About
About
I am Riley Ellwanger, a software engineer whose roots are deeply embedded in agriculture. Growing up outdoors naturally pulled me toward Wildlife Ecology—until I saw how much leverage software could add for both agriculture and conservation. That shift sent me into Computer Science so I could magnify my impact on the environment through technology, not despite it.
Now I thrive in AgTech startups, most recently as a Senior Software Engineer at Sentinel Ag. I spend my days where the natural and the digital meet: full-stack web work, geospatial analysis, map visualizations and drawing, image processing, and agriculture data management—so we can help farmers tighten nitrogen management and keep excess nitrogen out of waterways.
At a glance
Field and studies
Farm and ranch work; Wildlife Ecology, then a pivot to Computer Science when software looked like the biggest lever for land and water.
Today
Senior Software Engineer at Sentinel Ag—imagery pipelines, maps and drawing tools, agronomic data, and product work farmers actually run in season.
Off the clock my world is still outside: bowhunting deer and turkey, bass fishing, and sharing the harvest with friends and family. I'm always glad to talk new ideas, collaboration, or where farming and software are headed next.
How I build
Principles that carry into code
Designing software with natural principles
My engineering instincts borrow from ecology: diverse, composable pieces that work together tend to survive change better than one brittle monolith. I aim for balance—enough structure to ship reliably, enough flexibility to adapt when the field (literal or figurative) throws something new at you.
From the ground up
Ranches, construction crews, and conservation crews each taught me something different. Ranch work rewards systems that handle surprises. Construction rewards precision. Conservation rewards thinking in decades, not just sprints. That mix shows up in how I scope, test, and hand off software.
User-driven innovation
Software only matters if people carry it into practice. My field experience, together with the people I've learned alongside, pushes me toward interfaces and workflows that respect real time pressure. I listen for what isn't said as much as what is—then build tools that feel like an ally in the cab or the office, not another chore.