Systems & Platform Engineer with 20+ years of experience building software from low-level RTOS and Linux systems to large-scale cloud-native platforms.

I specialize in designing pragmatic, scalable systems that balance architectural clarity with long-term maintainability. I’ve worked across embedded systems, robotics, autonomous vehicles, healthcare AI, confidential computing, and multi-tenant SaaS platforms.

Currently building cloud infrastructure at Mendix (2025–Present), focused on scalable and reliable cloud operations.

Go · Rust · C++ · C · Python · Lua · C#

Kubernetes · Helm · Istio · Microservices · Multi-tenant SaaS
AWS · Azure · API Gateway · Lambda

SGX attestation · TDX · TEE workflows
RBAC · Multi-cloud traceability

Linux internals · RTOS (ThreadX) · Yocto · Embedded gateways
ROS · OpenCV · Sensor calibration · High-throughput messaging

• Design for simplicity and clarity first
• Prefer sustainable systems over clever shortcuts
• Bias toward maintainability and operational visibility
• Comfortable at any layer — firmware to Kubernetes
• Invest heavily in mentoring and raising engineering standards

• Kubernetes operators & platform engineering
• Confidential computing and attestation systems
• Distributed system design
• Developer tooling and internal frameworks

At Mendix:

• Developing scalable cloud maintenance and reliability systems
• Improving platform correctness, operability, and lifecycle automation

At Intel:

• Tech Lead for Intel Trust Authority (multi-tenant SaaS for attesting Trusted Execution Environments)
• Designed high-level and low-level architecture for a multi-cloud microservices platform
• Improved authentication throughput from 10 TPS → 1500 TPS
• Built Helm-based modular deployments across environments
• Implemented RBAC and SSO integrations (Azure AD B2C)
• Mentored engineers across backend, validation, DevOps, and design
• Contributed to SGX attestation tooling and Rust-based key broker work in Intel SecL-DC

• Designed a high-throughput sensor messaging pipeline (3 fps → 11 fps image throughput)
• Built ROS-based perception integrations and calibration tooling (hours → 30 minutes calibration cycles)
• Co-authored:
  • Driving Data Collection Framework Using Low Cost Hardware (ECCV 2018 Workshop)
• Developed the open-source Driving Data Collection Reference Kit

• Built connected car POC using Yocto Linux + OBD integration
• Designed mesh-network sensor beacon system for logistics telemetry
• Developed SDK abstractions for automotive protocols (OBD, CAN, J1939)
• Led medical sensing software (ECG, glucose, pedometer) on ThreadX RTOS with Bluetooth protocol stack

At Novell:

• Maintainer of Evolution-MAPI
• Contributed to Evolution-EWS
• Worked on iFolder multi-server replication & identity systems
• Active contributor within the GNOME desktop ecosystem

GitHub: https://github.com/johnnyjacob
Blog: https://johnnyjacob.wordpress.com/category/tech
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnnyjacob/

Always learning. Always building.