I build high-performance, native C++ software and turn complex data into insight. From real-time audio plugins to scientific visualization and machine learning, I help teams build fast, reliable software and make sense of complex data.
I'm a freelance software engineer and computer-science researcher, currently finishing my PhD in visualization. Those years made me genuinely data-agnostic. I've worked with volumetric and ensemble data, cohort and tabular data, graphs and spherical data. I pair that breadth with a deep engineering practice in native, high-performance C++. I especially enjoy integrating systems: designing clean interfaces, writing adapters, and connecting frameworks so the whole is stronger than its parts. Wherever possible I reach for open-source solutions, and I contribute back: Voreen and Roaming Borders are both open source.
Two complementary practices that often meet in the same project: building fast, reliable software, and making sense of the data it processes.
I've worked across the whole stack: from low-level GPU and 3D-engine code that predates my career, through high-performance computing, up to high-level application architecture today. Right now that means audio DSP plugins (JUCE), embedded hardware (Daisy / Electrosmith) and cross-platform desktop apps (Qt). Years maintaining Voreen, a large framework, shaped how I build software: clean architecture, documentation, CI and nightly releases.
I analyze, model and visualize complex data: machine learning (scikit-learn), data wrangling and analysis, and interactive dashboards (Dash/Plotly). My PhD spanned volumetric, ensemble, cohort, tabular and graph data, so messy, high-dimensional datasets feel like home. Years of scientific and medical visualization (VTK, Voreen, flow simulation) let me make large datasets not just understandable, but defensible.
Typical engagements, from small, well-scoped tasks to long-running collaborations, hands-on or in a consulting role.
I upgrade aging C++ codebases: migration to modern C++ standards (C++11 to C++20), untangling dependencies, CMake builds, and tests plus CI/CD pipelines, so the next change is safe and cheap.
I track down crashes, memory leaks, race conditions and bottlenecks with gdb, perf and the Visual Studio tools, then fix the root cause, not the symptom.
I add features to large existing codebases without breaking what works: careful integration, clean interfaces, and respect for the conventions already in place.
I bring research into production: adapting state-of-the-art methods from the literature, developing new algorithms where none fit, and integrating them into existing software solutions.
Commercial audio effect plugins (VST / AU) in C++ with JUCE, from DSP design to release, plus embedded audio firmware for the Daisy platform (Electrosmith).
From raw data to decisions: data wrangling, machine learning (scikit-learn) and interactive dashboards (Dash / Plotly) that make complex datasets understandable.
Complete software application design and greenfield development, from low-level code to high-level architecture: if it involves C++, chances are I can help.
Simon has been developing our audio plugins since 2024, handling everything from DSP and visualization to installer and licensing. He works independently, communicates clearly, and the releases have gone smoothly. More plugins are already in the works.
A selection rather than a full inventory: tools I regularly reach for.
A few representative projects: two from my professional work, one from my spare time.
My first commercially released audio plugin (saturation, distortion, transient shaping, filtering), built for Definition Of Hard Techno, O.B.I. and Noise Not War, with more releases on the way. I owned it end to end: DSP algorithm design, the JUCE/C++ implementation, and release engineering including installers and licensing.
I'm one of the maintainers of Voreen, a rapid-prototyping rendering framework for volumetric data, in development since 2006. Working on it since 2016, I modernized and maintained a lot of legacy code (including Qt 4 to Qt 5 to Qt 6 migrations), contributed many flow-ensemble analysis tools, and helped take the project open source.
An Android app that automatically blocks data connectivity when roaming in user-selected countries, born from a surprise roaming charge near the Swiss border. Published on F-Droid, fully open source, and quietly serving a steady user base ever since.
Developing commercial audio effect plugins and embedded audio firmware for the Daisy platform (Electrosmith), and consulting on real-time DSP.
Finalized a project on qualitative and quantitative analysis of hemodynamic parameters (velocity, vorticity, wall shear stress, helicity), extending the Voreen framework and helping open-source it.
PhD research in scientific visualization, plus supervision of seminars and bachelor theses. Our team placed first in the IEEE SciVis Contest three times (2018, 2020, 2022).
Computer-science researcher and visualization expert for the experimental radiology group: scientific writing, segmentation, flow-simulation configuration, and visualization of 4D-PC-MRI data.
Currently finishing my thesis on comparative visualization of measured and simulated flow data for data assimilation. A hands-on foundation in data wrangling, visualization, machine learning, flow simulation and HPC. (DFG grants CRC 1450, LI 1530/28-1.)
Applied focus: computer graphics, visualization, computer vision, machine learning. Thesis on visual analysis of measured and simulated flow data, integrating the OpenLB framework into Voreen.
Core CS and mathematics with a physics minor. Thesis on volumetric velocity vector fields from 3D-PC-MRI: streamline calculation, bundling and visualization in Voreen.
Peer-reviewed work in visual analytics and machine-learning-driven visualization of medical and simulation datasets.
Full list on Google Scholar →
Have a software project, a complex dataset you want to turn into insights, or just need a second opinion on your codebase? I'd love to hear about it.