Who I Am
I’m Ivan Popov, a senior web and systems engineer based in Athens, Greece, with over 20 years of professional experience.
I work at the intersection of engineering, platform performance, and technical SEO, helping companies stabilize and scale revenue-critical web systems. My role is not feature delivery — it’s ensuring that growth does not break infrastructure, performance, or search visibility.
I’m typically brought in when platforms reach a point where traffic, complexity, or revenue exposure makes existing systems fragile.
What I Do
I focus on high-impact platform work, including:
- Stabilizing high-traffic web platforms under growth pressure
- Fixing performance and SEO regressions caused by scale, migrations, or technical debt
- Designing backend systems that remain reliable as complexity increases
- Supporting founders and engineering teams as a senior individual contributor or fractional platform lead
I prioritize outcomes over tooling and long-term stability over short-term velocity.
Core Areas of Work
Platform Performance & Technical SEO
- Diagnosing and fixing Core Web Vitals and crawlability issues
- SEO-safe migrations, redesigns, and architectural changes
- Site architecture audits for large or legacy platforms
- Ensuring performance and search stability as traffic scales
Backend & Platform Engineering
- Python (Django, FastAPI), PHP, REST APIs
- Data pipelines, integrations, and platform foundations
- Systems designed for reliability, not just throughput
- Supporting growth without accumulating invisible technical debt
High-Performance Systems
- Rust for performance-critical components
- Concurrency, async systems, and memory-safe design
- Tools and services where correctness and latency matter
Applied Automation & Internal Tooling
- Pragmatic use of automation and AI to reduce operational load
- Internal tools for analysis, monitoring, and decision support
- AI-assisted systems integrated into existing workflows
- Focused on reliability and leverage, not experimentation
Advisory Engagement Model
I work primarily in fractional or advisory roles supporting founders, engineering leaders, and growth teams dealing with scale-related technical risk.
Typical engagements include:
- Fractional Growth Infrastructure Advisor
- Platform performance and technical SEO stability advisory
- Migration and redesign risk oversight
- Architecture reviews for scaling platforms
- Technical due diligence for growth initiatives
Engagements are typically structured as monthly retainers or fixed-scope advisory periods.
Who I Typically Work With
I most often work with:
- Series A–C startups scaling rapidly
- SaaS and marketplace platforms dependent on organic acquisition
- High-traffic WordPress or legacy platforms undergoing modernization
- Engineering teams preparing for major migrations or redesigns
- Companies where performance, reliability, and search visibility directly affect revenue
What I Don’t Do
This is intentional:
- I’m not a generalist freelancer for small projects
- I don’t sell hours or ticket-based development
- I don’t build “AI demos” without a production path
I work best where systems, performance, and revenue are tightly coupled.
How I Work
- Senior individual contributor — not an agency
- Short feedback loops, clear tradeoffs
- Focus on root causes, not surface metrics
- Minimal process, maximum clarity
- Retainer or fixed-scope engagements preferred
Technical Background (Condensed)
- Languages: Python, Rust, PHP, JavaScript/TypeScript
- Frameworks: Django, FastAPI, WordPress, Axum, Zola
- Systems: Docker, Linux, CI/CD, Cloudflare
- Databases: PostgreSQL, MySQL, Redis
- AI (applied): PyTorch, Transformers, Mamba State Models, LLM integrations, Local LLMs
Details emerge in conversation — not checklists.
Availability
If your platform is revenue-critical and growth is exposing infrastructure, performance, or SEO risk, feel free to reach out.
I work with a limited number of teams at a time and prioritize advisory engagements where platform stability and growth are tightly coupled.