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Valentin Bernillon

@valentinbernillon

Backend engineer building Python services end to end: FastAPI, PostgreSQL/PostGIS, Docker. LLM integration, embedded systems background.

Switzerland
Message

What I'm looking for

I'm looking for remote backend, systems, or embedded engineering roles where I can solve cross-layer problems, work autonomously, build reliable systems, and apply careful technical judgement when documentation or reference implementations are missing.

I build and operate Python backends end to end. For the past months I have been working independently on a full-stack geospatial application: around 15 FastAPI REST endpoints with a modular service layer, Pydantic validation, structured logging and explicit error codes; a PostgreSQL/PostGIS data layer of 14 relational and spatial tables with spatial queries and SQL routines written and tuned by hand; ingestion, transformation and enrichment pipelines feeding it; and the deployment itself, on Docker and a Linux VPS behind a reverse proxy. I wrote the test coverage at every level — unit tests per module, SQL validation per table, automated end-to-end programs against the running stack — and I validate pipeline output rather than assuming a run that completes is a run that worked.

Part of that pipeline is LLM-assisted: model output is schema-validated and consistency-checked before it ever reaches the database. That is the part of AI integration I find genuinely interesting. The hard part is not calling the model, it is deciding what to do when it returns something wrong.

Before that, I spent six months as the sole engineer on my bachelor thesis at HEPIA: a real-time video platform on ARM64 embedded Linux, with no reference implementation to build on. I built the cross-compilation toolchain from scratch after finding the vendor framework had no support for it, deployed a CNN end to end from TensorFlow/Keras through ONNX and 8-bit quantisation to a runtime holding a 25 FPS / sub-40 ms budget, and diagnosed a broken vendor framework to root cause before evaluating alternatives. That work is where the habit of validating incrementally, with a checkpoint at every stage, came from — and I apply it directly to APIs and databases.

I learned to program without AI assistance and now use AI tools daily, reviewing generated code section by section and rewriting or rejecting it when it is wrong. I am most useful on problems that cross layers, where the path is not mapped out and the documentation is missing or wrong. I work autonomously, pick up new stacks quickly, and work in French, English and Spanish.

I am looking for a remote backend, data or AI-integration role on a team that writes tests and reviews code. Python, FastAPI, PostgreSQL/PostGIS, Docker, Linux, C/C++, Git.

Experience

Work history, roles, and key accomplishments

Self Employed logoSE
Current

Software Engineer - Backend & Infrastructure

Feb 2026 - Present (7 months)

Building and operating a full-stack geospatial discovery application end-to-end, from architecture and data modelling to deployment and day-to-day operation.

• Designed and implemented the backend in Python with FastAPI: ~15 REST endpoints, modular service layer, Pydantic validation, structured logging and explicit error codes.
• Modelled the data layer in PostgreSQL with PostGIS: 14 tables cov

Self Employed logoSE

Private Tutor - Computer Science & Mathematics

Feb 2024 - Apr 2026 (2 years 2 months)

Long-term one-to-one tutoring in computer science and mathematics, supporting students preparing for entry into a vocational IT programme and following them throughout their training.

• Reviewed and corrected students' code, explaining why an implementation was incorrect or could be improved rather than supplying the answer.
• Broke down advanced technical concepts into clear, practical explana

Haute école du paysage, d'ingénierie et d'architecture de Genève - HEP logoHH

Embedded Systems Engineer - Bachelor Thesis

Feb 2025 - Sep 2025 (7 months)

Sole engineer on a heterogeneous FPGA–NPU real-time image processing platform: AMD Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC (ZCU104) + Hailo-8 NPU over PCIe, on ARM64 embedded Linux (PetaLinux). No reference implementation existed to build on.

• Extended the FPGA design in Vivado with a modular memory-to-memory image pipeline (AXI VDMA, Video Processing Subsystem, AXI-Stream), insertable or bypassable without re-

Haute école du paysage, d'ingénierie et d'architecture de Genève - HEP logoHH

Embedded Systems Engineer - Bachelor Thesis

Feb 2025 - Sep 2025 (7 months)

Sole engineer on a heterogeneous FPGA–NPU real-time image processing platform: AMD Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC (ZCU104) + Hailo-8 NPU over PCIe, on ARM64 embedded Linux (PetaLinux). No reference implementation existed to build on.

• Extended the FPGA design in Vivado with a modular memory-to-memory image pipeline (AXI VDMA, Video Processing Subsystem, AXI-Stream), insertable or bypassable without re-

Education

Degrees, certifications, and relevant coursework

HH

Haute école du paysage, d'ingénierie et d'architecture de Genève - HEPIA

Bachelor's degree, Informatique et systèmes de communication, Plein temps

2021 - 2025

CT

CFPT Centre de Formation Professionnelle Technique

Certificat de capacité & Certificat de maturité professionnelle, Informaticien CFC

2017 - 2020

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