Staff iOS Engineer
Hugo Alonso Luis
Staff iOS Engineer & Architect
I build and improve native Apple products: complex features, dependable architecture, and teams that ship. I have written code since 2002, worked professionally since 2012, and focused on Apple platforms since 2014.
- Writing code
- Since 2002
- Professional
- Since 2012
- Apple platforms
- Since 2014
- Apps shipped
- 17
Where I fit
Where I add value quickly.
- A senior/staff iOS engineer who can join quickly and reduce ambiguity.
- Complex native features, architecture modernization, or codebase rescue.
- Product-minded delivery from someone who also ships his own App Store software.
Results
What the work changed.
- Led a 5-person iOS squad for a multi-country streaming platform.
- Reduced crash rate from 1.5% to below 0.1% and helped raise App Store rating from 3.0 to 4.5.
- Raised test coverage from 0% to about 60% and cut CI/build time from 20 minutes to 5.
- Built a native AVFoundation video editor with 40% faster exports.
Technical range
Tools chosen for the product, not the résumé.
- Leadership
- Technical Strategy · Staff Engineering · Team Mentoring · CI/CD Implementation · Agile/Scrum · Architecture Advocacy · Hiring
- iOS & Vision
- SwiftUI · UIKit · Combine · RxSwift · Swift Concurrency · AVFoundation · Vision · Core ML · Core Image · ARKit · RealityKit · VisionOS · Core Data · CloudKit · Accessibility
- Architecture & Quality
- MVVM · VIPER · VIP (Clean Swift) · Clean Architecture · Modularization (SPM) · Protocol-Oriented Design · TDD · SnapshotTesting
- Human Languages
- Spanish (Native) · English (Fluent / C1+) · Dutch (Intermediate 2.2 certificate) · French (Basic)
Experience
Work that shipped.
Chat Explorer
Lead iOS Engineer & Founder
- Architected a multiplatform (iOS/macOS) analytics app using SwiftUI and Swift 6 Strict Concurrency, implementing a tight render loop and state management for 40k message datasets (WhatsApp export cap).
- Integrated on-device Foundation Models (iOS 26+) for structured topic extraction, timeline summarization, and sentiment analysis, prioritizing 100% local processing.
- Engineered a semantic search engine supporting neural vector embeddings (Core ML MiniLM / NLEmbedding) and BM25 keyword ranking with high-efficiency local indexing.
UHasselt
Researcher (Human-Computer Interaction)
- Pioneered AR interfaces for complex industrial assembly using HoloLens 2 & Apple Vision Pro (YouTube Demo), leveraging Core ML for on-device object detection and contour overlay to deliver step-by-step spatial guidance.
- Developed a GenAI-driven prototype integrating SPARQL & LLMs to enable voice-controlled, natural language querying of complex ontology data.
- Published research on the practical application of AR/VR and GenAI in industrial HCI settings.
Nodalview
Staff Engineer & iOS Lead
- Engineered a high-performance native video editor from scratch using AVFoundation, enabling 4K real-time rendering and reducing export times by 40% compared to the Android/FFMPEG equivalent.
- Led a distributed team of 3 engineers, introducing SnapshotTesting and strictly enforcing TDD, raising code coverage from 0% to ~60% and significantly reducing regression bugs.
- Modernized the release lifecycle by implementing GitHub Actions CI/CD, cutting build times from 20 mins to 5 mins and enabling weekly releases.
Banking · Hybrid
BNP Paribas Fortis
Freelance Senior iOS Consultant
Led the Easy Banking Business migration from legacy Objective-C to Swift and SwiftUI, modernizing its UI foundation while keeping product delivery moving.
Stabilized the inherited codebase through focused testing, clearer Clean Architecture boundaries, and hands-on mentoring for junior engineers.
Sports betting · Remote
Napoleon Games
Freelance Senior iOS Consultant
Designed a hybrid native and web architecture that allowed both teams to ship features in parallel, reducing time-to-market by about 30%.
Introduced a delivery structure that kept native product quality where it mattered while making faster web-led iteration possible.
Earlier work
The foundations.
2018-10 → 2021-06
Zappware
Lead iOS Developer
2016-09 → 2018-09
UC3M — Universidad Carlos III de Madrid
Teaching Research Staff (PDI)
2013-01 → 2016-10
PentLab & Freelance
Senior iOS Developer
Education
Formal education and specialist iOS foundations.
Ongoing
BIG School
Master in Development with AI
2018
UC3M, Spain
Master in Computer Science and Technology
Awarded Best Thesis of Graduation (Summa Cum Laude)2012
CUJAE, Cuba
Bachelor in Informatics Engineering
Summa Cum Laude (Gold Title / Título de Oro)Recommendations
What others say.
6 LinkedIn recommendations from colleagues, managers, and clients.
"From the start of my collaboration with Hugo, it was clear that he is an expert programmer with a structured way of working. He is eager to learn and apply new things, especially related to AR and AI... Besides this, he has a feeling for UI design, and he skilfully contributed to user research. I happily recommend Hugo for any innovative app development, especially when it includes AI, AR, or Apple devices (iOS or visionOS)."
"Hugo is an excellent professional and sharp analyst... He is actually an amazing team member and a natural leader. His energy is incredible, and he is passionate about what he does. That is why you should hire him or work with him — it will change your working experience and your team considerably."
"Hugo delivered reliable AR and AI solutions... He built production-grade apps on iOS and Apple Vision Pro. He paired strong computer vision skills with solid software engineering, moving fast from prototype to field-ready builds. He owned the full stack: OS-level components, spatial tracking, rendering, and UI. If you need AR on Apple platforms, Hugo is a safe hire. I gladly recommend him."
"It is a pleasure to recommend Hugo. His performance working as a programmer proved that he will be a valuable asset to any company. He was one of the best programmers we have had — highly intelligent, with great analytical thinking and outstanding communication skills."
"Hugo is curious, detail-oriented, and reliable. For him, there is no such thing as "a task too difficult to be carried out" — rather "an interesting challenge that will make me learn something new." During the time we worked together, he was an asset to the team, quickly adopting new technologies... I would sincerely recommend Hugo for any position."
"Hugo is a great colleague, very hardworking and intelligent. As a student he was outstanding in his studies, which is why he obtained excellent results."
The complete record