Work Experience

omelas.tech - Netherlands

Founder (side project) · Product & Engineering, Sep 2025 – Present

  • Building Caleido, a cross-platform cultural discovery app.
  • Full-stack development using Flutter, Next.js, and Firebase.
  • Technologies: Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Flutter, Next.js, Firebase.

Booking.com - Amsterdam, Netherlands

Software Engineer II, Jul 2022 – Present

  • Developing Java and TypeScript backend software using REST and GraphQL APIs.
  • Working on scalable, high-traffic services for e-commerce platform.
  • Technologies: Java, TypeScript, Protocol Buffers, Apache Kafka, Kubernetes.

TomTom - Eindhoven, Netherlands

Senior Software Engineer, Nov 2018 – Jul 2022

  • Navigation software development for automotive platforms.
  • Designing and developing software components and interfaces to integrate TomTom navigation software to automotive platforms.
  • Technically leading an engineering team of 6 developers, ensuring continuous development, collaboration and technical improvement among the team members.
  • Communicating with customers and other teams to design, implement, test and deliver software components.

Amazon - Madrid, Spain

SDE-II, Aug 2017 – Aug 2018

  • Full-stack web development for Amazon Business.
    • ReactJS, HTML, CSS.
    • Java, Spring, AWS core services (DynamoDB, SQS, SNS, Lambda).
  • Planning, reporting and optimizing project hardware infrastructure.

Roketsan - Ankara, Turkey

Senior Research and Development Engineer, Apr 2016 – Jun 2017

  • Infrared object detection and tracking algorithms development using C & C++.
  • Developing test and simulation software for target detection algorithms.

Nokta - Ankara, Turkey

Software Developer, Jun 2015 – Jan 2016

  • Solr - Open source enterprise search platform.
  • Recommender Systems.
  • Search Algorithms.
  • Object Oriented Software Design.
    • HTML, CSS, JavaScript frontend.
    • PHP backend.

TUBITAK - İLTAREN - Ankara, Turkey

Senior Research Scientist, Mar 2013 – May 2015

  • Infrared Target Detection & Tracking.
  • Physics Based Vision.
  • Image Processing Technology & Applications.
  • Image Enhancement & Image Fusion.

Researcher, Aug 2008 – Mar 2013

  • Real-time Target Detection and Tracking Algorithms Development on Visual and IR Images.
  • Defining algorithm requirements specifications, system requirements specifications, design, test and deliver.
  • Leading a team of 4 researchers.

Education

PhD (Drop Out), METU, 2014 – 2017

  • Doctor of Philosophy in Informatics
  • Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey

MSc, METU, 2008 – 2011

  • Master of Science in Electrical and Electronics Engineering
  • Specialization: Signal Processing
  • Courses: Signal processing, image processing, computer vision and pattern recognition
  • Thesis: "An algorithm for multiscale license plate detection and rule-based character segmentation"

BSc, METU, 2003 – 2008

  • Bachelor of Science in Electrical and Electronics Engineering
  • Courses: Signal processing, microwaves, electromagnetics and telecommunications
  • Final project: "A device that can create 3D objects using 2D data sources"

Skills

  • Backend Development: Java, C++, TypeScript, Python
  • Technologies: REST APIs, GraphQL, Protocol Buffers, Apache Kafka, Kubernetes
  • Cloud & DevOps: AWS (DynamoDB, SQS, SNS, Lambda), CI/CD pipelines
  • Algorithms: Image processing, machine learning, computer vision, target detection & tracking
  • Additional: Full-stack web development, agile software development, system design
  • Languages: Turkish (Native), English (Full Professional), Dutch (Limited Working)

Certifications

  • Getting Started with Kubernetes
  • Advanced Design Patterns: Design Principles
  • Developing on AWS
  • Architecting on AWS
  • Introduction to Recommender Systems

Awards and Honors

  • Ranked 371st in the university entrance examination over 1.5M candidates.
  • "Certificate of Achievement" for "Good mechanical design and effective use of software engineering tools", given by Dep. Of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, METU, June 2008.
  • "Senior Design Course Achievement Award" given by Dep. Of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, METU, June 2008.

Publications

  • A. O. Karalı, S. Çakır, T. Aytaç. "Multiscale contrast direction adaptive image fusion technique for MWIR-LWIR image pairs and LWIR multi-focus infrared images." Applied Optics, 54(13):4172-4179, 2015.

  • T. Can, A. O. Karalı, T. Aytaç, "Detection and tracking of sea-surface targets in infrared and visual band videos using the bag-of-features technique with scale-invariant feature transform." Applied Optics, 50(33):6302-6312, 2011.

  • A. O. Karalı, O. E. Okman, T. Aytaç. "Adaptive image enhancement based on clustering of wavelet coefficients for infrared sea surveillance systems." Infrared Physics & Technology, 54(5): 382-394, 2011.

  • A. O. Karalı, O. E. Okman, T. Aytaç. "Adaptive enhancement of sea-surface targets in infrared images based on local frequency cues." Journal of the Optical Society of America A: Optics, Image Science & Vision, 27(3): 509-517, 2010.

  • For detailed information on journal and conference papers please refer to: Google Scholar