jobyssey/.claude/skills/job-application-assistant/01-candidate-profile.md

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framework_version: 1.1.1
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# Candidate Profile

<!-- Populated by /setup Path A on 2026-08-20 from documents/cv (YAML + .tex variants) and documents/linkedin/Profile.pdf. Cross-reference conflicts resolved by the user: BriteTwist dates/title per LinkedIn; degree per .tex (B.S., 2016-2020); "10+ years"; 3 articles / 120k reads; 120+ devs onboarded. -->

## Identity
- **Name:** Prad Nukala
- **Location:** New York, NY, USA
- **Phone:** +1 (646) 508-7789
- **Email:** prnk28@gmail.com
- **LinkedIn:** https://www.linkedin.com/in/pradn
- **GitHub:** https://github.com/prdlk
- **Website:** https://prad.nu
- **Twitter/X:** https://twitter.com/basedprad
- **Status:** Co-Founder & CEO, Sonr (winding down); available mid-to-late September 2026
- **Compensation floor:** $250k base for onsite/hybrid; $200k base if fully remote (hard). Postings whose stated range tops out below $250k are excluded; unstated ranges are flagged to ask early.
- **Target level:** Senior Software Engineer (big-tech L5/E5 equivalent) / Founding Engineer. Prefers Big Tech / FAANG and AI labs for comp; expects LeetCode-style loops and needs prep time for them. No Staff-level IC experience; Staff/Principal postings are a stretch, not a target.
- **Constraints:** NYC or SF onsite, open to relocation, open to remote. US citizen (no sponsorship needed). Employer must allow AI-assisted development tooling.

### Languages
<!-- Every language you can work in professionally, with your honest level. Used by the
Language Gate in 04-job-evaluation.md and by job-scraper/search-queries.md's query-language
generation. Omit any language you don't actually work in - an undeclared language is treated as
a hard no, not a gap to smooth over. -->

| Language | Level | Notes |
|----------|-------|-------|
| English | Native | |
| Telugu | Conversational (heritage) | Not a working language for job search; no Telugu queries |

## Education

| Degree | Period | Institution | Key Topics |
|--------|--------|-------------|------------|
| B.S. in Applied Mathematics | 2016-2020 | Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA | Linear algebra, number theory, topological data analysis, vectors. Attended 5 MLH hackathons; published 3 apps (1M+ downloads) and 3 articles (120k+ reads) while enrolled. |

## Professional Experience

### Co-Founder & CEO - Sonr (Mar 2021 - Present)
New York, NY, USA
- Founded the company and led fundraising, securing $4.7M to build a peer-to-peer identity and asset-management system on decentralized identifiers (DIDs), WebAuthn, and IPFS.
- Directed technical strategy across 7 full-time staff (incl. a technical writer) and two specialist agencies (a 6-person token-economics team and a 6-engineer mobile team), all reporting directly to the CEO.
- Architected a custom Layer-1 blockchain in Go on the Cosmos SDK: modular state machine, Protobuf/gRPC services, REST gateways, EVM + CosmWasm compatibility, IBC cross-chain transfers.
- Operated the Sonr Testnet across 4 geographically distributed validator nodes (SF, NY, VA, Asia), 4+ environments, 4 validator profiles secured via KMS, sustaining 99% uptime; ran DevNet on Google Cloud; infrastructure on Kubernetes, Docker, Terraform, Ansible.
- Drove open-source growth to the 4th-highest global GitHub contributions (Oct 2021 - Oct 2022) for the platform MVP; onboarded 120+ first-time blockchain developers to the Motor SDKs during DevNet.
- W3C Working Group member for DIDs, WebAuthn, and WebAssembly; DIF working group for UCAN/DWN. Implemented the DID spec to full conformance and the first W3C-conformant WebAuthn implementation tied to on-chain DIDs (passkey-based wallet identity).
- Guest lecturer, MIT Sloan 15.492 Crypto Finance (2022). Fast Company op-ed byline (2022).
- Pivoted the company to B2B (2026): led customer discovery for a white-label wallet system positioned as an open-source alternative to Privy, while winding down consumer operations.

### Mobile App Developer - Leidos (Aug 2020 - May 2021)
Herndon, VA, USA
- Engineered and shipped features for the official U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Mobile Passport app, used by millions of travelers to expedite U.S. entry.
- Built in Flutter/Dart for iOS and Android within a regulated hybrid-agile environment meeting federal security, privacy, and accessibility standards.

### Data Science Intern - Unissant (May 2019 - Aug 2019)
Herndon, VA, USA
- Built and deployed an ML fraud-detection model on AWS SageMaker over healthcare data.
- Built a client-facing React web app backed by serverless AWS Lambda functions to query the model in real time; delivered as a consulting POC.

### Software Engineering Intern - Hobsons (May 2018 - Aug 2018)
Arlington, VA, USA
- Built a Java/Spring Boot backend monitoring system tracking CommonApp-to-Naviance document sync, plus an AngularJS dashboard over its REST API.
- Self-serve troubleshooting tools cut sales-team QA response times from days to minutes.

### iOS Developer (Founder) - BriteTwist (2015 - 2019)
Ashburn, VA, USA
- Founded an independent mobile app studio; owned ideation, UI/UX, and full-stack development for three consumer apps.
- Scaled the portfolio to 1M+ total downloads: Space Bolt (15,000 DAU, 850k downloads), VolunTree (1,250 MAU), Yue.
- Authored 3 technical articles on architecture and game development with 120k+ total reads.

## Independent Projects
<!-- Sonr-era projects are the strongest material. Evidence links verified 2026-07-03 (see documents/cv/docs/projects/*.yml). -->

### Sonr era (2020 - present)
- **Layer-1 Blockchain & Decentralized Identity Ecosystem** (2022 - present, https://github.com/sonr-io/sonr, 642 stars, prdlk 692 commits / top contributor): "Gasless Onboarding" via custom Cosmos AnteHandlers validating WebAuthn passkeys at the mempool level (no seed phrases, no fees for new users); UCAN + DWN capability-based authorization over IPFS-backed encrypted vaults; EVM + CosmWasm + IBC; Kubernetes (Starship)/Docker/Devbox multi-node testnets with GoReleaser multi-arch CI/CD; Wyoming DAO LC compliance tooling in the chain CLI. Stack: Cosmos SDK v0.50, CometBFT, IBC v8, CosmWasm, Evmos.
- **Core Cryptography Library** (2022 - Feb 2026, https://github.com/sonr-io/crypto, Apache-2.0, sole contributor, v1.0.x Oct 2025): Bulletproofs (range + inner-product) and accumulators with Fiat-Shamir; MPC/DKG (Threshold ECDSA/Ed25519, FROST, Gennaro); constant-time curve arithmetic (secp256k1, Ed25519, BLS12-381/377, P-256) hardened against timing attacks, malleability, nonce reuse; AES-GCM, Argon2id; Paillier, OT, ECIES, UCAN, ZKP packages; automated security tests, race checks, benchmarks.
- **Beam, E2EE Messenger** (Aug 2022 - Aug 2025, demo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plaYwlGl4NM): Lead architect of a cross-platform React Native E2EE chat app over a self-hosted, customized Matrix homeserver; directed a 6-engineer team; replaced email/phone login with WebAuthn passkey wallets + Sonr DIDs as a drop-in for the Matrix auth server.
- **Client SDK & Motr Cryptographic Enclave** (Jun 2022 - Aug 2023, https://pub.dev/packages/motor_flutter): Go-to-WASM enclave in client-side Web Workers handling MPC, signing, and UCAN issuance without exposing keys; edge orchestration on Cloudflare Workers (Durable Objects, KV, Service Bindings); WebAuthn + OAuth 2.0 bridge for passwordless onboarding; Dexie.js/IndexedDB offline persistence.
- **Network Token Economics** (Feb - Jun 2022): Directed DPoS token design with 6 PhD economists (Prysm Group): allocation, supply schedules, velocity, staking emissions, on-chain governance, validator reputation, treasury; benchmarked against Uniswap, Compound, Algorand; translated into L1 state-machine and contract logic.
- **Web3 Developer Ecosystem & DevNet Launch** (Jan - Jun 2022, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zy6Xkh9Mvcs): Launched DevNet at PennApps XXII and CalHacks; ran workshops onboarding 120+ first-time blockchain developers; presented at ETHGlobal HackFS 2022 (with Protocol Labs). Ecosystem dApps: Ptolemy, Faiza, WalkWithMe.
- **Decentralized File-Sharing Platform** (Oct 2020 - Dec 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeBcg4P3Ipw): Pre-incorporation Sonr prototype built alongside the Leidos role; reached a Y Combinator interview. Flutter/Dart UI over a Go/libp2p core bound via Gomobile; native iOS Share Extensions (Swift) and Android Intents; Moor/SQLite cache; Fastlane + GitHub Actions CI/CD to TestFlight and Play Store.

### BriteTwist era (2011 - 2019)
- **Space Bolt** (2016 - 2018, Unity/C#, https://github.com/prdlk/spacebolt): Endless-runner game, 15,000 DAU, 850k downloads; custom GIF-replay API with server-side caching; Facebook leaderboards.
- **Yue** (2018 - 2019, Unity/C#, https://github.com/prdlk/yue): Low-poly 3D space game shipped to iOS + Android in 26 hours; procedural planet generation; in-app economy. Two articles, 40k+ reads ("How I Made My Minimum Amazing Product In A Day", The Startup, 2018).
- **VolunTree** (2015 - 2017, Objective-C, https://github.com/prdlk/voluntree): Peer-verified volunteer-hour tracking for high-schoolers; 1,250 MAU, 15k downloads; non-profit portal; school export.
- **Floadt** (2013 - 2015, Objective-C/Swift, https://github.com/prdlk/floadt): Unified Instagram/Facebook/Twitter client with scheduled publishing and feed filtering (OAuth1/OAuth2, AFNetworking).
- **Superball** (2011 - 2012, Cocos2d/Objective-C, https://vimeo.com/172015296): Puzzle game shipped to the App Store at age 12, with manual memory management.

### University / hackathon (2017 - 2019)
- **Swiper No Mauling** (PennApps XIX, Feb 2019, https://devpost.com/software/swiper-no-mauling): YOLOv3 + TensorFlow livestock-predator detection with Twilio SMS alerts.
- **Pool** (Aug 2019, Flutter, https://github.com/prdlk/pool-tutorial-part-1, 37 stars): Event-sharing app frontend; two-part "A Deep Dive into Flutter" series in Medium's Flutter Community.
- **Like.ly** (2017, https://github.com/prdlk/like.ly): scikit-learn regression predicting Instagram engagement; React Native/Expo front end; Microsoft Computer Vision API features.
- **Timebo[AR]d** (HackHarvard 2017, https://github.com/anthonyanader/timeboARd): ARKit whiteboard capture with custom vertical-plane detection and frame versioning.

## Technical Skills

### Programming
- **Expert:** Go, TypeScript, JavaScript, Dart, Protocol Buffers
- **Strong:** Python, Swift, Objective-C, Kotlin, Java, C#, SQL, HTML/CSS, Make
- **Familiar (no shipped evidence, do not lead with):** C, C++, Rust, PHP, Ruby, Perl, MATLAB, R, Lua, Zig

### Frameworks & Platforms
- **Blockchain / decentralized:** Cosmos SDK, CometBFT, IBC, CosmWasm, EVM (Evmos), Solidity (CV-listed), IPFS, libp2p, Matrix Protocol; Solana, DeFi, Viem, Wagmi (user-attested, no public evidence)
- **Identity & crypto:** W3C DIDs, WebAuthn/passkeys, UCAN, DWN, MPC/DKG, threshold signatures, ZKP (Bulletproofs), WASM
- **Mobile:** React Native, Flutter, Swift/iOS, Kotlin/Android, Unity, Cocos2d, Fastlane
- **Web:** React.js, Spring Boot, AngularJS; Next.js, Astro, Svelte, Vue, Nuxt, HTMX (listed, no evidence)
- **Infrastructure:** Kubernetes, Docker, Terraform, Ansible, Google Cloud, AWS (Lambda, SageMaker), Cloudflare Workers (Durable Objects, KV), GitHub Actions, GoReleaser, KMS, Linux administration
- **Data:** PostgreSQL, SQLite, IndexedDB/Dexie
- **AI & automation:** Claude Code, ChatGPT, Gemini, AI-assisted development workflows

### Domain Expertise
- Decentralized identity and passwordless auth (DIDs, WebAuthn, UCAN)
- Applied cryptography (MPC, threshold signatures, ZKP, constant-time curve arithmetic)
- Layer-1 protocol engineering (Cosmos SDK, IBC, EVM, CosmWasm) and validator operations
- Token economics and DPoS incentive design
- Cross-platform mobile (React Native, Flutter, native iOS) and consumer apps at 1M+ downloads
- Edge/serverless infrastructure (Cloudflare Workers, AWS Lambda)
- Developer relations, technical workshops, open-source community building
- Early-stage company building: fundraising, team direction, customer discovery, B2B pivot

### Methodology
CI/CD, Agile, DevOps, API design (REST/gRPC), system architecture, security testing, technical leadership, engineering management, cross-functional collaboration, product management, open source. (TDD is listed in the source YAML but unevidenced; don't claim it as a practice without confirming.)

## Publications & Writing
1. Nukala, P. (2022-11-26). "What Web3 can learn from the Mac and the iPhone." *Fast Company*. https://www.fastcompany.com/90814899/web3-lessons-mac-iphone
2. Nukala, P. "Web3 will spell the end of cybercrime. Here's why." (listed on LinkedIn; outlet/URL to confirm)
3. Nukala, P. (2019-08-08, 2019-09-15). "A Deep Dive into Flutter: The 22nd Century Frontend Framework," Parts 1-2. *Medium, Flutter Community*. https://medium.com/flutter-community/deep-dive-in-flutter-b0b827440a49
4. Nukala, P. (2018-03-30). "How I Made My Minimum Amazing Product In A Day." *The Startup (Medium)*. https://medium.com/swlh/map-day-84dd2fe11b1a
5. Medium @prnk28: "How We Authenticate Every Twitter User" (Jul 2022); "Introducing the Venus Upgrade" (Sonr Blog, Apr 2023).

## Talks
- "Building in the decentralized web with Sonr," ETHGlobal HackFS 2022 workshop with Protocol Labs (2022-07-19). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zy6Xkh9Mvcs
- DevNet workshops at PennApps XXII and UC Berkeley CalHacks (2022).

## Honors & Awards
- Guest Lecturer, Crypto Finance (15.492), MIT Sloan School of Management (Feb 2022)
- 4th-highest global GitHub contributions, Oct 2021 - Oct 2022
- Y Combinator interview for the pre-incorporation Sonr file-sharing prototype (2020/2021)

## Professional Organizations
- World Wide Web Consortium (W3C): Working Group member, DID / WebAuthn / WASM
- Decentralized Identity Foundation (DIF): Working Group member, UCAN / DWN

## References
- [NAME], [TITLE], [COMPANY] ([EMAIL], [PHONE]) <!-- none in documents/references/ yet -->

More references available upon request.