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I'm Daniel R J Downes, a technical lead specializing in interactive Web, Unity, Unreal development with 20 years of experience across defence, MedTech, energy, games and digital media. I’m passionate about mentoring, building maintainable software, and ensuring high-quality, consistent delivery by aligning technical teams and stakeholders. My work spans head-mounted VR/MR R&D, avatar systems, BIM model optimisation, virtual navigation aids, medical software, and robotic simulation. I’ve delivered multiple projects from concept to market, with a focus on digital twin interactive systems, driving aid simulation, racing gamification, medical device replication, virtual navigation and SDK development.…I'm Daniel R J Downes, a technical lead specializing in interactive Web, Unity, Unreal development with 20 years of experience across defence, MedTech, energy, games and digital media. I’m passionate about mentoring, building maintainable software, and ensuring high-quality, consistent delivery by aligning technical teams and stakeholders. My work spans head-mounted VR/MR R&D, avatar systems, BIM model optimisation, virtual navigation aids, medical software, and robotic simulation. I’ve delivered multiple projects from concept to market, with a focus on digital twin interactive systems, driving aid simulation, racing gamification, medical device replication, virtual navigation and SDK development.

Daniel R J Downes

Game Developer, Game Designer, Designer, +2

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I'm Daniel R J Downes, a technical lead specializing in interactive Web, Unity, Unreal development with 20 years of experience across defence, MedTech, energy, games and digital media. I’m passionate about mentoring, building maintainable software, and ensuring high-quality, consistent delivery by aligning technical teams and stakeholders. My work spans head-mounted VR/MR R&D, avatar systems, BIM model optimisation, virtual navigation aids, medical software, and robotic simulation. I’ve delivered multiple projects from concept to market, with a focus on digital twin interactive systems, driving aid simulation, racing gamification, medical device replication, virtual navigation and SDK development.…I'm Daniel R J Downes, a technical lead specializing in interactive Web, Unity, Unreal development with 20 years of experience across defence, MedTech, energy, games and digital media. I’m passionate about mentoring, building maintainable software, and ensuring high-quality, consistent delivery by aligning technical teams and stakeholders. My work spans head-mounted VR/MR R&D, avatar systems, BIM model optimisation, virtual navigation aids, medical software, and robotic simulation. I’ve delivered multiple projects from concept to market, with a focus on digital twin interactive systems, driving aid simulation, racing gamification, medical device replication, virtual navigation and SDK development.

Available to hire

I’m Daniel R J Downes, a technical lead specializing in interactive Web, Unity, Unreal development with 20 years of experience across defence, MedTech, energy, games and digital media. I’m passionate about mentoring, building maintainable software, and ensuring high-quality, consistent delivery by aligning technical teams and stakeholders.

My work spans head-mounted VR/MR R&D, avatar systems, BIM model optimisation, virtual navigation aids, medical software, and robotic simulation. I’ve delivered multiple projects from concept to market, with a focus on digital twin interactive systems, driving aid simulation, racing gamification, medical device replication, virtual navigation and SDK development.

Skills

Experience Level

Expert

Expert

Expert

Expert

Expert

Expert

Expert

Expert

Expert

Expert

Intermediate

Language

English

Fluent

Chinese

Beginner

Work Experience

R&D Engineer (Contract) at Woven by Toyota

December 1, 2024 - Present

Utilising VR and web tech to support and enhance user driven product development. Developed eye-tracking and object detection algorithms. Using Unreal with C++. Implemented use-case research studies in VR. Used networking for multiple user interactions. Supported quantitative research studies using data gathered from VR tracking.

Technical Developer (Contract) at Created by Catalyst

January 1, 2024 - April 1, 2024

Pivotal in resolving complex technical issues for this $1 million US Kentucky Derby Horse Racing Museum racing game simulation contract. Solved challenges relating to networking, driving controls, shaders, UI, animation, environmental rendering and lighting optimisations. Workflow optimisations implemented via mentoring increased development alignment saving ~240 hours per month on the project.

Senior Unity Developer (Contract) at QinetiQ Training & Simulation

January 1, 2022 - June 1, 2023

MOD R&D high-stress medical training platform using Vivo XR and custom props. Required military vehicle cockpit simulation and developing digital twin medical equipment. Provided solid advice to the existing team to help with workflow improvements.

Head of Technology at Strolll

November 1, 2021 - October 1, 2022

Developed medically certified software mobility solutions for patients with Parkinson's disease. Applied quality safety regulations (BS EN 62305) for certified and test verified medical devices. Strong contributions to initial rapid growth, now adopted by NHS and US healthcare. Formed the initial technical team of 5 as their first technical member of this new startup. Directly worked with Microsoft, Magic Leap and Unity partners to solve complex technical challenges. Mentoring technical members and actively contributing to code review on all projects. Hands-on Unity Engine & Python, setting out the company's technical foundations and policies.

Avatar SDK Consultant (Contract) at Didimo

August 1, 2021 - November 1, 2021

Avatar SDK for Unreal and Unity plug-in review, team structure, tooling and rendering optimisation. Aligned various technical and design team workflows and implemented several improvements. Applied unit testing, code analysis and refactoring to align with best practices.

Technical Lead (Contract) at BMT Group

January 1, 2020 - January 1, 2021

Working directly with DSTL and Ministry of Defence personnel to iterate on situational awareness factors. Tech Lead in a team of three Unreal developers and external researchers.

Mobile Games Developer (Contract) at Winkel Games

April 1, 2020 - October 1, 2020

iOS and Android games prototyping in a skilled Kanban team. Avatar skeletal physics based interaction system research iterations working with play-testers.

Lead Unreal Developer (Contract) at Deloitte

January 1, 2019 - February 1, 2020

Fast onboarding as part of a new team to rapidly deliver an R&D investigation for Network Rail. Using Unreal game physics and dynamic animation to simulate highly realistic driving characteristics.

Contract at Oxford Medical Simulation

January 1, 2018 - January 1, 2019

Worked closely with the founders to rapidly deliver their MVP doctor training VR medical simulation. Developed digital twin medical hardware including rendering optimisations to graphics. Managed an outsourced animation company to integrate skeletal animation systems to create highly realistic symptomatic avatars while developing a data driven internal patient medical simulator. Adopted for the NHS training programme and facilities world-wide.

Lead Developer, Digital Twin at Medtronic / Digital Surgery

January 1, 2016 - January 1, 2018

Lead Developer for a digital twin robotically controlled endoscopy device using C# Unity physics. Coordinated client, stakeholders and team members to meet tight iteration deadlines within an agile framework.

Contract at Pearson Education

January 1, 2016 - January 1, 2016

Rapid prototyping of education and medical XR prototypes for Microsoft HoloLens. Idea pitching and problem solving meetings with Microsoft, Pearson and tech lead stakeholders. Improved performance and UX experience across the internal SDK.

Senior/Lead Developer at National Nuclear Laboratory

January 1, 2014 - January 1, 2016

Developed a digital twin simulation for robotic equipment for risk assessment and training. MVP won award for most innovative product of 2015. Led 8 members over multiple teams and oversaw the full software development lifecycle.

Lead Developer at BAE Systems

January 1, 2011 - January 1, 2014

Lead developer for gamification and interactive flight simulation projects. Mentored junior developers and advised stakeholders on project schedules. Delivered MVP within 6 weeks starting from an idea with the creative team.

Developer at Cmune

January 1, 2009 - January 1, 2011

Rapid implemented dashboard system including data processing features. Learned Unity Engine while working with an international team in Beijing, developing an FPS game in Unity, C# .NET.