Software architect · engineer · Zürich
Roger Boesch
Thirty years making complex things work in the real world — from NeXTSTEP in 1991 to spatial computing and AI-native apps today.
Open to senior roles — architect · lead · TPM30+ years shipping·AI-native, daily·teams up to 21·Magic Leap·Android XR glasses (Google & Samsung)·regulated medical software·60+ apps·1.4M+ downloads (single app)
Who
I build from the metal up.
I've spent thirty years on one problem in different disguises: making complex things work in the real world — the messy part between a clever idea and something that actually ships. I started on NeXTSTEP in 1991, was an iOS developer from the first App Store, and founded and ran a mobile studio.
These last years I've been deep in XR at Magic Leap — most recently on assignment at Google's Android XR program — spatial computing and smart glasses, working close to custom hardware: device connectivity, on-device computer vision and ML, and safety-critical software under medical-device standards. I lead teams and own architecture, but I never stopped writing production code myself.
My range runs from low-level C, C++ and assembly to modern Swift, Kotlin and AI-native apps. What ties it together is a taste for hard constraints — which is also why I still build games for a 1982 vector console, down to the bus timing, and run coding agents inside a spatial headset.
PreviouslyMagic Leap · Microsoft · IBM (Rational Software) · NeXT · DEC (VAX/VMS)
What I do
How I can help
Technical leadership & architecture
Set direction, build and grow engineering teams — while still shipping production code myself.
Native mobile, done right
iOS and Android at production quality, from an App-Store developer of the first hour.
Spatial computing & AR
Smart-glasses connectivity, on-device computer vision and ML, close to custom hardware — Magic Leap 1 and 2, and most recently AI glasses on Android XR for Google and Samsung.
AI-native products
Bringing LLM agents into real, shipping software — not demos.
Regulated & safety-critical
Medical-device software under IEC 62304, FDA Design Controls and ISO 13485.
Engage
Ways to work together
Contract & consulting
Architecture reviews, 0→1 product builds, and mobile, spatial/AR and AI-native engineering.
Explore advisory → AdvisoryAdvisory & due diligence
Technical due diligence, mentoring and fractional engineering leadership.
Explore advisory → EmploymentSenior role
Engineering lead, architect, principal / staff engineer or technical program manager — Zürich or remote EU.
Get in touch →Writing
Field notes
Writing on spatial computing, AI-native software, and where the industry is heading.
I write this code by hand. Not because AI couldn't.
A frontier model writes better code than I do. I still write every line of my games myself — and the AI sits somewhere most people don't expect: not writing, but checking every frame against the budget.
Read the article → Agentic AI · MemoryOne AI memory for every machine
My AI coding agent had to learn the same rules again on every computer. Now it learns them once: a small sync server, three hooks and plain Markdown files.
Read the article → Games · DesignGame Mechanics Compendium
269 game mechanics in 21 categories, from coyote time to capture and rescue. Each one animated, described in two lines and tied to the games that made it famous.
Browse the compendium → iOS · FoldablesFrom Android foldables to iPhone Duo
Notes from mapping a Pixel Fold app onto Apple's first folding iPhone, written five weeks before the SDK. Most of it carries over. The posture state machine doesn't.
Read the guide → Agentic AI · in productionAn organisation that doesn't exist
How I run my side business on AI agents with roles, four autonomy levels and hard limits in code — and why most of the work was forbidding them things.
Read the write-up → Spatial · AIAre apps dead?
The paradigm shift in the wearable-AI era — what happens to the app when agents and smart glasses arrive.
Read on LinkedIn ↗ AI engineeringA lean, project-aware AI agent in Go
Beyond the hype — building a proactive coding agent that actually fits the tools you already use.
Read on LinkedIn ↗ PerspectiveAI isn't taking developer jobs
It's killing the "first-time tax." What actually changes when AI enters an engineering workflow.
Read on LinkedIn ↗Building
Selected work
aiVision
Claude Code, live on Apple Vision Pro. Say "make the ball faster" and the ball on your desk speeds up in under a second — while the game keeps running. A working glimpse of AI-native, spatial development.
Follow the build ↗ AR · Magic Leap — shippedMagic Leap Assist
Real-time remote assistance and guidance in augmented reality — a product I led at Magic Leap, shipped and live in production on Magic Leap 2.
See it on Magic Leap ↗Off the clock, I design games and hardware for classic systems — Vectrex, Sega Mega Drive — built down to the bus timing. rogerboesch.games →
And I keep my algorithms sharp with LeetCode 75 — a practice tool I built for myself.
Now
September 2026
Running my side business on an agent-based operations system I built — roles, autonomy levels, hard limits in code. Shipping the second VEXXON batch for the Vectrex. Open to engineering lead roles in Zürich, hybrid, from December.
Contact
Let's talk.
Senior engineering, architecture, technical leadership or program roles — or just something hard and interesting to build. Full CV on request.