Dominik Kaeser is an Engineering Lead at Google, where he runs the team behind Google Earth VR.

Dominik grew up in Gossau in the Zürich highlands of Switzerland. While attending KZO Wetzikon, he developed computer games and artificial intelligence projects on the side. After graduating he spent a year working as a piano player and teacher in various venues in Switzerland and Kenya, and eventually obtained a Master's Degree in Computer Science from ETH Zürich and UC Berkeley with a focus on Computer Graphics and Human-Computer Interaction.

Looking to become a technical artist, he moved to California in 2010, and joined Pixar Animation Studios to work on the movies Monsters University and Cars 2. Later he joined Google where he sought ways to combine his skills with his passion for traveling. He discovered virtual reality and became a founding member of the Google VR team. In 2014 he started the Google Earth VR project with the goal of letting anyone travel anywhere in virtual reality.

Google Earth VR launched in late 2016 to wide acclaim, and went on to win the Lumiere Century award by the Advanced Imaging Society (AIS). It is only the second time in history the AIS handed out a Century Award; the first award went to James Cameron for the movie Avatar.

Outside of work, Dominik and his wife Christine enjoy backpacking around the world, skiing and exploring the outdoors.