123 lines
6.2 KiB
Markdown
123 lines
6.2 KiB
Markdown
---
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address:
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**Professional**\
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LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/bastiangruber\
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Book: rustwebdevelopment.com\
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E-Mail: gruberbastian@me.com\
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Website: bastiangruber.ca
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**Code**\
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GitHub: github.com/gruberb\
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Git: code.novanexus.ca/gruberb
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---
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# Bastian Gruber
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## Summary
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Staff Engineer at Mozilla, shipping Rust, C++, and Python to hundreds of millions of Firefox users across Desktop, Android, and iOS. Promoted for leading cross-team projects and getting complex, multi-platform features shipped. 12+ years of backend and systems work across distributed services, Kubernetes-based infrastructure, and production operations; published Rust author and long-time technical writer.
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## Skills
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**Languages:** Rust, C++, Python, TypeScript, Go
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**Systems & Backend:** async Rust (Axum, Actix), Python/FastAPI, Node.js, FFI/UniFFI, gRPC, REST
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**Architecture:** distributed systems, P2P protocols, system design, cross-platform (Desktop/Android/iOS)
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**Infrastructure & Observability:** AWS, GCP, Docker, Kubernetes, CI/CD, Grafana, performance profiling
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## Professional Experience
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### Staff Software Engineer, Mozilla
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Feb 2026 - Present, Remote
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Promoted for cross-team technical leadership and delivering multi-platform privacy features.
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- Leading the Image Service project: replaced 3 fragile, duplicated favicon systems with a single GCS-backed API serving 4+ internal teams. Extended an existing Python/Airflow pipeline instead of building a new service, reducing maintenance burden across the board
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- Implemented Oblivious HTTP (OHTTP) in application-services (shared Rust component cross-compiled to Swift/Kotlin via UniFFI) and wrote the C++ integration for Firefox Desktop. Now live on Firefox iOS, Android, and Desktop, covering millions of users
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- Maintaining the Firefox Push notification service (Rust backend on Kubernetes, 50k req/s, sub-200ms latency). Reduced memory footprint, added circuit breakers, built Grafana dashboards for observability
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### Senior Software Engineer, Mozilla
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Jun 2024 - Jan 2026, Remote
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- Core maintainer of Merino, the Kubernetes-deployed Python/FastAPI service powering Firefox Suggest. All search suggestions in Firefox route through Merino, which enriches and serves them in a privacy-preserving way
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- Code reviewer for UniFFI, Mozilla's multi-language bindings generator (Rust to Kotlin, Swift, Python, JavaScript)
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- Contributing directly to Firefox Desktop (mozilla-central): shipping Rust and C++ code
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- Led "Rusty Fridays" sessions (6-10 engineers per session), building internal Rust knowledge across teams
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### Technical Editor, "From C to Rust", Manning Publications
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Feb 2026 - Present, Contract, Part-time
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Reviewing technical accuracy and pedagogical quality for Manning's C-to-Rust migration guide.
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### Senior Systems Engineer, Team Lead, Toposware
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Apr 2023 - Jun 2024, Remote
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Core team of 4 building a peer-to-peer distributed network protocol from scratch in Rust, with Kubernetes-based deployment and benchmarking environments. Our core implementation of the double echo protocol and the Ethereum bridge became part of the Polygon stack after acquisition.
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- Achieved 10x message throughput per node by profiling the actual bottleneck: optimized batch processing and serialization paths after discovering nodes were compute-bound on crypto operations, not network-limited
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- Built the EVM bridge connecting external Ethereum-compatible chains to the core network
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- Led the internal benchmarking initiative that changed where the team focused optimization effort
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### Senior Software Engineer, Centrifuge
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Aug 2022 - Feb 2023, Remote
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Protocol team building DeFi infrastructure on Substrate/Polkadot in Rust.
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- Implemented on-chain fund pool mutations, the core feature enabling live capital allocation adjustments in the lending protocol
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- Replaced manual documentation with CI-driven auto-generation from Rust source, eliminating persistent drift between code and public docs
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### Author, "Rust Web Development", Manning Publications
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Oct 2020 - Dec 2022
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Wrote and published an end-to-end guide covering async Rust, web frameworks, and production deployment.
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### Sr. Solutions Architect, Twilio Inc.
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Jun 2020 - Jul 2022, Remote
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- Technical lead for Fortune 500 professional services engagements: diagnosed latency issues, redesigned messaging architectures, delivered implementation roadmaps sized to each client's team and resources
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- Created reusable engagement playbooks adopted across the EMEA Professional Services team
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### Systems Engineer, Core Backend, Kraken Digital Asset Exchange
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Aug 2019 - May 2020, Remote
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Part of the first Rust team rewriting Kraken's core infrastructure from PHP.
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- Rewrote core banking services and API gateway in Rust, replacing legacy PHP services. The new stack handled significantly higher throughput with a smaller hardware footprint
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- Shipped the first version of the automated KYC verification flow, replacing manual processing right as COVID drove a massive spike in new customer sign-ups
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### Earlier Career
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2013 - 2019
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Sr. Software Engineer (freelance from 2016) across enterprise clients (OSRAM, Koerber Digital, GIATA, Avenga) and startups (Dalia Research, blogfoster, smartB) in Berlin.
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- Founded "Rust & Tell Berlin" meetup, grew it into the largest Rust meetup globally. Coordinated with companies for venue sponsorship, organized speakers, photographers, and videographers. Gave talks and created a welcoming space for the Rust community
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- Designed IoT authentication infrastructure at OSRAM for thousands of connected devices (Node.js, Go, Lua)
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- First engineering hire at Koerber Digital: built real-time sensor data pipelines and cloud service deployments on AWS (Lambda, ECS, Route53, Kubernetes)
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- Decomposed GIATA's monolithic PHP system into 6 Docker-based services, taught the existing team Scrum and JavaScript
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- Contributed to the Rust compiler and standard library during a self-directed sabbatical (2019)
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### Technical Writer, Freelance
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2008 - 2020, Contract
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13 years writing for technical publications including c't, iX, Macwelt (IDG/Heise), and tech blogs (LogRocket, stadt-bremerhaven.de, mobilegeeks.de). Also authored "OS X fuer Einsteiger" (Bookboon, 2012).
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## Education
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### Bachelor of Science, Computer Science
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Mar 2014, TH Ingolstadt
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Scholarship from Allianz Deutschland AG (fully funded dual-study program, 2010-2014).
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