Backend systems · Video streaming · Real-time infrastructure
Oliver Herschmann
Principal Software Engineer
Building scalable backend systems and video streaming infrastructure for high-traffic platforms. Specialized in real-time data processing, media delivery, and distributed systems that handle millions of concurrent users.
About
Oliver began his career as a backend engineer in Chicago, working on high-traffic web applications and real-time systems. After earning his Master's degree, he specialized in video streaming and distributed systems. In 2019, he relocated to Munich to join Amazon, where he led backend development for video streaming services handling millions of concurrent viewers.
He enjoys architecting scalable systems, optimizing performance for real-time applications, and mentoring engineers on distributed systems design.
Core Competencies
Languages
- Go
- Python
- Java
- Node.js
- C++
Streaming & Media
- WebRTC
- HLS
- DASH
- FFmpeg
- GStreamer
- Kafka
Backend & APIs
- REST
- gRPC
- GraphQL
- Microservices
- Event-driven
Databases
- PostgreSQL
- Redis
- Cassandra
- MongoDB
- DynamoDB
Cloud & Infrastructure
- AWS
- Kubernetes
- Docker
- Terraform
Messaging & Queues
- Kafka
- RabbitMQ
- SQS
- Redis Streams
Professional Experience
CTO & Co-Founder
- Building real-time infrastructure for interactive advertising on streaming platforms
- Architecting scalable APIs for viewer engagement and polling at scale
- Designing resilient systems to handle high-concurrency streaming ad interactions
- Establishing platform reliability and performance standards for early-stage startup
Principal SDE
- Architected and built backend services for live video streaming platform serving 50M+ daily active users
- Led development of real-time video transcoding pipeline reducing latency by 40%
- Designed scalable WebRTC infrastructure for interactive live streaming features
- Optimized video delivery CDN integration achieving 99.99% uptime
- Mentored team of 12 engineers across backend and streaming infrastructure
Senior Backend Engineer
- Built RESTful APIs and microservices for video content management platform
- Implemented real-time analytics pipeline using Kafka and Redis
- Designed and deployed video transcoding service handling 100K+ videos daily
- Reduced API response times by 60% through caching optimization
Backend Engineer
- Developed high-throughput REST APIs serving 10M+ requests per day
- Built real-time bidding system using Go and Redis
- Optimized PostgreSQL queries reducing database load by 40%
- Implemented event-driven architecture with RabbitMQ
Software Engineer
- Developed backend services for e-commerce platform in Python and Django
- Built payment processing integration with Stripe and PayPal
- Implemented inventory management APIs
- Contributed to microservices migration from monolith
Featured Projects
Live Streaming Platform
Architected and built backend infrastructure for live video streaming supporting millions of concurrent viewers with sub-second latency.
Video Transcoding Pipeline
Designed distributed video transcoding system processing 100K+ videos daily with adaptive bitrate streaming support.
Real-time Analytics Engine
Built event-driven analytics platform processing 1M+ events per second for viewer engagement metrics.
Certifications
Education
Bachelor of Science in Computer Science
Master of Science in Computer Science
Soft Skills
Interests
Building Poll Streams
Currently focused on building Poll Streams as CTO & Co-Founder. Open to speaking, mentoring, and technical collaboration on backend systems, video streaming, and real-time infrastructure.