Chris Joel

Web Technologies · Systems Programming · Computer Graphics

Multi-disciplinary Research Engineer with expertise in web browser technologies, systems programming, and decentralized protocols. Passionate about advancing the fundamental capabilities of the web platform through innovative runtime architectures, immersive interfaces, and user-sovereign computing paradigms.

Professional Timeline

Subconscious · Co-founder & CTO, 2021—2024

  • Architect of Noosphere, a "protocol for thought" combining immutable data structures with public key cryptography to enable user-sovereign web applications
  • Primary author of the Rust implementation of UCANs (User Controlled Authorization Networks) across multiple major spec revisions
  • Designed and implemented decentralized content addressing, DHT-based name resolution, and cryptographic authorization systems
  • Built, deployed and maintained production systems handling immutable data structures, IPFS integration, and WebAssembly-based sandboxing

Google · Software Engineer, 2015—2021

  • Contributor to the Polymer, Lit and Chrome browser projects
  • Technical lead for local engineering teams as well as a member of cross-PA efforts with Daydream, YouTube, Verily, Material Design and others
  • Created <model-viewer>, a web component for embedding physically realistic, interactive 3D models on web pages
  • Spoke at, advocated at and designed games for Google conferences (Polymer Summit, Chrome Dev Summit, Google I/O)
  • Advocated for emerging proposals within WhatWG and Khronos Group
  • Invented the Material Design Ripple as used in most major Google products (patent US D985580 S)

Cloudflare · Founding Engineer, 2010—2012

  • Primary contributor to core web performance and app platform features
  • Shepherded core product features through public launch (second place at Tech Crunch Disrupt 2010), Series A and beyond
  • Invented novel mechanism for modifying websites via reverse proxy (patent US 8549479 B2)
  • Invented novel automatic performance optimization techniques (patent US 8566787 B2)

Technical Expertise

  • Systems Programming · Rust (emphasis), WebAssembly (core and components), Node.js, Deno, Nix, Performance Optimization
  • Web Platform · Web Components, WebGL, WebXR, WebGPU, WebCrypto, WebAuthn, WebRTC, Browser APIs in general, Browser Internals, Standards Processes
  • Cryptography · Public Key Infrastructure, Content Addressing, Authorization Schemes, Self-certifying Protocols, Remote Attestation
  • Graphics · Real-time Engines, Physically-based Rendering, GPU Programming, 3D Mathematics, Shader Languages
  • Distributed Systems · Database Internals, SQL, Datalog, CRDTs, IPFS, DHTs, Content-Addressable Storage
  • Infrastructure · AWS, GCP, Cloudflare, DNS, Containerization, Serverless Architectures, gRPC, REST, Kubernetes, Supply Chain, Continuous Integration

Selected Patents

  • Display Screen With Animated Graphical User Interface, US D985580 S, 2023
  • Incorporating Web Applications into Web Pages at the Network Level, US 8549479 B2, 2013
  • Loading of Web Resources, US 8566787 B2, 2012