Dave Elder
Principal Graphics Engineer at Bit Reactor, LLC
Enumclaw, Washington, United States
Summary
👤
Senior🎓
Top SchoolDave Elder is a Principal Graphics Engineer with over a decade in the game industry and a Ph.D. in Cognitive and Neural Systems, blending deep research into GPU-based neural networks with hands-on rendering engine leadership. He has led graphics architecture and performance work across major studios—CCP, Tripwire, Sucker Punch, Hi-Rez, and Deviation—shipping titles from Killing Floor 2 to Ghost of Tsushima and enabling next-gen features like DLSS integration, forward-lit skin shading, and efficient SSAO for forward renderers. Known for squeezing CPU and GPU performance out of consoles and PC alike, he has re-architected scene renderers, optimized shadow systems, and implemented async/compute and checkerboard techniques for high-res output. Comfortable both directing teams and shipping low-level engine code, he bridges tools, middleware integration, and production graphics pipelines. Based in Enumclaw, WA, he now leads graphics efforts at Bit Reactor/Bit Reactor LLC while quietly working on unannounced projects that leverage his uncommon combination of academic GPU research and practical real-time rendering experience.
11 years of coding experience
21 years of employment as a software developer
BA Computer Science / Philosophy, BA Computer Science / Philosophy at Rhodes CollegePhD Cognitive and Neural Systems, PhD Cognitive and Neural Systems at Boston University
Github Skills (22)
graphic10
directx10
debugging9
glsl9
vulkan9
windows9
graphics-programming9
opengl9
direct3d9
slang9
hlsl9
cpp8
renderdoc8
rendering8
shader7
Programming languages (2)
Github contributions (5)
DrGr4f1x/raytracing-cpp
Apr 2018 - May 2018
Contributions:6 releases, 44 commits, 36 pushes in 1 month
DrGr4f1x/Luna
Nov 2024 - Mar 2026
Contributions:265 pushes, 1 branch in 1 year 4 months
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