about

Stephan Eckes

Rust · Realtime audio · AI inference

I build realtime audio and machine learning systems in Rust. Currently in the Rust ML Runtime team at Fractile in London. Before that I was the founding engineer at ai-coustics, where I designed a neural network inference engine and cross-platform SDK for speech enhancement.

Experience

Software Engineer

Oct 2026 - Present

Fractile Ltd · London, UK

Writing the inference runtime for specialized AI chips.

Founding Engineer / ML Systems

Mar 2023 - Sep 2026

ai-coustics GmbH · Berlin, Germany

First engineer at an AI speech enhancement startup. Design and development of a realtime neural network inference engine and cross-platform SDK in Rust.

Software Engineer

Nov 2021 - Feb 2023

HOLOPLOT GmbH · Berlin, Germany

Audio engine and DSP development in Rust and C++ for large-scale spatial audio systems.

Software Engineer

Sep 2020 - Oct 2021

Heckmann Audio GmbH (u-he) · Berlin, Germany

Audio plugin and DSP development in C++.

Software Engineer

Apr 2020 - Oct 2020

Georg Neumann GmbH · Berlin, Germany

Development of the MA-1 automatic alignment application for studio monitors, in cooperation with Fraunhofer IIS.

Network Operations Engineer

Feb 2018 - Aug 2020

VIDI GmbH · Darmstadt, Germany

Fibre operator for realtime audio and video transmissions, including international events such as the 2018 FIFA World Cup (Russia), 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup (France), and 2019 Rugby World Cup (Japan).

Open Source

Building the audio ecosystem in Rust across 22+ repositories at @neodsp, plus contributions elsewhere.

rtsan-standalone-rs

@realtime-sanitizer

Rust bindings for the LLVM RealtimeSanitizer (RTSan). Detects realtime safety violations at runtime.

fft-convolver

@neodsp

Partitioned FFT convolution in pure Rust, zero latency.

simper-filter

@neodsp

State variable filters for realtime audio in Rust.

audio-blocks · audio-file · audio-host · audio-lab

@neodsp

Audio infrastructure, research, testing, and utility crates for Rust.

All repositories · neodsp.com

Talks & Community

Rust Nation UK · London

2026

“From Tiny Chips to Server Racks: Deploying AI Everywhere with Rust”

Rust Nation UK · London

2026

Panel: “Rust in the Age of AI”
With Jon Gjengset (Helsing), David Haig (Fractile), Stu Harris (Red Badger)

RustConf · Seattle

2025

Workshop: “Rust at The Edge: AI Development, Edge Deployment, Real World Inference”

Audio Developer Meetup Berlin · Berlin

2025

“Real-Time Audio in Rust”

ADC · Bristol

2024

“Building Audio Apps with Rust: An Overview of Tools and Techniques”

Education

M.Sc. Audio Communication and Technology

2019 - 2023

Technische Universität Berlin · Berlin, Germany

Thesis: Development of a system for automatic room correction of audio playback systems.

B.Eng. Media Technology

2015 - 2019

RheinMain University of Applied Sciences · Wiesbaden, Germany

Thesis: Development of a system for remote video production.

Computer Science

2014 - 2015

Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences · Darmstadt, Germany

Fundamentals of mathematics and programming.