About
Kyler Saiki
Software engineer, Novato, California. Games degree, studio experience, and a habit of building the tool that makes the whole team faster.
I studied computer science at the University of Southern California, graduating in 2024 with a games emphasis. I spent the next year and a half in the engineering program at 2K Games in Novato, rotating through three studios: backend and business logic on NBA 2K's MyCareer at Visual Concepts, tools and gameplay engineering on an unannounced project at Gearbox Software, and tools engineering for Shared Development Services, where I built a daily status report system and an Atlassian plugin for producers.
In June 2026 I started working independently. Most of my work since then has been for AddressHate, a research organization studying antisemitism and online hate, where I build the analyst dashboard, the Chrome annotation extension the research team uses across 16 platforms, and the pipeline tooling behind it. It's full-stack work in the truest sense: TypeScript and Python, PostgreSQL, Google Cloud, a browser extension, and a lot of thinking about access control.
The thread through all of it is tooling. The wizard that collapses a twenty-step workflow into three clicks, the dashboard that replaces a weekly spreadsheet ritual, the debug feature that cuts a test cycle in half. I like software that is correct, readable, and documented well enough that the next person can pick it up without me.
Outside of client work I keep a few personal projects going: browser-based game prototypes, small desktop utilities, and the invoicing and tracking tools I run my own business with.
Experience
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June 2026 – present
Independent software engineering contractor
Novato, California · Sole proprietorWeb applications, internal tools, and technical review for clients on a contract basis. Current principal engagement: AddressHate (analyst dashboard, Chrome annotation extension, pipeline tooling, Google Cloud infrastructure). See the case study.
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Oct 2025 – Mar 2026
Tools Engineer, Engineering Program
2K Games, Shared Development Services · Novato, CA- Developed the Daily Status Report system that sends producers a daily report of work completed across projects
- Built an Atlassian plugin on Forge and Azure to automate Confluence and Jira tasks for producers
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Apr 2025 – Oct 2025
Gameplay and Tools Engineer, Engineering Program
2K Games, Gearbox Software · Novato, CA- One of two tools engineers building the foundational tools and systems for an unannounced project
- Designed an Actor Wizard and an Item Display Wizard for designers and artists; built a custom item-display component using async loading and a fast array serializer
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Oct 2024 – Mar 2025
Backend and Business Logic Engineer, MyCareer, Engineering Program
2K Games, Visual Concepts · Novato, CA- Worked directly with designers to develop the new MyCareer GOAT Skill features for NBA 2K26
- Helped lead engineers resolve a major exploit in the cross-save progression system; built debug features for faster testing
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Aug 2023 – May 2024
Undergraduate Teaching Assistant, ITP 380 Video Game Programming
USC Viterbi School of Engineering · Los Angeles, CA- Helped more than 100 students through C++ game programming fundamentals
- Graded and gave detailed code reviews against industry standards
Education
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Aug 2020 – May 2024
B.S. Computer Science (Games)
University of Southern California · Los Angeles, CACoursework in software engineering, Unreal Engine, computer networking, and mobile app development. Shipped Egregore with a 30-person team through USC Games.
Skills
Languages
TypeScript and JavaScript, Python, C++, C#, SQL, Swift, Java, C
Web
React, Next.js, Node.js, FastAPI, PostgreSQL, Tailwind CSS, Chrome extensions (Manifest V3), Playwright, Vitest
Cloud and delivery
Google Cloud (Cloud Run, Cloud SQL, Cloud Storage, IAM, Secret Manager), Docker, GitHub Actions, Jenkins, Azure, AWS
Games
Unreal Engine 5 (C++, Blueprints, Gameplay Ability System, Lyra, Sequencer), Unity (C#), Perforce
Tools and platforms
Atlassian Jira, Confluence, and Forge; Electron; Linux; Xcode