MATTHEW BODENSTEIN

Full-Stack 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.

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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.

Full-Stack Software Engineer

Stealth-Mode Startup, Full-Time · Toronto, ON (Hybrid)

Aug 2026 - Present
  • Founding engineer at an early-stage startup building a consumer hardware + software product from the ground up; further details available on request.

Lead AI Software Engineer

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

Feb 2026 - Aug 2026
  • Led design and development of a full-stack workforce, EHS, HR, and ops platform from scratch (React/TypeScript, Express/Prisma, Postgres) with RBAC — self-hosting saved $30,000+ annually versus off-the-shelf alternatives.
  • Built “Frank,” a Claude-powered AI ops assistant with streamed tool-calling and semantic document search; used daily by 50+ employees with 99%+ uptime over 6 months in production.
  • Shipped multi-party PDF signing and an automated invoice-extraction pipeline that cut manual AP/AR review time by over 60%.

Founder & Principal Engineer

VUNO Digital Solutions, Sole Proprietor · Toronto, ON

Dec 2025 - Present
  • Run an independent consultancy building full-stack web apps, internal dashboards, and AI automation tools for multiple concurrent clients.
  • Replaced a client’s paper-based approval workflow with a digital dashboard and multi-stage approval system.

Full-Stack Software Engineer

CarGenie.co (AI Vehicle Recommendation Platform), Full-Time Contract · Toronto, ON (Hybrid)

May 2025 - Feb 2026
  • Sole engineer on the full platform build: GPT-4o recommendation engine with TypeScript, Node.js, and PostgreSQL, growing to 1,000+ registered users.
  • Quadrupled quiz-start engagement (~20% to 80% of visitors) and built admin dashboards, RBAC, analytics, and automated email campaigns.

Research Assistant (Unity Developer)

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

Jun 2024 - Aug 2025
  • Built VR cognitive training applications used by 500+ research participants; co-designed calibration tooling that cut setup time and reduced calibration errors.

Software Developer

Ontario Government, Enterprise Architecture Office, Full-Time Internship · Toronto, ON

Jan 2024 - Jan 2025
  • Built a PyTorch document similarity model to flag duplicate project requests, improving resolution accuracy by 45%, plus AI automation pipelines for case routing.

Research Assistant (Software Developer)

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

Aug 2023 - Apr 2024
  • Refactored and optimized a Python simulation codebase for 2D/3D Mars wind models; produced visualizations adopted in peer-reviewed research.

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

Consultancy

Side by side with product work — I also run VUNO for client builds.

vunodigitalsolutions.com
VUNO Digital Solutions website preview
Business / Freelance

VUNO Digital Solutions

My consultancy — custom operations software and professional business websites for growing small businesses.

Custom SoftwareBusiness WebsitesDashboardsSEO

Outcome: Live agency site with software + website service offerings.

Visit Site

Experience & Impact

Download Resume

Built ops platform + Frank AI assistant

Led a full-stack workforce, EHS, HR, and ops platform from scratch, including a Claude-powered AI assistant used daily in production with 99%+ uptime.

$30k+/yr infra savings · 50+ daily users

Developed GPT car recommendation engine

Sole engineer on the full CarGenie platform: GPT-4o recommendations, admin dashboards, and email automation that quadrupled quiz-start engagement.

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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