Vasileios Kazazakis | Engineering Leader

THE ADAPTIVE ADVANTAGE

Fast-Learner Superpower

Physics → Software Engineering → Team Leadership. Re-learned C++ after 14 years and shipped production code at Google. Stepped into interim manager role 9 hours away and delivered 18-month delayed OKR on time. Promoted to Lead Developer in 3 months at Aethon.

"Super-fast learner, extremely efficient, quickly grew expertise" - References from 3T Software Labs, VISPIRON, Google

CURRENT STATUS

Manager, Software Engineering

@ Chubb Engineering Center Greece

Active Engineering Leader

Architecting Python microservices on Azure AKS for GenAI Document Ingestion program
Authored Azure Bicep IaC modules for observability that became department-wide standard
Leading migration from manual to automated testing (Playwright E2E, component tests)
Deep-dive code reviews: architecture, performance, reliability, security
Solving distributed data pipeline challenges: async processing, error handling, eventual consistency

Python Azure Microservices IaC

LEADERSHIP IMPACT

Tower Lead, Data & Analytics

@ Chubb Insurance (June 2024 – Present)

Leading 20 Data & QA Engineers across 8 distributed international teams

Established "School of Code Excellence": systematic program raising engineering standards, code quality, and accelerating junior-to-senior development
Organized strategy workshop for senior leadership aligning local objectives with global OKRs
Drove organizational change navigating complex stakeholder relationships while keeping delivery on track
Built high-performing teams through personalized development plans, 360° feedback, and SMART goals

Team Building Strategy Mentorship

SYSTEMS ENGINEERING

SRE @ Google

EMEA | 2020-2023

C++ in Borg Updater: Implemented canary-based sequencing system for safe rollouts. Reduced late failure detection by 60%
Go IAM Deny: Flag-protected changes with extensive tests preventing Google-wide outages
Designed large-scale distributed systems with focus on SLIs/SLOs, capacity planning, scalability
Led high-severity incidents as commander, drove postmortems and remediation

C++ Go SRE Distributed Systems

CRISIS MANAGEMENT

Manager, SRE @ Google

15 Engineers • 3 Teams • 3 Cities

Turnaround Story: Stepped into interim manager role for remote team 9h away. Problematic culture, strained relationships, 18-month delayed OKR.

Conducted extensive stakeholder interviews, discovered individual motivations
Traveled to SEA for 2 weeks of in-person team building
Restructured meetings from status updates to agenda-based discussions
Result: OKR delivered on time, all relationships improved, successful PIP, sustained improvements

TECHNICAL RAMP-UP

Fast Adaptation

Re-learned C++ after 14 years → production code at Google
Learned Go → shipped IAM Deny with safety measures
Learned Azure + Bicep IaC → department standard
ANTLR parser design (zero compiler experience)
Promoted to Lead Dev in 3 months

TECHNICAL STACK

Core Skills

Python Go C++ Java SQL Azure GCP AWS Kafka MongoDB IaC CI/CD

LEADERSHIP SKILLS

Management Toolkit

Team Building OKRs Mentorship PIPs Strategy Stakeholders Change Mgmt Hiring Agile

PRODUCT ENGINEERING

Senior SE @ 3T Labs

2015-2017 | Berlin

SQL Query Feature for Studio 3T (MongoDB IDE)

ANTLR parser: SQLite grammar → MongoDB
AST to MongoDB query translator
Became one of the most popular features
Represented at MongoDB World conferences

CONSULTING LEADERSHIP

Team Leader @ VISPIRON

2017-2020 | Munich

Led 21 IT Consultants & Engineers

Eliminated feature redos through culture change
Decreased idle resources by 50%
Product Owner & Project Manager
Promoted twice in under 2 years

ORGANIZATIONAL LEADERSHIP

Change Agent

Reprioritized 50+ projects during Google layoffs (2w vs 6w)
Organized cross-site virtual summit (3 timezones, 9h span)
Applied Kotter's 8-step change framework
Improved team morale during crisis

EDUCATION

Technical Depth + Strategic Thinking

MBA, International Management

Zurich Elite Business School
Full Scholarship, Top 3%
Strategy, Finance, Leadership, Operations

MSc, Theoretical Physics

University of Amsterdam
Complex problem-solving, analytical thinking, mathematical modeling

Unique combination: rigorous scientific training + top-tier business education

GLOBAL EXPERIENCE

Leading Distributed Teams Across EMEA

Crete → Amsterdam → The Hague → Berlin → Munich → Zurich → Dublin → Thessaloniki

Languages: English (C2), Greek (Native), French (A1), German (A1)

OPTIMIZATION

Impact Metrics

60% reduction in rollout failure detection (Google)
87.5% performance improvement: 4h → 30min (VISPIRON)
Zero-downtime deployments for critical infrastructure
Department-wide IaC standard adoption (Chubb)

CONTINUOUS LEARNING

Certifications

• AI Gold Level - CodinGame
• Experienced Manager - Chubb
• Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt
• Advanced AI: NLP & LLMs - LinkedIn

WHAT OTHERS SAY

Thanks to his strong technical expertise, people leadership, and influencing ability, Vasileios quickly became a key contributor: both directly, by shaping major architectural decisions, and indirectly, through the impact of his high-performing team.

Data & Analytics Lead @ Chubb

Empathetic, compassionate manager with a demonstrated ability to build consensus on the correct priorities for an engineering team. He adjusted his approach appropriately depending on the situation, and did not force his preferred way of operating onto a team.

Engineering Director @ Google

Vasileios advocated for a positive work-environment, making sure folks felt safe asking questions and treating mistakes as learning opportunities. He pushed for more structure around quarterly goals, boosted accountability, and was looked up to by both newcomers and senior folks alike.

Engineering Manager (Peer) @ Google

Vassilis's contributions have been crucial for improving reliability of the service our team was responsible for. He is a person who likes to question the status quo and propose improvements to established processes. He worked closely with his reports to help them succeed and achieve their career goals.

SRE Engineer (Peer) @ Google

Super-fast learner and was able to constantly exceed expectations, getting up to speed in new domains. He manages chaos and ambiguity very well, and adding him to a team or a difficult topic will always focus the discussion and move the team towards convergence on a solution.

Engineering Manager @ VISPIRON