Khaled Baqer, PhD

I founded XMAKYNA in August 2026 and direct the Company strategy, product portfolio, engineering standard and operating model. XMAKYNA is organised around two complementary divisions: one developing applications and engineering tools; the other developing high-assurance computing, security systems and infrastructure. The latter also develops deeper systems XMAKYNA itself relies on, with selected work intended for organisations that treat security, reliability and assurance as competitive advantages.

I established XMAKYNA around an engineering standard of useful technology first; security, reliability and robustness by design; and unnecessary complexity, dependencies and trust treated as liabilities rather than defaults. Strong isolation, narrow privileges and deliberate system boundaries are designed in early. I use modern AI as execution leverage across implementation, investigation and review while retaining direct Founder control of product direction, architecture, requirements, system boundaries, engineering acceptance and final release decisions. I remain hands-on across Swift 6, Rust and Linux.

Before founding XMAKYNA, I spent January 2019 to July 2026 at Entrust, formerly nCipher Security, most recently as a Senior Staff Product Security Engineer. I led security architecture for a product line of Hardware Security Modules, spanning embedded-systems security, cryptographic boundaries, product assurance and certification-driven requirements. I also directed product-security programmes and projects, turning architecture review and threat analysis into security requirements, system-hardening guidance and engineering decisions; created and institutionalised security guidance; and led security-focused R&D.

Earlier roles included Security Researcher, Machine Learning at the International Computer Science Institute, UC Berkeley, and IT Security Analyst at Aluminium Bahrain.

I completed my PhD in Computer Science at the University of Cambridge, Computer Laboratory (Security Group), with a thesis on resilient payment systems. Earlier, I completed a Master of Information Technology (Honours) at Monash University and a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science at Georgetown University. Before university, I attended the Hun School of Princeton.

I am based in Cambridge, United Kingdom.