David Vanheeswijck

Principal Engineer

Languages: Dutch (C2), English (C2), French (C2)

From pioneering the early web to engineering the future of enterprise AI.

Contact

+32 484 39 80 52 david@vanheeswijck.com linkedin.com/in/vanheeswijck

Principal Engineer, Global Customs & Trade — Nike
2024 — Present
Laakdal, Belgium
- Led the Principal Engineering strategy and delivery for critical global customs and trade capabilities across multiple international teams.
- Provided key AI guidance to business and engineering partners.
- Led an international tiger team on a critical Customs Compliance project.
- Designed technical architecture for compliance project using LangGraph.
- Initiated governance for SDLC across four global Customs and Trade teams.
- Laid foundation for the Trade Content and Classification project.
- Advocated for AI adoption within the organization.
- Created an expandable AI Orchestration Agent within Databricks.
- Designed a proof-of-concept agentic workflow to extract data from customs pre-entry documents with human-in-the-loop validation, integrated into the AI Hub frontend.
Founder & Principal Consultant — ExAd CommV
2022 — Present
Houthalen, Belgium
- Expert consultancy for short-term projects
- Specialization in web, mobile (iOS/Android), and 3D printing technologies
- Design of SDLC flows
- Migration projects
- Infrastructure as Code (IaC) implementation
- Cloud architecture design
- AI agentic workflow development
Principal Engineer, Transportation and Trade EMEA — Nike
2022 — 2024
Laakdal, Belgium
- Owned and delivered software solution design for 5 critical EMEA transportation teams, integrating core TMS systems.
- Collaborated closely with business partners and engineering peers.
- Helped establish standards for event-driven design.
- Integrated TMS solutions from BlueYonder and Manhattan into the Nike landscape.
- Assisted engineering teams in partnership integrations.
Architect — Euricom
2018 — 2022
Mechelen, Belgium
- Provided expert architectural guidance to diverse clientele
- Leveraged extensive senior development experience to inform strategic decisions
- Facilitated knowledge transfer and skill development within client teams
- Contributed to the successful delivery of complex software solutions
Solution and System Architect — Wolters Kluwer Belgium
2012 — 2018
Mechelen, Belgium
- Designed and architected multiple core business applications still in use.
- Contributed to the foundation of Wolters Kluwer Belgium's core business operations.
- Developed expertise in folio and digital publishing systems.
- Implemented advanced semantic content management systems.
- Created sophisticated classification software solutions.
Senior Developer and IT Architect — 4uWare NV/SA
2007 — 2012
Mechelen, Belgium
- Consulted as a Senior Developer and IT Architect for various companies.
- Developed a custom XML/XSLT-based WebCMS system.
- Extended the WebCMS system to a fully functional CRM.
Senior Software Engineer — Spirit Tek (Limited Company)
2000 — 2007
Nantes, France
- Spearheaded numerous software development projects as a consultant for Wolters Kluwer.
- Achieved expert-level proficiency in web development technologies.
- Became a specialist in XSLT/XML for complex data transformation challenges.
- Contributed significantly to the technical success of various client initiatives over a seven-year period.
Senior Developer — AROL Informatique
1999 — 2000
Carquefou, France
- Developed software for Credit Mutuel Anjou.
- Contributed to a loan simulation project.
Senior Software Engineer — Médiane Informatique (Groupe Sigma)
1997 — 1998
Ste Luce/Loire, France
- Developed CRM software solutions.
- Became an Oracle expert, specializing in performance diagnostics.
- Improved system performance through targeted interventions.
Architect and Lead Developer — 3D Xmakina Infologies
1996 — 1997
Nantes, France
- Independently designed and developed a hospital intranet application.
- Gained foundational web architecture experience early in career.
Tester Digital Content — Philips Interactive Media Centre
1994 — 1995
Hasselt, Belgium
- Gained early exposure to digital media assessment and quality assurance processes.
- Developed an understanding of software ergonomics and user experience principles.
- Contributed to the pre-release evaluation of interactive digital products.

Skills

AI / Agentic Workflow ArchitectureAPI Design (REST & GraphQL)CI/CD & DevOps StrategyData Modeling & DatabasesDatabricks & MLOpsFull-Stack Modern WebInfrastructure as Code (IaC)Kubernetes & ContainerizationLegacy System ModernizationMobile ArchitectureProgramming (Python, TypeScript, Java)Security & AuthenticationSemantic Web TechnologiesSystem & Cloud ArchitectureTechnical Leadership & Mentoring

AI Agentic Trade Framework & OriginMate UI(2025)
Role: Solution Architect
- Architected a production-oriented, multi-agent AI framework on Databricks for trade compliance.
- Designed the 'OriginMate' UI for human-in-the-loop validation of AI-extracted trade documents.
databrickslanggraphmlflowazure-openaipythonunity-catalogai-mlsystem-architecturebffrest-apioktadomain:global-trade
Nike ARTA Trade Content Integration (Bi-Temporal PoC)(2025)
Role: Principal Engineer & Architect
- Designed an event-driven, bi-temporal data model to integrate trade content, preserving historical truth.
- Delivered a PoC laying the foundation for future RAG-based HS classification systems on AWS.
pythonaws-lambdaopensearchevent-driven-architecturebi-temporal-modelingrag-architecturesystem-architecturedomain:data-engineeringdomain:global-trade
Customs Compliance Hub (CCH)(2025)
Role: Principal Solution Architect
- Architected a greenfield, future-ready platform for Nike's global trade and customs compliance.
- Pioneered the use of LangGraph to create an adaptable, agentic business workflow, moving away from hard-coded logic.
langgraphaws-serverlessyamlnextjsgraphqlai-mlsystem-architecturedomain:global-trade
PolyTech Immo Platform(2025)
Role: Lead Full-Stack Engineer & Architect
- Delivered a unified web + mobile platform for construction ops with robust auth, syncing, and reporting.
- Built offline-capable mobile workflows and automated PDF reporting, cutting field-to-office latency.
nextjsreacttypescripttailwind-cssprismapostgresqlvercelreact-nativeexpopythonsystem-architecturedata-modelingdevopsdomain:construction-management
Resume Agent(2025)
Role: Architect & Sole Engineer
- Prebuilds and compresses a full resume PDF from markdown content and serves it via public assets.
- Chat agent generates a tailored resume and letter-of-motivation PDF with clear messaging.
nextjsreacttypescripttailwind-csspuppeteer-corepdf-liblanggraphopenrouterdomain:developer-tools
GLXY Infrastructure Modernization(2024)
Role: Infrastructure Architect & Lead Engineer
- Automated shared Kubernetes infrastructure (Ingress, RBAC, NetworkPolicies, PVCs) with safe, idempotent playbooks.
- Delivered safe, automated EBS volume and Rancher upgrade procedures with rollback guidance.
ansibleterraformaws-ec2aws-ebsaws-elbrancherkubernetesjinja2yamlbashaws-cligitci/cdiacdomain:platform-infrastructure
Lyra(2017)
Role: Lead Architect
- Led architectural design for a global classification software platform.
- Coached developers on modern frontend and backend best practices.
vuejsvuexnodejsmicroservicesrabbitmqmarklogicxquerysparqlxsltdockerci/cddomain:legal-tech
Apollo(2016)
Role: Migration Architect
- Led the migration of a key semantic publishing platform from on-premise to AWS.
- Designed the cloud-native architecture and planned all migration requirements.
awsec2s3dockerrancherjavacamelmarklogicxqueryxsltdomain:cloud-migration
Connect(2015)
Role: Architect & Lead Developer
- Architected and led development of a dynamic semantic publishing platform from the ground up.
- Implemented a cutting-edge stack including ReactJS, Redux, and a hypermedia REST API.
reactjsreduxnodejsmarklogicsparqlrdfaxsltrest-apidomain:publishing-tech
Content Selection Tool(2014)
Role: Business Analyst, Architect & Lead Developer
- Led the business analysis, architecture, and development of a user-facing tool for content selection.
- Built a rich client-side application that consumed the newly created Data API.
angularjsbootstrapjquerynodejsdomain:frontend-development
Data API(2014)
Role: Platform Architect
- Designed a centralized metadata store using a microservice architecture.
- Integrated data from three disparate CMS systems into a single, queryable API.
mongodbnodejsrabbitmqnginxmicroservicesrest-apidomain:api-development
Health Insurance Client Zone(2012)
Role: Solution Architect
- Architected and implemented a centralized client zone website for a health insurance company.
- Integrated disparate data sources (SQL, Oracle, email) into a unified datastore.
drupalmongodbnodejsexpressjsdomain:insurance-tech
OXS - Online XML Store(2011)
Role: Platform Architect & Developer
- Designed and developed a custom, reusable platform for rapidly creating and deploying web applications.
- The platform was XML/XSLT-based, a powerful paradigm for data-driven applications.
dotnetsql-serverxmlxsltextjsjquerydomain:platform-engineering
Patient Management System(1997)
Role: Full-Stack Developer
- Designed and developed a pioneering intranet application for a hospital's Thoracic Transplantation Unit.
- Recognized as the first of its kind in France and featured in a magazine article.
delphioraclepl/sqlisapiactivexjavascriptdomain:healthcare