MATTHEW BODENSTEIN

Lead AI Software Engineer

Matthew Bodenstein

AI developer building practical products.

I build full products, from AI systems and web platforms to internal tools, and I'm comfortable being the engineer who owns the whole thing from architecture to deployment.

View Projects Contact Me View CV

Who I am

I'm a Toronto-based engineer who likes building things from scratch and seeing them used. I've been the sole engineer at a startup that grew to 1,000+ users, and I run my own consultancy shipping products for clients.

Most of my work sits at the intersection of AI and web: LLM-powered workflows, React frontends, Node.js backends, and cloud infrastructure. I also build VR experiences and do research-adjacent software work.

I do my best work on small teams where there's real ownership and the work matters.

Work Experience

From founding my own company to contract engineering and research.

Lead AI Software Engineer

Maxim Mechanical Group Inc. (Contract) · Bradford, ON (Hybrid)

Feb 2026 - Present

Founder & Principal Engineer

VUNO Digital Solutions (Sole Proprietor) · Toronto, ON

Dec 2025 - Present

Full-Stack Software Engineer

CarGenie.co (Contract) · Toronto, ON (Hybrid)

May 2025 - Feb 2026

Research Assistant (Unity Developer)

York University Sensorimotor Control Lab (Part-Time Contract) · Toronto, ON (Remote)

Jun 2024 - Aug 2025

Software Developer

Ontario Government, Enterprise Architecture Office (Internship) · Toronto, ON

Jan 2024 - Jan 2025

Research Assistant (Software Developer)

Lassonde School of Engineering, Dept. of Earth & Space Science (Part-Time) · Toronto, ON (Remote)

Aug 2023 - Apr 2024

Featured Projects

Shipped work across AI, VR, and full-stack, each one built and delivered end-to-end.

DeepSeeker game preview
Immersive Systems

DeepSeeker

Shipped an immersive game experience with a cross-functional team, owning core gameplay implementation, polish, and delivery.

UnityC#Gameplay SystemsTeam Delivery

Outcome: Team-shipped playable release on itch.io.

Live Demo View Code
AI Multi-Agent System
Applied AI System

Classroom Agent System

Multi-agent AI workflow for automated assignment grading and feedback with REST APIs, authentication, and deployment-ready architecture.

ReactNode.jsOpenAI Assistants APISupabaseAWS Elastic Beanstalk

Outcome: Deployed on AWS Elastic Beanstalk with end-to-end agent workflow.

Live Demo View Code
OPS AI Wellness Companion preview
Hackathon Build

OPS AI Wellness Companion

AI-enabled wellness application combining conversational support, curated resources, and manager workflow automation.

AI AssistantProduct DesignRapid PrototypingHackathon

Outcome: Delivered a full hackathon prototype with integrated AI flows.

Live Demo View Code
Mount and Mail VR preview
Published VR Project

Mount & Mail

Multiplayer VR climbing and delivery game shipped for Meta Quest with synchronized gameplay and physics-driven movement.

UnityC#Fusion NetworkingMeta Quest SDK

Outcome: Published multiplayer experience to Meta Quest store.

Live Demo View Code
Kevin Bacon graph API preview
Backend Engineering

Kevin Bacon Graph API

Built graph-backed APIs to compute actor relationship paths and recommendations using data modeling and endpoint testing workflows.

Neo4jREST APITestingData Modeling

Outcome: Delivered graph API endpoints with tested recommendation logic.

Live Demo View Code

Experience & Impact

View Resume

Built field operations & safety AI platform

Designed a Health & Safety AI module with state-machine workflows and human-in-the-loop review gates, cutting manual safety reporting cycles by 40%.

30+ stakeholders coordinated

Developed GPT car recommendation engine

Sole engineer on the full platform build: architected a GPT-4o-powered recommendation engine with TypeScript, Node.js, and PostgreSQL.

1,000+ registered users

Created VR applications for research

Built VR cognitive training applications alongside full-time studies; co-designed calibration tooling with neuroscience researchers.

500+ research participants

Core Strengths

What I'm strongest at and the tools I reach for most.

AI Engineering

Claude APIOpenAI APIsLLM WorkflowsPrompt Engineering RAG PipelinesHuman-in-the-loop Systems

Frontend Product Craft

ReactTypeScriptTailwind UI/UX DesignResponsive DesignInteraction Design

Backend & Platform

Node.jsExpressREST APIs PostgreSQLNeonDBSupabaseAzureAWS

Ownership & Delivery

Full Product OwnershipSmall-Team EngineeringRapid Prototyping End-to-End DeliveryStakeholder Management

Comfortable building from scratch

Give me a problem and I'll figure out the architecture, build it, and get it in front of users.

Happy wearing every hat

Frontend, backend, infra, AI. I've been the only engineer on products with real users.

I care about the product

Not just writing code that works, but building something people actually want to use.

Arcade

Take a break. Play something dumb.

Snake

Arrow keys or swipe. Don't hit yourself.

Memory Match

Find all 8 pairs. Try not to embarrass yourself.

Reaction Time

Wait for green, then click. Blink and you lose.

Click to start

Flappy Bird

Click, tap, or spacebar to flap. Dodge the pipes.

Whack-a-Mole

Smack the moles. 30 seconds. Go wild.

Tic Tac Toe

You're X. Beat the AI. It's not that smart.

Open to Opportunities

Let's build something together

I'm looking for a team where I can own real problems, build alongside smart people, and work on products that actually get used.

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