Meet our newest senior engineer

My name is Olivier Jacob. I am a software engineer at Light Frame, with more than 20 years of experience across banking, insurance, and wealth technology.

I trained in information systems in France and began my career at a large global bank. There, the work was on internal systems used for institutional investing. It was my introduction to software inside a large financial institution, and to the discipline of building things other people rely on. This experience also gave me an early view of the challenges created by legacy systems, and how much more flexible financial institutions can be when they use modern technologies. 

I then joined a software consultancy, working first in Paris with banks and insurers. In this role I stayed close to the craft: writing software, improving how teams delivered it, and continuing to learn. When the firm opened an office in Switzerland, I moved with a small team. Philippe Kernevez, a founder of Light Frame, was part of that group. I was already familiar with the colleagues we were starting the office with, and that allowed for a smooth transition and a high quality of work from the start. Gregory, another founder of Light Frame, joined the company soon after.

After that, I joined a top-tier health insurance company, and then one of Switzerland’s biggest cantonal banks, helping with the evolution and maintenance of their business critical bespoke systems built on top of earlier generation technology stacks. Most recently, I worked at a wealth management technology firm that builds software for financial institutions. I was a senior developer on the flagship product, the wealth platform, a portfolio management system focused on streamlining the advisory investment process, then on the risk analytics platform powering it. That setup was the closest to Light Frame: the software was entirely cloud-based, the infrastructure was operated internally, and the team had to handle security, availability, performance, and data reliability.

I reconnected with Philippe and Gregory as Light Frame was getting started. After speaking with Mathieu and Schuyler as well, I was convinced by the team and the mission. It was a chance to keep developing modern software with people I trusted. I recently joined the Light Frame team as a senior software engineer, ready to support Light Frame’s growth to the next level.

Outside of work, I have a passion for long-distance running in the Swiss mountains. Running has exhilarating stretches and stretches that are harder. That view of a long effort, the highs and the lower moments, is something I have carried into other parts of life, including work: persevere, and appreciate each stage of the process.

I am glad to be part of this growing team.

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