Staff Engineer · 13 Years · Islamabad

Junaid Riaz.

I make telecom systems fast, reliable, and boring.

Systems architect building carrier-grade telecom infrastructure — from bare-metal C to cloud-native Go microservices. Platforms serving 5M+ active subscribers across 6+ international operators. Known for extreme performance engineering: 98% memory reduction, 40% CPU cut.

Contact Information
Location
Islamabad, Pakistan
0Y
Years Engineering
0%
Memory Reduction
0%
CPU Usage Cut
5M+
Active Subscribers
0+
Int'l Operators
Perf Boost (NGP)
About
01

Building systems that never fail.

Twelve years of carrier-grade engineering across OCS, PCRF, AAA, and MFS platforms — writing the C that routes calls, charges subscribers, and authenticates millions of connections every single day.

Performance Engineering
Re-engineered Oracle connector via ODPI-C + LibUV, cutting memory from 22 GB to 300 MB. Integrated TCMalloc for 40% CPU reduction. Optimized C hash tables for 30% throughput gain in production.
Telecom Architecture
Architect of NGP — next-gen async C platform on LibUV delivering 4× perf improvement. Designed PCRF and VAS SDP in Go microservices with 3GPP Gx, Sy, Rx interfaces and full 5G Core SA compatibility.
Global Deployment
End-to-end OCS deployment across 6+ international operators serving 5M+ subscribers. On-site integration in Dubai and Djibouti. Built testbeds with real SIMs and RF modules before every production rollout.
Reliability Engineering
CI pipelines and test suites (Seagull, JMeter, k6) enforcing 99.999% availability SLAs. Formal Dev→Staging→UAT→Canary→Production release SOPs adopted across all product lines.
Open Source Contribution
Valgrind — x86 → MIPS Port
Ported the Valgrind DBI framework from x86 to Cavium MIPS-based Linux (Octeon SDK, N64 ABI). Implemented architecture-specific assembly instructions, system calls, TLS register support, and signal handling. Contributions accepted upstream.
valgrind.org
Skills
02

Full-stack of systems expertise.

From MIPS assembly to Kubernetes orchestration. Larger pills = core skills. Hover any pill to see experience details.

Languages
C Go Bash Node.js
Telecom Protocols
3GPP OCS PCRF HSS/HLR/UDM Diameter SIP RADIUS NCHF (5G SA)
Telecom Platforms
Open5Gs Free5GC OpenSIPS srsEPC Huawei MSC/UGW IPLook PGW/PCRF
Systems & Perf
LibUV Async TCMalloc JEMalloc Multithreading Oracle TimesTen Redis
Debug & Profiling
Valgrind GDB Cachegrind Intel VTune Perf Tools pprof ELK / APM
DevOps & CI/CD
Docker Kubernetes (CKAD) Jenkins GitLab CI JMeter k6 Seagull
Language Experience Timeline
C
Expert
Bash
Expert
Go
Advanced
Node.js
Proficient
Experience
03

13 years of shipping.

Every role built on the same obsession — systems that hold up at scale, under load, in production, at 3am.

Software Architect & Principal Engineer
Mar 2022 — Present
Safarifone Pvt. Ltd  ·  Islamabad, Pakistan
  • Architected NGP — next-gen async C platform on LibUV; delivered performance improvement replacing legacy OCS/AAA/DRA stack.
  • Designed PCRF and VAS SDP in Go microservices; 3GPP Gx, Sy, Rx interfaces integrating with IPLook PGW, Open5Gs, and OpenSIPS.
  • Implemented NCHF interface enabling full 5G Core (SA) compatibility.
  • Architected Revenue Assurance System (RAS) for real-time fraud detection and revenue leakage prevention.
  • Re-engineered Oracle connector: 22 GB → 300 MB (98% reduction) · TCMalloc: 40% CPU cut · Hash table: 30% throughput gain.
  • End-to-end OCS deployment for 6+ operators, 5M+ subscribers; on-site integration in Dubai and Djibouti.
  • Led 4G/5G core integration: Huawei MSC/UGW, IPLook PGW/PCRF, Open5Gs, srsEPC, OpenSIPS.
  • Built telecom testbeds with real SIMs and RF modules — VoLTE and data service validation before every production push.
  • Docker containerization + formal SOP: Dev → Staging → UAT → Pre-Prod → Canary → Production.
  • CI pipelines + Seagull/JMeter/k6 suites enforcing 99.999% availability SLAs.
CGoLibUV3GPP5G SAPCRFOCSNCHFDockerK8sTCMallocRAS
Senior Software Engineer & Team Lead
Mar 2017 — Mar 2022
Safarifone Pvt. Ltd  ·  Islamabad, Pakistan
  • Architected 3GPP-compliant Diameter OCS and RADIUS AAA from scratch in C on fully async LibUV platform.
  • Implemented 800+ prepaid/postpaid charging scenarios for GSM Voice, Data, SMS, VAS, VoIP, and VoLTE.
  • Contributed to USM (HSS/HLR/UDM) — S6, CxDx; AAA for SIP auth, PAP/CHAP, Wi-Fi Offloading (SWx/Gy).
  • Kernel-level debugging with Valgrind, GDB, Cachegrind, VTune, Perf — resolved memory corruption and race conditions in production.
  • Led and mentored a team of 3 engineers; sprint planning, code reviews, standups.
CDiameterRADIUSAAALibUVOracleRedisValgrindGDB
Software Engineer
Feb 2014 — Mar 2017
Safarifone Pvt. Ltd  ·  Islamabad, Pakistan
  • Built high-performance Mobile Financial Services (MFS) core — money transfer engine in C, 3GPP Ro interface.
  • Implemented 600+ transfer flows with 2FA/MFA for USSD and Web/Mobile channels.
  • Full SDLC from inception through production cutover for a 3M-customer operator handling 10M+ transactions/day.
CMFS3GPP RoUSSD2FA/MFASDLC
C/C++ & MIPS Assembly Developer
Feb 2013 — Feb 2014
XFlow Research Center  ·  Islamabad, Pakistan
  • Ported Valgrind DBI framework from x86 to Cavium MIPS-based Linux (Octeon SDK, N64 ABI).
  • Implemented Octeon-specific assembly instructions, system calls, TLS register support, and signal handling.
  • Contributions accepted upstream to valgrind.org.
CC++MIPS AssemblyValgrindOcteon SDKN64 ABI
Education & Awards
04

Credentials & recognition.

Education
MS. Computer Science
NUST, Islamabad, Pakistan
2014
BS. Information Technology
IUB, Bahawalpur, Pakistan
2012
Awards & Recognition
Top Performer
2025
Employee of the Year
2024
Best Team Lead
2022
Employee of the Year
2019