Ala BEN KHALIFA

Hello, I’m Ala.

Software engineer & Tech lead

I build software, lead engineering teams,
and take projects from idea to production.

Tunis, Tunisia · Open to relocation

Get in touch Download resumeResume

Current roles

Selected work

Connected Automotive

Backend platform for a private customer app on iOS and Android

Flagship projectLead Software EngineerMaibornWolff website (opens in a new tab)Oct 2020 – Oct 2024

Supported and evolved 10 Spring Boot microservices in Java and Kotlin, serving 15,000 users, with MQTT and PostgreSQL behind real-time mobile features. Grew from Software Engineer to Senior and then Lead on this engagement, coordinating a team of four engineers.

What I built

Services

Backend microservices behind the platform.

  • Spring Boot10 microservices
  • KotlinService development
  • JavaService development
Real-time

Live features for the mobile apps.

  • MQTTReal-time messaging
  • PostgreSQLService data
Mobile & team

Who uses it and how the role grew.

  • iOS & AndroidApps consuming the real-time features
  • Lead engineerTeam of four engineers

Delivered at MaibornWolff

Project details
  • 10 microservices, 15,000 users
  • Two Java services rewritten in Kotlin
  • Promoted from Software Engineer to Lead in four years

Project notes

Backend platforms, cloud migrations, and the delivery work behind them.

Portfolio and experience

Industrial IoT Monitoring Platform

Lead EngineeringMaibornWolffAug 2026 – Present

Cloud monitoring for an industrial gas-detection manufacturer: site gateways stream controller readings over MQTT into Azure, and a React and NestJS app shows plants, measuring points, live status, and history.

  • Built the spec-driven workflow (validation, git hooks, CI gates) the whole team uses for every change.
  • Built the agent skills for spec review, PR review, wiki access, and UI prototyping that let a team of four ship the platform in about two months.
  • Delivered role-based access and the plant, measuring-point, and history features end to end, with about 34 test suites.
  • Fixed history charts drawing through device outages, and cut one test file from 310s to about 1s.
  • NestJS
  • TypeScript
  • React
  • Prisma
  • PostgreSQL
  • TimescaleDB
  • MQTT
  • Azure Event Hubs
  • Azure App Services
  • OpenTofu
  • GitHub Actions CI/CD
  • Claude
  • Spec-driven workflows

Startup Backend & Cloud Platform

Software ArchitectureMaibornWolffMar 2026 – Jun 2026

NestJS backend and AWS platform for an agriculture startup’s mobile and web apps, serving more than 4,000 users.

  • Solely designed and built the backend, working spec-driven with Codex and Claude.
  • Set up separate development and production environments on AWS EC2 with Docker Compose, Caddy, ECR, SSM deployments, RDS PostgreSQL, and Terraform.
  • Built a system-wide audit trail for purchase flows open to untrusted users.
  • NestJS
  • TypeScript
  • AWS EC2
  • RDS PostgreSQL
  • Docker Compose
  • Caddy
  • Terraform
  • Codex
  • Claude

Enterprise Azure Platform Migration

Lead EngineeringMaibornWolffOct 2025 – Dec 2025

Migration of a custom application from standard Azure infrastructure to an enterprise Azure platform.

  • Designed a phased migration strategy to minimize downtime.
  • Led architecture decisions around platform constraints and transition risk.
  • Used Terraform and load testing to support a reliable migration.
  • Azure
  • Azure API Management
  • Terraform
  • Load Testing

Industrial Cloud & API Integration

Multi-Cloud EngineeringMaibornWolffMar 2025 – Jul 2025

Azure infrastructure, API integration, and performance work for an industrial platform.

  • Contributed Terraform code for existing Azure infrastructure.
  • Contributed to API integrations through Azure API Management.
  • Used load testing to identify bottlenecks and guide infrastructure improvements.
  • Azure
  • Terraform
  • Azure API Management
  • Azure Cosmos DB
  • Azure Event Hubs
  • Azure Service Bus
  • Load Testing

Automotive Backend Modernization

Lead EngineeringMaibornWolffNov 2024 – Mar 2025

Backend feature delivery and performance improvements for an established automotive production system.

  • Delivered new features using Domain-Driven Design.
  • Resolved defects in an established .NET codebase.
  • Improved application performance and maintainability.
  • .NET Framework
  • C#
  • Domain-Driven Design

Enterprise ERP Modernization

Full-Stack EngineeringTalan TunisieFeb 2019 – Sep 2020

Migration of a legacy enterprise ERP from a Java monolith to Spring Boot microservices and Angular.

  • Java EE, JSF, and AngularJS to Spring Boot and Angular 8 migration.
  • RabbitMQ asynchronous messaging for system decoupling.
  • Financial reporting and analytics modules.
  • Java EE
  • JSF
  • AngularJS
  • Spring Boot
  • Microservices
  • Angular 8
  • RabbitMQ

Digital Advertising Platform

CTOVERSEOct 2025 – Present

Backend and AWS infrastructure for a digital advertising platform that shows ads on venue screens, used by enterprise clients including BYD, Tunisie Telecom, and Carrefour.

  • Sole technical owner of the backend, cloud infrastructure, and delivery pipeline, built from scratch and running in production.
  • Used Terraform and GitHub Actions for repeatable production delivery.
  • Designed the data and real-time communication layers around PostgreSQL, Redis, and WebSocket.
  • AWS ECS Fargate
  • RDS PostgreSQL
  • ElastiCache Redis
  • S3 + CloudFront
  • Terraform
  • GitHub Actions

Experience

Hands-on development, technical ownership, and engineering leadership.

Full experience

Lead Software Engineer

MaibornWolff GmbH website (opens in a new tab)Industrial IoT Monitoring Platform

Aug 2026 – Present

  • NestJS
  • TypeScript
  • React
  • Prisma
  • PostgreSQL
  • TimescaleDB
  • MQTT
  • Azure Event Hubs
  • Azure App Services
  • OpenTofu
  • GitHub Actions CI/CD
  • Claude
  • Spec-driven workflows

Expertise

Backend, cloud, delivery, languages, data, and AI-assisted engineering.

Full expertise
Backend Engineering
  • Microservices
  • Event-driven systems
  • Spring Boot
  • NestJS
  • .NET / C#
  • REST APIs
  • WebSocket
  • MQTT
  • RabbitMQ
  • DDD
Multi-Cloud Platforms
  • AWS ECS Fargate
  • AWS RDS
  • AWS ElastiCache
  • AWS S3 + CloudFront
  • Azure API Management
  • Azure App Services
  • Azure Cosmos DB
  • Azure Event Hubs
  • Azure Service Bus
  • Azure Key Vault
Infrastructure & Delivery
  • Terraform
  • GitHub Actions CI/CD
  • Docker
  • Kubernetes
  • OpenTofu
  • Load Testing
  • SonarQube
Programming Languages
  • Java
  • Kotlin
  • TypeScript
  • C#
Data & Storage
  • PostgreSQL
  • TimescaleDB
  • MongoDB
  • Redis
  • Firebase
AI-Assisted Engineering
  • Agentic coding
  • Claude
  • RAG
  • LLM integration
  • Spec-driven workflows

Writing

Long-form notes on spec-driven, AI-assisted development, plus a book in progress.

All writing

Spec-Driven AI-Assisted Development

Complete · 7 articlesMy first and favorite series

A practical series about moving from vibe coding to a repeatable workflow built around specs, implementation slices, verification, and engineering judgment.

  1. 1Why Vibe Coding Breaks Down in Real Software Projects
  2. 2The Spec Is the New Prompt: How to Guide AI Coding Agents
  3. 3From Spec to Working Software
  4. 4What Software Engineers Still Own When AI Writes More Code
  5. 5A Practical Template for Spec-Driven AI-Assisted Development
  6. 6Running the Template Without Losing Control
  7. 7The Spec-Driven AI-Assisted Development Starter KitLatest
Browse the series

Spec-Driven AI-Assisted Development

Book · In progress

A practical method for guiding coding agents with clear specs, architecture constraints, and verification loops.

About the book

Certifications

Cloud, backend, architecture, AI, and agile certifications.

Certifications page

Teaching & education

Teaching at ENSIT, mentoring and Claude Code training, and where I studied.

University Instructor

ENSIT website (opens in a new tab)Sept 2022 – Present

  • Microservices Architecture (SOA)
  • Spring Framework

I mentor junior engineers at MaibornWolff through architectural decisions, code reviews, and production engineering practices.

Outside ENSIT, I designed and delivered a two-day Claude Code training course for 17 colleagues, with hands-on software development sessions.

Education

Get in touch

Open to Lead backend roles, including ones that need relocation, working on microservices, AWS, Azure, and cloud migration.

contact@alabenkhalifa.dev
Email me Download resume