Software engineer · Chief Architect
I make architecture for growing systems in the messy terrain: constraints become interfaces, and teams can sustain them reliably through change, while engineering stays grounded in judgment, care, and human legibility.
I’m Chief Architect at Product.ai and a longtime engineer who still likes being close to the code. Over the past 15 years, I’ve worked across platform architecture, infrastructure, data systems, large migrations, and AI-powered products—usually where the problem is ambiguous, foundational, and has to survive contact with production.
I’m especially interested in:
- Context, evaluation, and guardrail systems for AI-native software
- Developer tools and engineering workflows for the agent era
- Architecture that makes complexity legible and gives teams leverage
- The judgment, craft, and human dynamics behind durable software
I write at bristanback.com about software, AI, leadership, identity, and the human side of building things.
Away from the keyboard, I’m usually cycling around Los Angeles or being thoroughly out-negotiated by my toddler.