Alex Haynes
Software Engineer // Creative
I am a software engineer living in Brooklyn, New York City, USA.
I'm a Founding Engineer at OuterSignal, where we're building customer intelligence that goes beyond what a transaction can tell you, giving brands a real understanding of who their customers are, what makes them valuable, and how to reach them in a way that actually feels personal. Before this, I was a Staff Engineer at IBM, which acquired Seek AI in June 2025. At Seek AI I was a Senior Engineer building enterprise-grade agentic data assistants, and before that I spent four years as a Senior Engineer at Two Sigma Insurance Quantified.
In 2024 I founded Utility Materials, Inc., an NYC-based clothing brand running on Shopify. Operating UMI taught me what it feels like to stare at order data and wish you understood something deeper about the people buying from you. You can see what sold, but the person behind the order stays invisible. That gap always frustrated me, and it's exactly the problem OuterSignal makes visible. I'm building something from the ground up with people I believe in on a problem I've lived firsthand.
Outside of work, I make full use of my down time, whether skiing, exploring new places, spending time with my dog Bologna, or developing a rogue-like platform fighting game.
PROJECTS + VENTURES: Utility Materials Inc (utility.materials.nyc): Clothing Brand // Digital Materials (digital.materials.nyc): Game Studio subsidiary of Utility Materials. Currently building a rogue-like platform fighter. // UMI-OS (iOS app): Utility Materials iOS app. Coming soon to the App Store // VIA Terminal (via.terminalis.sh): iOS Terminal App // Shopalytics (shopalytics.ai): Shopify Analytics Conversational Platform // From the River to the Sea (from.the.river.to.the.sea.giving): Gazan Genocide Awareness Page // Materials Corporation (materials.nyc): Holding Company // Utility Tools (tools.materials.nyc): macOS Apps for Creatives /// ELSEWHERE: LinkedIn (alexhaynes32) // GitHub (github.com/alexh) // UMI (utility.materials.nyc) // Email Me (alex@alexhaynes.org) /// ON GITHUB: blend: Claude Code skill for shipping 3D that survives a real screen // i-really-have-adhd: Claude Code skill: ADHD output shaping with a decision budget // adobe-fonts-skill: Agent skill: search Adobe Fonts, manage Typekit kits, return embed tags // skills: Claude Code skills, each pinned as a git submodule // alex: TUI for running Claude, Codex and Gemini agents in parallel on GitHub issues // vercel-deploy: Reusable GitHub Actions workflow: deploy to Vercel with the CLI // DopeBoysCards: Card pack for ROUNDS, on Thunderstore // vintage-icons: 1700+ Windows 98 icons with client-side semantic search // custos: Token management service for distributed systems, Flask // omarchy-umi-theme: UMI x Omarchy desktop theme // umi-vs-code-theme: UMI theme for VS Code // umi-blender-theme: UMI theme for Blender // umi-chrome-theme: UMI Chrome theme and new tab command center // umi-millennium-theme: UMI theme for Steam, via Millennium // spicetify-visualizer-umi: Audio visualizer for Spicetify // umi-obsidian-theme: UMI theme for Obsidian // umi-codex-theme: UMI theme for Codex // PingPongScore: Node server that scores ping pong games live // CanvasColor: Shared pixel canvas with a timeout, after r/place // peer-discovery-pres: Peer discovery talk, ETH222, Stanford Blockchain Conference 2019 // MLGames: Evolutionary neural network that plays Super Mario Bros // NETS150FinalProject: PageRank on Hearthstone matchup data // Shlack: Chat system in Haskell, CIS552 // PennAppsXIII: Marriage counseling app: voice to text and IBM Watson, PennApps XIII // DevOpsPortal: Internal DevOps portal, VinSolutions internship 2016 // Backgrounds: Desktop backgrounds for each season // Connect4: Connect Four interface and logic framework // StockPricesConsoleUtil: Stock watch list in the console // SwiftTipCalculator: Tip calculator in Swift /// WRITING: When Configuration Chaos Nearly Killed My Pi Project (automation, raspberry-pi, devops, claude-code, git) // RSS /// MODELS: UMI CHORE JACKET V1 (PROTOTYPE) // EVENING GOWN V0 (CONCEPT) /// PERSONNEL: Bologna, dog (@bolognaboynyc) /// SET IN MONASPACE KRYPTON FROZEN.