Valentin V. Bartenev

Software engineer with management abilities
and focus on solving problems efficiently

Last update: 16 February 2026

Location: Moscow, Russia

Date of Birth: December 31, 1986

Telegram: @VBart

E-Mail: vbartenev@gmail.com

OpenHub: https://www.openhub.net/accounts/VBart

GitHub: https://github.com/VBart

Summary

High-performance Software Engineer and Head of Development with over 20 years of experience specializing in web server architecture, asynchronous programming, and system-level optimization. Proven track record of leading international teams to deliver industry-standard open-source and commercial products, including nginx, NGINX Unit, and Angie. Expert in C, *nix internals, and high-load networking, with five co-invented patents in shared memory and multi-threaded server architecture. Committed to solving complex technical challenges while maintaining a focus on developer productivity and project roadmap efficiency.

Skills Overview

My core competency is in C, but I am also experienced with C++, JavaScript, Python, Pascal, Assembly, Fortran, PHP, and Perl. Besides, I have a basic knowledge of how computers work, deep down to OS kernel and CPU level.

Programming expertise: asynchronous programming, event-driven programming, multithreading, queues, shared memory, synchronization primitives, lockless programming

OS: Linux, FreeBSD, and other Unix-like platforms

Languages: Russian (native speaker), English (working proficiency)

Professional Experience

Web Server LLC
Moscow, Russia

Head of Development Department

August 2022 — Present

Responsible for the design, development, and project management of Angie, a high-performance web server, which was originally forked from nginx. As well as its commercial counterpart Angie PRO, and load-balancing component of Angie ADC.

Key tech areas: C, *nix, asynchronous, multiprocess, shared memory, network programming, TLS, HTTP, load balancing.

Scope of work:

• setting goals and roadmap for the projects
• managing the development team
• architecting key features and mechanisms
• writing and reviewing code, documentation, and tests
• interviewing job candidates
• technical negotiations with partners and clients
• communicating with the open-source community

Main accomplishments:

• built a team of highly skilled developers
• organized a regular release cycle with a new public releases every quarter
• developed or took part in development of many exciting features
• attracted and organized a fruitful technical cooperation with an international partner

to be continued...

NGINX LLC / F5 Networks
Moscow, Russia

Development Team Leader @NGINX / Sr. Manager of Product Development @F5

September 2018 — March 2022

Responsible for the design, development, and project management of NGINX Unit, a high-performance web and application server with dynamic configuration capabilities.

Key tech areas: C, *nix, asynchronous, multithreaded, network programming, TLS, HTTP, integration with multiple programming languages (Python, PHP, Perl, Ruby, JavaScript, Go, and Java).

Scope of work:

• setting goals and roadmap for the project
• managing the development team
• architecting key features and mechanisms
• designing the JSON configuration API
• writing and reviewing code, documentation, and tests
• developing project documentation web site
• interviewing job candidates
• communicating with the open-source community

Main accomplishments:

• successfully nurtured the project from an idea to a production-ready release
• built an international distributed team of highly skilled developers
• organized a regular release cycle with a new public release every 1-2 months
• achieved integration with 7 different programming languages
• wrote the fastest HTTP parser
• designed low-latency high-performance shared memory IPC
• created the project web site (HTML5/CSS, Sphinx)

Senior Developer

November 2011 — September 2018

Worked on nginx, one of the most popular open-source web servers in the world, and its commercial version. Played a role in the development of njs, a JavaScript engine. Initiated a new project, NGINX Unit.

Key tech areas: C, *nix, asynchronous, multithreaded, network programming, TLS, HTTP, Perl, JavaScript, register-based VM, state machines, AST.

Scope of work:

• writing and reviewing code and tests
• interviewing job candidates
• communicating with the open-source community
• providing training and giving conference talks

Main accomplishments:

• built one of the most widely used SPDY and HTTP2 implementations
• added thread pool mechanism for asynchronous execution of potentially blocking operations, which in some cases provides a 10x+ performance boost
• added various optimizations for event processing on modern OS kernels
• designed and developed the initial version of the monitoring interface, including a real-time status page (in JavaScript), one of the selling features of nginx’s commercial version
• developed active asynchronous health checks, which is another selling feature of the commercial version
• fixed bugs and made improvements in almost all subsystems and modules, including proxy, SSI, routing, compression, TLS encryption, load-balancing, file handling, request limiting, and others
• helped to develop two training courses on module development
• formulated the idea and made the first PoC of a new promising server (NGINX Unit)

Freelancer (self-employed)

Full-Stack Web Developer / System Administrator / Project Manager
2003 — November 2011

Developed and maintained web sites for various clients. Took part in an e-commerce SaaS startup. Also, created an open-source third-party module for nginx that integrates CTPP template engine into the web server.

Key tech areas: C, C++, CoachDB, CSS, Django, DNS, Dovecot, eJabberd, Exim, FreeBSD, HTML5, HTTP, IMAP, JavaScript, MongoDB, nginx, nsd, POP3, PostgreSQL, Python, Redmine, SMTP, uWSGI, XMPP.

Scope of work:

• creating a database model and a CMS for customer web sites
• writing HTML, CSS, and JavaScript code for web pages
• collecting information necessary to propose requirements for web sites
• finding a designer and managing visual content workflow for customer web sites
• hosting and managing customer web sites
• providing hosting for corporate domains and emails
• SEO

Main accomplishments:

• created from scratch a number of various corporate web sites with different functionality, including e-commerce
• developed an nginx module that can be used in high-load projects for fast processing of HTML templates

Afrikana LLC
Moscow, Russia

Webmaster / System Administrator

February 2006 — August 2008

Responsible for all aspects of IT operations, including the office network and company web resources for a travel agency.

Key tech areas: Apache, Windows, ActionScript, Flash, FreeBSD, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, ZendFramework, DNS, Dovecot, Exim, HTTP, IMAP, JavaScript, nginx, nsd, POP3, MySQL, SMTP, php-fpm.

Scope of work:

• managing and improving company web resources
• system administration of company network, servers, and computers
• SEO and running advertising campaigns on the web

Main accomplishments:

• made various improvements to the web site, including a tour finder, photo gallery, and discussion board, which improved the conversion rate of visitors to clients
• increased site traffic due to enhanced visibility in search engines and the use of Yandex.Direct context ads
• improved page loading speed
• secured the email system and computers from spam and viruses
• developed and maintained a new version of the web site with a modern CMS, refreshed design, and user-friendly structure

Conference Talks

• PHP-FPM, (g)unicorn, Puma, and uWSGI will no longer be needed (HighLoad++ 2024, Russia)
• The Angie web server one year later: new features and future plans (HighLoad++ 2023, Russia)
• Honey, I forked nginx (HighLoad++ 2022, Russia)
• NGINX Unit - a dynamic web server with unique architecture (BIF 2018, Russia; Stachka 2018, Russia; CodeFest 2018, Russia)
• NGINX Architecture Overview (nginx.conf 2017, USA; nginx.conf 2018, USA)
• Limitations of Linux API as seen by the dev of a high-perf server (BIF 2017, Russia; DevConf 2017, Russia; BackendConf 2017, Russia; Stachka 2017, Russia)
• HTTP/2: The Dark Side of the Moon (nginx.conf 2016, USA)
• HTTP/2: Myths and Facts (DevConf 2016, Russia; Stachka 2016, Russia)
• nginx.CHANGES.2015 (HighLoad++ 2015, Russia)
• The HTTP/2 Module in NGINX (nginx.conf 2015, USA)
• Speed up NGINX several times with a thread pool (RIF.Technologies 2015, Russia)
• SPDY and HTTP 2.0: The Present and The Future (nginx.conf 2014, USA)
• SPDY: 146% faster (HighLoad++ 2012, Russia)

Patents (co-inventor)

• US-10506072-B2 - Passing listener sockets between web server processes
• US-10985981-B2 - Multi-threaded server architecture supporting dynamic reconfiguration
• US-11042424-B1 - Pipelined request processing using shared memory
• US-11134137-B1 - Filter-based request processing in a web server
• US-11249923-B1 - Using shared memory to transport data between server processes