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.