Usama Benabdelkrim-Zakan

University Professor & AI Specialist

Software Engineer, Cloud & Cybersecurity Specialist

I design and deliver end-to-end digital platforms—from intuitive frontends to secure, scalable backends—using modern cloud-native architectures. My expertise spans the full development lifecycle: frontend/backend engineering, API design, infrastructure orchestration, DevSecOps, performance optimization, and platform security. I build production-grade systems that integrate AI-driven intelligence and adhere to cybersecurity best practices, ensuring innovation and reliability at scale.

With a solid background in cybersecurity and artificial intelligence, I architect intelligent solutions that learn, adapt, and optimize real-time performance in distributed environments. By seamlessly integrating no-code tools, serverless technologies, and ML models, I accelerate time-to-market while reducing operational costs without compromising robustness.

I am the lead author of "Optimizing Serverless Pipeline Execution" (Middleware 2024, ACM), where I present a novel machine learning approach that cuts execution time and cost—achieving up to an 80% performance boost and 30% cost savings for both scientific and enterprise workloads.

I also implemented the first monitoring system for serverless applications on Lithops, compatible with any cloud backend—AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, Kubernetes, etc. It features Grafana dashboards for detailed workload insights, and includes a scalable multi-tenant version for platforms like PyRun, offering dedicated user dashboards.

My career began at CloudLab (URV) as a research intern on the Datoma project, a data-centric platform for the biomedical sector. I later advanced at CIBER, where I led technical development for a startup spun off from Datoma—designing full-stack architectures, automating cloud infrastructure, and creating dynamic frontends tailored for research workflows.

At Alterna, I now spearhead software engineering initiatives with URV, notably through the UNICO project, which drives digital transformation via cloud-native and AI-augmented solutions. Our platforms scale securely across institutions, combining robust architectures with explainable AI and operational efficiency.

Alongside my technical career, I was a nationally ranked high-performance sprinter for Spain—a pursuit that instilled resilience, discipline, strategic focus, and a commitment to continuous improvement, qualities I apply daily in leadership and engineering.

I also mentor undergraduate projects in AI, machine learning, and serverless computing.

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+34 632 708 792