Senior Infrastructure Engineer with over 22 years of experience in infrastructure, security, and network integration. Based in Leiden, Netherlands. Currently building open-source products and operating multi-site infrastructure using AI-augmented operations.

kyriakos@papadopoulos.tech · LinkedIn

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Experience

Independent Projects & Professional Development

Jun 2025 – Present · Leiden, Netherlands

I direct AI-assisted product development and operate the infrastructure used to test it. My contribution is architecture, product decisions, review, hardware integration and operational responsibility.

  • MeshSat: communications software bridging radio, satellite and mobile networks. Prototype validation is supported by SIDN fonds; Elli leads hardware assembly and QA. This is not yet evidence of field adoption.
  • Territory Grounder: a self-hosted SRE platform with checks outside the model, mode-gated actuation and an audit ledger. Experimental; operating evidence is still being earned.
  • CubeOS: self-hosting software with a dashboard, Docker Swarm and a hardware abstraction layer. Published releases remain untested pre-production betas. MuleCube is the separate offline hardware proposition; delivery is unverified.
  • Agentic ChatOps: the earlier operations platform and a source of design lessons for Territory Grounder. Its published evaluation reports are internal assessments, not third-party certifications.
  • Multi-site lab: hands-on Kubernetes, Cilium, BGP (AS214304), storage and GitOps work. Scope is documented below.

The June 2026 inventory counted 13 Kubernetes nodes across two sites: 7 in the Netherlands and 6 in Greece. Earlier references to 7 described the Netherlands cluster alone. A Netherlands snapshot from 28 October 2026 still records 7; a comparable current whole-estate count has not been verified. Historical counts are not live capacity.

Product status and public evidence reviewed 29 October 2026. Detailed career history and supporting letters follow.

Adyen — SWIFT Engineer

Dec 2020 – May 2025 · 4 yrs 6 mos · Amsterdam (Hybrid)

Maintained and expanded the SWIFT banking platform at Adyen, supporting its banking operations. Having worked at SWIFT itself for three years prior, I brought direct knowledge of the platform’s internals — how the systems actually work, not just how the documentation says they should.

  • Managed SWIFT infrastructure (SAA, SAG, SNL, HSM) in a Linux environment
  • Handled critical issues in a 24/7 on-call rotation
  • Scaled the platform to handle increased transaction volumes as Adyen grew
  • Worked closely with the banking department to align technical operations with treasury requirements

Artsen zonder Grenzen Nederland (MSF) — Senior IT Infrastructure Lead

Apr 2019 – Mar 2020 · 1 yr · Amsterdam

Led IT infrastructure for Doctors Without Borders Netherlands. The job was straightforward on paper — servers, networks, cloud — but the context made it anything but. The systems supported medical operations in conflict zones and disaster areas, which meant reliability had real consequences.

  • Led the team responsible for servers, networks, and cloud services supporting global operations
  • Implemented security measures for sensitive data in high-risk environments
  • Worked across medical, logistics, and finance departments — each with different needs and different definitions of “urgent”
  • Mentored team members and built processes that would outlast my tenure

Letter of Recommendation

SWIFT — Network Engineer

Mar 2018 – Mar 2019 · 1 yr 1 mo · Leiden

Part of the deployment team implementing and maintaining the backbone of SWIFT’s network infrastructure — the infrastructure behind global financial messaging. Moved from support into engineering, which is where I’d been trying to get.

  • Deployed and configured network infrastructure for mission-critical financial services
  • Troubleshot backend network issues across the global infrastructure
  • Maintained security protocols for compliance with financial industry standards
  • Wrote scripts to automate routine network tasks

Letter of Confirmation

SWIFT — Technical Support Engineer

Jul 2016 – Mar 2018 · 1 yr 9 mos · Leiden

This was my way into SWIFT — starting in support, learning the platform inside out. The job was third-line support for Alliance Access, Alliance Gateway, and SwiftNet Link. I learned more about HSMs and VPN infrastructure here than in any previous role.

  • Resolved complex issues with SWIFT Alliance Access, Alliance Gateway, and SwiftNet Link
  • Supported HSM and VPN technologies
  • Wrote and maintained knowledge base documentation
  • Eventually moved into the network engineering team (see above)

Letter of Confirmation

Bitlibre — Senior Network Engineer

Feb 2013 – Jun 2016 · 3 yrs 5 mos · Hoofddorp

Managed network infrastructure for headquarters and co-located data centers. This was the first role where I was fully responsible for the network end-to-end — design, implementation, monitoring, and troubleshooting.

  • Designed and maintained the network, keeping uptime above 99.9%
  • Ran F5 load balancers, VPN tunnels, leased lines, and DKIM configurations
  • Set up monitoring with Rancid, OpenNMS, and syslogd
  • Worked across all DTAP environments with the applications team
  • Mentored junior engineers

Letter of Recommendation

Sapienza Consulting (contractor to ESA ESTEC) — Systems Administrator

Jan 2012 – Feb 2013 · 1 yr 2 mos · Noordwijk

Administered Solaris and Linux servers at the European Space Agency’s technical center, hosting applications for space research and operations. The security requirements were strict — ESACERT guidelines governed everything.

  • Managed Solaris and Linux servers across multiple ESA sites
  • Provided third-line support, resolving issues that had already been escalated twice
  • Deployed server environments for acceptance and production stages

Letter of Recommendation

Allshare / All Media Banking BV — Systems and Network Engineer

Feb 2011 – Jan 2012 · 1 yr · Hoofddorp

Managed IT infrastructure for a financial services provider. The Dutch central bank (DNB) mandated specific security restrictions, which shaped most of the work.

  • Redesigned the network with a focus on redundancy and cloud integration
  • Set up monitoring with Nagios and Zabbix
  • Applied security restrictions mandated by DNB for regulatory compliance
  • Kept critical banking services running at 99.9% uptime

Letter of Recommendation

Earlier experience — 7 roles · 2002–2011

WellProjex — Systems and Network Engineer

Jan 2010 – Feb 2011 · 1 yr 2 mos · Thessaloniki (Hybrid)

Designed and delivered IT solutions for small and medium-sized businesses. This was a consulting role — each client had different needs, different budgets, and different ideas about what “secure” meant.

  • Analyzed requirements and implemented ICT solutions for a range of clients
  • Led e-security projects: firewalls, VPNs, secure architectures
  • Provided presales technical support
  • Coordinated outsourced technical teams

Letter of Recommendation

Makios Logistics S.A. — Lead Systems and Network Administrator

Feb 2008 – Jan 2010 · 2 yrs · Thessaloniki

Ran IT infrastructure for a logistics company. Supply chain systems need to be up 24/7 — when the network goes down, trucks don’t get dispatched.

  • Maintained 24/7 infrastructure for logistics operations
  • Brought previously outsourced services in-house, cutting SLA costs significantly
  • Implemented firewalls and intrusion detection
  • Supervised the technical and helpdesk teams

Letter of Recommendation

Technopolis — Assistant IT Manager

Jun 2007 – Jan 2008 · 8 mos · Thessaloniki

Managed IT across five educational sites — over 100 workstations running real-time online certification exams. The exams had zero tolerance for downtime; if a workstation failed mid-test, someone’s certification attempt was lost.

  • Kept 100+ workstations running across five sites
  • Troubleshot issues during live certification exams
  • Set up wireless links between sites to replace leased lines

Letter of Recommendation

Hellenic Army, 476th Electronic Warfare Battalion — COMSEC/INFOSEC Specialist

May 2006 – May 2007 · 1 yr 1 mo · Xánthi (Compulsory Service)

Compulsory military service, assigned to the Signal Corps. What started as mandatory service turned into actual security work — COMSEC and INFOSEC for classified communications. This is where I first learned that security isn’t a feature you bolt on; it’s a constraint that shapes everything.

  • Provided technical support for secure networks (TCP/IP, VPNs, firewalls, Cisco)
  • Supported R&D for electronic warfare projects
  • Maintained critical infrastructure uptime for the battalion
  • Operated the battalion call center and managed secure communications logistics

Letter of Recommendation

Compucon S.A. — Telematics Systems Technician

Feb 2004 – Apr 2006 · 2 yrs 3 mos · Thessaloniki

Maintained navigation and communication systems for a fleet of 800+ taxis. The systems combined TCP/IP, wireless networking, and GPS — and they broke constantly, because taxis are not gentle environments for electronics.

  • Kept fleet systems running across 800+ vehicles
  • Ran back-office testing and repairs
  • Managed warehouse operations for spare parts

AMD Telecom S.A. — Computer Systems and Networks Support Technician

Apr 2003 – Jan 2004 · 10 mos · Lagkadas

Remote and on-site technical support in a telecommunications company. This was early in my career — the job where I first realized I liked fixing networks more than fixing desktops.

  • Provided remote and on-site support
  • Researched and deployed open-source alternatives to reduce costs
  • Handled hardware debugging and vendor coordination

Planet Internet Café — Assistant Systems and Network Administrator

May 2002 – Mar 2003 · 11 mos · Thessaloniki (Part-time)

Where it started. A hundred workstations, a perpetually overloaded internet connection, and a clientele that would find new and creative ways to break things. I maintained the machines, ran the billing system, and learned more from troubleshooting broken game installs than from any course.

  • Built and maintained HD images for 100+ workstations
  • Administered the time-charging billing system
  • Provided helpdesk support

Certifications & Training

Education

Hellenic Open University — Information Technology

2007 – 2009

University of Sheffield — Computer Science

2003 – 2004

Computer Systems & Networks Support — Vocational Diploma

2000 - 2003

About the Recommendation Letters

The letters linked above are from supervisors at each organization. They provide third-party verification of the roles described. Not all positions have letters available — some organizations do not provide them as policy, and some from earlier in my career were not retained.