Ultra Low-Latency Engineer
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Phone: +31 65 350 3440
Email: leo@metalbox-engineering.com LinkedIn: alex-kuropiatnyk

Overview

Leo Kuropiatnyk is an Ultra Low-Latency JVM Engineer based in Amsterdam, Netherlands with a strong interest in low-latency systems, finance technology, and hands-on technical projects. Alongside programming, he enjoys music, hardware building, painting, and staying active through sports. He prefers thoughtful, structured discussions that connect ideas rather than superficial answers, and he often explores topics in depth to understand how they work.

Work And Technical Focus

Leo’s recent career has centered on backend and high-performance JVM development. After working at Booking.com, he moved toward a smaller Forex technology company, Solid FX, where he is interested in ultra-low-latency market-data systems using technologies such as Java NIO, Disruptor, Aeron, UDP, ZGC, Prometheus, and Grafana.

He maintains a CV focused on this work, builds benchmarking tools with JMH, and enjoys discussing compiler behavior, tokenizers, C++ templates, Java language features, and trading-system architecture. He also experiments with quantitative trading ideas and keeps structured records for trading decisions.

Personal Projects

Leo enjoys building physical and software systems. His Metalbox Store project includes an ESP32-based accessibility and navigation controller with BLE, USB HID/MIDI, USB-C PD, and an aluminum enclosure. He also works on Raspberry Pi audio systems, self-hosted infrastructure, embedded electronics, MIDI experiments, and ideas involving Rust, WebAssembly, computer vision, and MQTT. He generally prefers self-hosted hardware over cloud-like solutions when practical.

Creative Interests

Leo prefers Bitwig over Ableton, uses KRK Rokit 6 monitors with a Presonus Eris Sub8, and plays bass guitar. He has compared instruments such as Korean Epiphone SG models, Ibanez basses, and other guitars. He also uses a Mr. Hobby Procon Boy WA airbrush for gouache painting on paper. His music taste includes bands such as Deftones, Alice in Chains, and Church of Misery, and he generally prefers natural-sounding production over heavily processed vocals or excessive autotune.

Communication And Preferences

Leo reasons from first principles and is comfortable exploring technical concepts step by step. He often asks follow-up questions to understand underlying mechanisms instead of stopping at high-level summaries. In personal interactions, he values authentic communication, good pacing, and making decisions based on clear real-time signals rather than guessing from sparse online interactions. He also prefers connecting with people on LinkedIn rather than simply following them.

Created: 26 September 2026