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.

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Experience

Independent Projects & Professional Development

Jun 2025 – Present · Leiden, Netherlands

After two decades of managing other people’s infrastructure, I spent this period building my own — open-source products, an AI-powered operations platform, and a multi-site homelab for learning technologies I’d only used at the edges of previous roles. Everything here was built with AI assistance (primarily Claude Code), with me making the architecture decisions, running QA, and owning the product direction.

  • Conceived and architected CubeOS , an open-source self-hosting platform for Raspberry Pi and ARM64 devices. Runs on Linux, providing web-based management, Docker Swarm orchestration, a hardware abstraction layer (HAL), and an offline-first app store. 26+ iterative releases across 7 repositories. Apache 2.0 licensed.
  • Conceived and designed MeshSat , an open-source multi-transport gateway bridging LoRa mesh, Iridium satellite, cellular, APRS, and 6 other transports. 10 routing destinations with cost-aware path selection and AES-256 encryption. 49 GitHub stars. Built and tested field kits with real satellite and mesh hardware.
  • Designed and operate a 3-tier agentic infrastructure platform managing 310 objects across 6 sites. AI handles monitoring, triage, and incident investigation; I approve all changes via interactive polls. Started by managing everything manually, then progressively automated myself out of the operations loop. 21/21 agentic design patterns implemented (7 at A+), 98 eval scenarios passing, 7-layer safety guardrails.
  • Operating a multi-site homelab as a hands-on learning environment for Kubernetes (7-node cluster with Cilium CNI, Argo CD, Velero), BGP routing (AS214304, dual upstream, IXP peering), and infrastructure-as-code (Terraform, Ansible, GitLab CI/CD). Learning by building, not just studying.
  • Earned 8 professional certifications from Anthropic, NVIDIA, DeepLearning.AI, Cisco, and Pearson.

Adyen — SWIFT Engineer

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

Maintained and expanded the SWIFT banking platform at Adyen, enabling secure financial transactions for clients including Facebook, Uber, and Spotify. 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 system processing trillions of dollars in transactions daily. 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.