Thomas Nys — Co-Founder
I started my career in Michelin-star kitchens, from commis to sous-chef. Then, software engineering. Then data. The throughline: building systems under pressure, where the details matter and everything has to hit the pass at once. Today, I'm a fractional data architect and senior data engineer for SMEs, startups, and scaleups. I come in when dashboards are slow, pipelines keep breaking, or nobody's sure if the data stack will survive the next funding round. I specialize in technical debt reduction, architectural strategy, and org design as a fractional leader with hands-on depth. For CTOs, VPs of Engineering, and Heads of Data at 10-200 person companies scaling from MVP to platform. I've led data platform transformations at Cerba Research (GxP-validated enterprise lakehouse and data hub), Port of Antwerp-Bruges (cloud migration), and Easyfairs (greenfield GCP platform from zero). What I've learned: most "data problems" aren't about data. They're about ownership vacuums, strategy-tool confusion, and teams that bought the tool before defining the problem. I came to data engineering sideways, through professional kitchens, support agent, and self-taught programming. No CS degree. That gap made me obsessive about understanding things from first principles rather than taking "best practices" at face value. It's still how I work. What I write about: • Technical debt economics • Data architecture for growing companies • Organizational dynamics in data teams • Scaling from MVP to platform TOGAF and Kafka certified. Ultrarunner. Follow for data architecture without the ivory tower. DM if you want restaurant/recipe tips.
Stackforce AI infers this person is a Data Architect with expertise in cloud migration and data engineering for logistics and healthcare industries.
Location: Hamme, Flemish Region, Belgium
Experience: 15 yrs 8 mos
Skills
- Data Architecture
- Technical Debt
- Data Engineering
- Cloud Migration
- Cloud Data Platforms
Career Highlights
- Led data platform transformations for major organizations.
- Specializes in technical debt reduction and architectural strategy.
- Brings unique insights from culinary and tech backgrounds.
Work Experience
Tropos.io
Senior Data Architect (3 mos)
UCLL Advanced business management Banaba
Project Mentor | Business & Data Analytics | Jury (1 yr 4 mos)
Cerba Research
Senior Data Architect (2 yrs 2 mos)
Port of Antwerp-Bruges
Lead data engineer (2 yrs)
Koning Apestaart
Co-Founder (5 yrs 5 mos)
Easyfairs
Tech Lead - Data Engineering (2 yrs)
Big Industries
Senior Data Engineer (1 yr)
Solution Owner / Teamlead AWS (1 yr)
Belgium Kubernetes & Cloud Native Meetup
Founder (5 yrs)
Foodpairing®
Data Engineer (2 yrs)
Rial.to
Software Engineer (1 yr)
Openminds bvba
Software Engineer (1 yr)
Stad Lokeren
IT Support Engineer (3 yrs)
Hof Ter Hulst
Cook (2 yrs)
Résidence de la Pinède
Cook (2 yrs)
Education
Humane wetenschappen at Koninklijk Atheneum Aalst
JAVA EE Developer at VDAB
Cook & Waiter at Hotel and catering school Ter Duinen - Koksijde
