TIM RIJAVEC
  • Maple Valley, WA, USA
  • +1 (206)-791-9111
  • tim@rijavec.si
  • linkedin.com/in/timrijavec

Work authorization: U.S. lawful permanent resident (Green Card); authorized to work in the United States without sponsorship.

Principal platform engineer with 15+ years in professional software roles since 2006 (20+ years including early web and simulation work from 2005). At Meta, recovered hundreds of engineering hours weekly by owning CI/CD, marketplace, and reliability for 200+ VS Code extensions used company-wide. Previously at TrustedHousesitters, led hiring, roadmap, and engineering resourcing as Principal Engineer through an award-winning mobile scale-up. AI-first platform engineer: agentic workflows, LLM-assisted development, observability (30+ PRE metrics), and cross-org technical leadership.
Skills
CI/CD & release engineering
  • Automated build/test/deploy pipelines
  • Canary and progressive rollout
  • Coordinated multi-artifact releases
  • E2E and integration testing for developer tools
  • Progressive delivery and release governance
Cloud & platform
  • AWS
  • Docker
  • Microservices
  • Platform engineering
  • Remote development automation
Build & developer experience
  • esbuild
  • Webpack
  • VS Code extension platform
  • Developer portals and internal tooling
  • Marketplace publishing
  • IDE extensions
Observability & reliability
  • PRE metrics and SLI dashboards
  • Telemetry
  • Regression detection
  • Incident response
Media & streaming
  • Media ingestion and serving APIs
  • Catalog audio transcoding pipelines
  • Real-time speech communication (VoIP)
  • Secure streaming delivery
  • Offline playback and purchase flows
  • High-volume push notifications
Architecture & delivery
  • Distributed systems
  • REST APIs
  • Search (Elasticsearch, Solr)
  • Agile/Scrum facilitation
  • Technical leadership and cross-functional delivery
Security
  • OpenID Connect authentication
  • Supply-chain remediation
  • Platform hardening
  • Secure release workflows
Languages
  • TypeScript
  • JavaScript
  • Python
  • Hack
  • Java
  • Kotlin
  • Rust
  • Go
  • PHP
  • C/C++
  • Bash
Frameworks & mobile
  • React
  • React Native
  • Android (Java/Kotlin)
  • Server-side rendering (SSR)
  • Frontend engineering
  • Django
  • Node.js
  • Drupal
Professional Experience and Achievements
  • MetaMeta, WA, USA
    Mar 2020 - Current
    Senior Software Engineer — VS Code Platform
    Jan 2022 - Current
    • Saved ~200 engineering hours per week and cut per-extension build time ~95% (hours to minutes) by owning CI/CD for 200+ VS Code extensions used company-wide
    • Accelerated extension discovery and installs by shipping end-to-end marketplace: build upload/storage, version discovery, portal, gallery, VS Code delivery, E2E tests, and env pre-warming
    • Saved ~4 eng-hours/week with zero regression via lockstep promote/canary releases, marketplace health/release CI/CD automation, and a 7-phase health migration
    • Raised IDE reliability for thousands of developers via 30+ PRE metrics, UPND navigation-quality pipelines, and SLI dashboards with automated regression detection
    • Unlocked remote and exotic-host development, 100+ validation hours/week saved (E2E smoke on 35% of extensions), ~60x faster builds (esbuild), and security remediations (DAP, node-ipc, OpenID Connect authentication)
    Senior Software Engineer — Code Intelligence (Glean)
    Sep 2021 - Dec 2021
    • Surfaced cross-repo Glean indexing gaps before they blocked search and navigation via an indexer coverage portal adopted by platform engineers company-wide during a 4-month Code Intelligence rotation
    • Shipped developer-facing portal features in a 4-month rotation by partnering with search and indexing teams on code-intelligence tooling, delivery milestones, and cross-repo visibility
    Senior Software Engineer — Mobile (Ads Manager)
    Mar 2020 - Aug 2021
    • Contributed production React Native and Java/Kotlin Android capabilities (dark mode, charts, video editing) on the Ads Manager mobile app used by advertisers to create, edit, and manage campaigns, increasing feature velocity with mobile platform teams over 18 months
    • Lowered release risk on the Ads Manager mobile app by partnering with ads and mobile platform teams on quality gates, staged rollouts, and iterative delivery over 18 months on Android and React Native
  • TrustedHousesitters.comTrustedHousesitters.com, Brighton, UK
    Dec 2014 - Feb 2020
    Principal Engineer
    Aug 2018 - Feb 2020
    • Scaled product from first iOS release to award-winning B2C app (Most Effective B2C App, 2018) and investment readiness as Principal Engineer owning mobile and web technical direction, with hands-on Java/Kotlin Android and iOS delivery
    • Directed app-team hiring, roadmap priorities, and cross-functional delivery; defined Java/Kotlin Android and iOS platform standards (SRS) and lessened production risk as global membership grew
    • Accelerated release cadence across iOS, Android, and web by building CI/CD, Docker/AWS deployment, and E2E automation, cutting manual release toil for a growing engineering team
    • Shipped shop-front and platform stack (ReactJS, Django, Python, Go, AWS, Docker, Elasticsearch) and third-party integrations that supported global membership growth
    Lead Engineer
    Dec 2014 - Aug 2018
    • Established web platform foundation adopted company-wide (Docker microservices, REST API, and core services) as Lead Engineer and web engineering manager
    • Doubled search page speed (200% improvement) via Elasticsearch query redesign, directly lifting core discovery for a global pet-sitting marketplace
    • Built REST APIs and a media management service for photos, videos, and documents; unlocked sustained release cadence with distributed task queue, media pipeline, CI/CD, and E2E testing across web and mobile
    • Facilitated Agile/Scrum delivery with product and design across a multi-year scale-up from first mobile release to an award-winning B2C app and expanded web engineering team
  • Dixero International SADixero International SA, Lugano, Switzerland
    Oct 2013 - Dec 2014
    Mobile Lead
    Oct 2013 - Dec 2014
    • Delivered carrier-branded music streaming (TIMmusic, Superflash Live) and Musicload.de on a Java backend with SSR web apps (HTML, JS, JSON), ingesting and serving catalog assets from Universal, Sony, and Warner with secure streaming, offline playback, and purchase flows
    • Built audio transcoding pipelines for music catalog delivery; reached millions of users per day with push notifications (iOS, Android, Microsoft) and a Python CMS that streamlined editorial throughput
    • Strengthened platform uptime via HA architecture (MongoDB, Varnish, Jetty, HAProxy, Solr) and improved Musicload.de merchandising relevance with data-driven ranking rules
  • Delo d.d.Delo d.d., Ljubljana, Slovenia
    Oct 2010 - Oct 2013
    Full Stack Engineer
    Oct 2010 - Oct 2013
    • Shipped high-traffic news redesigns (Delo.si, Slovenskenovice.si) for Slovenia's largest publisher (~50% national media market), improving reader experience on Drupal
    • Unified login across the property network with Delo one SSO; cut page load time 30% via SQL/MySQL tuning, and more than 50% with sitewide Varnish/Memcached caching
    • Increased archive engagement with digitized newspaper book-view and HA stack design (MySQL, Varnish, Apache, Solr, Memcached)
  • ZootFlyZootFly, Ljubljana, Slovenia
    Jul 2009 - Sep 2010
    Game Developer
    Jul 2009 - Sep 2010
    • Enabled real-time crew communication in military training simulators by shipping production VoIP with Speex speech compression (Speex over TCP/UDP) for the Guardiaris Military Vehicle Crew Simulator
    • Integrated Pocek battlefield terrain in VBS2 and C/C++ gameplay systems for console and PC military training products used in crew simulation scenarios
  • Fortheia.siFortheia.si, Ljubljana, Slovenia
    Sep 2008 - Apr 2013
    Freelance Software Developer
    Sep 2008 - Apr 2013
    • Shortened partner portal delivery from months to weeks by shipping a reusable CMS and framework adopted across white-label portals and complex multi-tenant web services for B2B clients
    • Cut fleet costs by ~60% on known routes with route-optimization algorithms; shipped ToolEast ERP modules and a transactional email and campaign platform for SMEs
  • IPKO TelecommunicationIPKO Telecommunication, Pristina, Kosovo
    Mar 2008 - Sep 2008
    Software Developer
    Mar 2008 - Sep 2008
    • Standardized internal data collection for Kosovo's second-largest mobile operator in a 6-month engagement by delivering reusable forms and questionnaire generators with validation used across operations teams
    • Shipped online form management and intranet modules (PHP, JavaScript, MySQL/MSSQL) that accelerated operations workflows for back-office teams at Kosovo's second-largest mobile operator during a 6-month engagement spanning mobile, fixed-line, internet, and cable TV services
  • Slovenian Nuclear Safety AdministrationSlovenian Nuclear Safety Administration, Slovenia
    Jul 2006 - Apr 2007
    Software Engineer
    Jul 2006 - Apr 2007
    • Enabled on-time regulatory reporting by shipping multiple annual reporting modules for Slovenia's nuclear safety administration intranet (PHP, JavaScript, TYPO3)
    • Minimized effort on follow-on intranet modules with repeatable patterns and a streamlined TYPO3 workflow adopted by agency engineering staff, building on multiple annual reporting deliveries for Slovenia's nuclear safety administration
Education
  • BS - Computer Science and Information Technology
    2004 – 2014
    Faculty of Computer and Information Science, University of Ljubljana
    Completed while working full-time as a software engineer.
  • Chemistry technician
    2004
    Graduated from the Secondary School of Chemistry and Electrical Engineering
Interests
  • Traveling
    There are no routines, no set rules, or no expectations, and every day is different. Traveling offers new experiences and restores adventure and excitement by breaking routines.
  • Snowboarding
    Strapping strange planks of wood to our feet and launching off giant snow walls. It’s pretty terrifying but beautiful.
  • Video Editing
    An editor is successful when the audience enjoys the story and forgets the shot juxtapositions.
  • Do it yourself
    It takes half your life to discover that life is a do-it-yourself project.
  • Game Development
    It is extremely rewarding to solve problems that need to run in real-time, and write something that functions very much like a mini operating system (OS).