SwiftKey is an innovative start-up that creates world class language technology. Our vision is to apply this technology to a wide range of challenging real-world language problems, achieving lasting market leadership and changing people’s lives for the better.
In four years, SwiftKey has evolved from an idea to an exciting, successful business. In 2008, SwiftKey’s co-founder and CEO Jon Reynolds was a 22-year-old graduate trainee in the British government. As smartphones began to gain popularity, he noticed that many of his colleagues were struggling to type on tiny keyboards, which he dubbed “shrinking typewriters”.
Convinced this was a problem he could help solve, he enlisted SwiftKey co-founder and CTO Dr Ben Medlock, a friend from Cambridge University with a doctorate in language-based artificial intelligence.
The pair worked on a prototype intelligent touchscreen keyboard which in turn became the alpha version of SwiftKey. From there the business grew rapidly, and in addition to creating one of Android’s most popular apps, the SwiftKey team also works with well-known manufacturers, healthcare organizations and other enterprises.
Headquartered in a three-story office in Southwark, central London, SwiftKey now also has offices in San Francisco, New York, Beijing and Seoul. The company is known as SwiftKey, due to the success of its flagship product. SwiftKey is a registered trademark of TouchType Ltd.
Find out who’s who behind the scenes at our growing tech startup and what they enjoy about life at SwiftKey.
I help set strategy and direction for company, help create the right culture and environment for the business, make sure the right things are happening across the business, manage relationships with investors and key customers.
MA, Natural Sciences (Physics), University of Cambridge; Advanced Diploma in Management Accountancy, CIMA.
None.
I am responsible for overseeing the product/technology side of the business, for driving innovation and establishing and promoting our company vision.
Computer science at Durham, followed by an MPhil and PhD at Cambridge in applied natural language processing.
My music is currently being played in clothing stores in eastern Europe.
At SwiftKey, helping the company get where it is today. Before that, contributing to the launch of Orange.
University of Westminster, Inns of Court School of Law, Bristol University, Kings College London.
Brilliant people.
I am responsible for managing finance, strategic and commercial business matters.
BA Geography and Archeology, Southampton University; ACA – Chartered Accountant as a professional qualification.
I worked as an independent business consultant with a number of VC-backed businesses. Before then I worked for 9 years in a leading UK Private Equity investment business working with growth business across a range of sectors.
I am responsible for all our commercial and business development activities. This primarily means I work with licensees of our software and other stakeholders in the mobile sector.
BSc Managerial and Administrative Studies, University of Aston.
I have worked in a range of mobile and web start-ups and businesses, including kgb, Texperts, 118118, Convergys and Unisys.
I take overall responsibility for the company’s marketing, community, consumer insight and comms strategies.
MA, Law, University of Cambridge; MPA, Public Policy and American Institutions, Brown University.
I worked as a writer and editor for News Corporation’s newswire service NewsCore, as part of its founding team. Before that, I was an online producer for Sky News, where I covered news and helped drive technical innovation.
I manage a portfolio of areas including office infrastructure and operations, recruitment, and human resources. I’m also guardian of our risk register and responsible for making us a great place to work – no pressure, then!
Chemistry, Imperial College; Economics, London School of Economics (LSE).
As a teenager, I had breakdancing lessons!
I am responsible for the product portfolio including requirements, roadmap and market opportunities.
Bachelor of Business Administration with specializations in marketing and information technology, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada.
I took a gymnastics class last year and learned how-to do a proper handstand.
I’m responsible for making sure as many people as possible can use our technology!
Information Systems, Kingston Polytechnic.
Pascal, Z80 Assembler.
I head up the core software engineering teams which develop SwiftKey’s software technology and products.
Computer Science, Leicester.
An inveterate collector – books, guitars, bonsai, keys, Japanese minature sculpture, world-class software engineers.
My team is responsible for successful integration of our technology into our customers’ platforms and devices.
Computer Science, Tietgen Skolen, Odense, Denmark.
Working with really talented people on a unique, groundbreaking technology.
I manage our growing Language Team.
PhD, Computer Science, University of Cambridge; MSc and BSc, Computer Science, Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS), Brazil.
I love the friendly atmosphere, everyone is helpful and willing to exchange ideas and explain their part of the work. I also appreciate the text prediction technology that we build – we are always coming up with new ideas of how to make it solve new problems.
Ben, our CTO, is responsible for what we build. I’m responsible for ensuring that we build it right.
DPhil in Natural Sciences (Mathematics and Computing) at Durham followed by a PhD in Computer Science looking at languages for parallel and distributed programming at York.
When not programming, I spend most of my time motor-racing.
I build stuff.
Computer Science at Sunderland University
There’s something secret in the works that I’m planning on being proud of…
Software Engineer with the client-facing Professional Services team.
Computing at Imperial College London.
Undergraduate at Imperial College London.
I have responsibility for the company’s financial strategy, management and operations, driving shareholder value and ensuring the company is well positioned to continue its phenomenal growth.
I hold an MBA from London Business School, a BSc in Management Science from UMIST and I’m a Chartered Accountant (ACA) having qualified with PwC.
I am a software engineer working on SwiftKey Healthcare.
I studied at the University of Malaga, Spain.
I like developing fun stuff (like video games or tinkering with electronics), custom motorcycles and jamming on drums/guitar with friends.
I am one of the team of core software engineers.
Computer Science, University of Cambridge; I also tacked a year of the undergrad-level Management Studies Tripos onto the end.
I am determined to one day play a recognisable rendition of a Rodrigo y Gabriela track on my guitar.
I am responsible for the day-to-day finance operations of the business such as monthly accounts, invoicing, budgeting, expenses, etc.
Natural Sciences at Cambridge, specializing in Chemistry.
The relaxed and friendly atmosphere, plus the fact that there is always something new happening.
I work on SwiftKey.
Computer Science and Mathematics at the University of Bath.
Some basic Spanish and French.
I’m a software engineer with the SDK team, developing SwiftKey’s prediction engine.
Computer Science MEng at the University of Warwick.
I’m new so it’s too early to say.
I am part of the team extending the number of languages SwiftKey supports.
Computer Science BSc and Communication and Media, Engineer, at Timisoara Polytechnic University, Romania; Internet Technologies, Scholarship at Oulu University of Applied Sciences, Finland.
C/C++, Java, PHP, Unix shell scripting, JavaScript. Some exposure to: Python, Android, R.
I work with clients as part of our Professional Services team.
I studied Telecommunication Engineering at the Technical University of Madrid (UPM) and I did my final degree project at Queen Mary, University of London, as an Erasmus student.
Spanish is my native language.
I lead the technical side of the work by the Professional Services team.
Computer Science, University of Bristol
Not yet – come and ask me again soon!
I work on a range of projects.
University of Surrey (MSc, PhD student, research fellow) since 2006.
Mandarin (native).
I work on SwiftKey.
Computer Science at the University of Southampton, Maritime Navigation at Southampton Solent University
Mostly Java and C/C++/Objective-C, I used JavaScript, Python and SQL before.
I am a language engineer working on SwiftKey.
BSc and MSc in Computing in my native Romania, PhD in Computational Linguistics, University of Wolverhampton.
I’ve worked in academic research ever since getting my PhD. My last position was with the Open University.
I work with our clients as part of the Professional Services team.
English at the University of Reading.
None.
I look at all aspects of what customers are doing, from how many downloads we are getting and what proportion of trial users are upgrading right through to what they are saying about us on Twitter and in our VIP Community.
Genetics then a PhD in Molecular Biology at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology, University of Cambridge.
I’m very attached to my Alot mug.
This is difficult to define. I’ve done a lot of different stuff!
MEng in Computer Systems and Software Engineering with a year in industry, University of York.
Gujarati with family. Basic Spanish and German. Also some French. And I understand little bits of Slovak.
I am responsible for identifying how to turn revenue from our technology from millions to billions!
Law at Selwyn College, Cambridge University.
I was interviewed live on BBC News on the morning I got my A-Level results.
I am a bridge between the languages and SwiftKey team eg working on the Chinese UI – Wei and Leilei do the clever stuff and I make it appear on screen. I also work on OEM integrations.
BA Computer Science, Cambridge University. PhD Cambridge University Engineering Department. I’m also a Chartered Engineer and a professional-level member of BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT.
I’ve never worked with such a talented group of people.
I’m responsible for managing our internal and external IT services as well as playing a role in forming the infrastructure of new and existing projects.
Computer Science, University of Sunderland.
Not yet, mostly I’ve been working on remapping our existing processes into something more IT-centric and resolving day to day issues.
I work to integrate SwiftKey’s technology with our clients on new and exciting devices.
I went to Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh.
Not yet… I’ve just started.
I am a software engineer working on SwiftKey.
Masters in Computer Science, from the University of the Basque Country (EHU) in Spain; Masters in Software Engineering – from Ecole d’ingénieurs en informatique (EPITA) in Paris, France.
The talented people you work with and the continuous challenge.
I’m responsible for our big data storage and processing.
BA Mathematics and Philosophy at Jesus College, Cambridge.
At Cambridge studying Philosophy!
I offer technical support for customers in Korea for the Professional Services team.
Chemical engineering in Keimyung University in Korea.
Korean.
I’m working with the Professional Services team in Korea supporting some of our major clients.
I studied Computer Engineering and Chemical Engineering at Hongik University in Seoul, Korea.
Java, C/C++ and some kinds of Javascrip (Sencha, JQuery).
I am in charge of the business development of SwiftKey Healthcare in the US market.
Bachelor of Science in Marketing from Penn State University.
Just being part of such a great team.
I work on the core prediction engine that underlies SwiftKey’s great predictions.
MEng, Engineering, University of Cambridge.
At home, I’m trying to build my own (kit) car – not making huge progress so far, but it is a fun challenge!
I am a project manager for the Professional Services team.
Computer Programming Diploma, Israel Defence Forces Programming School (Mamram).
I spent two years in South Carolina, US working on my golf game. Plus the ’Remember The Milk’ app rules my life…
I look after our VIP forum, addressing feedback, answering queries and making sure the teams of developers understand what matters most to our invaluable community.
I started university but ultimately decided it wasn’t for me.
I wouldn’t trade my current life for the world. I love what I do. It is truly both an honor and a privilege to represent our user-base to the very best of my ability.
I work on the client side of SwiftKey.
Computer Science in the University of Málaga.
My Solar System 3D model running in a GPU instead of a CPU.
As Head of IP, I look after our patents and other intellectual property.
MEng in Software Engineering at the University of Southampton.
I’ve built things using a few different languages, but I’m probably most familiar with JavaScript and Java.
I am the tech lead for the SwiftKey servers team.
BS and MS in Computer Science, University of Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
Romanian (native), German (beginner).
My job involves diary planning, travel arrangements and helping Min the Office Manager with the general running of the office, as well as lots of other random things…
I studied BSc Development Economics at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS).
I worked as a chiropractic assistant.
I am a software engineer in the Complex Languages team. I look into various techniques we can use to improve upon languages that are linguistically rich.
DPhil in Mathematics, Oxford University; MASt in Mathematics, Cambridge University; BSc in Mathematics and Physics, Seoul National University.
I have just started so I don’t have one yet at SwiftKey. Among previous projects, I am proud of my work at Google and my PhD project.
I am the commercial manager for SwiftKey’s office in Korea.
BS and MS in Computer Engineering, Seoul National University in Korea.
A cloud service company.
I’ve just joined the languages team to build language models and utilities for some new languages.
I did my first BA and MA degree in India where I grew up, both in Information Technology and Computer Application. Then an MPhil in Advanced Computer Science from Cambridge University.
I like all animals from a distance and am really scared of dogs!
I work on SwiftKey and the SwiftKey SDK.
BSc Computer Science, King’s College London.
I can’t stand bananas.
I am a software engineer and am responsible for leading development projects in the SwiftKey Team.
BA (Hons) Geography (focusing on social and economic geography), UCL, University of London; MSc Computing Science from Birkbeck College, University of London.
I like Emacs and coffee.
I am responsible for building our business outside the consumer market.
MEng, Manufacturing Engineering, Cambridge University.
Norwegian, pidgin Chinese, schoolboy Latin.
I’m part of the Professional Services team and work with our clients.
Computer Science BSc Hons, University of Warwick; Neuroinformatics MSc, University of Edinburgh; Neuroinformatics PhD, University of Edinburgh.
Software Developer at IBM.
I’m a member of the SwiftKey server team – currently working on the personalization servers.
MEng computing, Imperial College.
C#, Java, Ruby, PHP, Clojure, JavaScript.
I work on the core prediction technology that sits behind our SwiftKey products.
MA Computer Science, Cambridge University.
Basic French and Spanish.
I lead the Complex Languages team, ensuring SwiftKey has equally high performance throughout the range of supported languages.
I studied at Tampere University of Technology in Finland. My major was Digital Signal Processing and minor Biomedical Engineering.
C, C++, Python, Perl
I work as part of the Languages team.
MSc Speech and Language Processing, University of Edinburgh; MSc Computer Engineering, University of Technologie of Compiègne, France.
A lot of Python for NLP. Then some C, C++ and a few others.
I am an engineer with the Professional Services team.
BSc Computer Engineering, University of Manchester; MSc Advanced Computer Science, University of Manchester.
It will be a product I am proud of; it will be a new challenge so I am excited.
HR Assistant – involved in day to day general Human Resources remit.
I have a few different HR qualifications, including a Masters in HR from Dublin Business School, accredited by John Moore’s University.
None… Although when I was 10, I did create a small website using some html code taught to me by my sister.
I am responsible for language models and utilities for Asian languages, such as Chinese, Vietnamese and Thai.
PhD in Computer Science, University of Kent; MSc in Software Engineering, University of York; BSc in Computer Science, Heilongjiang University, China.
I hold the strong belief that digitalization will change/improve human life.
I am research engineer with the SwiftKey languages team.
Informatics BSc in Tallinn University of Technology; MPhil in Computer Speech, Text and Internet Technology, in University of Cambridge; Just finished a PhD in Cambridge.
My PhD thesis and work on distributional semantic models.
I work with our clients to help them integrate and customize the SwiftKey products.
MSc Robotics and Embedded Systems, University of Essex and BSc Computing Science, University of East Anglia / Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada.
Young and dynamic environment.
I work on various parts which make SwiftKey tick, amongst other projects.
BSc in Computer Science at the University of Edinburgh.
The UK is the third country that I’ve lived in.
I’m part of the development team.
Masters, Mathematics, University of Oxford. After a stint in the software industry I went back to school to get an MSc in Computational Statistics and Machine Learning.
Keen amateur chef, eager for space to expand a collection of obscure musical instruments…
I work on SwiftKey.
Computer Science at the University of Oxford.
I like basketball and satire (but not at the same time…).
I am a software engineer and the company’s test architect.
PhD in software validation and verification from University College London. MA and BA in computer engineering from the University of Bologna, Italy.
Java, Scala, Python, Javascript.
I make sure everything runs smoothly in the office.
I studied Politics at Smith, MA, USA and I read philosophy at Lucy Cavendish college, University of Cambridge.
It is a multicultural and international company and I like the company’s pioneering mindset.
I work with Brandon Mensinga on product management.
Engineering at Cambridge University many years ago followed more recently by an Open University MBA
I was product manager for a British TV Set Top Box design sold into Shanghai Telecom in competition with local Chinese vendors.
I work together with our developers to design, prototype and evaluate new features. I also run user studies and analyse user feedback to improve our users’ experience.
MA in Linguistics, University of Athens. MSc in Speech and Language Processing, University of Edinburgh, PhD in Natural Language Processing, University of Edinburgh.
Command line Linux and Perl for scripting.
I’m a software engineer working on SwiftKey.
MEng Information Systems Engineering, Imperial College London.
Creating “My typing heatmap”.
As Marketing Coordinator, my role involves planning for awards, conferences and company events.
BSc Sociology at the London School of Economics (LSE).
None.
I work on the SwiftKey SDK.
BSc in Computer Science at University College, Cork; PhD in Computer Science, University of Edinburgh.
I’m pretty sure I’m the only Paidi Creed in the world or, at least, I’m the only one who shows up on Google!
I direct the technical design and implementation of the SwiftKey Android app.
MA/MSci Natural Sciences, Girton College, Cambridge; MSc Computation, Wadham College, Oxford.
None, unless a smattering of school French counts.
I am responsible for how we communicate to the outside world – our media coverage, events, web presence, social media and comms strategy.
Social and Political Sciences, University of Cambridge; Post-graduate diploma in Newspaper Journalism, City University, London.
School French…
I deal with customer queries and also help with marketing and general office admin/errands.
BA, Study of Religions at SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies).
None.
I work on B2B and enterprise marketing, for example for SwiftKey Healthcare.
French and Classics at Oxford University.
Innovation Days – plus I traveled to Spain and the US within weeks of joining.
I am leading a small team of data and software engineers. We are looking into large scale data processing and analysis using novel techniques like cloud computing and Hadoop.
PhD in machine learning and natural language processing, University of Bristol. Degree in business informatics and information management, Technische Universität Ilmenau, Germany, then information systems and computer science, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Brazil.
Nebula – our language processing pipeline in the cloud which allows us to build language models from datasets which are hundreds of gigabytes or even terabytes.
I am a software engineer in the SwiftKey SDK team.
PhD, Computer Science at the University of Manchester.
I’ve only recently joined so I’ll find out in due course!
I look after UI issues, keyboard layouts, internationalization and general SwiftKey stuff.
BA Business Studies, University of Plymouth; currently studying BSc Physics at the Open University.
UI Engineer for Taptu, a mobile search engine, and before that, Qualcomm in Cambridge and San Diego.
I am SwiftKey Multi-Platform Team Leader.
Computer Science at North Staffs Poly.
Nothing specific yet.
I’m a software developer in the SwiftKey SDK team.
Undergraduate in Maths at Warwick University and a Masters in Computing at Imperial College, London.
Very basic French and German.
I am a SwiftKey client-side developer.
Computing – BEng at Imperial College London.
The generally chilled out environment of the office (I mean the people, not the air con).
I work on the SwiftKey SDK team.
Mathematics at the University of Birmingham.
There isn’t a specific example.
I’m a software engineer working on the SwiftKey SDK.
BSc Computer Science, University of St Andrews.
Autonomy.
I am currently an intern with the SwiftKey languages team.
I’ve recently applied for Uni and hope to get into one of the following – Bath (business administration), Oxford (economics and management) or Warwick (management).
So many reasons! Experiencing what it feels like to be in a rapidly growing and innovative start-up business like SwiftKey!
I’m a software developer for SwiftKey the app.
Computer Science at the University of Sheffield.
I’ve toured Europe with my band Pocket Satellite.
I work with the Languages team.
MSc Software Systems in Sheffield University, BEng in Computing from China.
I’m currently No 1 in the staff table tennis ladder.
I am a software engineer, mainly responsible for Japanese language processing.
Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning at Keio University, Tokyo.
Japanese (native), Chinese (beginner).
Innovative, friendly and creative, SwiftKey is a fast-moving technology company that invests in its staff and its workplaces. Flexible hours, monthly Innovation Days and team socials (from boat trips to theater visits) are among the features that set us apart.
"I like helping people. That sounds cheesy but most people that work in a sales role are encouraged by money. I am fuelled by clients telling me they are happy with the service or product that I gave them. My satisfaction is directly tied to their happiness."Doug
"The people here are amazing and the management team go above and beyond what is required to take care of staff."Craig
"The best thing about SwiftKey? Building things that blow people's minds."Ben
"I'm surrounded by incredibly capable people who simply want to innovate."Joe
"No two days are ever the same. That, and there's table tennis..."Lucy
"You're the luckiest people in the world, you've got the best jobs."Stephen Fry
"The best part is working with awesome people on hard problems to make people's everyday lives better."Chet
"Exciting stuff happens all the time and I'm always learning something new."Martin
