Formerly CTO & Co-Founder of AI-powered ELT startup Precog Data, Alissa "Apolune" Pajer has spent the last 13 years as a mathematician-turned-engineer representing & transforming complex data structures. Today the steward of Spindle’s multidimensional computation engine, she has previously served as a VP of Engineering, independent researcher, public speaker on topics in Category Theory, and more.
A functional programming expert and specialist in high-performance computing, Alissa is passionate about making complex datasets accessible, performant, and intuitive to give decision-makers the leverage needed to drive meaningful change in their organizations. She received her MA in Mathematics from the University of Colorado at Boulder, where Spindle AI co-founder Carson Kahn sits on the Board of the College of Engineering & Applied Sciences.
At Spindle AI (spindle.ai), Alissa focuses on shipping scalable, high-performance computation systems to ensure that both AI Agents and Strategic Finance teams can extract insights from complex datasets at speed. She's passionate about programming in Rust, and is one of the masterminds behind Spindle’s proprietary Rust-based computation engine, Kevlar. She also implemented the first performant version of Spindle’s constrained optimization solver. The data layer Alissacurrently stewards, Spindle’s Tag-Based Data Model, enables a large majority of Spindle’s multidimensional computation.
Before joining Spindle AI as Tech Lead for Mathematical Computing, Alissa served as Chief Technology Officer & Co-Founder at Precog Data, an AI-powered ELT platform backed by Forbes Midas List firm Venture Guides (LinkedIn, Docusign, Solarwinds, Dynatrace). At Precog Data in Boulder, she led the development & launch of a core engine that has continued to scale with its customers, including Alteryx, Honda, Embraer, Qlik, and many more. Alissa is a celebrated speaker on topics in high-performance computing, functional programming, Scala, Category Theory, and Topology, spanning technical conferences from StrangeLoop and Craft Conference to flatMap Oslo.
Beyond her engineering work at Spindle AI and thought leadership in mathematics and engineering, Alissa cultivates a deep love for nature and problem-solving in all forms. She collects queen ants to start ant colonies, grows an extensive array of plants—carnivorous plants, coffee, lychee, pomegranates, and various citrus trees—and has never missed a New York Times crossword puzzle. A former competitive triathlete, she also enjoys hiking, yoga, and strength training. When not reading Sci-Fi novels, she can be found mastering the art of baking French chocolate croissants and dumplings from scratch at her home in Gainesville, Florida, where her husband, astrophysicist Prof. Adam Ginsburg, serves as a member of the James Webb Space Telescope JSTUC Committee. ∎
Formerly CTO & Co-Founder of AI-powered ELT startup Precog Data, Alissa "Apolune" Pajer has spent the last 13 years as a mathematician-turned-engineer representing & transforming complex data structures. Today the steward of Spindle’s multidimensional computation engine, she has previously served as a VP of Engineering, independent researcher, public speaker on topics in Category Theory, and more.
A functional programming expert and specialist in high-performance computing, Alissa is passionate about making complex datasets accessible, performant, and intuitive to give decision-makers the leverage needed to drive meaningful change in their organizations. She received her MA in Mathematics from the University of Colorado at Boulder, where Spindle AI co-founder Carson Kahn sits on the Board of the College of Engineering & Applied Sciences.
At Spindle AI (spindle.ai), Alissa focuses on shipping scalable, high-performance computation systems to ensure that both AI Agents and Strategic Finance teams can extract insights from complex datasets at speed. She's passionate about programming in Rust, and is one of the masterminds behind Spindle’s proprietary Rust-based computation engine, Kevlar. She also implemented the first performant version of Spindle’s constrained optimization solver. The data layer Alissacurrently stewards, Spindle’s Tag-Based Data Model, enables a large majority of Spindle’s multidimensional computation.
Before joining Spindle AI as Tech Lead for Mathematical Computing, Alissa served as Chief Technology Officer & Co-Founder at Precog Data, an AI-powered ELT platform backed by Forbes Midas List firm Venture Guides (LinkedIn, Docusign, Solarwinds, Dynatrace). At Precog Data in Boulder, she led the development & launch of a core engine that has continued to scale with its customers, including Alteryx, Honda, Embraer, Qlik, and many more. Alissa is a celebrated speaker on topics in high-performance computing, functional programming, Scala, Category Theory, and Topology, spanning technical conferences from StrangeLoop and Craft Conference to flatMap Oslo.
Beyond her engineering work at Spindle AI and thought leadership in mathematics and engineering, Alissa cultivates a deep love for nature and problem-solving in all forms. She collects queen ants to start ant colonies, grows an extensive array of plants—carnivorous plants, coffee, lychee, pomegranates, and various citrus trees—and has never missed a New York Times crossword puzzle. A former competitive triathlete, she also enjoys hiking, yoga, and strength training. When not reading Sci-Fi novels, she can be found mastering the art of baking French chocolate croissants and dumplings from scratch at her home in Gainesville, Florida, where her husband, astrophysicist Prof. Adam Ginsburg, serves as a member of the James Webb Space Telescope JSTUC Committee. ∎
