Berlin, Germany

Hello, I'm

Qaiser Abbasi

Cloud Platform Architect. Team Player. Problem Solver.

12+ years delivering high-impact results for brands like SoundCloud, AboutYou, Delivery Hero, SAP, and RTL. I help teams build and scale reliable cloud-native systems, streamline DevOps processes, and solve complex backend and infrastructure challenges in Golang and Terraform 🧙🔮🪄✨

Skills

Cloud Platform Engineering

Architected and led multi-cloud, serverless platform engineering in Golang, optimizing automation and operational reliability on AWS and Google Cloud.

DevOps & IaC

Designed reliable cloud-native systems using Terraform and Kubernetes, streamlined CI/CD processes for high-impact results.

Tech Lead

Lead cross-functional teams in R&D and software development, managing complex technical initiatives and mentoring engineering talent.

Agile

Introduced and owned core agile practices (user story mapping, backlog ownership, OKRs), improving team alignment, delivery predictability, and software quality.

Lecturing & Workshops

Enabled cross-team knowledge sharing through workshops on e.g. Golang, Docker, and Terraform, and lectured in Software Engineering at FOM University Berlin.

International Experience

Native German speaker with full professional English proficiency, enabling effective communication in diverse international settings.

Experience (excerpt)

SoundCloud: Search

Permanent DevOps Engineer

Music Streaming

Operation and scaling of large-scale search systems and Elasticsearch clusters (100+ nodes).

Context: Integrated user behavior (clicks) into a machine learning model (Learning-To-Rank) to deliver more precise search results for millions of users.

Stack: Elasticsearch, Docker, Make, Apache Kafka, Kubernetes, Prometheus, Chef, Golang, Scala, Java, Ruby, Grafana, Python, Bash, Terraform, Atlantis, Airflow, PagerDuty

Key Achievements

Improved p95 search latency fourfold and reduced reindex duration from 6 hours to 1 hour for 1B+ documents.
See https://developers.soundcloud.com/blog/how-to-reindex-1-billion-documents-in-1-hour-at-soundcloud
Creation of A/B test proposals and RFCs (e.g.“Exact Match Searches”)
Managed high-availability infrastructure supporting 2,000 queries per second

Schwarz Group Production: CloudOps

Freelance Lead DevOps Engineer

Cloud Infrastructure / IDP

Bootstrapping a CloudOps team and building a multi-cloud backend for an Internal Developer Platform (IDP) used by 50+ teams.

Context: The IDP in the Schwarz Group universe (used by up to 50 teams) abstracts complex IaC workflows, allowing non-technical users to deploy predefined Terraform/Pulumi templates via a 1-click app interface.

Stack: Golang, Helm, Renovate, env zero, OpenTofu, Pulumi, Forgejo, Taskfile, Kubernetes, bruno, OpenAPI, Terraform-Docs, golangci-lint, Google Cloud (GCP), STACKIT, APIgee, Vault, Terratest, Ansible

Key Achievements

Designed solution architecture and led technical implementation of core APIs using Golang and OpenTofu/Pulumi
Implemented multi-cloud provider backend using env zero to abstract complex IaC workflows for non-technical users
Established team engineering standards: User Story Mapping, ADRs, Milestones, and Golangci-lint
Coached cross-functional teams on DevOps practices, Terraform, and Go software design

HUK-Coburg: Digital Services Platform

Freelance Golang Expert

Insurance / Fintech

Migration and optimization of core services within a complex hybrid cloud environment.

Context: Following the departure of the sole Go expert, I assumed technical responsibility for Go-based developments and strengthened the team's AWS and Terraform capabilities.

Stack: Golang, Java (Quarkus), Typescript, OpenShift, AWS Lambda, AWS VPC, Route53, Apache Kafka, Docker, Ansible, Terraform Enterprise, Jenkins, AsciiDoc, Azure DevOps, IBM API Connect, k6, PlantUML, Helm, Renovate, Splunk

Key Achievements

Developed a high-performance Kafka HTTP Proxy in Golang to replace CVE-burdened Confluent versions
Created custom AWS API Gateway Authorizers as Terraform modules using high-performance Go Lambda functions
Designed and implemented data services for service catalog integration via Backstage.io
Architected technical blueprints for secure large-BLOB transfers between AWS VPC and on-premises networks

AboutYou: SCAYLE Storefront

Freelance DevOps Engineer

E-commerce

Development of a high-performance service facade to encapsulate central business logic for the SCAYLE e-commerce platform.

Context: Initiated the replacement of a barely maintainable legacy PHP interface with a high-performance Go implementation to ensure stability and scalability during extreme peak loads like Black Friday.

Stack: Golang, Typescript, AWS, ECS, GitLab, Elasticsearch, Kubernetes, gRPC, Redis, Mysql, DataDog, OpenAPI, Renovate, LocalStack, Terraform

Key Achievements

Led the migration of legacy PHP interfaces to a high-performance Go implementation, ensuring stability during Black Friday peaks
Contributed to the open-source TypeScript SDK for the Storefront API
Optimized API scalability and performance using Kubernetes, gRPC, Redis, and Elasticsearch
Provided technical mentorship and coaching to junior developers focused on Golang

RTL+ App

Freelance DevOps Engineer

Media & Streaming

Implementation of central search and data services for the new RTL+ streaming application.

Context: Supported the development of the new RTL+ app by leveraging deep expertise in Elasticsearch and search technologies gained from previous high-scale environments.

Stack: Google Cloud (GCP), Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE), Python, FastAPI, Pydantic, Pub/Sub, Terraform, ArgoCD, Kubernetes, Elasticsearch, Gitlab, Grafana, Prometheus, k6

Key Achievements

Designed microservice architecture using Python and FastAPI deployed on Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE)
Consulted on critical buy-vs-build decisions for Elasticsearch cloud infrastructure
Established monitoring and observability patterns using Grafana, Prometheus, and k6

Delivery Hero: Partners API

Freelance DevOps Engineer

Logistics / Food Delivery

Hardening and optimization of an MVP backend for order processing and catalog management.

Context: Optimized and hardened an MVP built by a former architect as an interim solution until a permanent internal Go team was established.

Stack: Google Cloud (GCP), Golang, Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE), Terraform, Spinnaker, Kubernetes, Ginkgo, DataDog

Key Achievements

Implemented critical use cases for order processing and central product database management in Go
Enhanced CI/CD workflows and expanded the test suite using Ginkgo for increased reliability
Managed infrastructure scaling on GCP using Terraform and Spinnaker

IKEA: Automation of warehouse systems

Freelance DevOps Engineer

Warehouse & Logistics

Development and enhancement of a Google Cloud application in the Warehouse & Logistics sector for connecting the Warehouse Management System (WMS) to robotic components in the warehouse

Context: IKEA wants by Drones and robots to automate manual, error-prone and time-consuming processes in pallet and product management in warehouses.

Stack: Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Google Cloud Function, Google Cloud Run, JavaScript, Google Pub/Sub, Terraform, Firestore, CloudSQL

Key Achievements

Developing microservices in Google Cloud Platform using Cloud Functions and Cloud Run
Infrastructure automation with Terraform
Supporting the Product Owner in requirements analysis

Taxdoo: Payment data import and reporting

Freelance DevOps Engineer

Fintech / SaaS

Conception and implementation of a high-performance Import-Services for transaction data from third-party payment services such as Paypal, Klarna or Amazon Payments.

Context: Taxdoo offers online retailers a Software-as-a-Service solution to support them in fulfilling their VAT obligations in Europe. As part of this project, a solution was developed to match payment data with transactions and integrate it into accounting exports.

Stack: Docker, GitLab, AWS Lambda, AWS Step Functions, AWS Quicksight, AWS RDS, Golang, SQL, LocalStack, OpenAPI

Key Achievements

Development of a low-latency import service for customer transactions using AWS Lambda
Design of a data warehouse setup including visualization with AWS Quicksight
Development of interfaces for the automated verification of VAT ID numbers

SAP Cloud Platform Application Performance Monitoring

Freelance DevOps Engineer

Cloud Platform / Monitoring

Feasibility study on cloud cost optimization in Dynatrace Synthetic Monitoring – Analysis of the Dynatrace cloud service and evaluation of a self-hosting strategy in the respective target clouds.

Context: Dynatrace already offers a cloud service for synthetic monitoring. The aim of the project was to evaluate whether self-hosted solutions in the respective target clouds are more cost-effective.

Stack: Docker, Golang, GitHub, Dynatrace, Terraform, AWS, Google Cloud, Alibaba Cloud, Azure, Bash, Vault

Key Achievements

Terraform deployment for ActiveGate implemented in the various clouds (Ali Baba, Azure, AWS, GCP)
Benchmark analyses with hardware sizing recommendations
Further development of the SAP-internal Dynatrace CLI tool in Go