Software Architect & Senior Software Engineer

Dr. Alex El-Shaikh

I design and build scalable backend systems from architecture to delivery, combining Java/Spring Boot engineering, AWS cloud services, database systems, and technical project coordination. Based in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

Backend architecture with research depth

  • PhD-trained computer scientist with 7+ years in scalable, data-intensive systems
  • Production experience across Java, Spring Boot, AWS, relational databases, and REST APIs
  • Comfortable translating complex requirements into robust architecture and aligned delivery
Java & Spring Boot AWS cloud services Requirements to delivery Database architecture
PhD Database systems
5 Research publications
TB Scale datasets
Portrait of Dr. Alex El-Shaikh
Email GitHub Scholar ORCID Technical CV Academic CV

What I Bring

Architecture, data, and delivery

Minimal backend architecture visual with cloud, service stack, and API endpoint Systems

Scalable backend architecture

Java/Spring Boot services, REST APIs, cloud integrations, batch processing, and maintainable modular design.

Minimal database visual with a central data store and simple pipeline elements Data

Database-heavy applications

Relational and NoSQL systems, ETL pipelines, query optimization, indexing, and TB-scale research data.

Minimal delivery coordination visual with blueprint and task tiles Delivery

Technical coordination

Requirements analysis, architecture decisions, code reviews, mentoring, and Scrum/Kanban collaboration.

Minimal DNA data storage visual with helix and data cube Research

Product-minded research depth

DNA data storage, distributed systems, scientific software, and translating complex domains into usable systems.

Career

Experience

Apr 2026-present Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Senior Software Engineer

  • Design scalable Java/Spring Boot backends in AWS environments
  • Integrate Cognito, S3, Aurora, PostgreSQL, and MariaDB into production systems
  • Drive architecture decisions, performance improvements, code reviews, and testing quality
Feb 2025-Mar 2026 Imperial College London, UK

Postdoctoral Researcher

Department of Computing

  • Led scalable database and distributed-system architecture work
  • Improved performance by up to 50% through query, architecture, and concurrency tuning
  • Worked with TB-scale data, containerized services, teaching, and student supervision
2019-2024 University of Marburg, Germany

Research Fellow & PhD Candidate

Dr. rer. nat. (PhD in Natural Sciences)

  • Completed PhD research on random access for DNA data storage systems, grade 1.0
  • Built REST services with Spring Boot and FastAPI for international research partners
  • Worked on NFDI4Biodiversity, ETL pipelines, S3-compatible APIs, and database systems
Mar 2014-Oct 2019 University of Marburg, Germany

Teaching & Research Assistant

  • Supported programming labs, software engineering practicals, and student groups
  • Tutored Java, OOP, algorithms, logic, mathematics, and database systems

Academic Foundation

Education

2019-2024

PhD in Computer Science

Philipps University Marburg

  • Dr. rer. nat., grade 1.0
  • Dissertation: Implementing random access on DNA data storage systems
2016-2019

M.Sc. Computer Science

Philipps University Marburg

  • Thesis: Lightweight Indexing on Data Streams, grade 1.3
  • Minor in economics and ERASMUS semester at Aalto University in Helsinki
2012-2015

B.Sc. Computer Science

Philipps University Marburg

  • Thesis: Android game with interactive water simulation, grade 1.3
  • Minor in business administration

Research

Publications

Academic Work

Talks, awards, and service

DNA data storage research visual with helix and data cube
Research Identity

DNA data storage, database systems, and scientific software

My academic work connects database architecture, random access, query processing, and biochemical constraints for DNA-based storage systems.

Academic CV Scholar ORCID
Talks

Invited and conference presentations

Jul 2023
Ain Shams University, Cairo

Invited talk on DNA as an alternative medium for data storage, including cost and long-term viability.

Mar 2023
BTW 2023, TU Dresden

Presented DNAContainer and received the Best Workshop Paper Award at the NoDMC Workshop.

Mar 2022
DSMM 2022, University of Marburg

Presented high-scale random access for emerging DNA data storage systems.

Awards

Research recognition

Best Paper NoDMC Workshop, BTW 2023

Recognized for DNAContainer: an object-based storage architecture on DNA.

Editor's Choice NAR Genomics and Bioinformatics

Selected for high-scale random access on DNA storage systems.

Service

Reviewing, supervision, and academic support

Peer Review

Trends in Biotechnology Nature Communications Scientific Reports Briefings in Bioinformatics BMC Bioinformatics CSBJ

Supervision

Bachelor projects Master projects Graduation projects Programming projects Exercise classes Tutorials

Mentoring

Teaching

Lectures

  • Relational Database Systems - University of Marburg
  • NoSQL Databases - University of Marburg
  • Geo Databases - University of Marburg
  • Implementing Database Systems - University of Marburg
  • Efficient Algorithms - University of Marburg
  • NoSQL Databases: MongoDB - Imperial College London
  • NoSQL Databases: Neo4j - Imperial College London

Exercise Sessions

Database Systems NoSQL Software Engineering Algorithms OOP Programming internships Logic Linear Algebra Analysis Geo-databases
University lecture room with a lecturer facing a clean database architecture diagram

I enjoy breaking down complex topics into understandable concepts and seeing students grow through engagement and collaboration.

Technical Range

Skills

Programming Languages

Java Python SQL Rust C# C++ R Kotlin Scala JavaScript Lua Prolog Julia Haskell

Frameworks & Tools

Spring Boot AWS Amazon Cognito S3 Maven Docker Kubernetes Git Linux JUnit Pandas FastAPI REST APIs JDBC jOOQ JPA Kafka CI/CD

Database Systems

PostgreSQL Amazon Aurora MariaDB MongoDB Elasticsearch Neo4j Redis Spark HBase

Engineering Focus

Software architecture Backend systems REST APIs Data processing ETL pipelines Performance tuning Concurrency Refactoring Clean Code Testing

Methods & Coordination

Requirements engineering System analysis Technical project coordination Architecture decisions Scrum Kanban Mentoring Code reviews

Spoken & Written Languages

German - native Arabic - native English - C1