Zackary Simmons

Engineer · Explorer · Builder
From nuclear reactors to neural networks — always chasing the next summit
Explore

Every summit starts
with a single step.

I'm Zackary — a software engineer based in Seattle who finds the same thrill in debugging a distributed system as standing on a ridgeline at dawn. With a background spanning nuclear engineering, machine learning, and full-stack development, I'm drawn to hard problems with real-world impact. When I'm not writing code, you'll find me chasing powder on Mount Baker, pulling espresso shots dialed to the gram, or logging miles on the trails of the Pacific Northwest.

⚡ The Engineer

From designing nuclear propulsion systems for missions to Europa, to building enterprise applications serving 17,000+ users at Boeing — I bring the same methodical precision to every problem. I think in systems, build in layers, and ship with confidence.

🏔 The Explorer

The mountains of the Pacific Northwest are my second office. Whether it's a dawn summit push on Rainier, a solo backpacking trip through the Enchantments, or an early morning run along Green Lake — movement in nature is where I find clarity and energy.

4+ Years Engineering
17K+ Users Served
Summits to Chase

Tracing the ridgeline
of a career.

Like any good route, the path wasn't always obvious — but each step built on the last. From nuclear physics to machine learning to full-stack engineering, every pivot opened a new vista.

2022 — Present
Industrial Engineer & Software Engineer
The Boeing Company — Commercial Airplanes · Mukilteo, WA
  • Built a full-stack cloud-based enterprise web app (Python/React/Flask) for production training — supporting 17K+ users and 484K+ task completions
  • Established ETL pipelines with Python/SQL to optimize data loading, reporting, and visualization for production deployment
  • Led performance testing simulating 5,000+ concurrent users, identifying bottlenecks and optimizing system efficiency
  • Engineered an ML solution using NLP/Classifiers to categorize 10,000+ materials with 95% accuracy for IAEG compliance
  • Launched a full-stack tooling inventory system (React/Flask) achieving 99% accurate inventory management
2021 — 2022
Machine Learning Research Engineer
University of Michigan Ion Beam Laboratory · Ann Arbor, MI
  • Constructed a Feed-Forward Multilayer Perceptron Neural Network trained on 18,000+ images — 98%+ prediction accuracy
  • Executed Ion Beam waveform image classification on 50,000+ unique images with confidence levels exceeding 98.97%
Summer 2021
Operations Engineer
The Boeing Company — Commercial Airplanes · Renton, WA
  • Built Python composition analysis models on 75,000+ products — projected $9M+ annual cost reduction and 15%+ defect decrease
  • Identified 3 major root causes of BCA Warehousing safety incidents, mitigating risk by an estimated 70%+
2019 — 2022
Software Engineer
Wizard Match, LLC · Bronx, NY
  • Designed 40+ Angular components and 2 modules, reducing healthcare client-caregiver matchmaking time by 81.25%
  • Onboarded new team members, decreasing development ramp-up time by 20%
2019 — 2020
Senior Design Project — Nuclear Electric Propulsion
University of Michigan Nuclear Engineering Department
  • Created a nuclear electric propulsion ship with a magnetoplasmadynamic thruster at 50% efficiency for a manned mission to Europa
  • Calculated a 364-day transit time using spiral trajectory and aerobraking — reducing traditional transit times by 83%

Where the gear
was forged.

Master of Engineering
University of Michigan · Industrial & Operations Engineering
May 2022
  • Tauber Institute for Global Operations Fellow
  • Advanced optimization, systems design, and operations research
Bachelor of Science
University of Michigan · Nuclear Engineering & Radiological Sciences
December 2021 · GPA: 3.58
  • Minor in Computer Science Engineering & International Engineering
  • Engineering Global Leadership Honors Program
  • Dean's List · University Honors
  • Michigan Math Prize Competition Finalist (Top 1%)
CSE 573
Applications of Artificial Intelligence
CSE 561
Network Systems

Tools of the trade.

Languages

Python TypeScript JavaScript SQL HTML/CSS

Frameworks & Tools

React Flask Angular Git CI/CD Jekyll

Specializations

Machine Learning NLP Neural Networks ETL Pipelines Full-Stack Dev Performance Testing

Why I climb.

The best engineers I know have lives beyond the terminal. Here's where I recharge, find perspective, and remember why the climb matters.