About me

I am a compiler engineer at Variant Security, where I work on compiler-level software diversification and hardening. I obtained my PhD in Computer Science in a cotutelle between Saarland University and the University of Trento while working at the CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security.

I am interested in compilers across the whole pipeline: IR design, program analyses, optimization passes, and lowering to real machines. What draws me in most is the boundary between software and hardware and the implicit contracts between the two. That is how I ended up working on Spectre: in my PhD, I studied how compiler countermeasures against speculative execution attacks can be proven secure, and built static analyses that detect speculative leaks. More broadly, I like using programming-language theory to give stronger guarantees and better abstractions in new domains, from security hardening to compilers for novel hardware such as accelerators. These days I mostly work in C++ and LLVM, and also in Rust and OCaml.

I’m always happy to talk about compilers, formal methods, or programming-language research, so if you’re working on something in that area, feel free to reach out.

Teaching

• Summer 26: Compiler Construction, University of Trento (course developer; teaching compiler in Rust and OCaml)
• Summer 26: Formal Methods, University of Trento (taught together with Compiler Construction)
• Winter 23: Formal Methods in Security
• Summer 23: Formal Compiler Security