Conrad Whelan

Founding Engineer, Uber

Conrad Whelan was part of Uber’s founding team, joining in 2010 as its first full-time engineer. He built the backend infrastructure and dispatch algorithm that matched riders with drivers — the core technology that defined the service and remained in place through to its IPO. He later moved into management, building and leading engineering teams in analytics infrastructure and international product development.

In 2022, he became the Founding CTO of Nillion, a decentralized computing company that entered live deployment in 2025, and he continues to contribute to its long-term vision as a member of the Technical Committee of the Nillion Foundation. He also serves on the board of PK Sound, a company pushing the boundaries of robotic loudspeaker technology.

Conrad began his career as a technical lead at a startup developing computational electromagnetics software, building on research from his Master’s in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Calgary.

Outside of work, he is an avid traveler, skier and gamer, and an enthusiastic reader with a curiosity that spans everything from technology to the arts.