Northnode is a senior technology consultancy specialising in real-time systems, immersive simulation, and applied AI. We bring 30 years of shipping performance-critical software to bear on complex engineering challenges.
Thirty years building systems that perform under hard constraints — from multi-platform rendering engines at EA and United Front Games, to the medical-grade VR simulation platform at PrecisionOS now deployed across 60+ countries and peer-reviewed in JAMA Network Open. That foundation informs every Northnode engagement: architecture that holds up as products and teams grow, AI that works in production, and simulation systems that meet clinical and institutional standards.
Design and build of performance-critical software — rendering engines, simulation frameworks, multi-threaded pipelines. Systems designed from the start to run reliably at scale, across diverse hardware targets, without accumulating architectural debt.
From concept to deployment for VR, AR, and mixed reality platforms. Deep experience with Unreal Engine, procedural content generation, CT-to-VR pipelines, and mobile XR architectures that deliver high fidelity on constrained hardware.
Production AI systems that work — voice-to-voice conversational agents, automated instructional pipelines, learner-context systems, and AI assistants grounded in real-world usage data. Practical focus on what ships and performs reliably, not what demos well.
Technical leadership for companies scaling their engineering organisations — team structure, hiring, core framework decisions, and long-lived platform architecture. Advisory for founders and CTOs navigating complex product and engineering inflection points.
Architected a medical-grade VR surgical training platform from first principles — procedural simulation of bone and soft tissue, CT-to-VR pipelines, and a mobile VR architecture delivering high-fidelity simulation on the Oculus Quest. Built Delphi, a voice-to-voice conversational AI mentor embedded in XR, and an AI-powered surgical preparation assistant synthesising simulation data, instructional media, and real-world resident usage patterns.
Co-founded a studio that grew to 280 people. Led the team that built a multi-platform rendering engine from scratch — deferred rendering, HDR, global illumination, physically-based shading, heavily multi-threaded across PS3, Xbox 360, PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Shipped Sleeping Dogs, Sleeping Dogs Definitive Edition, Disney Infinity: Marvel Battle Grounds, and Triad Wars.
Rendering lead across Need for Speed Most Wanted, Carbon, and ProStreet — shipping across Xbox, Xbox 360, PS2, PS3, PC, and Wii. Award recognition for outstanding real-time visuals.
Northnode takes a small number of engagements at a time. If you're working on a hard problem in real-time systems, simulation, or applied AI — reach out on LinkedIn. No forms, no intermediaries.