Catalin Caldararu

AI Software & Product Developer specializing in Applied AI rather than model training.

  • LocationBucharest, Romania & Remote
  • LanguagesEnglish · Proficient
    Romanian · Native
  • EducationMSc in Management Information Systems

Top Skills

Product R&D

Built a product-focused AI intellectual property portfolio, being first inventor on 10 patents and co-inventor on 2.

AI Software Development

Primary contributor to multiple on-device Small Language Model (SLM) and Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) services used in Dell's AI PC platform.

Agile Methodologies

PSPO II and PSM II certified, with 5 years of experience working across Scrum and Kanban teams and 3 years of cross-functional collaboration as a developer.

Focus Areas

  • Agentic AI

  • Hybrid AI

  • On-device AI

  • AI for Good

Experience

AI Software & Product Development Lead, Applied AI

Dell TechnologiesMay 2024 - Present · 2 yrsLocation: Bucharest, Romania & Remote

I spend half of my time leading and developing an Applied AI intellectual property (IP) portfolio consisting of 35 differentiated Hybrid AI, On-device AI and Agentic AI software product concepts, working with a core team of six inventors and multiple legal teams. Each product can be applied across one of nine domains: Orchestration, Efficiency, Resilience, Security, Privacy, Accessibility, Personalization, Field Operations, and Agent-Native SDLC. Key responsibilities:

  • Initiate and develop patentable AI product concepts aligned with Dell's AI Strategy and roadmaps, targeting competitive differentiation, defensible IP positions, and potential growth vectors.
  • Drive the patent development process from opportunity discovery through iterative refinement, including business‑case development, use‑case and persona definition, technical design, and visual prototyping.
  • Define portfolio and product strategies by identifying underserved technological whitespace and novel positioning opportunities, aligning with the company's strategy and discontinuing IP initiatives when necessary.

Notable outcomes:

  • Built this portfolio from zero as an individual contributor, without an accelerator program, and became one of the most active inventors in Dell Romania.
  • Filed 12 USPTO patents (10 as first inventor), with 23 more in development (20 as first inventor).
  • Secured more than $750k in committed funding to build and protect the portfolio, maintaining an 80% approval rate across multiple review cycles.
Product ManagementHybrid AIAgentic AIEdge AI

AI Software Developer, Hybrid AI

Dell TechnologiesMay 2024 - Present · 2 yrsLocation: Bucharest, Romania & Remote

I spend half of my time as a core contributor to the on‑device SLM and Automatic Speech Recognition services that power privacy‑first, on‑device Conversational AI for Dell AI PCs. These services enable internal teams, customers, and ISVs to rapidly deploy on‑device and hybrid Agentic AI solutions across heterogeneous AI PC fleets, and are part of Dell's AI PC platform, featured at CES, DTW, and GTC. Key responsibilities:

  • Design, develop and deploy on‑device inference pipelines for ONNX models using Microsoft ONNX Runtime GenAI and various execution providers (AMD Ryzen AI, Qualcomm QNN, Intel OpenVINO, and NVIDIA CUDA).
  • Serve as a development point of contact for E2E testing and represent the development team in discussions with senior leaders and external partners.
  • Perform defect triage and root‑cause analysis of failures in on‑device AI systems.

Notable outcomes:

  • Primary developer across six Conversational AI services and two ASR services, representing ~70% of the scope delivered through two strategic partnerships with leading AI hardware vendors.
Hybrid AIAgentic AIEdge AI

Software Developer, Web Services

Dell TechnologiesAug 2021 - May 2024 · 2 yrs 10 mosLocation: Bucharest, Romania & Remote

Core contributor to an enterprise web platform that enabled large customers to order fully configured, ready‑to‑use PCs. Key responsibilities:

  • Designed, developed and deployed 15 .NET Web APIs in collaboration with eight service teams, integrating capabilities across the platform and helping unify a previously fragmented ordering experience.
  • Served as a development point of contact for UAT and E2E testing, triaging and resolving cross‑service defects that would otherwise escalate to principal engineers.
  • Onboarded seven developers, transferring product knowledge and reducing the team's reliance on tech leads for day‑to‑day operational decisions.
.NET CoreMicroservicesSQLCI/CD

IT Recruiter & Human Resources Member

SiSC - NGOOct 2018 - Sep 2021 · 3 yrsLocation: Bucharest, Romania

Recruited, mentored, and coached team members for the organization and external partners, helping dozens of students secure their first IT roles.

RecruitingMentoring