Sri Balaji

About Sri

Sri Balaji (Srivatsan Balaji) is the Co-Founder and CTO of NADIR, where he architects the embedded, real-time, and operator-facing systems that turn drift detection into something fleet maintenance teams can actually use. A Computer Engineering student at the University of Michigan College of Engineering — with roots in Farmington Hills, Michigan — Sri combines deep hands-on firmware experience with organizational execution: he has led international nonprofit fundraising, managed large volunteer networks, and still ships production-grade embedded software on aggressive timelines.

His technical work spans FreeRTOS scheduling, multi-processor architectures (Jetson Nano, Raspberry Pi, Coral TPU), custom PCB-to-firmware Bluetooth modules, high-voltage electrical systems on SPARK Electric Racing’s all-electric motorcycle team, and undergraduate firmware research in U-M’s Z Lab (Atombots) on autonomous robotics. He is joining Trackonomy as an Embedded Firmware Engineering Intern in San Jose, bringing supply-chain-grade embedded discipline back into NADIR’s edge ingest and Pulse tier deployment story.

What we’re building at NADIR

At NADIR, Sri owns the Console, HORIZON surfaces, mobile operator UX, and the hardware–software boundary: how telemetry arrives at the API, how tier transitions propagate to dispatch workflows, and how evidence exports remain tamper-evident for MSO and insurance reviewers. NADIR ingests existing fleet telematics, scores sensor extrinsics in shadow advisory mode, and orchestrates calibration workflows without writing to vehicle ECUs.

He believes ADAS reliability is fundamentally an embedded systems problem dressed as a software problem — calibration drift shows up in microsecond-level sensor timestamps, CAN bus jitter, and repair-bay procedures long before it shows up in a crash report. Sri sees NADIR’s future as the standard shadow advisory layer between telematics OEMs, repair networks, and fleet safety officers: read-only, pilot-ready, and honest about what is proven versus what is still bench validation.

Experience & background

• NADIR — Co-Founder & CTO Console · HORIZON 3D · mobile app · edge Pulse ingest · operator UX
• Trackonomy — Embedded Firmware Engineering Intern Supply chain IoT · smart labels · real-time embedded firmware (San Jose)
• University of Michigan Z Lab (Atombots) — Firmware Research Undergraduate research · autonomous robotics · embedded firmware
• SPARK Electric Racing — Embedded & High Voltage All-electric motorcycle team · embedded software · high-voltage electrical systems
• Optimist International — International Director Nonprofit leadership · fundraising · organizational execution at scale
• Custom hardware projects FreeRTOS · Bluetooth transmitter PCB+firmware · real-time AQI sensor array
• University of Michigan College of Engineering Computer Engineering · B.E. · Ann Arbor
• North Farmington High School National Merit Finalist · HOSA President · varsity swim & cross-country captain

How Sri thinks about the future

Sri’s interests include chip-adjacent systems software, real-time scheduling, electric motorsport, and building engineering teams that execute under pressure. He grew up near Detroit’s automotive supply chain and is building NADIR from the center of US automotive engineering talent — with proximity to Ford, GM, Stellantis, and Tier-1 supplier engineering teams.

He sees NADIR compounding proprietary drift intelligence with every deployment: route, climate, repair type, and remediation outcome feeding a signed evidence graph that becomes the moat. Contact Sri at sribalaj@umich.edu or on LinkedIn.