Mert Bakır

Optimization Systems Engineer

Optimization Systems Engineer with 8 years of experience building large-scale decision and optimization systems. Expertise in heuristic and combinatorial algorithms, spatial analytics, and production-grade software for logistics and resource optimization. Strong foundation in distributed systems, cloud infrastructure (AWS/GCP), and performance-driven backend design.

Experience

Evreka - Technical Lead, Optimization & Decision Systems August 2022 - Present
  • Architected and led the development of a large-scale logistics decision system for logistics networks, enabling route re-optimization, spatial workload clustering, and marginal cost simulation for new customer acquisition.
  • Designed and implemented performance-optimized capacitated clustering and heuristic algorithms for large-scale Vehicle Routing Problems (VRP), handling networks with up to 10,000 nodes.
  • Built end-to-end spatial analytics pipelines to process raw GPS data, reconstruct operational trajectories, and derive structured stop-level datasets for downstream optimization and analytics.
  • Designed and implemented a graph-based dependency resolution system to safely cascade tenant-specific data deletion across a complex multi-tenant schema with partial foreign key constraints.
  • Developed custom time-series smoothing and anomaly detection algorithms, reducing noise and false-positive events by 20%.
  • Engineered real-time ML-based request validation systems to detect and block malicious traffic, significantly improving uptime and platform reliability.
  • Designed and deployed machine learning models for container fill-level forecasting and faulty sensor detection, integrating predictive outputs directly into operational planning workflows.
  • Led architectural decisions during migration from Oracle to AWS and GCP, reducing infrastructure costs by 35%.
  • Resolved database and backend performance bottlenecks, achieving 4x faster application response times.
  • Mentored junior engineers and interns, providing technical guidance in optimization algorithms, ML systems, and scalable backend design.
Evreka - Data Scientist October 2020 - August 2022
  • Developed scalable route optimization services for constrained Vehicle Routing Problems (VRP), building high-performance heuristic solvers, backend endpoints, and REST API integrations.
  • Constructed a Mixed Integer Programming (MIP) model for a complex employee scheduling problem with real-world constraints using Python and CPLEX.
  • Conducted spatial operations analyses for waste collection fleets, reducing fleet size by up to 17% through optimized routing and workload planning.
  • Built robust data infrastructure and ELT/ETL pipelines using dbt, Airflow, MongoDB, PostgreSQL, and AWS to support analytics.
  • Integrated Power BI Embedded to deliver interactive operational insights directly to customers.
Turkish Technic - Team Lead, Monitoring & Observability June 2019 - October 2020
  • Initiated and led the company-wide monitoring and observability program from scratch, building centralized log and metrics aggregation infrastructure.
  • Led a team of 4 engineers and coordinated with external consultants to design and deploy scalable monitoring architecture.
  • Built streaming pipelines for high-volume metrics and logs using InfluxDB and Kapacitor.
  • Designed automated incident workflows integrating Kapacitor alerts with Jira, enabling dynamic ticket creation and team assignment based on alert context.
  • Collaborated closely with software and database teams to provide service-level observability and performance insights.
  • Developed executive-level summary dashboards in Grafana, improving IT decision-making and operational transparency.

Mert Bakır

Optimization Systems Engineer

Experience

Turkish Technic - System Engineer October 2018 - June 2019
  • Managed on-premise server infrastructure across multi-site data centers, ensuring high availability and system reliability.
  • Automated administrative and deployment tasks across Linux and Windows environments using Bash and PowerShell.
TAI - Operations Research Intern November 2016 - July 2017
  • Modeled and solved a constrained 3D bin-packing problem with guillotinable cutting patterns, optimizing CNC raw material utilization and reducing scrap by 35–48%.
  • Designed and implemented metaheuristic search algorithms with geometric feasibility checks to generate valid 3D spatial layouts under manufacturing constraints.
  • Developed a visualization-integrated tool translating optimized cutting plans into step-by-step 3D execution instructions for CNC operators.

Technical Skills

Programming Languages
PythonC++C#BashSQL
Optimization & Operations Research
Mixed Integer Programming (CPLEX)MetaheuristicsConstraint ProgrammingConvex OptimizationVehicle Routing Problems (VRP)3D Bin-PackingShift Scheduling
Machine Learning
scikit-learnTensorFlowTime Series ForecastingAnomaly DetectionFeature Engineering
Data Infrastructure & Cloud
PostgreSQLPostGISpgvectorMongoDBRedisTimescaleDBAWSGCPDockerAirflow
Backend & Systems
FastAPICI/CDGitAnsibleJenkins
Spatial & Routing Systems
GPS Trajectory ProcessingSpatial QueriesOSRMValhallaHERE MapsGoogle Maps

Education

PhD(s) Operations Research Hacı Bayram Veli University, Ankara, TR 2024 - 2028
Msc. Industrial Engineering Yıldız Technical University, Istanbul, TR 2019 - 2023 · GPA: 3.71
Bsc. Industrial Engineering Gazi University, Ankara, TR 2013 - 2017 · GPA: 3.35

Languages

Turkish - Native

English - Professional

Academic Studies

Integrating Machine Learning In Mean-Variance Portfolio Optimization: A Study On Borsa Istanbul
44. Yöneylem Araştırması ve Endüstri Mühendisliği Ulusal Kongresi Bildiri Kitabı, 2025
M. Bakır, S. Atan, F. N. Güler.
Developing a Heuristic for Vehicle Routing Problems in Industrial Waste Collection Operations
Master's Thesis, Yıldız Technical University, 2023
Exploring Challenges in Industrial Waste Collection
10. Uluslararası Mühendislik Mimarlık ve Tasarım Kongresi Bildiri Kitabı, 2022
M. Bakır, S. Önüt.
Developing a Metaheuristic-Based Optimization System to Minimize Scrap in 3D CNC Cutting Processes
TÜBİTAK - 2241 Industry-Oriented Graduation Projects Competition. Awarded Third Place, 2017
M. Bakır, F. Altıparmak, H. Çetinsoy, Y. Işık.