Ghassen Bargougui

Application Engineer Fukuoka, Japan

Java Applications, Cloud & Platform Engineering

I build and modernize Java applications and the cloud platforms they run on. At Rakuten, in the Technology Incubation Team working on Rakuten Card systems, my work spans hybrid-cloud migration, Kubernetes deployments, API development, performance testing, and application observability.

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Who I am

About

I am an Application Engineer with seven years of Java and full-stack experience in banking, insurance, and card payments, across Tunisia, Luxembourg, and Japan. My work sits where application code meets the platform it runs on: API design, deployment, performance diagnosis, and reliable delivery.

At Rakuten, I help lead a hybrid-cloud migration alongside my manager and project manager, coordinating implementation with development, infrastructure, CI/CD, and security teams. Hands-on, I design application and infrastructure changes, build Kubernetes deployments and pipelines, run performance tests with k6 and JMeter, and adapt application logging for Cloud Logging and Kafka/Confluent.

Outside work, I build products end to end: Slide Agent, an open-source engine for generating editable PowerPoint presentations; Pockito, an app for personal and shared finances; and SubMate, a Chrome extension for subtitle translation.

7Years of experience

3Countries worked across

JDK 25Rakuten Card e-Navi API upgrade

OCPOracle Certified Java SE 11 Developer

Where I've worked

Experience

Application Engineer

Rakuten

Present

Dec 2025 — Present·11 mos·Fukuoka, Japan

In the Technology Incubation Team, I work on Rakuten Card systems across Java application development and cloud/platform engineering, and help lead a hybrid-cloud migration alongside my manager and project manager, coordinating implementation with development, infrastructure, CI/CD, and security teams.

Upgraded the e-Navi API to JDK 25 and Helidon 4.3, resolving dependency and CDI issues, updating tests, and documenting the handover.
Designed and validated Kubernetes deployments for the JSF, API, and Engine modules as part of the hybrid-cloud migration, including services, environment configuration, and Filestore mounts.
Run performance tests with k6 and JMeter, diagnose bottlenecks, and address them through application-design changes or resource adjustments.
Reworked application logging as structured JSON for Cloud Logging (Log4j2 with a custom formatter); currently helping move file-based application and trace logs to Kafka/Confluent.

Show all achievements (7)Show less

Develop Java APIs with Redis-backed session management, service-to-service calls, and LLM API integration on Kubernetes infrastructure.
Resolved deployment, SSL, and GCP-to-on-premises connectivity issues with infrastructure and security teams, and traced a Kafka messaging issue to an incorrect CDI bean scope.
Built a GitHub Actions pipeline for builds, Docker image publishing to Artifact Registry, and GKE deployments.

Software Engineer

Sogeti · Client assignment at BGL BNP Paribas

Feb 2025 — Nov 2025·10 mos·Luxembourg

Developed and maintained internal banking applications for BGL BNP Paribas, including customer mandate management for retail banking.

Delivered customer mandate management features with Spring Boot, Spring Batch, and Angular Material.
Developed REST APIs and Hibernate data access for internal applications on PostgreSQL and Oracle.
Automated builds and deployments with Maven and Jenkins, and maintained code quality through unit tests, SonarQube analysis, and peer reviews.

Selected company projects (1)

BGL BNP Paribas — Mandate Management 2025

Customer mandate management for retail banking.

Developed mandate workflows with Spring Batch processing and Angular Material screens.
Added unit tests and SonarQube checks, and automated build and deployment pipelines with Maven and Jenkins.

Java · Spring Boot · Spring Batch · Angular · Angular Material · SonarQube · Jenkins

Java Full-Stack Engineer

CBTW

Sep 2024 — Jan 2025·5 mos·Luxembourg

Modernized Java services and developed web applications with Spring Boot, Angular, and PostgreSQL.

Refactored monolithic application components into microservices as part of the Java service modernization.
Built and documented REST APIs for service integration, covering versioning and security requirements.
Automated deployments with Jenkins and Docker, reducing manual release steps.

VERMEG for Banking and Insurance

Oct 2019 — Aug 2024·4 yrs 11 mos·Tunis, Tunisia

Analyst DeveloperJan 2023 — Aug 2024
Software DeveloperOct 2019 — Dec 2022

Built and maintained backend services for insurance and financial applications, then took on functional analysis and cross-team solution design as Analyst Developer.

Improved API response times through query optimization and caching.
Responsible for assigned backend components; worked with business, architecture, and framework teams on requirements, microservices, and API contracts.
Documented designs in UML and sequence diagrams, and acted as a primary contact for cross-team design questions.
Implemented Keycloak authentication and role-based access control, and managed CI/CD pipelines and rollback strategies.

Selected company projects (5)

SalesFlow 2023 – 2024

Insurance workflow modernization with Camunda BPM.

Led the migration of insurance workflows to a Camunda BPM-based architecture to reduce manual processing.
Conducted functional analysis and client workshops, and implemented multithreaded batch processing.
Integrated ActiveMQ to automate bulk-processing workflows.

Java · Spring Boot · Camunda · ActiveMQ · REST API · Batch Processing

PackManager 2022 – 2023

Configuration platform for insurance products.

Built insurance product configuration APIs and refactored legacy code for maintainability.
Profiled Java execution and memory usage with JProfiler and optimized the identified bottlenecks.

Java · REST API · JProfiler

Solife Digital & Generali Portal

Web applications for insurance brokers.

Developed Angular interfaces and Java backend services for insurance brokers.
Integrated Keycloak single sign-on and BPMN-driven user flows.

Angular · Java · Keycloak · BPMN

Magikforms

Document and digital form processing for insurance workflows.

Built Java services for document processing, using ActiveMQ for bulk event flows.
Integrated Keycloak authorization and analyzed Java heap usage with JProfiler.

Java · ActiveMQ · Keycloak · JProfiler

Insurance Pricing Module 2020 – 2021

Insurance product pricing and premium calculation.

Developed product configuration and premium calculation features with client-side validation.
Processed Excel pricing templates with Apache POI to improve data integration.

Java · Apache POI · Excel · Spring Boot

What I work with

Skills & Toolbox

Core strengths

Java Application Engineering

JavaSpring BootHelidonMicroProfileHibernateRESTful API DesignOpenAPIMaven

Cloud Delivery & CI/CD

KubernetesGoogle Cloud Platform (GCP)Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE)DockerGitHub ActionsJenkins

Performance & Observability

k6JMeterJProfilerCloud LoggingLog4j2

Data & Messaging

PostgreSQLOracle (PL/SQL)RedisKafka / ConfluentActiveMQ

Frontend, Mobile & Browser

AngularTypeScriptVue.jsNuxtNode.jsFlutterDartChrome Extensions (MV3)

AI & Agent Tooling

Model Context Protocol (MCP)LLM API Integration

Quality & Security

JUnitMockitoSonarQubeKeycloak (OAuth2, OIDC, JWT)Git

Selected work

Projects

Selected personal projects 3

Products I design and build end to end on my own time. Open-source projects are labelled.

Open source · npm package2026

Slide Agent

Creator & Maintainer

Open-source engine and MCP tooling for generating editable PowerPoint decks with native charts and layout validation.

Built a TypeScript engine that compiles a grid-based composition language into native PowerPoint with editable charts and tables, theme colors, and embedded fonts.
Implemented text measurement from font files, layout and contrast checks, and offline OOXML schema validation.
Published the engine on npm as @slide-agent/core, with a CLI, library API, and MCP server; template filling generates decks from CSV data without model calls.

TypeScriptNode.jsMCPOOXMLLLM APIsVitestGitHub Actions

Visit site

Personal project2025 – 2026

Pockito

Creator & Full-Stack Engineer

Personal and shared finance app: Flutter and Nuxt clients, Spring Boot service with REST and MCP interfaces.

Designed a Spring Boot backend in which REST and MCP adapters share one domain service, and built the Flutter and Nuxt clients.
Integrated Keycloak authentication, OAuth discovery for MCP clients, and event-driven notifications with Redis Streams.
Built Kubernetes deployment and rollback scripts with Traefik routing, plus automated tests and end-to-end release checks.

Java 25Spring BootFlutterNuxtPostgreSQLRedisKeycloakKubernetesMCP

Open app

Open source · Chrome extension2026

SubMate

Creator & Maintainer

Chrome extension for synchronized subtitle translation on Netflix, TVer, and Prime Video, translating on-device by default with optional cloud providers.

Built a Manifest V3 extension on Chrome's on-device Translator API, with local caching and no SubMate backend, account, or telemetry.
Designed platform adapters over a shared core for TTML/WebVTT parsing, TVer HLS segment assembly, and synchronized fullscreen overlays.
Added optional cloud translation using the user's own API key, and localized the interface in English, Japanese, French, and Arabic with right-to-left support.

TypeScriptChrome Extensions (MV3)Translator APILLM APIsIndexedDBVitest

Visit site

More personal projects 2

Playable

Orbit Ways

Full-Stack Game Developer

Browser-based multiplayer strategy board game with real-time game state over WebSockets.

Play

Side project2026

Traffic Forward

Creator

Spring Boot HTTP forwarding tool with configurable routing and request/response diagnostics.

Background

Education

Engineering Degree (Diplôme d'ingénieur) in Software Architecture

ESPRIT (Private Higher School of Engineering and Technology)

Sep 2019 – Jul 2023·Tunis, Tunisia

Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science

ISIMM (Higher Institute of Computer Science and Mathematics)

Sep 2015 – Jun 2019·Monastir, Tunisia

Certifications

Oracle Certified Professional, Java SE 11 Developer

Oracle · Sep 2022

Languages

ArabicNative

EnglishFluent

FrenchFluent

JapaneseBasic

Get in touch

Let's build something reliable.

Have a role, a project, or just want to talk systems? I'm always happy to connect.

ghassen.brg16@gmail.com Download CV

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