Pete Isensee
Email
Pete
Executive Engineering Leader
Leads large global teams of software engineers working in high performance computing
environments and digital entertainment. Fosters inclusive community with a focus on
developing new engineering leaders and people managers, enabling cross-functional
collaboration, and creating a culture of engineering excellence.
Leadership: People Management | Developing Leaders | Building Teams |
Mentorship | Coaching | Cross-team Collaboration | Coordinating Large Projects |
Developer Education | Public Speaking | Documentation | Planning & Strategy |
Recruiting & Interviewing | Training | Performance Reviews | Succession Planning
Technical Specialities: Modern C++ | High Performance Code | Performance
Analysis | Optimization | Game Engines | Virtual & Augmented Reality | Telemetry
& Metrics | Engineering Excellence | Research & Development
Experience
Engineering Director, Meta Reality Labs Research (Oculus Research),
Redmond WA, 2016 - 2024
Led global teams of software engineers, research engineers and technical artists.
Collaborated with research science leadership to solve core problems and deliver
software solutions that made research more productive. Pioneered advanced
technologies for AR/VR, turbocharging research capabilities in graphics,
audio, optics, displays, sensors, tracking, perception, haptics, and more.
- Expanded the research software organization from 8 to 250+ engineers. Mentored dozens of engineering leaders, managers of managers, and directors.
- Enabled the successful transition of dozens of technologies from research to product. Evaluated and shared best practices for technology transfer from research to product teams, making transfer faster and smoother.
- Organized a series of ongoing technical talks and annual in-person developer summit, resulting in wider technology sharing and thriving engineering communities across different research teams.
- Conducted ~800 interviews, resulting in >250 hires for Meta. Introduced innovative interviewing practices to assess in-domain experience for all Reality Labs division hires.
- Led performance reviews for dozens of engineering managers biannually, sharing best practices for performance reviews with over 100 managers. Created a more efficient review processes, saving hundreds of hours of engineering leadership time annually.
- Hosted annual succession planning with other engineering directors, identifying future leaders for training and development opportunities.
- Published a weekly Modern C++ quiz for hundreds of software engineers, producing 200 quizzes and summary answers and improving the quality of software engineering across all of Meta.
Principal Engineer, HBO Code Labs, Seattle WA,
2014 - 2016
Developed groundbreaking entertainment experiences for global audiences, focused on virtual reality storytelling.
-
Engineered an
Emmy-winning
virtual reality experience
for Westworld in Unreal Engine, integrating 3D worlds and captured 360 footage.
- Analyzed and optimized 360-degree VR capture systems, enhancing production techniques and sharing best practices.
- Developed interactive prototypes using Unity3D and Unreal Engine.
- Educated HBO leadership on the potential and challenges of VR, shaping future strategic initiatives.
- Created iOS prototypes exploring characters and locations of popular HBO content such as Game of Thrones.
-
Developed a
custom installer
for Unreal Swarm, allowing corporate desktop machines to participate in Unreal lighting builds.
Principal Program Manager, Microsoft
Xbox Advanced Technology Group,
Redmond WA, 2011 - 2013
Directed Microsoft's game developer education, research & development, support,
developer marketing and PR, training, and developer event initiatives for
Xbox 360 and
Xbox One console developers.
- Directed the creation and delivery of all educational content for Xbox One, including hundreds of sample C/C++ code projects, white papers, tutorials, videos, and presentations, improving the ability of all Xbox developers to quickly create compelling content.
- Organized global developer events, educating thousands of developers on Xbox One technologies. Personally delivered dozens of hours of technical presentations.
- Managed Microsoft's all-up presence at theGame Developers Conference, an annual event for 25,000 game developers, including conference content (40 hours in 2013), booths, exhibitor space, meeting rooms, and social events.
- Spearheaded R&D projects for new techniques only possible using Xbox One and the Kinect sensor.
-
Supported and coordinated the Xbox Live Indie Games program, including contests,
MVP
programs, developer support, and PR efforts. Official Microsoft spokesperson for Xbox Live Indie Games.
Principal Group Program Manager, Microsoft Game Platform Tools,
Redmond WA, 2008 - 2010
Oversaw the delivery of all game development tools and technical documentation for Microsoft platforms.
- Managed 20 program managers and technical documentation writers.
-
Directed updates to the XNA Game Studio
product, content pipeline, and Xbox 360 Software Development Kit (XDK) Extensions.
-
Supervised the compiler and debugging team, creating the
Xbox 360 C/C++ compiler,
linker and debuggers used daily by all Xbox 360 developers.
-
Led the performance tools team, working industry-renown tools such
as PIX, the
Performance Investigator for Xbox.
- Oversaw the creation of API docs, white papers, tutorials and other online education components for Xbox 360 and Windows game developers.
-
Delivered quarterly technology updates to the Xbox 360 XDK and the
DirectX Software Development Kit,
used by tens of thousands of game developers worldwide.
-
Created long-term game developer strategy for Xbox platform, many portions of
which were integrated into future initiatives.
-
Internal developer spokesperson for
Kinect
launch titles, ensuring pressing developer issues were addressed.
Principal Development Manager, Microsoft
Professional Game Platform, Redmond WA,
2007 - 2008
Led a large team creating the low-level technology used by
all Xbox 360 and Windows games.
-
Managed a team of 30 software development engineers. Responsible for hiring,
budget, reviews, and team direction.
-
Oversaw the graphics engineering team, creating 3D graphics libraries
for Xbox 360 (Direct3D).
-
Oversaw the audio engineering team, creating audio libraries for Xbox 360
and Windows (XAudio).
-
Oversaw the input engineering team, creating input libraries for Xbox 360
and Windows (XInput).
-
Oversaw the networking engineering team, creating transport and online
technologies for Xbox 360
(Xbox Live).
-
Delivered monthly technology updates to the Xbox 360 Software Development
Kit (XDK) and the
DirectX Software
Development Kit
, used by tens of thousands of game developers worldwide.
Development Team Lead, Microsoft
Game Developer Connection, Redmond WA, 2006 - 2007
Led a team of software engineers supporting game developers on
Xbox 360,
Windows and other Microsoft gaming platforms. Team mission: "Game developer support,
performance insight and technical illumination."
-
Managed a team of 25 software development engineers. Responsible for hiring, budget, reviews,
and team direction.
-
Worked with professional game developers across the world ensuring
their applications took full advantage of Microsoft technologies.
-
Partnered with account management teams to direct engineering resources onto
high profile games, evaluating game performance issues, optimizing game code, and
releasing titles successfully.
-
Oversaw game developer support initiatives, including oversight of internal tools
and developer-facing portal.
-
Directed research and development efforts to improve the lives of game developers.
Lead Software Engineer, Microsoft
Xbox Advanced Technology Group, Redmond WA,
2001 - 2006
Led a team of software engineers working on Xbox and
Xbox 360 research
and development, performance issues, game technology, and tools.
- Managed a team of 10 engineers.
-
Coordinated and created example Xbox game code for inclusion in the Xbox
Software Development Kit (XDK).
-
Coordinated and regularly presented at Xbox development seminars, game
conferences and other Xbox-related events.
- Drove code conventions and other best practices across Xbox teams.
-
Authored numerous developer white papers on a wide range of topics from Xbox
Live issues to storage best practices to networking and certification.
Senior Network Engineer, Emerald City, Bellevue WA, 1999 - 2000
Internet and client-server developer for Emerald City Technologies, creating
massively multiplayer 3D games and game technology.
-
Network engineer for back-end server and download technology used by Emerald
City products.
- GUI client engineer for Windows front-end application.
-
Chief architect for Emerald City base C++ library. Designed and programmed containers,
exception handling mechanisms, file and HTTP logging, and XML parsers.
-
Standardized all software components on Unicode, with an efficient translation layer to
hide the conversions on non-Unicode platforms.
-
Created various COM controls used by Emerald City servers for fast IP address
lookups, encryption, secure hashing, and key generation.
- Automated nightly builds, component testing, and documentation generation from C++ source code.
Senior Software Engineer,
World Opponent Network
(WON.net), Bellevue WA, 1998 - 1999
Internet gaming developer. Enhanced lobby-based entry point for dozens of
existing Win32 multiplayer games, used by 10,000+ players daily.
Lead developer of the technology for downloading and launching multiplayer games
with a single click, initially launched with Hoyle casual card and board games.
-
Created smart downloading technology that used compression, customizable
filters, background threads, and other methods to minimize download times and
get players into games faster.
-
Generated a strong banning mechanism to uniquely identify a PC and allow WON to
lock-out online miscreants.
-
Created authentication client DLL designed for peer-to-peer authentication and
encrypted messaging with WON servers. Optimized size from 500K to 90K.
-
Documented the API that external companies used to create WON-enabled games.
-
Engineered Internet communications library for thin and robust high-speed
game transmissions in 3D multiplayer games.
Software Design Engineer, HyperBole Studios, Seattle WA, 1994 - 1998
Systems architect of HyperBole’s
VirtualCinema high-performance
media playback engine. Managed a six-person team. Championed coding conventions
and defensive programming techniques. Educated management on the vagaries
of software development.
-
Engineering lead for
The X-Files Game,
released on 7 CD-ROMs for Windows and Macintosh, 4 CD-ROMs for PlayStation,
and localized into six different languages including Japanese.
Over 1 million copies sold.
Game postmortem.
-
Architected and developed HyperBole’s cross-platform C++ code base (250,000
lines of code) to support Windows 95/98, Windows NT, Mac OS, and PlayStation
platforms.
-
Created coding specifications and engineering requirements, task estimates,
project schedules, code measurements, and weekly status reports. Generated code
library technical documentation, game docs and release notes for QA and
technical support.
-
Created optimized C++ template classes for standard containers, lists,
stacks, queues, and smart pointers in the days before the C++ Standard
Template Library was widely available.
-
Profiled and optimized critical sections of the game engine, including dirty
region clipping, memory allocation routines, and graphics blitting loops.
-
Assisted the PlayStation port team in assessing porting feasibility, generating
project estimations, and performing ongoing technical reviews.
-
Programmer for both Quantum Gate (single CD-ROM) and
The Vortex (three CD-ROMs).
Software Engineer, Peopleware (now EventsAir),
Bellevue WA, 1990 - 1994
Developed a large-scale multi-user database application for seminar and meeting
management. Helped create and upgrade reusable software modules built on a
powerful database library.
-
Designed and coded a large portion of MeetingPro 3.0, a DOS application,
including the graphics routines, list boxes, and standard data entry fields.
-
Developed a new standard interface for the software that increased typical user
productivity by 30%.
-
Documented all technical aspects of the product for in-house use and created a
full set of database benchmarks.
-
Coordinated beta programs with customers, elicited user feedback, and answered
technical support calls.
- Network supervisor and hardware troubleshooter for 25-workstation network.
Education
B.S. Computer Engineering; English minor,
Pacific Lutheran University
Operating Systems and Runtimes
Xbox One,
Xbox 360,
Xbox,
Windows Runtime,
Win32,
iOS,
Mac OS
Languages
C++ (starting in 1993), including features up through C++23; emphasis in library design, generic programming, robustness,
performance optimization, and security.
C | C# | Python | Rust
Software Tools and Technologies
Visual C++ | GCC | Clang | LLVM | Godbolt | Xcode | Unreal Engine | Unity | Oculus VR | SteamVR | DirectX | git | Mercurial | Perforce
Professional
Featured speaker at CppCon: The C++ Conference
Featured speaker at the Game Developer Conference.
Advisory board member for Future Realities Summit since 2015.
Contributing author to:
-
Best of Game Programming Gems
, June 2008, multiple entries
-
Game Programming Gems 6
, March 2006, Chapter: Utilizing Multicore Processors with OpenMP
-
MDSN Magazine, October 2005,
Article: OpenMP and C++: Reap the Benefits of Multithreading Without All the Work
co-authored with Kang Su Gatlin
-
Game Programming Gems 4
, March 2004, Chapter: Bit Packing: A Network Compression Technique
- IGDA Online Games White Paper, 2003
-
Game Developer Magazine, March 2003,
Article: Developing Online Console Games
-
Game Programming Gems 3
, July 2002, Chapters: Secure Sockets and Custom STL Allocators
-
Game Programming Gems 2
, August 2001, Chapter: Genuine Random Number Generation
-
Game Programming Gems
, August 2000, Chapter: Fast Math Using C++ Template Metaprogramming
Editor for:
Member of SG19, C++ Standards Committee Study Group on High Performance Computing and Machine Learning
Interests
Music, wine, gaming, backpacking