# Benjamin Ciaglo

Benjamin Ciaglo is a remote worker on Himalayas, Lead Software Engineer at ITHAKA, based in United States.

Source: https://himalayas.app/@benjaminciaglo

```text
Lead Software Engineer at ITHAKA (JSTOR) who developed JSTOR Seeklight, an AI document platform processing 210,000+ documents.
```

| Detail | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Availability | Looking for a job |
| Location | United States |
| Authorized to work in | United States |
| Salary expectations | 180k+ USD |
| Job categories | Software Engineer, Machine Learning Engineer, NLP Engineer |
| Skills | Large Language Models, RAG, Machine Learning, Information Extraction, Classification, Vector Search, Reranking, LLM Evaluation, DocumentAI, AWS Lambda, AWS API Gateway, AWS Step Functions, Terraform, Natural Language Processing, AI Pipeline Architecture |
| LinkedIn | https://linkedin.com/in/benjamin-ciaglo-389a42209 |
| GitHub | https://github.com/benjamin-ciaglo |

## About

```text
At ITHAKA (JSTOR), I developed JSTOR Seeklight, an AI-powered document intelligence platform within the JSTOR Stewardship Digital Asset Management system. It has processed 210,000+ documents and produced 90,000+ transcripts for 60+ institutions, and won the Society of American Archivists’ 2025 C.F.W. Coker Award for Description.

I architected its document AI and RAG pipelines, built production services, and led cross-functional engineering work to integrate Seeklight with Forum. Earlier, I developed AI and software systems at Appen, Amazon, Portal 724, Ford Motor Company, and other organizations; I also hold an M.S. in Computational Linguistics.
```

## Experience

### Lead Software Engineer

[ITHAKA](https://himalayas.app/companies/ithaka). Jan 2025 - Nov 2026

```text
Technical lead for JSTOR Seeklight, an AI-powered document intelligence platform, leading from foundation through beta and first-year integration. Architected multi-step AI pipelines and led cross-functional teams of ~6 engineers.
```

Skills: Python, NodeJS, Vue.Js, AWS, Lambda, Step-Functions, API-Gateway, Terraform, PostgreSQL, OpenSearch, RAG, LLM-Evaluation, Machine-Learning, Natural-Language-Processing

### Senior Software Engineer

[ITHAKA](https://himalayas.app/companies/ithaka). Nov 2022 - Jan 2025

```text
Founded and delivered JSTOR Seeklight, leading end-to-end beta development. Backend engineer on Forum and full-stack contributor to JSTOR's AI/LLM-enabled research assistant.
```

Skills: React, Python, PostgreSQL, DynamoDB, OpenSearch, RAG, Kubernetes, Clojure, Ruby, LLM-Evaluation

### Senior Computational Linguist

[Appen](https://himalayas.app/companies/appen). Jan 2022 - Sep 2022

```text
Developed and delivered React and Python features for a Gremlin/Neptune linguistic tooling POC, transitioning it from development to customer-ready status within six months.
```

Skills: React, Python, Gremlin, Neptune, AI-Training

### Software Development Engineer II

[Amazon](https://himalayas.app/companies/amazon). Jun 2020 - Mar 2021

```text
Upgraded Spark-based data processing platform running 1M+ jobs/month and designed Java APIs for permissions preflight check used by thousands of internal users.
```

Skills: Spark, Python, Java, CI-CD, API-Design

### Full-Stack Developer

Portal 724. May 2017 - Mar 2020

```text
Built Python backend systems detecting abnormal device usage, reducing data costs by $70,000+ per month. Refactored production applications using Ionic, C#, and SQL, improving load times by 90%+.
```

Skills: Python, Ionic, C#, SQL

### DTX Launch Fellow

TechTown. May 2017 - Aug 2017

```text
Participated in a launch fellowship program, contributing to entrepreneurial and technology initiatives.
```

### Software Engineer

[Ford Motor Company](https://himalayas.app/companies/ford). Sep 2016 - May 2017

```text
Automated software update delivery for vehicle test modules, reducing deployment cycles.
```

Skills: Software-Development, Automation

### Developer

HailTrace. Mar 2016 - Aug 2016

```text
Developed software solutions as a part-time developer.
```

### Software Engineer Intern

[Harman/Becker Automotive Systems](https://himalayas.app/companies/harman-international). Sep 2013 - Jan 2014

```text
Interned as a software engineer, contributing to automotive systems development.
```

## Education

### University of Washington

Master of Science, Computational Linguistics

```text
Master of Science in Computational Linguistics from the University of Washington, completed in 2023.
```

### Wayne State University

Bachelor of Science, Computer Science. Grade: cum laude

```text
Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, cum laude, from Wayne State University, completed in 2016.
```

### Wayne State University

Bachelor of Arts, Asian Studies. Grade: cum laude

```text
Bachelor of Arts in Asian Studies, cum laude, from Wayne State University, completed in 2016.
```

## Tech stack

- Apache Spark
- AWS Step Functions
- Kubernetes
- Ionic
- PostgreSQL
- Node.js
- Terraform
- React
- Python
- Java
- C#
- Ruby
- Clojure
- Scala
- Neptune
- OpenSearch
- AWS Lambda
- Docker
- SQL
- Gremlin

To contact Benjamin, message them from this profile with a Himalayas employer account: [Hire on Himalayas](https://himalayas.app/hire).

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