Scale 1–5
AI Systems & Agentic Workflows 4/5
Profile
Dr. Erik Stenman is a senior technology leader and systems architect with three decades of experience building and scaling distributed, fault-tolerant systems.
He specializes in turning complex, high-risk initiatives into working systems, from large-scale fintech infrastructure to emerging AI-driven and agentic workflows. His recent work focuses on integrating AI into real-world systems with traceability, reliability, and governance from design to runtime.
As Klarna’s first CTO, he helped transform a small invoicing startup into one of Europe’s leading fintech platforms. Through his company HappiHacking AB, Erik continues to architect large-scale infrastructure for fintech, telecom, and AI-heavy environments.
He thrives in high-impact environments where clarity, autonomy, and craftsmanship drive innovation such as Klarna, Redcare, Deutsche Telekom, and Scania/Traton.
Experience
Ignite Next
Mar 2026 – Present
Mentor · Contract
Dresden, Saxony, Germany · Remote
Mentoring early-stage founders on technology strategy, architecture, and scaling. Supporting product clarity and technical decision-making.
Happi Hacking AB
CEO & C-Level Advisor · Full-time
Aug 2023 – Present
Stockholm, Sweden · Hybrid
Advises medium and large enterprises in fintech, e-commerce, and blockchain, drawing on over 30 years of software development and entrepreneurship.
- CTO-as-a-Service: Technology roadmaps, team structure, hiring strategy, and software architecture reviews.
- CIO Advisory: IT governance, compliance, risk assessment and mitigation, and digital transformation.
- CEO Advisory: Business model evaluation, market entry and expansion, and organizational scaling.
CEO and Founder
Nov 2012 – Aug 2023
Greater Stockholm Metropolitan Area
Founded and led a consultancy building custom, scalable, robust SaaS solutions for clients.
Vexilla AB
Jul 2013 – Present
Founder
Upplands Väsby, Sweden
Evaluates investment opportunities, manages the portfolio, and provides business consultancy.
Apuliens Smak AB
Chairman of the Board
Jul 2016 – Present · Sweden
Board Member
Aug 2013 – Jul 2016 · Ovansjö, Sweden
Sets strategy for an Italian/Swedish food import company.
Kindio
CEO & Founder · Full-time
Jan 2024 – Present · Stockholm, Sweden · Hybrid
Chairman of the Board · Part-time
Sep 2022 – Present
CTO · Full-time
Oct 2022 – Sep 2024 · Stockholm, Sweden · Hybrid
SEB
May 2026 – Aug 2026
AI-Driven Requirements & SDD Transformation Advisor · Contract
Stockholm, Sweden
Supported SEB Financing in piloting Spec-Driven Development and AI-assisted requirements work, focusing on requirements quality, compliance integration, tooling, delivery flow, and readiness for broader transformation.
Redcare Pharmacy
Mar 2024 – Jun 2026
Coach for Architects · Contract
Berlin, Germany · Remote
Advised on payments architecture, payment orchestration, and strategic architecture decisions. Facilitated workshops, developed decision material, and coached teams on system boundaries, tradeoffs, compliance-aware delivery, and scalable payment platform direction.
Kivra
Advisor to the CTO · Contract
Mar 2026 · Stockholm, Sweden · Remote
(Interim) Director of Platform Engineering · Contract
Dec 2025 – Feb 2026 · Stockholm, Sweden · On-site
- Supported and developed the platform teams across architecture, reliability, and developer experience, with Erlang and Elixir at the core.
- Coached engineering managers and tech leads, clarified ownership, and improved observability and everyday operations.
- Worked with the CTO and engineering organization on platform strategy, infrastructure modernization, and architectural decisions across Erlang, Elixir, Go, Kubernetes, and GCP.
- Strengthened the platform so product teams could move faster and take responsibility for the systems they built.
Aeternity Foundation
Oct 2023 – Apr 2025
Core Team Lead · Contract
Stockholm, Sweden · Remote
Scania Sverige / TRATON Group
Chief Engineer Offboard Platform and Connectivity Domain · Contract
Nov 2023 – Sep 2024 · Södertälje, Sweden · Hybrid
- Worked on a unified cloud connectivity solution for all TRATON brands, standardizing data exchange, communication, and integration across vehicle fleets.
- Coordinated stakeholders across brands and drove technical strategy for secure, scalable cloud infrastructure.
- Developed the vehicle-to-cloud architecture for remote diagnostics, over-the-air updates, and fleet data exchange.
Cloud Architect · Contract
Jun 2023 – Oct 2023 · Södertälje, Sweden · Hybrid
Sika Health
Jan 2022 – Jan 2023
Technical Advisor · Contract
Advised on building a payment service for FSA/HSA, including technology choices, development priorities, methodology, and processes. Vetted and interviewed potential technical hires.
Laya Technologies
Jul 2021 – Nov 2022
Interim Chief Technology Officer · Contract
Munich, Bavaria, Germany
SambaNova Systems
2022
C++ Developer, AI Compiler Infrastructure
- Worked on AI compiler and runtime infrastructure, optimizing ML workloads and integrating models into production systems.
- Contributed to compiler and runtime tooling and CMake-based CI build systems.
- Technologies: Python, C++, LLVM, MLIR, PyTorch, TensorFlow, CMake.
HappiStudios AB
Dec 2015 – Dec 2021
CEO
Greater Stockholm Metropolitan Area
Straboga provided strategy board games for play in the browser and in real life. Players could find opponents matched to their skill or play with friends.
Doorling
Aug 2015 – Jun 2020
Founding Partner, Chairman of the Board
Greater Stockholm Metropolitan Area
Participated from the idea stage through App Store launch. Doorling provided a service for home buyers and sellers and was part-owned by Happi Hacking AB.
Aeternity Foundation
2017 – 2019
Core Team Lead / Architect
- Designed and implemented FATE, a virtual machine for smart contracts.
- Built BEAM-based blockchain infrastructure for verifiable, high-throughput transactions.
Klarna AB
Chief Scientist
Sep 2010 – Mar 2014
Led scalability and stability work for Klarna Online. Promoted Erlang and scalable development inside and outside Klarna.
CTO · Full-time
Nov 2005 – Sep 2010
Scaled the IT department from 1 to 80 people. Led development and operation of a 24/7 internet-scale payment system, scaling performance with Klarna's growing business needs.
EJDA
Oct 1989 – Jan 2012
Founder
Software development and consultancy. Taught programming and Microsoft Office courses.
Virtutech AB
Aug 2004 – Oct 2005
Developer
Low-level C programming and performance tuning.
EPFL
Feb 2003 – Jul 2004
Researcher
Project manager for Scala 1.0. Taught the Advanced Compiler course.
Uppsala University
1997 – 2002
PhD Student
Wrote Jerico, the first native code compiler for Erlang, and the first version of HiPE. Worked on performance measurements, register allocation, and garbage collection design.
Sorgente Konsult AB
Jun 1995 – Aug 1995
Summer Intern
Software development with Visual Basic and SQL.
Ericsson
Jul 1994 – Aug 1994
Summer Intern
Kista, Sweden
Ported software for measuring and controlling production hardware from HP and Commodore 64 computers to PC.
Key Projects & Achievements
- IoT Data Platform (Deutsche Telekom), Designed a GDPR-compliant event system handling 1B+ daily signals.
- Blockchain Core Infrastructure (æternity), Delivered a scalable BEAM-based blockchain runtime.
- Vehicle Connectivity Cloud (Scania / TRATON), Unified platform for real-time fleet data and remote services.
- Fintech Modernization (Redcare Pharmacy), Mentored teams migrating legacy payment flows to a service-oriented architecture.
Education
Ph.D. Computer Science, Uppsala University (1999 – 2002) Dissertation: Native Code Compilation and Optimization for Erlang (HiPE Project)
Licentiate in Computer Science, Uppsala University (1996 – 1999) M.Sc. Computer Science, Uppsala University (1992 – 1996)
Postdoc, EPFL Lausanne (2003 – 2004), Worked with Martin Odersky on compiler technology and early Scala development.
Technical Focus
- Languages: Erlang, Elixir, Go, C/C++, Python, Rust
- Infrastructure: Kubernetes, AWS, GCP, Terraform, Docker
- Practices: DevOps, Observability, Continuous Delivery, Incident Response
- AI Systems: LLM integration, agentic workflows, AI-assisted development
- Domains: Fintech Payments, Digital Identity, IoT, Blockchain
- Specialties: Scalable Architectures, Fault Tolerance, Performance Optimization
Publications & Speaking
- Author: The BEAM Book, widely used reference for Erlang/Elixir VM internals.
- Speaker: Code BEAM, Erlang Workshop, Fintech Architecture Conferences.
- Mentor: Advises engineering managers on sustainable, high-trust team cultures.
Contact
📧 happi@happihacking.se 🌐 happihacking.com 🔗 linkedin.com/in/happi