01 · Hello, I'm Daphne
Daphne Charles — Senior Software Engineer& AI Systems Builder
I build production AI systems and high-traffic platforms, drawing on 7+ years of engineering at Salesforce, American Express, and BMW. My work now spans autonomous AI workflows, AI safety research, and the communities shaping how these systems are built.
When I'm not shipping code, I'm matcha in hand, studying French, or planning my next trip.
02 · Selected work
Selected Projects
A few of the products I've shipped, from enterprise platforms at Fortune 500s to AI tools built from scratch.
Sparx Growth Engine · Sparx Labs
Python · FastAPI · LangGraph · Redis · Next.js · Claude
Trailhead Careers Marketplace · Salesforce
Web Components · TypeScript · GraphQL · Ruby on Rails
Trailhead Learning Paths · Salesforce
Web Components · TypeScript · GraphQL · Ruby on Rails
Card Application · American Express
React · TypeScript · GraphQL · Node.js
Car Configurator · BMW
Angular · JavaScript · Node.js
KIWIK · ETHGlobal
Solidity · React · Lens Protocol · Polygon · Worldcoin · Chainlink · Superfluid
03 · On stage
Speaking & Media
I speak about shipping reliable AI systems, understanding their risks, and building the technical and founder communities shaping what comes next.
From Zero to Running Agent: Build and Ship an Open Source AI System in One Day
Participants build and ship a working AI agent in a single session using LangGraph, FastAPI, and Claude — based on a production architecture designed for a 7-day sprint model. Includes an open source framework released prior to the conference.
Frontier AI Salon: New York
A morning for the people shipping AI systems and the people working to make sure those systems go well — lightning talks, open Q&A, and real conversation over light bites. Hosted and MC'd by Daphne Charles with VIA (Variable Innovators Academy) and Sparx Labs, supported by BlueDot Impact.
Responsible AI: Protecting the Business While Moving Fast
A live demo of a real five-step AI pipeline, then a hands-on mapping exercise where attendees translate their own workflows into the same pattern — with system constraints that hold up when real stakes are on the line.
WiML Workshop @ NeurIPS 2026: Atlanta
Women in Machine Learning brings the community together at NeurIPS 2026 — invited talks, a poster session for accepted abstracts, and networking and mentorship opportunities, with lunch and refreshments. The workshop runs across three satellite locations: Sydney, Paris, and Atlanta. Daphne hosts the Atlanta workshop at the Georgia World Congress Center.
From Prompt to Production: A Practical Framework for Shipping AI Tools in 7 Days
A practitioner's walkthrough of the Sparx Growth Engine — a production multi-agent pipeline shipped in one week. Covers LangGraph architecture, human-in-the-loop approval, and real failure modes from agentic systems in the wild.
SheSuite 2026
A curated afternoon for women founders and operators building in tech — panel conversation followed by open networking. Hosted and MC'd by Daphne Charles, with panelists from Tabs, Tavia Health, and Sparx Labs. Part of NY Tech Week 2026, co-hosted with FemBuildCollective.
Anatomy of an AI Agent: Building AI Systems That Catch Their Own Mistakes
Part of the 2026 Leadership Institute's "Future-Ready Leadership" program: a practical look at how production AI agents detect and correct their own errors — the verification layers, self-checking steps, and human-in-the-loop guardrails that keep an agentic pipeline honest.
04 · Career
Work Experience
7+ years building high-traffic products, scaling engineering systems, and turning complex technical work into measurable business outcomes.
Co-Founder & CTO, Sparx Labs
I lead technical strategy for an AI development agency delivering custom LLM applications, RAG architectures, and workflow automation systems for mid-market companies. I architected the Sparx Growth Engine, an autonomous multi-agent platform built with LangGraph, FastAPI, and Claude that reduced manual operational effort by 90%, with human approval and safety constraints before external actions. I also launched AI for Entrepreneurs, a cohort-based program helping founders and operators adopt AI.
Senior Software Engineer, Salesforce
I led development of the Trailhead Careers Marketplace, helping scale the platform to 50,000+ daily active users and sustain 12% quarter-over-quarter growth. I drove adoption of an enterprise design system across 5 teams and 25 engineers, accelerating delivery by 30% and reducing UI defects by 50%. I also improved initial load time by 20%, increased 30-day retention by 15%, and modernized CI/CD for daily releases at 99.9% uptime.
Full Stack Software Engineer, American Express
I delivered a secure Know Your Customer capability using React, Redux, Node.js, and OAuth 2.0, reducing pending applications by 35% and generating approximately $275K in annualized business value. I led the migration of 50K+ lines from an AngularJS monolith to React microservices, built a reusable component library for four product teams, and mentored 8 junior engineers.
Front End Web Developer, BMW
I rebuilt the CRM interface using Angular and TypeScript, increasing customer leads by 15% and mobile conversion by 22% for a platform serving 10,000+ daily users. I partnered with backend engineers to integrate REST APIs and automated production deployments through Jenkins CI/CD while maintaining 99.9% uptime.
