Omar Hesham, PhD

Full-Stack · Applied AI & MLOps · Real-Time Graphics · Security & Compliance

ohesham [at] gmail [dot] com www.omarhesham.com Ottawa · Montreal · Doha

Profile

Hands-on engineering lead with experience across simulation research, real-time graphics, full-stack product development, MLOps, and security/compliance, building nontrivial systems for demanding users. Founding engineer at Zetane, where over 8 years I helped take a 3D AI-visual-debugging startup from first prototype to commercial products deployed in defense, aerospace, and industrial settings, while taking on senior engineering roles and owning cloud infrastructure, security controls, and team leadership. Equally comfortable architecting low-level engine internals, tuning Kubernetes, optimizing React frontends, or implementing security and compliance controls.

Experience

Director of Engineering

Zetane Systems — Montreal, Canada (Remote) · Nov 2025 - Jun 2026

  • Hiring and technical direction across Zetane's AI SaaS platform.
  • Owned multi-region cloud infrastructure and DevOps on Google Cloud and AWS, with environments of varying compliance requirements (e.g. Protected B).
  • Migrated workload orchestration to a custom durable-execution platform: improved uptime and reliability at scale, lowered costs, and enabled real-time observability via a custom-built monitoring dashboard.
  • OCR pipeline scaled to ingest and index 10 years of arXiv publications (~500 GB of dense PDFs) in one month, with sub-second query lookup.
  • Developed a custom sandboxed agentic execution backend to meet cold-start budget and Canadian data-sovereignty requirements.
  • Assisted the CISO with ISO 27001 and SOC 2: authored security policies, implemented technical and administrative controls, coordinated audits with external consultants, and conducted security awareness training.

Senior Engineer — Systems & AI Applications

Zetane Systems — Montreal, Canada (Remote) · 2023 - Oct 2025

  • Built the anomaly detection software for a seven-figure Oil & Gas project in Alberta.
  • Built and shipped edge AI on NVIDIA Jetson fully remotely — L4T containers and GStreamer pipelines deployed to devices without physical access.
  • Designed and built document intelligence pipelines for enterprise clients, including OCR for robustness on handwritten, scanned, and dense tabular content.
  • Developed on-prem and air-gapped AI deployments for privacy-sensitive clients.
  • Supervised R&D reporting for SR&ED federal tax credits.
  • Wrote for patents, grants, proposals, and audits.
  • Interviewed and supervised junior developers.

Visualization and DevOps Lead (Founding Engineer)

Zetane Systems — Montreal, Canada · 2018 - 2022

  • 3D Rendering Architect for Zetane Insight, a commercial AI model inspector and debugger for TensorFlow, PyTorch, and ONNX, used in B2B contracts. Clients included Thales, CAE, Rheinmetall, Pomerleau, and IVACO.
  • DevOps and internal IT/cloud support.
  • Primary maintainer of the build system (Windows, Linux, macOS), scene graph, serializer, Python interop, and async dispatcher.
  • Tech used regularly: C++17, OpenGL (Core), CMake, Catch2, ONNX Runtime, OpenMP, compute shaders, Python, VMware, Docker, GitLab CI, and AWS EC2/S3 (with CloudHSM for code signing).
  • Go-to for performance optimization and internal support (e.g. speccing GPUs, troubleshooting workstations).
  • Wrote React web components for Zetane Protector, an automated ML robustness testing service.
  • Onboarding, training, and supervising engineering interns.

Freelance Developer

Koldora (omarhesham.com) — Ottawa, Canada · 2014 - 2019

  • Web design, custom tools, and educational videos for clients including Al Noor Institute for the Blind (Doha) and Swar Signs (Ottawa).

Research and Teaching Assistant

Advanced Real-time Simulation Lab, Carleton University — Ottawa · 2013 - 2019

  • Real-time simulation of dense crowd dynamics.
  • Developed desktop simulation and web visualization tools.

3D Technical Artist - Part Time

Interactive Media Group (iMG) / Algonquin College Applied Research & Innovations · Apr 2009 - Jan 2010

  • Content developer for Tipontia, an online Unreal Engine 2.5 environment for CHEO Ronald McDonald House patients and their families.
  • Working with Tegan Laing, Nuket Nowlan and Dr. Ali Arya, in collaboration with bitHeads and Nortel, I supervised the modeling of 3D characters, and created a Maya rigging pipeline to accommodate additional apparel and accessories for deployment to the Unreal web platform.
  • Created documentation and video tutorials for colleagues and future employees.
  • Our successful Tipontia launch event was featured on CTV News (July 16, 2009)

Webmaster - Part Time

Rideau River Residence Association, Carleton University · Sep 2006 - Aug 2008

  • Designed and maintained a more user-friendly UI and several ActionScript 2.0 components.
  • CU Students’ Charity Ball web coordinator (2007-2009).

Publications

Full list: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=JiRM1gQAAAAJ

Journal

  1. O. Hesham and G. Wainer, “Explicit Modeling of Personal Space for Improved Local Dynamics in Simulated Crowds,” ACM Transactions on Modeling and Computer Simulation, vol. 31, no. 4, pp. 1-29, Jul. 2021.
  2. O. Hesham and G. Wainer, “Advanced Models for Centroidal Particle Dynamics: Short-Range Collision Avoidance in Dense Crowds,” Simulation, vol. 97, no. 8, pp. 529-543, Aug. 2021.

Conference

  1. S. R. Janapalli, O. Hesham, and G. A. Wainer, “Heterogeneous Crowd Simulation,” in 2019 Spring Simulation Conference (SpringSim), Apr. 2019, pp. 1-12.
  2. O. Hesham, Princy, W. Aburime, Z. Rabeh, S. Bhushan, and G. Wainer, “Observed Behaviours in Simulated Close-Range Pedestrian Dynamics,” in Proc. Symposium on Simulation for Architecture and Urban Design (SimAUD), Delft, Netherlands, Jun. 2018, pp. 1-8.
  3. B. St-Aubin, O. Hesham, and G. Wainer, “A Cell-DEVS Visualization and Analysis Platform,” in Proc. 50th Summer Computer Simulation Conference (SummerSim), Bordeaux, France, 2018, pp. 1-12.
  4. O. Hesham, C. Joslin, and R. R. Ansara, “Interactive Anisotropic Tearing of Elastic Solids,” in Proc. 13th Int. Joint Conference on Computer Vision, Imaging and Computer Graphics Theory and Applications (VISIGRAPP 2018) — GRAPP, Funchal, Madeira, Portugal, Jan. 2018, pp. 256-263.
  5. O. Hesham and G. Wainer, “Context-Sensitive Personal space for Dense Crowd Simulation,” in Proc. Symposium for Simulation for Architecture and Urban Design (SimAUD), Toronto, Canada, May 2017, pp. 1-8.🏅 Awarded Best Student Paper
  6. O. Hesham and G. Wainer, “Centroidal Particles for Interactive Crowd Simulation,” in Proc. Summer Computer Simulation Conference (SCSC), Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Jul. 2016, pp. 1-8.🏅 Awarded Best Paper (SCSC)🏅 Awarded Multi-conference Overall Best Paper
  7. M. Van Schyndel, O. Hesham, G. Wainer, and B. Malleck, “Crowd Modeling in the Sun Life Building,” in Proc. Symposium on Simulation in Architecture and Urban Design (SimAUD 2016), London, UK, 2016, pp. 4-7.
  8. M. Leflar, O. Hesham, and C. Joslin, “Use of High Dynamic Range Images for Improved Medical Simulations,” in Modelling the Physiological Human, Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2009, pp. 199-208.

Education

  • Ph.D. Electrical & Computer Engineering — Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada, 2019
  • M.Sc. Information & Systems Science — Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada, 2012
  • B.I.T. Interactive Multimedia & Design, with Distinction — Carleton University & Algonquin College, Ottawa, Canada, 2009

Research

Ph.D. Electrical and Computer Engineering (2013-2019)

Advanced Real-time Simulation Lab, Carleton University

  • Modeling crowd and pedestrian dynamics using the Discrete Event System Specification (DEVS).
  • Developed desktop simulation and web visualization tools.
  • Dissertation: Centroidal Particle Dynamics: An Explicit Model of Pedestrian Personal Space for the Simulation of Short-Range Collision-Avoidance and Emergent Motion Patterns in Dense Crowds.
  • Research homepage: https://omarhesham.com/arslab/

M.Sc. Information and Systems Science (2009-2011)

School of Information Technology, Carleton University

  • Dissertation: Fast Meshless Simulation of Anisotropic Tearing in Elastic Solids.
  • Partially funded by Ontario Research Fund - Research Excellence Grant (2009-2011).
  • VoroDyn: a novel Voronoi-based implicit collision detection simulation of thick fluids and granular materials on limited mobile devices, written in Java and OpenGL.
  • Supervised several experiment runs for fellow Cognitive Science PhD students (2010-2011).

Academic Service

Scientific committee member or primary reviewer for the following publications:

  • Symposium on Simulation for Architecture and Urban Design (SIMAUD 2018).
  • Winter Simulation Conference (WSC 2017).
  • Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory (SIMPAT) Special Issue on Agent-based Modeling, Elsevier. June 2017.

Assisted various committee members as secondary reviewer for the following publications:

  • ACM SIGSIM Conference on Principles of Advanced Discrete Simulation (SIGSIM PADS 2017).
  • IEEE Conference on Enabling Technologies: Infrastructure for Collaborative Enterprises (WETICE 2016).
  • International Conference on Cellular Automata for Research and Industry (ACRI 2016).
  • Winter Simulation Conference (WSC 2016).
  • IEEE International Symposium on Network Computing and Applications (NCA 2016).
  • Summer Solstice International Conference on Discrete Models of Complex Systems (SSIC 2015).
  • Computer Graphics International (CGI 2012).

Teaching

Teaching Assistant - (2013 - 2017)

Department of Systems and Computer Engineering, Carleton University.

CourseTitleSemesterInstructor
SYSC 3601Microprocessor Systems: Intel x862017 WinterDr. Ramy Gohary
SYSC 3006Computer Organization: ARM Microarchitecture2016 FallDr. Ramy Gohary
SYSC 3303Real-time Concurrent Systems2016 WinterDr. Lynn Marshall
SYSC 3006Computer Organization: ARM Microarchitecture2015 FallDr. Trevor Pearce
SYSC 3303Real-time Concurrent Systems (Java)2015 WinterDr. Mohamed Ibrahim
IMD 40033D Computer Animation2014 FallDr. Chris Joslin
IMD 30023D Computer Graphics (C++)2014 WinterDr. Chris Joslin
SYSC 3006Computer Organization: x86 Assembly2013 SummerMr. Graham Eatherley

Instructor - IMD4005 (Winter 2013)

School of Information Technology, Carleton University.

  • Designed and taught a new course on procedural computer graphics at the senior undergraduate level.
  • Topics included generative design and behavioural swarm animation.
  • Course load included lectures, labs, and term projects.

Completed Carleton EDC Training Workshops

  • Supporting and Accommodating Students with Disabilities
  • Managing Challenging Teaching Situations

Honours & Awards

  • Outstanding Contribution in Reviewing — Elsevier Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory (2017)
  • Bernard Pagurek & Murray Woodside Award (2017)
  • Carleton EDC Outstanding TA Award nominee (2016-2017).
  • Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS, 2010-11 and 2016-17)
  • Queen Elizabeth II Graduate Scholarship in Science & Technology (QEII-GSST, 2015-16)
  • Dr. Roger Kaye Memorial Scholarship for Ontario Students (2015-16)
  • Carleton EDC Outstanding TA Award nominee (2015-2016).
  • Carleton Graduate Scholarship (2013-2016)
  • Carleton Entrance Scholarship (2005-2009)
  • CU Deans' Honour List (2005-2009).
  • Cambridge ICE Award (2005)

References

Patrick St-Amant

Founder & CTO,
Zetane Systems Inc.

We worked together at Zetane · 2018-2026

patrick [at] zetane.com
https://zetane.com

Ramy H. Gohary

Associate Professor,
Systems and Computer Engineering,
Carleton University

I was TA for his courses · 2016-2017

gohary [at] sce.carleton.ca
https://carleton.ca/sce/people/gohary/