Jason Ivan

Senior Product and Engineering/QA Leader

Seattle, Washington, United States

About

Senior technical leader with a passion for creativity, innovation, team building and development. - Managed an Apple engineering and quality assurance org of more than 180 people (65 employees, and 115 vendor headcount) - Owned Mac QA product/project management, leading projects during development and release. Led regular multi-org presentations to Apple VPs and Sr. VPs. - Remote team management: built and led teams in the US, Germany, Japan, and China. - Drove automation and innovation development including app automation, robotics, computer vision (CV), machine learning (ML), analytics, API analysis, and reporting. - Experienced in applications, hardware, tools, macOS/iOS, augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) engineering management. - Previous experience at Microsoft, trade show/event ownership, startups, and marketing management.

Experience

  • Founder at Build It Games, LLC
    May 2023 - Present · 3 yrs 2 mos

    Designing and building a few upcoming board and card games. Instead of relying on third-party cloud tools, running a completely local, self-hosted tech stack on Ubuntu to handle development and concept art. - Software/AI Stack: Running local LLMs via Ollama, and using Stability Matrix, ComfyUI, and Fooocus to quickly iterate on concept art and placeholder graphics without data privacy risks. - Physical Prototyping: Modeling parts in Autodesk Fusion and bringing them to life using 3D printing, laser cutting, and traditional fabrication.

  • Apple (Full-time · 13 yrs 11 mos)
    • Senior Quality Engineering Manager: Apple Vision Pro
      May 2022 - Apr 2023 · 1 yr

      Senior engineering manager leading major functional teams on visionOS/Apple Vision Pro AR/VR headset: - Demo: test of product launch and exec demos, including press and initial product keynotes, iOS/iPad OS supporting features, etc. - Persona: user persona-based product testing. - Build quality & release: Vision Pro OS build testing and release management. - Triage: tool and API development improving debug-ability of system and bug resolution times. - Accessibility: supported impaired hearing or vision use, gesture modification, etc.

    • Senior Quality Assurance Manager: Mac Systems Quality
      Jun 2009 - May 2022 · 13 yrs

      Over 13 years of leadership at Apple. Concurrently managed: - Product Management/Project Management. Included cross-functional: planning, reporting, and reviews for Mac Systems Quality and other orgs’ quality test efforts and results. Ran System Readiness Reviews (OK2Ship Reviews). Managed senior exec leadership meetings, including weekly VP reviews and periodic Senior VP reviews. - Apple and 3rd party pro/consumer apps, games, and web compatibility. iOS/iPad OS app testing. - Early silicon & device interoperability testing. - System responsiveness (app launch times, boot/wake times, functional, other responsiveness). - USB/Thunderbolt device compatibility for Mac/iPad. - USB compliance for Mac, iPhone, and iPad. - Product Early Field Failure Analysis forum/field monitoring and exec reporting on field results. Helped drive improvements in company quality metrics: Total Warranty Repairs (TWR) numbers improved by 42–73% (depending on Mac model) compared to predecessors—all hitting historical lows. Directed team innovation and automation efforts: - App automation scaled to more than 14,000 Mac/iOS/iPad OS apps in test—leveraging machine learning/computer vision for validation, failure analysis, and metrics gathering in software. - Machine learning, AI, and computer vision for real-time visual analysis of display hardware output. Able to identify pixel-level screen corruptions, graphic anomalies, and more. - Developed industrial test robot for automated test of 100 devices, adjusting cable orientation, power application, plug/unplug, and port switching. Mentored senior leaders across organizations.

  • Founder & CEO at Merillian Games
    Sep 2005 - Jun 2009 · 3 yrs 10 mos

    Founder of Merillian Games startup and inventor of Flibbix board game/toy. - Flibbix was rated Best Toy and Game of 2008 by The Washington Post. It made the Top 10 bestseller list at Barnes and Noble online, was featured on NBC and FOX TV, and won major industry awards: Preferred Choice Award by Creative Child Magazine, Teacher’s Choice Award, National Parenting Center Seal of Approval, Mom’s Best Award, Toy Directory Innovations Award, and more. - Developed an iOS board game companion app, one of the first in the board game industry.

  • Lead Program Manager at Microsoft Corporation
    Jul 2004 - Aug 2005 · 1 yr 2 mos

    Managed a team of five program managers with ownership of WinHEC, Driver DevCon, and other Microsoft technical trade shows/events. - Successfully launched four major events with attendance up to 3,000 in the US and Asia. - Increased attendance, revenue, attendee satisfaction, and press exposure while cutting $1M from spend.

  • Director of Consumer Product Marketing at M-Audio
    Feb 2002 - Jun 2003 · 1 yr 5 mos

    Managed M-Audio's consumer audio product marketing. - Won two "MacWorld Best of Show" Awards; PC World's "Best-in-Class; and "Editor's Choice" or "Recommended" awards from other top-tier publications. - Responsible for speakers, software, and PCI/USB/FireWire sound cards.