What I have done

My specialty is transforming ambitious, often abstract, visions into viable, real-world products. Forged in years of building mission-critical, high-performance systems, I architect the 'how'—designing the robust framework that grounds a first-principles concept in a deliverable reality. I then lead teams of deep specialists from the front, using story-telling to align them with the core vision or hands-on coding to build it directly. This consistently turns foundational concepts into platforms that are not just visionary, but viable: shipped effectively and built to last. 

• Elevence Digital Finance AG (now Digital Asset): As CTO/Product Owner, translated a first-principles vision for "legal-like contracts on blockchains" into a tangible product. Led and mentored a team of 7 PhDs to architect and deliver what is now the core of the DAML/Canton network. 
• Actant AG: Led the hands-on development and deployment of a high-frequency, low-latency derivative auto-quoting system. Successfully shipped and scaled the platform across 12+ international exchanges in a mission-critical, high-churn environment. 
• Distran AG: Architected and bootstrapped the ML/computational team for a real-time acoustic imaging platform, bridging the gap between novel algorithms and a viable, shipped product.
• Omnisens SA (now Prysmian): Engineered a robust, real-time incident detection system for industrial asset monitoring, delivering a highly reliable platform built to last in demanding environments. 
• ETHZ (PhD) then ISE AG: Realized a foundational vision for semiconductor simulation, developing the core technology that was acquired and productized as Synopsys' Sentaurus Device Simulator. 
• CSEM: Pioneered the world's first analog layout CAD tool, leading the full-cycle development from initial concept to a functional, industry-first product.

All original content copyright James Litsios, 2025.