Available for high-stakes engineering roles

Igor Kopestenski

Backend-Leaning Java Full-Stack Engineer
Security · Performance · Resilience · Distributed Systems

5+ years of carrier-grade distributed-systems experience delivering true end-to-end features — from Angular UI and REST APIs through security, persistence, deployment, and operational resilience. Currently shipping with Java 25, Spring Boot 4.0.6, Spring Security 7, Kubernetes, and PostgreSQL.

Get in touch View experience

i.kopest@gmail.com Braine-l'Alleud, Belgium linkedin.com/in/ikopest

Professional Profile

Backend-leaning Java full-stack engineer with 5+ years of carrier-grade distributed-systems experience. I deliver true end-to-end features — UI integration, REST APIs, security, persistence, deployment, and operational resilience.

I'm a strong fit for high-stakes real-time platforms where correctness, throughput, security, observability, and failure behavior are business-critical. My engineering background spans modern JVM services, telecom-grade NAT systems, distributed edge computing, and embedded RTOS / near-bare-metal runtime environments.

Core Technical Stack

Backend / JVM

Frontend

Data / Persistence

Cloud-Native / DevOps

Security / Reliability

Systems Depth

Professional Experience

2025 — Present Belgium

Java Full-Stack Developer / IT Consultant

Centran

Deliver end-to-end product features across Angular UI, Java/Spring backend services, persistence, security, deployment configuration, and operational validation.
Develop backend capabilities with Java 25, Spring Boot 4.0.6, Spring Security 7, Spring Data, REST controllers, service-layer logic, repository access, and database-backed workflows.
Implement secure application flows including JWT-derived identity/role handling, authorization-sensitive service behavior, and database-backed role / user-state management.
Create and maintain database evolutions using PostgreSQL, SQL, Spring Data/JPA, and migration scripts; address query correctness, filtering, pagination, and type-binding defects.
Package and validate multi-service runtime environments with Docker Compose and Kubernetes-oriented deployment, improving consistency between development, integration, and deployment.
Independently discovered and escalated a critical legacy-migration security vulnerability affecting 14,000+ citizens and sensitive personal data; produced a detailed reproduction report and automation-assisted evidence collection.
Operate with a backend-first engineering profile focused on security, performance, resilience, maintainability, and correctness under scale.

Oct 2020 — Jul 2025 Antwerp, Belgium

Software QA Engineer — NAT, Distributed Systems Reliability & Platform Security

Nokia Bell NV

Lead quality and automation work for Nokia SR OS carrier-grade NAT, validating session management, port allocation, scale behavior, telemetry, failover, and high-availability across multiple releases.
Design and maintain automated test suites and complex multi-router / host-simulation scenarios for Tier-1 service-provider environments with strict uptime and correctness requirements.
Partner with development teams on test strategy, defect isolation, regression scope, and release confidence for platform changes in highly distributed networking software.
Validate security-relevant features, DPI integration, telemetry/monitoring behavior, and operational state transitions, reducing risk in production-grade network environments.
Translate deep QA findings into engineering feedback by reproducing defects, characterizing failure modes, verifying fixes, and protecting customer-facing reliability at carrier scale.

Jan 2020 — Oct 2020 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

Research Engineer & Project Co-Supervisor — Achlys IoT Edge Computing

UCLouvain

Co-led research and engineering work on Achlys, an IoT edge-computing framework for distributed applications on resource-constrained hardware.
Supervised graduate work and developed distributed IoT capabilities using Erlang/OTP and GRiSP platforms, including sensor-data fusion and large-scale edge-computing scenarios.
Integrated low-level debugging capabilities into embedded runtime systems using Erlang on RTEMS, bridging application-level distributed systems with RTOS-level execution constraints.

Sep 2018 — Jan 2020 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

Research Assistant & Developer — LightKone H2020 Distributed Edge Computing

UCLouvain

Developed core components of the Achlys framework for reliable storage and generic computation at the IoT edge, contributing to official project deliverables and publications.
Implemented networking and performance-oriented functionality including ad-hoc wireless communication, sensor integration, and wireless-channel utilization improvements on real hardware (single-core ARM Cortex @ 400 MHz, 64 MB memory).

Selected Engineering Positioning

Strong alignment with real-time gaming / betting / fintech platforms: high availability, secure data handling, throughput under load, operational resilience, rapid defect isolation, and regulated-risk awareness.
Unusual engineering range: Angular/UI integration, Java/Spring services, databases, containers, distributed telecom systems, Erlang edge computing, C/C++ systems work, and RTOS-level runtime exposure.
Publication-backed distributed-systems credibility combined with practical delivery in current Java/Spring and containerized environments.

Education, Publications & Talks

Education

M.Sc. in Computer Science and Engineering

2018

UCLouvain — Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium

B.Sc. in Computer Science and Management cum laude

2016

Institut Paul Lambin — Haute École Léonard de Vinci, Belgium

Publications

Erlang as an Enabling Technology for Resilient General-Purpose Applications on Edge IoT Networks

2019

ACM SIGPLAN International Workshop on Erlang

DOI: 10.1145/3331542.3342567

Achlys: Towards a Framework for Distributed Storage and Generic Computing Applications for Wireless IoT Edge Networks with Lasp on GRiSP

2019

IEEE PerCom Workshops

DOI: 10.1109/PERCOMW.2019.8730773

Selected Talks

IoT Edge Computing with bare-metal Erlang

2019

CodeBEAM Amsterdam

Let's build something resilient.

Open to backend-leaning Java full-stack roles where correctness, security, and throughput matter — on-site in Belgium or remote.

i.kopest@gmail.com LinkedIn