Hi, I'm Margaret!

I am a software engineer based in New York and originally from Silicon Valley, with a background in fintech, quantitative finance, and pure finance. I currently work at a fintech startup with a focus on payments and card issuing, and before that worked on low-latency algorithms at a high-frequency trading firm in Chicago. In my free time, I enjoy taking pictures, traveling, hiking, and eating my way around New York (find me on Yelp!).

Work Experience

Lithic

October 2021 - Present

New York, NY

Senior Software Engineer

  • Working on some exciting payments features... stay up to date through Lithic's LinkedIn!
  • Architected and built multiple services from scratch that play critical roles in tracking and executing money movement. These are now owned and maintained across different teams.

IMC

August 2019 - September 2021

Chicago, IL

Software Engineer, Index and Fixed Income Trading Desks

  • Collaborated with hardware engineers and traders to design, implement, and test various trading algorithms. Contributions had a direct impact on trading profit-and-loss.
  • Managed two summer interns in-person on a project to add more fine-grained controls to a low-latency trading algorithm.
  • Drove project to automate a tedious testing process in our staging environment, reducing time taken from several days to less than one.

DataBeyond

August 2018 - October 2018

Palo Alto, CA

Front-End Software Engineer Intern

  • Wireframe and program front-end of Murray Research, a website that tracks the performance and credibility of cryptocurrency startups with regard to product quality, team transparency, background of team and advisors, public opinion on online forums, etc.
  • Combats widespread issue of fraudulent entrepreneurs who market their blockchain startups heavily to potential clients and investors but abandon the startups after cashing in on Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs).
  • Tools used: NodeBB, Balsamiq Mockups 3, React

Bank of America Merrill Lynch

June 2018 - August 2018

New York, NY

Investment Banking Summer Analyst, Mergers & Acquisitions

  • Worked on sell-side and buy-side deals across healthcare, industrials, natural resources and consumer/retail.
  • Assisted with financial modeling and auditing, client calls, fee runs, data room tracking and buyers' logs.
  • Prepared pitch books for bake-offs and activism defense advisory meetings with clients.
  • Built model for hypothetical acquisition, including standalone, discounted cash flow, weighted average cost of capital, football field and pro forma statement.

The Floor

June 2017 - August 2017

Tel Aviv, Israel

FinTech Summer Analyst

  • Researched the application of blockchain technology to securities lending for the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.
  • Tracked cryptocurrency prices and started personal investment portfolio, with >2600% growth year-to-date.
  • Authored 30-page white paper on Asia’s fintech industry, published at the opening of the Hong Kong office.
  • Coordinate schedules of bank delegations for the company's one-year anniversary celebration, attended by over 350 guests.

Stanford University

June 2016 - August 2016

Stanford, CA

Research Intern, Human-Robot Interaction

  • Assisted post-docs with two studies under the Human-Robot Interaction Lab and the Center for Design Research.
  • Using C and C++, programmed vibration patterns of motors that were inserted into a car seat to examine what actions the vibration patterns influenced test subjects to take in a simulated driving environment.
  • Modeled biometric data (e.g. skin temperature, heart rate) for 40 human subjects using R and Python.
  • Conducted pilot studies, trained PhD candidates to run these studies and amended experiment protocol.
  • Spoke on behalf of post-docs at meetings with supervisors and equipment experts during post-doc absences.

Projects

YakStack

Social networks rely on an increasingly outdated structure in which a trusted middleman, in the form of remote servers, stores and manages all user data. However, this middleman is the prime target for cyberattacks, and millions of users have lost confidential information to hackers who have breached these servers. Built on top of the blockchain, YakStack is a decentralized revival of the once-popular Yik Yak that leverages localization of data to guarantee 1) security, 2) transparency and 3) individual ownership of information.

What I did:

  • Designed and implemented front-end and back-end of web application on top of the blockchain.
  • Ran tests to ensure efficient data retrieval latency.

Blockstack

Vue.js

Firebase

Bootstrap

Blockstack ID registration

User authentication

Anonymous posting and voting

Comet

Ever tried to stick to your New Year's resolutions but failed? Ever told yourself that you would visit the gym every weekend or attend that class you always skipped, but never made it out of your bed on time? It happens to the best of us. Comet is a location-based calendar app that helps you track your comet-ments and establish healthy habits. Simply input your schedule of events or tasks and where they're based, and Comet will measure your attendance throughout the week. A dynamic constellation visualizes your attendance streak and helps you gauge how comet-ed you are to your goals.

What I did:

  • Designed UI and programmed front-end of constellation theme.
  • Built search autocomplete and location services.

React Native

Native Base

Firebase

Photoshop

User registration & login

Dynamic constellation

Modifiable schedule

Visual statistics

Pass the Aux

Wherever music is playing, from a coffee shop to a house party, it comes from a speaker that is connected to one person's phone. Whoever holds this device dictates the playlist, leading to minor arguments or scuffles over who controls the next song. Pass the Aux is a web application that pioneers the concept of the democratic playlist. Rather than having one person decide the playlist, Pass the Aux generates a collaborative queue on which anyone (who has access via QR code) can request songs or vote on song requests. Whichever song is played next is determined by the number of upvotes it receives.

What I did:

  • Developed and presented business model for Spotify-like streaming service.
  • Prototyped front-end of website and back-end architecture of playlist storage and retrieval.

Education

Princeton University

B.S.E. Computer Science

GPA 3.57

June 2019

University of Edinburgh

January 2018 - May 2018

Palo Alto High School

June 2015

Skills

Languages: Java, Python

Tools: AWS, Airflow, Pulumi, Kafka, Github CI/CD, Snowflake, Postgres, Retool

Photography: Lightroom

Design: Photoshop, InDesign

College Extracurriculars

Entrepreneurship Club, HackPrinceton

Head of Operations

October 2016 - December 2017

Led team responsible for back-end logistics of multi-day hackathon with >600 attendees, including but not limited to:

  • Bus transportation of international students
  • Overnight housing in campus dorms
  • Hiring and compensation of engineering lab teacher assistants
  • Hardware equipment rental
  • Van transportation of bulk goods
  • Presence of safety personnel

Priorities Committee

Student Representative

October 2016 - May 2017

Was one of four undergraduate representatives on the university budget advisory council to President Christopher Eisgruber. Contributed thoughts on 2017-18 operating budget, including tuition increases and financial aid (see report).

Picture Perfect Photography Agency

Event Photographer

September 2016 - May 2019

For-hire photographer at campus events, selected based on portfolio and interview. View organization website here.

Innovation: Science & Technology

Head of Initiatives, Member of Design Team

January 2016 - December 2017

Led team responsible for organizing large campus events, including Innovation magazine launch party and 25 Under 25 gala. Designed posters and layout of magazine articles.

Society of Women Engineers

Membership Chair

January 2016 - September 2017

Coordinated with faculty, vendors, and club officers to organize monthly study breaks and member-only events.

University Glee Club & Chamber Choir

Soprano II / Alto I

September 2015 - May 2019

The Glee Club is Princeton's oldest and largest choir, which performs internationally and on campus. Chamber Choir is a select group of up to 40 singers that requires a high level of musicianship and performs on and off campus.