Kristian Iliev
/Developing Peace of Mind/
I provide hands-on software engineering for teams that need architecture, implementation, and production judgement in the same room — using AI as an engineering accelerator while retaining human ownership of design, verification, and production decisions.
Trusted for
Software architecture
Clean & maintainable engineering
Production ownership
Selected work
Selected examples from my engineering career spanning distributed systems, full-stack product engineering, mobile, integrations, modernisation, and production operations.
01
Distributed Systems
Co-developed a distributed orchestration platform that enabled pluggable business workflows and custom lifecycle automation without hard-wiring every new requirement into the core system.
02
Modernisation
Led production modernisation across Node.js runtime upgrades, framework migrations, compatibility validation, deployment pipelines, and dependent application layers while maintaining operational continuity.
03
Full Stack + Commerce
Contributed to a reusable B2B integration platform supporting one-to-many merchant relationships, shared product catalogues, cart and transactional workflows, and reusable frontend/backend integration patterns.
04
Kotlin + Android
Led a two-year native Android application effort for telecom operators, shaping application architecture, service integrations, and operational workflows for transactional work across network systems.
05
Backend + Telecoms
Designed, developed, and supported backend services in telecom environments where availability, transactional reliability, multi-protocol integration, and useful production diagnostics were non-negotiable.
06
LLM + Integration
Developed a Meta-based onboarding system using API integration and LLM-driven structured data extraction, with simulation tooling that reduced dependence on live messaging environments during rapid workflow testing and iteration.
Capabilities
01
System boundaries, API design, data flow, integration strategy, maintainability audits, and pragmatic refactoring plans.
02
Clean Code delivery across TypeScript, Node.js, Kotlin, API integration, queues, databases, and production-grade backend systems.
03
Cloud deployment, Docker, CI/CD, observability, environment strategy, operational tooling, and boringly reliable releases.
Beyond software
My professional systems and network background also extends the work I offer through CyphereX into web delivery, automation, infrastructure and systems work, and bespoke integration between existing platforms.
Engineering Method
Good engineering reduces ambiguity, protects maintainability, and keeps production behaviour explainable long after demo day. The aim is enough structure to move quickly without quietly buying future pain.
Identify whether the pressure comes from product uncertainty, technical debt, delivery risk, missing ownership, integration complexity, or architecture drift.
Use just enough architecture to keep the system clean, testable, extensible, and easy for the next engineer—or agent—to reason about.
Own the feature beyond the happy path: tests, failure modes, diagnostics, deployability, compatibility, and the operational reality surrounding the code.
Experience Arc
My breadth is deliberate: systems knowledge informs my software decisions, and production software experience keeps architecture grounded.
12+ years
Professional infrastructure, networking, Linux/Unix, production support, scripting, troubleshooting, and operational systems work.
8+ years
Backend, frontend, full-stack, mobile, distributed systems, integrations, modernisation, testing, and production ownership.
IC
Architecture, technical decisions, cross-system trade-offs, code quality, reliability, and technical influence that extends beyond formal management boundaries.
Technology
Node.js, TypeScript, Kotlin, Java, REST, gRPC, event-driven services.
Vue, Vuetify, TypeScript, Tailwind, design systems, operational admin tools.
GCP, AWS, Docker, CI/CD, Linux, deployment pipelines, observability.
MongoDB, MariaDB, Redis, etcd, schema boundaries, query-aware design.
GitHub Copilot, Codex, model selection, context-rich instructions and skills, implementation and test verification, with human ownership of what reaches production.
Production diagnostics, scripting, networking, Linux systems, incident thinking, and AI-assisted operational tooling where it usefully reduces friction.
Contact
Whether you're hiring for a Senior / Principal IC role, looking for contract delivery through CyphereX Design'Z, or need help with a focused technical problem, a little context on the environment and desired outcome is enough to start.
Availability
Permanent Senior / Principal IC roles, contract delivery, architecture reviews, and focused technical consulting.