Embed in the real workflow
I work close to users and domain experts until the actual constraints, decisions, and measures of success are explicit.
Forward Deployed Engineer · Founding Engineer · Senior IC
I build AI products that work end to end.
I’m Jerry D. Boonstra, a hands-on AI and founding engineer with a forward-deployed approach: I work from discovery and workflow design through implementation, evaluation, production rollout, and reusable infrastructure.
Latest writingThe Worst Bugs Said Nothing: Building a Tool That Checks AI Plugins →3×Founder / CTO
30Person org led
11Years at CNET
∞Still hands-on
01 / Selected work
Systems, not prototypes.
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CalmTrader
An auditable investment-research system connecting policy, evidence, deterministic constraints, agent judgment, and evaluation.
Read case study →neckbeard
Reads a Claude Code plugin before you install it, and publishes the tests it failed.
Read case study →ResumeFactory.ai
A structured LLM pipeline for transforming career evidence into tailored, ATS-ready resumes.
Read case study →ObexMetrics
An early machine-operable platform for persistent experiments, lineage, parallel execution, and customer-cloud compute.
Read case study →Vurbl
An ad-supported podcast platform whose audio started at once, because the CDN edge served it in fragments.
Read case study →Technical leadership
A career arc from CNET publishing systems through Frequency Networks media infrastructure and a 30-person Jukin technology organization.
Read case study →03 / Career arc
Built at every altitude.
Now
Forward-Deployed AI Builder
CalmTrader, agentic workflows, and reusable infrastructure for real domain problems.
2023–25
Co-Founder, ObexMetrics
As CTO, built low-cost, observable LLM application infrastructure.
2020–21
Co-Founder, Vurbl
Led engineering. Built instant-streaming podcast audio at the CDN edge, and the media pipeline behind it.
2014–18
CTO, Jukin Media
Modernized the platform and built a 30-person technology organization whose work continued through the company’s later acquisition.
2011–14
Principal Engineer, Frequency Networks
Led DevOps and API work for a video channel-creation and global content-distribution platform.
1997–08
Engineer to Director, CNET
Built publishing systems, then led site and platform engineering for major consumer properties.
04 / Selected writing
Notes from the work.
05 / Contact
Have a hard product problem?
I’m open to Forward Deployed Engineer, founding-engineer, and staff/principal IC conversations with teams building technically ambitious AI products.