine learning.

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Skills

Core Skills

Software QualityMachine LearningInfrastructureSearch RankingPerformance EngineeringMonetizationRecommender SystemsAds Optimization

Other Skills

Distributed SystemsClient Performance TestingMobile App OptimizationProduct DevelopmentAds System OptimizationJavaPythonJavaScriptData StructuresDesign PatternsAgile MethodologiesAgile DevelopmentAlgorithmsDistributed ComputingArtificial Intelligence

About

Passionate about impacts, thrilled with challenges, and inspired by a growth mindset. Specialities: ranking, machine learning, online advertising, and large-scale distributed system.

Experience

12 yrs 8 mos

Total Experience

3 yrs 9 mos

Average Tenure

1 yr 3 mos

Current Experience

Shiplight ai

Co-founder & CEO

Feb 2025 – Present · 1 yr 3 mos · San Francisco Bay Area

Making quality effortless for software teams by building the world’s most powerful software quality platform, delivering end-to-end testing coverage with near-zero maintenance. Backed by Pear VC.

Machine LearningSoftware QualityDistributed Systems

Airbnb

Senior Engineering Manager

Oct 2018 – Apr 2024 · 5 yrs 6 mos · San Francisco Bay Area

Infrastructure (2021 - 2024): Edge infrastructure ('front door' for all Airbnb traffic), client data (networking, cache, media access etc.), shared services (dynamic configuration, job queue, distributed counting etc.), client performance testing platform, and internationalization (i18n) infrastructure.
China Monetization (2018 - 2021): Search ranking and relevance, paid promotion, pricing, alteration and cancellation, and marketplace foundation.

InfrastructureSearch RankingClient Performance Testing

Snap inc.

Engineering Manager

Oct 2014 – Oct 2018 · 4 yrs · Los Angeles Metropolitan Area

Performance and Platform Engineering: Led 4 teams of 30 engineers optimizing mobile app performance and efficiency, building in-app resources management frameworks, and building tools that prevent regressions and enable understanding of performance.
Monetization: Built and launched the Discover product.

Performance EngineeringMobile App OptimizationMonetization

Facebook

Software Engineer

Oct 2012 – Sep 2014 · 1 yr 11 mos · San Francisco Bay Area

End-to-end development of a recommender system that powers personalized ranking of a variety of entities (events, places, movies etc.).
End-to-end development of Facebook’s ads system while focusing on delivery optimization of feed ads; delivered optimizations that cumulatively increased revenue by more than 10%.

Recommender SystemsAds System OptimizationAds Optimization