Andrew Mason

With over 15 years of experience as a senior front-end developer, I specialise in creating accessible web interfaces using the latest technologies, including TypeScript and best design practices. My career highlights include leading award-winning projects at The Guardian, developing Figma plugins at The Telegraph, and building game UIs at Microsoft Studios. I thrive in fast-paced, collaborative environments and am passionate about pushing the boundaries of web development.

Skills

Experience

UI Engineer (contract) | Rare (Xbox Game Studio)

Nov 2024 – Current

Rejoined the UI engineer team at Rare to work on their upcoming game EverWild.

• Developing game UI using TypeScript and modern CSS.
• Creating prototypes working directly with the UI team, engine programmers and game developers.
• Adapting C++ code to work with Ui requirements
• Worked on Sea of Thieves' Custom Seas.

UI Engineer (contract) | Rare (Xbox Game Studio)

Aug 2022 – March 2024

My role at Rare was to deliver UI features for Sea of Thieves and prototype UI for their next-gen title, EverWild:

• Coded UI components and services for Sea of Thieves using TypeScript, SASS and Coherent Gameface.
• Developed prototypes demonstrating advanced UI features in Rare's next-gen game, Everwild.
• Provided technical expertise during creative sessions, collaborating directly with designers using Figma to turn designs into interactive UI components.
• Conducted research on the latest industry technologies, ensuring cutting-edge solutions for in-game UI.
• Optimise in-game UI performance and memory usage using Chrome DevTools and Xbox PIX captures.
• Authored, unit-tests, JSON data contracts and TypeScript definitions for Unreal event models.
• Improved workflow efficiency by analysing UI deployments, reducing unit test runtime by 30%.

Senior Prototyper | The Telegraph

Jul 2018 – Apr 2022

Worked within the Product team, collaborating with designers and journalists to create prototypes, interactive web experiences, and visual stories:

• Created Milton, an award-winning open-source Figma plugin using TypeScript and React that allows designers to convert Figma designs into responsive HTML with just a few clicks.
• Developed “A Year in Lockdown” an interactive scrolling story built with a custom in-browser editor, achieving over 100K views and a 15-minute average dwell time, and an SND award.
• Built a video-wall interactive for the newsroom and lobby, animating real-time captures of the Telegraph’s homepage and print paper. The frontend was powered by TypeScript, React, and Pixi.js, while the server used Node.js, Puppeteer, Google Cloud Functions, and Firebase.
• Developed a React app, enabling video editors to create embeddable animations using Lottie JSON, complete with a GUI for customization and a self-contained HTML output.

UI Engineer | Simpplr

Feb 2018 – May 2018

• Developed UI components in React, Redux, and Immutable.js for a large-scale single-page application.
• Authored RESTful JSON API specifications for Salesforce Database engineers.

Creative Technologist | The Guardian

Nov 2011 – Oct 2017

Part of the Interactive team, I developed bespoke data visualisations and interactive experiences.

• Led the technical delivery of several interactive virtual reality episodes.
• Oversaw external development of the Guardian VR platform on Google Cardboard/Daydream, and Gear VR.
• Created the WebGL 6x9 promotional site using three.js, shaders, and custom animation tools.
• Created live election data-dashboards using D3 and powered by Node.js and S3.
• Built in-house tools allowing designers to embed illustrations directly onto the Guardian website.

Front-End Developer | BBC

Apr 2010 – Nov 2011

• Developed UI for the BBC homepage redesign.
• Produced WCAG AAA compliant code, supporting a broad range of web browsers.
• Collaborated with UX designers to prototype and validate UI interactions.

Senior Developer | Digitas (AKQA)

Mar 2008 – Apr 2010

• Managed UI development of a multilingual booking system in Dubai.
• Established an internal innovation lab to foster collaboration between design and development teams.
• Created and presented proof-of-concept prototypes for client pitches.

Education

BA (Hons) Creative Multimedia | Teesside University

2001 – 2005

• Developed a point-and-click adventure game with an audio-only interface for the visually impaired.
• Studied Human-Computer Interaction and multimedia creation, including video and audio production, 3D modelling, and web development.

Personal

• Experimenting with machine learning and AI, especially how they can be used as assistive tools.
• Interested in retro and modern video games, as well as 8-bit computing and 3D rendering technology.
• I enjoy creating art projects exploring themes such as privacy and surveillance of webcams, drawing inspiration from Philip K. Dick's work.
• Developed a glitch generation tool to experiment with databending of images and learn about the technical details of JPEG compression artefacts.
• I'm fascinated by the Demoscene, a community of artists and programmers who create demos within strict technical constraints, as well as 64K demos and ROM hacking.
• Keen on reverse engineering, performance analysis, and internet security.