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Dr Maciej Cieslak

About me

Senior software engineer and technical lead with 10+ years of experience designing and shipping production-grade analysis software and engineering tooling in complex, high-integrity domains — spanning automotive, aerospace and energy. PhD in engineering with a specialisation in numerical modelling, machine learning, and signal processing.

Experience

Software Engineer · ZeBeyond, Leamington Spa, UK
Apr 2025 – May 2026
  • Co-architected ePOP Pro, a 1M+ line compiled MATLAB desktop application deployed as a standalone executable to 10 enterprise clients; responsible for overall system design, module architecture, and code quality across a team of 6.
  • Led development of core subsystems (Transmission Generator, Motor Generator) within a multi-domain physics engine covering mechanical, thermal, and electrical modelling — delivered to production and actively used by paying clients.
  • Contributed to an in-house Simulink-to-MATLAB transpiler, enabling standalone deployment of simulation models without a Simulink runtime dependency.
  • Formalised plugin architecture across a 1M+ line organically grown codebase: introduced clear module boundaries, dependency contracts, and a plugin registry — significantly reducing coupling and onboarding time for new engineers.
  • Introduced CI/CD from scratch: GitLab CI / GitHub Actions pipelines, automated unit testing frameworks, and structured code review processes across the team.
  • Pioneered adoption of AI-assisted development across the engineering team: rolled out Claude Code to engineers' local environments, integrated automated AI code review into the CI/CD pipeline, and built custom agentic workflows — delivering an estimated 5× increase in individual engineer output.
  • Led backend API development for ePOP Concept, a 500k line web-based simulation platform (Angular / TypeScript); designed and built a REST API integrating AWS DynamoDB with the front-end simulation environment, enabling real-time architecture composition from a live component database.
  • Designed combinatorial search algorithms evaluating up to 500,000 architecture permutations against multi-criteria customer requirements.

MATLAB · Python · Simulink · C# · TypeScript · Angular · REST APIs · AWS DynamoDB · GitHub Actions · JIRA · Confluence · Claude Code

Lead Software Developer / Software Architect · JLR, Gaydon, UK
Oct 2023 – Mar 2025
  • Defined and owned the software engineering strategy for a team of 4–7 engineers: introduced Git branching workflows, coding standards, code review culture, CI/CD pipelines, and a structured mentoring programme — taking the team from ad hoc scripting to production-quality engineering practice.
  • Rearchitected a large inherited MATLAB/Python analysis codebase for vehicle dynamics tooling, rebuilding for testability, modularity, and long-term maintainability.
  • Delivered LHAS (Limited Handling and Stability), a production analysis tool used daily by 20 in-house vehicle dynamics engineers to process and analyse data from proving ground tests — translating raw test data into actionable engineering insight across the handling and stability discipline.
  • Contributed to ATOM (Application Toolbox for Objective Metrics), a vehicle build tracking platform with a SQL database backend and MATLAB UI frontend, used by 500 engineers across JLR — serving as version control for vehicle configurations across the full development programme.
  • Partnered with domain engineers to translate complex analytical requirements into well-specified, maintainable software; drove adoption of Agile/Scrum across the team.

MATLAB · Python · Git · CI/CD · Agile/Scrum · JIRA · Confluence

Lead Data Scientist / Tech Lead · JLR, Gaydon, UK
Oct 2022 – Oct 2023
  • Tech Lead for a cross-functional team of 11 engineers spanning chassis, body, and powertrain disciplines — coordinating delivery across workstreams while maintaining hands-on technical contribution.
  • Built and led delivery of: Simulink-based analysis tools, desktop MATLAB applications, interactive web dashboards, and automated reporting pipelines — all shipped to internal stakeholders.
  • Designed and managed data pipelines from a 350-vehicle engineering fleet into GCP / BigQuery; reduced manual data processing across the organisation.

MATLAB · Simulink · Python · SQL · GCP / BigQuery · Microservices · Web Dashboards

Ride Capability Engineer – Vehicle Dynamics · JLR, Gaydon, UK
Feb 2020 – Oct 2022
  • Developed production MATLAB CAE applications within an Agile team; applied ML and numerical optimisation to automate vehicle tuning workflows previously done manually.
  • Designed and delivered FRM (Fast Ride Model), a reduced-order vertical dynamics simulation tool combining a Simulink 18-DOF vehicle model backend with a MATLAB UI frontend, adopted by 20 engineers across the vehicle dynamics simulation department. FRM reduced full simulation sweep time from 90 minutes to 90 seconds (a 60× speed-up) while maintaining accuracy within 90% of the original.
  • Designed fleet data pipeline architecture that became the foundation for the Data Science team.
  • Objective and subjective vehicle testing on public roads and proving ground; findings presented to senior engineering leadership.

MATLAB · Python · Simulink · SIMPACK · JIRA · Confluence

Research Fellow · Coventry University (IFTC), Coventry, UK
Sep 2019 – Jan 2020
  • Investigated image sensor degradation under real-world noise conditions for ADAS applications; trained DNN classifiers using MATLAB Automated Driving Toolbox.

MATLAB · Python · MATLAB Automated Driving Toolbox

Doctoral Researcher · HORIBA MIRA, Nuneaton, UK
Oct 2015 – Aug 2019
  • Built signal processing pipelines and trained ANNs (MATLAB and Python) to predict human ride comfort from biometric and vibration data — published in peer-reviewed journals and presented internationally.
  • Hands-on vehicle test programme design and execution in a professional automotive test environment.

MATLAB · Python · TensorFlow · Keras

Skills & Tools

LanguagesMATLAB · Python · C# · TypeScript · JavaScript · SQL
Frameworks & PlatformsAngular · REST APIs · AWS (DynamoDB) · GCP / BigQuery
Software EngineeringModular architecture · Plugin systems · CI/CD (GitLab CI, GitHub Actions) · Automated testing · Code review · Git
Scientific ComputingSimulink / Simscape · Signal processing · Numerical optimisation · ML (Scikit-learn, TensorFlow, Keras)
Multi-body SimulationMSC Adams · SIMPACK
Practices & ToolingAgile / Scrum · Jira · Confluence

Education

PhD, Automotive Engineering2015–2019

Coventry University

ANN-based predictive modelling of ride comfort from biometric and vibration data. Co-funded by HORIBA MIRA. Published in Neural Computing and Applications, Springer (2019).

MSc, Automotive Engineering2015–2016

Wroclaw University of Science & Technology

BEng, Mechanical Engineering2010–2015

Wroclaw University of Science & Technology

Languages

English — Fluent (Cambridge ESOL)

German — Working proficiency (Goethe Institut)

Polish — Native

Additional

Driving: Full UK licence with advanced vehicle control certification (HORIBA MIRA); JLR Class 3 & 3PG

Gliding: SPL Pilot's Licence, ASW20 owner — hands-on maintenance of aircraft and avionics

Associate Fellow, Higher Education Academy (HEA)