Nikita Zhukov

Meta Reality Labs engineer working across frontier XR systems

Trusted inside Meta’s complex XR stack, working across firmware, mobile, and backend systems.
Track record of building massive-scale applications with millions of users.
Well-rounded in high-load backend architectures and systems.
8+ years of experience developing world-class mobile apps.
Excellent cross-functional collaboration skills.
Experienced in startup environments.

Technical Skills

Languages: Dart, TypeScript, JavaScript, C#, Kotlin, Java, Swift, Objective-C, PHP, Python, SQL, C++.
Mobile & XR: Flutter, native iOS, native Android, AOSP / Android platform, Xcode, Android Studio, Gradle, emulator-based E2E testing.
Frontend: React, Angular, HTML, CSS, SCSS, jQuery, Backbone.js, Underscore.js.
Backend: Node.js, .NET Core, Web API, MVC, SignalR, REST, Firebase, Google Cloud Messaging.
Data, Storage, MQs: PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB, Cosmos DB, Cassandra, Redis, Elasticsearch, Kafka, RabbitMQ, Entity Framework.
Other: Git, GitLab, Bitbucket, CI/CD, Vagrant, Swagger, Postman, Gradle, Microservices, Zookeeper, Docker, Kubernetes, ELK, AWS, Azure, GCP, VS Code, Sentry.

Professional Experience

Senior Software Engineer at Meta Reality Labs, New York City. March 2025 – Present.

At Meta Reality Labs, I work on the identity, privacy, and telemetry infrastructure behind Meta’s XR computing: AI glasses, display glasses, the Neural Band, advanced mixed-reality headsets, and other frontier XR wearables.

Work across the full XR stack, from wearable device hardware components and firmware to mobile apps and backend infrastructure.
Build privacy and telemetry infrastructure for Meta's frontier XR wearables, including AI glasses, EMG wrist-based input, and mixed-reality headsets.
Own messy cross-layer problems across hardware, backend, data, mobile, privacy, and product teams, then turn them into stable solutions and reusable playbooks.
Operate across a large number of teams, including device, systems, mobile, backend, data engineering, data science, privacy, product, and telemetry teams.
Debug hard cross-layer failures where no single team owns the full problem, such as display-glasses issues that cut across hardware, mobile, and backend.
Build end-to-end, CI-gated emulator-based test coverage for wearables privacy and telemetry across multiple in-market device families.

Senior Software Engineer at perform.consulting, Santa Monica. May 2022 – February 2025.

perform.consulting is a tech career accelerator, providing deep mentorship, technical training through real project work, interview preparation, and U.S. market strategy. My work there included two projects:

1. Lead Cross-Platform Mobile Developer for McGraw Hill; April 2023 – February 2025

McGraw Hill (www.mheducation.com) is one of the world's largest educational content, software, and services providers. I designed and built crucial components of McGraw Hill's K-12 Portal and ReadAnywhere, cross-platform apps for iOS and Android with a high-load backend and over a million users. These apps are McGraw Hill's flagship products and provide educational courses, eBooks, and other resources for schools and universities worldwide. My responsibilities included:

Led key initiatives to enhance the architecture, functionality, and user experience of the K-12 Portal and ReadAnywhere apps, including their front-end and back-end components.
Led collaboration with multiple stakeholders and teams working on McGraw Hill's main products: the K-12 Portal and ReadAnywhere apps. This included coordination with the technical, product, business development, marketing, sales, and QA teams.
Ported the ReadAnywhere app from native iOS and Android versions to a unified Flutter codebase.
Designed and implemented the initial version, then led further development of a Download Manager, one of the K-12 Portal app’s core components, on which many other components and the app’s major features depended.
Engineered an innovative backend solution for seamless dynamic study materials updates in the K-12 Portal.
Designed and built a universal logging component for robust error handling and health monitoring across all the K-12 Portal and ReadAnywhere app components.
Led bug fixing for K-12 Portal and ReadAnywhere apps.
Mentored new team members.

2. Senior Software Engineer for Hypername; May 2022 – April 2023

Hypername (www.hypername.org) is an internal startup at perform.consulting with a mission to merge the real and digital worlds into one unified reality. It builds a new form of internet presence called a hypername, providing universal human-centric internet connectivity. Hypername is a high-level network protocol designed to transform modern-world interactions like payments, contract signing, or Craigslist transactions into in-person experiences, enhanced with a layer of trust and privacy. The protocol interfaces with users through a mobile app, which I helped develop.

Software Engineer at Poryadok, Russia. October 2020 – May 2022

Poryadok (www.poryadok.ru) is Russia’s leading household goods marketplace. Its cross-platform app has over a million downloads and 40,000 daily active users. The app, created with Dart/Flutter, has a backend written in PHP. Its entire functionality was also available via a web version built using Angular.

I was the sole developer responsible for the mobile app on both iOS and Android and worked under the direct supervision of the company's CEO, who created the app's initial version. This unique situation allowed me to own the app's development at its fastest adoption phase. During my tenure at Poryadok, daily active users increased by over 300%, and app-generated revenue increased by over 730%. The app became the company's major channel for user engagement and revenue generation.

Created new views and improved existing UIs, enhancing overall UX and accelerating the app’s frame rate.
Designed and built scalable and efficient backend APIs, ensuring the app could handle a substantial increase in users without performance issues.
Collaborated closely with multiple stakeholders across various levels and teams, including the CEO, sales, marketing, and QA, to ensure successful app deployment, operation, and user experience.
Conducted unit testing for the entire web application, including iOS and Android apps, backend, and web UI.
Monitored logs, updated dependencies, and fixed bugs to ensure smooth operation of the mobile app.

Software Engineer at Skycount, Remote. June 2017 – August 2020.

Skycount (www.skycount.com) is a new form of ID for the internet. It allows users to personally appear in contexts such as payments, digital documents, or even program code in a way equivalent to a real physical presence with a verified ID. The application was written in JavaScript, and the backend was written in C# using .NET Core.

Implemented the real identity verification flow during user sign-up.
Designed and developed the device awareness feature that links the app to a specific person.
Implemented password recovery functionality on both the front end and the server side.
Implemented server-side push notification processing.
Improved the server API response time by 60% by switching to the .NET async pattern.
Conducted unit and manual testing of the entire Skycount web application, including iOS and Android apps, backend, and web UI.
Performed bug fixing.

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from South Ural State University, Russia.

About Me

Though I'm confident across the entire tech stack, my strength is where the digital world interfaces with humans. When I'm not coding, you can find me performing in amateur theatre, playing the saxophone, or training in mixed martial arts. I thrive in collaborative environments, bringing a mix of fun and hard technical execution to every project.