Graeme Arthur
Software Engineer
Senior software engineer with 12+ years of experience specialising in Apple platforms, building products in privacy and audio, with trusted user experiences and high-impact native systems for the greater good.
About
I’m a senior software engineer with 12+ years of experience building native products for iOS and macOS, from early-stage launches to large-scale apps used by tens of millions of people.
My work spans privacy products, audio streaming, subscription systems, SDK architecture, and cross-platform infrastructure. I care deeply about thoughtful engineering, measurable product outcomes, and building software that aligns with user wellbeing.
I collaborate closely with product, design, backend, web, Android, and infrastructure teams to ship robust features with strong testing, observability, and release practices.
Experience
DuckDuckGo
Senior engineer on the Apple platforms team, shipping privacy-focused iOS and macOS experiences to tens of millions of users.
Core stack used across this role
View Projects (7)
DuckDuckGo VPN
Led architecture and rollout of the iOS VPN, and contributed to the macOS VPN as a core part of DuckDuckGo’s first paid subscription bundle.
DuckPlayer
Contributed to DuckPlayer by inspecting and analyzing web content to enable privacy-respecting Picture-in-Picture video experiences.
Data Import
Led data-import improvements that increased adoption 3-4x and reduced macOS import failures by over 50%.
Sync
Built and evolved sync experience and hardened security by improving key exchange flow while improving overall reliability.
Password Manager & Autofill
Partnered with web engineers to review/debug TypeScript and design robust frontend-native messaging for password and autofill flows.
Feature Flags
Led shared feature-flag infrastructure across iOS and macOS, then supported release and incident rotations with strong observability.
Alpha & Nightly Distribution
Led creation of alpha CI builds and internal TestFlight distribution from scratch to speed up feedback before public release.
Mimi Hearing Technologies
Led iOS SDK architecture and engineering for a hearing health company serving international B2B partners.
Core stack used across this role
View Projects (3)
SDK Architecture & Standards
Defined modular architecture, coding standards, and testing practices to improve integration quality and long-term maintainability.
Release Reliability
Introduced internal feature-flag and release-train systems for safer deployment and faster partner-focused iteration.
Technical Leadership
Provided technical vision while staying hands-on, aligning cross-functional teams and external partners on practical integration requirements.
SoundCloud
iOS representative for streaming and playback infrastructure, owning core player and queueing systems across app generations.
Core stack used across this role
View Projects (9)
Playback Platform
Led the playback experience for iOS, owning queueing and playback library behavior across major app surfaces.
Shared C++ Streaming Engine
Worked on the cross-platform C++ streaming engine ("Flipper"), including CMake integration to produce an iOS framework.
Hardware Playback Integrations
Integrated and maintained AVFoundation, AirPlay, Chromecast, and CarPlay playback paths across app releases.
Chromecast
Worked across iOS and TypeScript layers, collaborated with Google on Chromecast integration.
Ads
Implemented optimized ad-content preloading that increased ad revenue by 7%, supported by monitoring and product dashboards.
Listening Team Features
Built and maintained Playback, Stations, and Recently Played features across iOS.
Subscription Product
Built onboarding, upgrade and downgrade flows for SoundCloud’s first subscription offering with data-led retention improvements.
Engineering Standards
Led Swift testing and mocking standards, contributed to modular architecture efforts, and supported UI automation patterns.
Backend, Data & Reliability
Built Scala BFF features, maintained streaming anomaly monitoring, supported Airflow ETLs and cloud dashboards, and contributed to backend maintenance rotation.
Kotikan / FanDuel
Built consumer iOS products across travel, fintech, public-health, and sports platforms, while establishing quality-focused engineering practices.
Core stack used across this role
View Projects (4)
Skyscanner iOS
Contributed to adaptive layouts, price-alert notifications, and shared authentication components used across multiple apps.
Standard Life iOS
Built a transactional finance app from scratch under strict security and accessibility requirements.
WHO Health Stats
Built an iOS app from scratch to visualize global health metrics across interactive maps and charts under tight deadlines.
FanDuel iOS
Delivered KYC identity verification and internal UI testing tooling, then chose to move on due to ethical concerns around gambling.
Freelance Audio Designer & Engineer
Produced, edited, mastered, and programmed audio for games, film, and theatre for clients.
The Beat Suite
Designed ad jingles and edited/mastered content for a production audio library.
Dare to Be Digital — Dundee
Part of Team Abnormal Creations, shipping a Unity/FMOD game prototype in a 10-week intensive competition. Contributed C# gameplay/audio programming and sound design in Unity during a time-boxed team build.
Apps
DuckDuckGo
iOS VPN experience, sync and import user journeys, DuckPlayer web-to-native Picture-in-Picture, and password manager/autofill flows.
Mimi
Hearing-test and hearing-profile product experiences supported by robust SDK integration paths for partner apps.
SoundCloud
Playback and queueing, Stations, Collection, listening history, Chromecast/AirPlay/CarPlay support, and subscription purchase/onboarding/downgrade journeys.
Skyscanner
Adaptive iOS UI refresh for new size classes, fare price alerts, globe exploration interactions, and shared auth login journeys.
FanDuel
KYC identity verification and navigation pattern prototypes evaluated through A/B testing in the daily fantasy app.
Standard Life
Pension and investment plan views, in-app top-up journeys, and secure transactional user flows designed for accessibility.
Capabilities
Each capability links directly to projects where the work and outcomes were delivered.
Privacy & Security Delivery
Build privacy-critical Apple platform features with secure defaults and production reliability.
Experience DuckDuckGo: Network Protection DuckDuckGo: Sync Security
Apple Platform Architecture
Design modular native systems that improve long-term maintainability and iteration speed.
Experience Mimi: SDK Architecture & Standards DuckDuckGo: Cross-Platform Delivery
Streaming & Playback Systems
Ship robust media playback experiences across native and connected-device surfaces.
Experience SoundCloud: Playback Platform SoundCloud: Shared C++ Streaming Engine
Release Engineering & CI Automation
Improve release confidence and speed through delivery automation and safer rollout controls.
Experience DuckDuckGo: Alpha & Nightly Distribution Mimi: Release Reliability
Quality Engineering
Raise delivery confidence with pragmatic testing standards and maintainable test tooling.
Experience SoundCloud: Engineering Standards FanDuel iOS: Internal UI Testing Tooling
Cross-Platform Collaboration
Bridge native, web, and backend systems to ship user-facing features end to end.
Experience DuckDuckGo: Password Manager & Autofill SoundCloud: Chromecast
Additional toolkit and background technologies
Education
MSc with Distinction, Software Development
MSc project: built an iOS campus navigation app for university Estates and IT Services teams.
MSc, Sound Design
MSc project: built a first-person 5.1 audio game in C# with Unity.