Benedek G.

CTO/CISO

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Budapest, Hungary

Experience

Apr 2024 - Jun 2025
1 year 3 months
Munich, Germany
Remote

CTO/CISO

Testifi GmbH - Testifi.io

  • Testifi GmbH is a remote-first, fast-paced startup with a flat hierarchy, following the LeSS agile framework with 40–50 employees and contractors, focusing on automated testing, value stream optimization, and AI.
  • Acted as CTO, CISO and initially as Chief Architect.
  • Established the Product Owner Group and later participated as a non-managing member to help reach consensus and steer the product roadmap.
  • Fostered TOGAF, DevSecOps, cloud-first, API-first, and related architectural principles to build enterprise-grade software.
  • Introduced the medallion architecture, ETL/ELT tools, and a data lakehouse, and configured required services (Confluent Cloud/Kafka, IAM, S3, Iceberg, Glue, Athena) to achieve scalable data ingestion.
  • Created the high-level design (C4, UML) to transform the single product into a scalable SaaS offering with a BYOC delivery model, and presented it as the architectural north star.
  • Provisioned and configured services in AWS and Google Cloud, including Cognito, Lambdas, Amplify, Glue, Athena, API Gateway, QuickSight, GuardDuty, Route 53, CloudFront, with or without CloudFormation/Terraform.
  • Led proofs of concept and hackathons with Spring AI, LangChain4j/LangGraph4j, RAG, Neo4j, Spark, MLFlow, MCP, N8N.
  • Coached teams and assisted in technical implementations in development, architecture, testing, and DevOps.
  • Hired and mentored engineering talent, including team leads and individual contributors.
  • As CISO, created and applied policies and documentation, enabling the company to achieve TISAX certification (similar to ISO 27001, for the automotive industry) for three years as required by BMW, and then operated it with the assistance of MDM, Sprinto, BambooHR, GuardDuty, and related tools.
  • As CISO, performed administrative tasks for employee onboarding/offboarding and ensured adherence to security measures and policies.
  • Assessed dozens of tools from an information security perspective for procurement, including a design system for Angular, and initiated a redesign of the product.
  • Tech stack: AWS, GCP, MACH architecture, Java/Spring, ECS, RDS, OAuth/JWT, Angular, RabbitMQ/Kafka, Confluent, Selenium, Bedrock/SageMaker, Atlassian Cloud, Sonar, Trivy.
  • Due to difficulties in the German automotive industry, the main customer significantly cut costs, which led to the company’s bankruptcy and the termination of the position on 30 May.
Jun 2021 - Dec 2023
2 years 7 months
Budapest, Hungary

Founder CTO - otpotthon.hu now ZENGA.HU

OTP Bank - Otthonmegoldasok Kft.

  • OTP Otthon is a new affiliate company funded by OTP Bank to channel possible mortgages into the bank from a modern real-estate listing portal following the beaten path of Redfin or Zillow, intentionally separated from the bank to foster innovation and create a fast-paced environment free from banking regulations.
  • As a founder CTO, also acted as CIO and CISO.
  • Hired the entire IT team (~22 FTE), managed IT contracts (new offices, infrastructure), and sought and evaluated service providers.
  • Defined TOGAF’s ADM requirements and led and participated in proofs of concept.
  • Designed (C4, UML), led and/or implemented the architecture of the portal using MACH architecture, Angular front end, serverless functions, reactive Java and Golang-based microservices with Kafka and gRPC/Protobuf to build a scalable, event-driven, fault-tolerant architecture.
  • From empty cloud subscriptions, configured Azure services, AKS (Kubernetes), App Gateway, Azure DevOps, GitOps with ArgoCD, Kustomize, multiple DevSecOps tools, SAST/DAST, utilities for Kubernetes, AWS (App Runner, Fargate, RDS, ALB/NLB, CloudWatch, KMS), Key Vaults, Confluent Cloud, Cloudflare, Route53, SendGrid, Datastax using Terraform.
  • Executed vulnerability scans and penetration tests, and used Trusted Advisor and other tools to improve and maintain security posture.
  • Introduced TDD/BDD, Sonar, Cypress, Allure, and integrated them into CI/CD pipelines.
  • Defined and implemented cybersecurity measures for production and back-office systems, including availability zones, gateway and fallback mechanisms, response time targets, modifications to Terraform scripts, and configuration of CloudWatch, CloudTrail, and Azure Workbooks.
  • Established FinOps practices to keep costs low and cap cloud billing, configured budget alerts, and set up reserved instances for the long term.
  • As CISO, handled administrative tasks for employee onboarding/offboarding and the sign-off of security measures.
  • Created information security policies and processes and configured tools to meet non-functional, DevOps, monitoring/tracing, business continuity, and fault-tolerance requirements.
  • Improved SEO and core web vitals through structured data and infrastructure optimizations.
  • Gained hands-on experience with AI by deploying Azure Cognitive Services and OpenAI into the subscription.
  • Successfully launched otpotthon.hu (now renamed to zenga.hu) in September 2022 with a multi-cloud, fault-tolerant, cloud-native architecture, the first of its kind at OTP Bank, which soon became the second most visited proptech portal in Hungary with ~4.5M monthly visitors.
  • Despite the success, felt uncomfortable due to the disdain for engineers in the corporate culture and was dismissed before finding a new position.
Jun 2020 - Jun 2021
1 year 1 month
Budapest, Hungary

Solution Architecture - CoE Lead

OTP Bank / Retail Lending Tribe

  • Carrying forward the former DevOps/LiveOps Chapter Lead role, became the unofficial Chief Architect of the tribe.
  • Organized and conducted a popular weekly architecture board for the entire IT organization (~110 FTEs) to provide a forum for architectural, DevSecOps, and technical discussions and to address severe problems.
  • Introduced enterprise architecture patterns (TOGAF, C4, UML), tools and frameworks (API management, Domain Driven Design, event-driven architecture, cloud-native microservices, TDD/BDD, automated testing, non-functional requirements).
  • Acted as appointed representative in projects to replace two legacy core banking systems, leveraging Temenos banking expertise.
  • Designed and started development of 6+ cloud-native Spring Boot microservices with CI/CD pipelines (Jenkins, Maven, Bash, Python, Nexus, proprietary tools, Kubernetes resources, CA certificates, mTLS).
  • Created Security System Plans and executed tasks to eliminate existing risks and vulnerabilities.
  • Provided consulting on processes and IT guidelines and advised on tool selection at OTP Group level.
  • Used the Spotify model; acted as a servant leader and coached multiple teams.
  • Coordinated with fellow tribes and departments, sharing achievements and technical designs.
  • Defined the Solution Architect career path and recommended training courses across OTP Bank Group in 11 countries.
  • Tech stack: Spring Boot, Python, TDD/BDD, Selenium, Cucumber, RestAssured, OpenShift, Oracle Satellite, Prometheus/Grafana, Jenkins, Nexus, Maven, Oracle DB, Oracle Forms, Google Apigee/JWT, S3, Bitbucket, Linux, Docker, and numerous legacy systems.
  • Resigned due to discomfort with the banking sector’s attitude toward engineers, despite strong support from top management and offers to remain as Enterprise Architect or to help found a new affiliate company free from banking regulations.
Sep 2019 - Jun 2020
10 months
Budapest, Hungary

DevOps & LiveOps Senior Chapter Lead

OTP Bank / Retail Lending Tribe

  • Retail Lending Tribe is one of the most powerful directorates/tribes in the bank, with ~300 FTEs, a recently introduced agile methodology (Spotify model), a business-heavy culture, and large legacy systems with a legacy mindset.
  • Hired a team of six application operators and led the takeover of operations activities from a formerly centralized team, despite this being outside core expertise.
  • Built CI/CD pipelines for legacy systems using Bitbucket, Maven, Jenkins, Bash, Python, Nexus to eliminate manual work and save hours daily.
  • Developed scripts to automate manual activities and monitoring scripts with basic alerting, introduced and designed RPA tools, and centralized key vaults to avoid passwords stored on PCs.
  • Introduced Tricentis TOSCA as the first enterprise-grade test automation tool at the bank, organizing infrastructure, personnel, and training for 20+ people across multiple tribes and directorates.
  • Deployed and configured Prometheus/Grafana on all 120 servers under responsibility to achieve basic monitoring coverage.
  • Delivered technical presentations on Linux, SDLC, CI/CD, and the DevOps toolchain to promote a DevOps culture.
  • Acted as a servant leader, coached application operators, and defined their DevOps engineer career path.
  • Documented all 14 IT systems belonging to the Retail Lending Tribe.
  • Tech stack: Python, Jenkins, Oracle DB, Oracle Forms, Bitbucket, Linux, Docker, and multiple legacy systems.
  • Leveraging Java/solution architecture background, implemented various ideas in Java and presented them to executive management, which seeded multiple microservices and led to a new assignment as Lead/Chief Architect of the tribe with a newly formed Java backend chapter of 30+ recruited Java developers.
Jan 2018 - Sep 2019
1 year 9 months
Budapest, Hungary

Head of Development

Atoma Technologies / The Core Banking Group / FOT-TS Kft

  • Atoma was a fintech company with a startup mentality focusing on automated testing and application lifecycle management for Temenos T24.
  • Wore multiple hats from developer to Head of Development, technical presales, and trainer.
  • Defined the product roadmap in collaboration with the Chief Product Officer.
  • Led the architecture and redesign of the company’s product into a microservice-based SaaS portal.
  • Performed hands-on coding mainly in Spring Boot/Java, including proofs of concept at customer sites.
  • Delivered presentations and on-site/online demos at international fintech conferences.
  • Managed a team of 20 developers, testers, and SMEs, using Scrum.
  • Tech stack: JSP/JSF, Spring Boot, jQuery, MySQL, Oracle DB, Flyway, Proxmox, VMware, Linux, HP-UX/AIX, Bash, Jenkins, BIRT, Eclipse RAP, ELK stack, Docker, Ansible, Maven, REST, TestNG, Selenium, Allure.
  • Despite a long-standing partnership with Temenos, the banking company decided to enter the market, eliminating future prospects.
May 2008 - Jan 2018
9 years 9 months
Budapest, Hungary

Product Architect and Team Lead (Java)

Atoma Technologies / The Core Banking Group / FOT-TS Kft

  • The Core Banking Group was a fintech company offering services and in-house-developed products with a startup mentality, focusing on automated testing and application lifecycle management exclusively for Temenos T24, formed through the merger of Hungarian FOT-TS and London-based Elixise.
  • Wore many hats, from developer to architect, technical pre-sales, and other client-facing roles.
  • Defined the product roadmap together with the Chief Product Officer.
  • Participated in the sales process through presentations, on-site and online demos, and international fintech conferences.
  • Designed and developed products in the company’s portfolio including UI/UX, database design, SOA/JEE architecture, and implementation, personally writing about 60% of the code.
  • Implemented automated testing and DevOps practices for the products.
  • Coached and coordinated a team of six to eight members, working with Scrum.
  • Delivered and/or managed implementations and trainings in banks worldwide, including ABN Amro, Aktia, Banesco, Bank Leumi Switzerland, Equitable Bank, Ficohsa, KBC Ireland, KBL Luxembourg, MKB Bank, and Mizuho Bank.
  • Tech stack: JSP/JSF, Tomcat, WebSphere, Jython, MySQL, Oracle DB, Flyway, Proxmox, VMware, Linux/HP-UX/AIX, Bash, Jenkins, Selenium.
  • The Core Banking Group was acquired by a venture capitalist and became the foundation of Atoma Technologies.
Jun 2006 - May 2008
2 years
Budapest, Hungary

Senior Software Developer

Iocom Ltd.

  • Responsible for the server-side components of a telephony application (IndaFon) based on Asterisk PBX.
  • Designed and developed the telephony server-side, including the dial plan, custom billing, and conference call handler modules.
  • Technologies: SIP, C/C++, Debian Linux.
Dec 2003 - Jun 2006
2 years 7 months
Budapest, Hungary

Software Developer

Siemens PSE Hungary

  • Served as a team member and later as product owner on various telephony application projects in C++ based on HiPath 4000/8000 and HiQ 4200/9200 PBX models.
  • Worked with SIP and Java on SUSE Linux environments.
  • Based in Budapest, frequently traveled to project locations (typically Munich, Berlin, Vienna, Nanjing in China) and occasionally provided on-site customer support.
Sep 2001 - Jun 2003
1 year 10 months
Budapest, Hungary

Intern

General Electric - Medical Systems

  • Achieved 2nd place at the annual Scientific Conference for Students (TDK) at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics.
  • Developed an automatic algorithm to determine the boundary of the left ventricle in MATLAB, then ported it to C/C++.
  • The algorithm was installed on GE’s radiography systems.

Summary

Experienced IT leader and architect who combines 20+ years of technical expertise, system thinking with business acumen across application lifecycle management, telecommunications, banking/fintech, e-commerce, and real estate industries. My career spans from project inception through to full-scale operations with core strengths in requirements analysis, development (15+ years in Java), automated testing, cloud computing, solution and enterprise architecture, DevSecOps, and ML/AI. Beyond my technical expertise, I bring leadership experience as CTO/CISO, driving technology strategy, digital transformation, and business alignment while building high- performing teams and fostering innovation.

Languages

Hungarian
Native
English
Advanced
Spanish
Elementary

Education

Feb 2002 - Jul 2007

Budapest University of Technology and Economics

Master of Science in Biomedical Engineering · Biomedical Engineering · Budapest, Hungary

Sep 1997 - Jul 2003

Budapest University of Technology and Economics

Master of Science in Electrical Engineering · Electrical Engineering · Budapest, Hungary

Certifications & licenses

Certified LeSS practicioner

TISAX certification

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