J. Burton

JamesBurton

Software Engineer. AI, backend & security.

I build real systems end to end: AI assistants in production, a local-first AI tutoring app, an encrypted publishing app, and a C++ physics engine from scratch.

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Now
Software Engineer Intern, Interact SoftwarePlacement year · Manchester · 2026–2027
Degree
BSc Computer ScienceGraduating 2028
Building
LearnWell, a local-first AI tutorFounder · 2025–present
Focus
AI engineering, backend performance, security
Based
United Kingdom

About

I'm a Computer Science undergraduate, currently on a placement year as a Software Engineer Intern at Interact Software in Manchester.

At Interact I work on a production AI assistant: making its Python backend faster, hardening the pipeline that lets it execute tools safely, and tightening data access across the AI layer and the C#/ASP.NET API. Outside work I build LearnWell, an AI tutoring app for CS students that works with local or cloud models and keeps everything on your machine.

I like working close to the metal and close to the risk: I wrote a 3D physics engine with my own maths library rather than pulling in GLM, and an encrypted, tamper-evident publishing app for journalists. I care about systems that are fast, correct and hard to misuse.

  • AI engineeringRAG, retrieval and LLM systems that run in production
  • Backend performanceAsync Python, caching, vectorised compute, .NET APIs
  • SecurityApplied cryptography, access control, safe tool execution

Experience

  1. 2026–2027

    Software Engineer Intern, Interact Software

    Placement year · Manchester

    • Optimised an AI assistant's Python backend with asyncio parallelism, LLM client caching and vectorised NumPy retrieval.
    • Worked on the security and write-safety layer of the assistant's tool-execution pipeline.
    • Improved data access and privacy controls across the AI layer and the C#/ASP.NET API.
    • Built a full-stack admin feature end to end with React, C#/ASP.NET and SQL Server.
    • Tested with Docker and Azure DevOps CI pipelines.
    • Python
    • asyncio
    • NumPy
    • C#
    • ASP.NET
    • React
    • SQL Server
    • Docker
    • Azure DevOps

  2. 2025–now

    Founder, LearnWell

    Startup · AI tutoring app for CS students

    • Built a Next.js and Electron app that tutors through local models (Ollama) or cloud APIs (OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini), with all data kept in local SQLite.
    • Generated an offline curriculum of 48 topics across five tracks, with highlight-to-ask, quizzes with weakness analysis and a voice mode.
    • Added coding practice: problems run in the browser (Pyodide for Python, plus JavaScript) or natively through Electron.
    • TypeScript
    • Next.js
    • Electron
    • Prisma
    • SQLite
    • Ollama
    • LLM APIs

Projects

PressChainEncrypted, tamper-evident publishing for journalists and their sources. TypeScript · React · Electron · Solidity · IPFS In development
  • AES-256-GCM end-to-end encryption with a self-custodial wallet.
  • IPFS storage anchored by Solidity smart contracts on an Ethereum L2.
  • Tor routing inside a cross-platform Electron app.
  • Hardhat
  • ethers.js
  • Tor
3D Physics EngineA real-time 3D physics sandbox built from scratch in C++. C++17 · OpenGL · GLSL · CMake In development
  • Rigid bodies with impulse-based collisions, restitution and Coulomb friction.
  • Height-field water with propagating waves, splashes and buoyancy.
  • Raycast picking to grab, throw and place objects, with impact particles and scene save/load.
  • OpenGL renderer with custom GLSL shaders, shadow mapping and a hand-written maths library (no GLM).
LearnWellAn AI tutor for CS students that runs on local or cloud models and works offline. TypeScript · Next.js · Electron · Prisma Active
  • Chat with local models through Ollama, or with OpenAI, Anthropic and Gemini; conversations and keys stay in local SQLite.
  • Offline curriculum of 48 topics in five tracks, with highlight-to-ask and quizzes that pinpoint weak spots.
  • Coding practice with in-browser Python (Pyodide) and JavaScript runners.

Skills

Languages
  • Python
  • C#
  • TypeScript
  • Java
  • C/C++
  • SQL
  • Solidity
Frameworks
  • ASP.NET Core
  • Entity Framework Core
  • React
  • Electron
  • Next.js
  • Prisma
  • FastAPI
  • NumPy
  • xUnit
AI
  • LLMs
  • RAG
  • Embeddings
  • Vector databases
  • BM25
  • Prompt engineering
Security
  • AES-GCM
  • scrypt
  • End-to-end encryption
  • Tor
Databases
  • SQL Server (T-SQL)
  • SQLite
DevOps & tools
  • Git
  • Docker
  • Azure DevOps
  • TeamCity
  • Octopus Deploy
  • Linux
  • Proxmox

Let's
talk

I'm interested in software engineering internships and graduate roles in the UK, especially in AI, backend and security. Email is the fastest way to reach me.

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