Aditya Rao

Hi, I'm Aditya.

I build ML systems. I'm a software engineer at a Series B fintech, building the agent harness behind its AI assistant. I also created an edtech startup that teaches K-5 math through live sports.

  • Built an NBA model that beat ESPN's picks, 74% across 400+ games.
  • Built LLM-powered CRM and outreach features as founding engineer at an a16z-backed startup.
  • Cut LLM evaluation time 40% with observability tooling at Sixfold AI.
  • Published a peer-reviewed paper on generative AI for stock forecasting.
  • Won Best Use of MongoDB Atlas at HackMerced IX with Mapnosis, an air-quality risk map.
  • Worked across cybersecurity, insurtech, revenue management, edtech, fintech, and supply chain.

RECENT

  1. Jun 2026Software engineer at a Series B fintech, on its AI assistant's agent harness
  2. Spring 2026Research on malware classification under distribution shift
  3. May 2026B.S. Computer Science, San José State, cum laude
  4. Oct 2025Presented Gaia DR3 research at UC Irvine
  5. May 2025Co-founded an edtech startup teaching K-5 math through live sports

▼ jump to the games

PROOF · CHECK IT YOURSELF

MODEL

NBA prediction platform

74% accuracy across 400+ games, ahead of ESPN's picks. The platform itself is private, but the dataset it was built on is public.

PEER-REVIEWED

S&P 500 forecasting with generative AI

A GPT-4 trading prediction model for short- and long-term forecasting, published in the UC Merced Undergraduate Research Journal.

RESEARCH

malware classification under distribution shift

Tested graph neural networks on Android malware that doesn't look like the training set. Training with simulated missing features cut the robustness gap from 36.2 to 31.0 points, and the report keeps the idea that didn't work.

OPEN SOURCE

the bug behind the nba_api v1.11.3 warning

Root-caused a data-integrity failure in nba_api, the open-source Python client with 3.4k+ stars and 1M+ downloads. The runtime warning and docs shipped in v1.11.3 are built on that analysis.

RECOMMENDATIONS · QUOTED VERBATIM

Nº 01 · MANAGED ADITYA DIRECTLY

“The scope of the project was quite huge, but he had an unwavering determination to take it to completion. After one of his internal presentations, a comment he received was that it usually takes a team almost a year to build what Aditya could do on his own in 2 months.”
Director of Product Management · Model Nthe work: Cut quote-creation turnaround 30%: a fiscal-year plan shipped in weeks

Nº 02 · MANAGED ADITYA DIRECTLY

“Aditya took ownership of foundational research that directly shaped the project's architecture. He also led an exploratory effort into leveraging agentic AI workflows to accelerate frontend development. What stood out most was his ability to operate independently on ambiguous, research-heavy work, and deliver outputs that the team continued to build on well after his internship ended.”
Engineering Leader · Sixfold AIthe work: Cut LLM evaluation time 40% with Langfuse observability tooling

Nº 03 · MANAGED ADITYA DIRECTLY

“He helped build critical tooling for our AI platform. He's sharp, self-motivated, and takes complete ownership of his work, which allowed him to drive complex projects forward with minimal guidance. He's the kind of person who sees what needs to be done and makes it happen.”
Staff Engineer · Sixfold AIthe work: Cut LLM evaluation time 40% with Langfuse observability tooling
  • “…deliver a usable model that our product team can move forward with.”

    Chief Product Officer · Vendavo

    the work: Cut quote-creation turnaround 30%: a fiscal-year plan shipped in weeks

  • “…professionally and ahead of schedule.”

    AI Social Impact Entrepreneur · ChatBuilt

    the work: Built a GPT-4 Turbo chatbot that lifted retention 40% in beta

  • “…excellent recommendations within a short span of time…”

    Co-Founder · Alphashots.AI

    the work: Researched stock-prediction algorithms and pattern matching

  • “…grasp our work in such a short amount of time…”

    Founder & Managing Director · DIA Higher Education Collaborators

    the work: Built sentiment analysis to help colleges read student surveys

full letters on LinkedIn

THE ARCADE

PLAYER 1: NO CARTRIDGE

ARCADE · 3 CARTRIDGES ON THE SHELF

INSERT CARTRIDGE▮

pick a game from the shelf above

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

Eighteen roles since 2022, from student clubs, research, contract work and internships to founding teams and a full-time engineering job. The thread through the engineering roles is getting ML out of notebooks and into products people use.

18

Built a K-5 math platform that teaches through live sports

Co-Founder & CTO · Edtech Startup · May 2025 - Presentnow

17

Building the agent harness behind a consumer product's AI assistant, from orchestration through evaluation

Software Engineer · Series B Fintech · Jun 2026 - Presentnow

16

Built LLM-powered CRM and outreach features as founding engineer

Founding AI Engineer · Stealth AI Startup (a16z-backed) · Feb 2026 - Jun 2026

15

Built wearable fall detection, designed to move from waist to wrist sensors

Co-Founder & CTO · Guardian AI · Aug 2025 - Jan 2026

14

Built top-level domain ingestion pipelines with ML

Machine Learning Engineer Intern · Cybersecurity Startup (Series B) · Aug 2025 - Dec 2025

13

Cut LLM evaluation time 40% with Langfuse observability tooling

Full Stack AI Engineer Intern · Sixfold AI (Series B) · Jun 2025 - Aug 2025

12

Built a photographer-to-client platform with recommendations

Full Stack Developer · Pick N Show · Feb 2024 - Jun 2025

11

Cut a YouTube channel team's transcript formatting by ~80%

Software Engineering Consultant · Independent Client · Nov 2024 - Mar 2025

10

Built an NBA model at 74% across 400+ games, ahead of ESPN's picks

Founding Machine Learning Engineer · HoopSight AI · Aug 2024 - Feb 2025

9

Cut quote-creation turnaround 30%: a fiscal-year plan shipped in weeks

Machine Learning Product Intern · Model N · Jun 2024 - Aug 2024

8

Red-teamed LLMs for 3 international businesses

LLM Evaluation Specialist (Red-Teaming) · Upwork (freelance) · Jan 2024 - May 2024

7

Built an iClicker alternative driven by gesture recognition

Undergraduate Researcher · Google exploreCSR · Oct 2023 - Dec 2024

6

Built a GPT-4 Turbo chatbot that lifted retention 40% in beta

AI Chatbot Developer · ChatBuilt · Dec 2023 - Jan 2024

5

Researched stock-prediction algorithms and pattern matching

ML Researcher · Finance-Flash (Alphashots.AI) · Dec 2023 - Feb 2024

4

Built EAST-based text recognition for natural images

Signal Processing & CV Engineering Intern · Open Avenues · Sep 2023 - Nov 2023

the code ↗

3

Built sentiment analysis to help colleges read student surveys

AI Implementation Intern · DIA Higher Ed · Sep 2023

2

Taught undergraduates data science across nine workshops

Data Science Lead · ACM UCM · Aug 2023 - May 2024

1

Analyzed the NBA playoffs and taught club members data viz

Communications Manager & Data Analyst · The Statistician · Jul 2022 - May 2023