Tempest's blog
Tao Ren (Tempest)Published Updated 4 min read

Tempest (Tao Ren)

Senior Full-stack Software Engineer | Founder | Researcher

Email: tar118@pitt.edu

Website: https://tempest.fun

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/taoren-pitt/

GitHub: https://github.com/tempest2023

Summary

Senior full-stack software engineer with experience across AI agents, production product systems, startup execution, and applied research. I work best in high-ambiguity environments where product sense, system design, and rapid execution all matter at once. My recent work spans insurance AI, founder-led product development, Generative UI, and structure-aware code generation research.

Core Skills

  • Languages: JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, Java, C++, SQL, HTML5, CSS3/Less
  • Frontend: React, Next.js, React Native, Vue, Tailwind CSS, Redux, Webpack, Vite
  • Backend: Node.js, Express.js, Koa.js, Flask, Django, Tornado, REST APIs, GraphQL
  • Data and Infra: PostgreSQL, MySQL, Redis, Docker, AWS, Vercel, Linux, Git
  • Focus Areas: AI agents, full-stack product systems, workflow automation, Generative UI, low-code platforms

Experience

Newfront

Senior Full-stack Software Engineer

10.2025-Present

  1. Build internal insurance AI systems focused on agent-assisted workflows, high-trust product UX, and production software for complex broker operations.
  2. Contribute to the Placement AI Agent initiative, translating domain-heavy insurance workflows into practical human-in-the-loop software systems.
  3. Help shape product and engineering execution during Newfront's next phase of growth, including its acquisition by WTW on January 27, 2026.

Tira AI

Co-Founder

06.2025-08.2025

  1. Co-founded an AI-native execution startup with Sam Liu, a UC Berkeley alumnus, and drove product architecture, implementation, and founder-led GTM.
  2. Earned top-10% feedback in YC S25 and built traction through conversations with PearX, Berkeley SkyDeck, Techstars, Antler, 500 Global, Afore, Kindred Ventures, and other early-stage investors and founder programs.
  3. Developed the product and fundraising narrative around AI-native execution workflows and full-stack software systems.

TikTok

Software Engineer, Social and User Relations

Prior to 10.2025

  1. Worked on user social interaction features and product systems in a large-scale consumer platform environment.
  2. Contributed to software experiences where product quality, reliability, and iteration speed all mattered at scale.

University of Pittsburgh

Research Assistant, Full-stack Engineer

08.2021-Present

  1. Worked in Dr. Dan Ding's Human Engineering Research Laboratories on disability rehabilitation systems involving Apple Watch, Fitbit, and cloud-based information platforms.
  2. Built research software across data collection, analysis, visualization, and rehabilitation training using React, React Native, Node.js, MySQL, Redis, and AWS.
  3. Helped develop a modular low-code platform that enabled researchers and partner organizations to assemble customized rehabilitation applications for different study designs and device setups.

Ansys

Full-stack Software Engineer Intern, Digital Twin

05.2022-08.2022

  1. Developed a Twin Deployer application with Python Tornado, TypeScript, Vue, Quasar, Electron, and Swagger for modeling and simulation workflows.
  2. Helped move the application from Electron-centric file operations toward browser-compatible workflows for broader deployment across operating environments.
  3. Built frontend components, APIs, and backend data models for project import, library management, and web-based execution.

Ant Group / Alibaba

Software Development Engineer, Alipay Mobile Technology

07.2020-06.2021

  1. Led development of a low-code build platform for dynamic financial shop templates using React, Redux, Ant Design, Less, and Node.js.
  2. Built live-streaming components and backend services for Alipay Financial Live, supporting financial product promotion at meaningful business scale.
  3. Migrated platform infrastructure to OceanBase and improved service quality, performance, and operational reliability.

Selected Projects

AgentShelf

GitHub: https://github.com/tempest2023/AgentShelf

A GEO Readiness Console built during a recent hackathon to explore how Generative UI can make agent-user interaction visible, inspectable, and operational for commerce teams.

Concise MarkDown Blog

GitHub: https://github.com/tempest2023/ConciseMarkDownBlog

A markdown-driven personal website framework built with React and designed for quick authoring, easy deployment, and content-first presentation.

Influ Agent

Website: https://influagent.tempest.fun/

An AI multi-agent system for creator and social growth workflows.

Publications and Research

  • TreeDiff: AST-Guided Code Generation with Diffusion LLMs. Accepted to SURGeLLM at ACL 2026.
  • RED: Adaptive Real-Time DAG Scheduling for Robotic Inference under Environmental Dynamics. Under review at ACM Transactions on Embedded Computing Systems.
  • Bridging the Editing Gap in LLMs: FineEdit for Precise and Targeted Text Modifications. Findings of EMNLP 2025. https://aclanthology.org/2025.findings-emnlp.118/
  • Infant Agent: A Tool-Integrated, Logic-Driven Agent with Cost-Effective API Usage. https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.01114
  • RED: A Systematic Real-Time Scheduling Approach for Robotic Environmental Dynamics. RTSS 2023. https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/10405986

Education

University of Pittsburgh

Master of Science in Information Science

08.2021-04.2023

Southern University of Science and Technology

Bachelor of Engineering, Computer Science and Technology

09.2016-07.2020