Henri Hardillier
Software Engineer • Front Office Developer • DJ • Photographer • Entrepreneur
Born and raised in Paris, I've spent the last decade deploying code across four continents: building trading systems in the City of Light, powering Wall Street infrastructure in New York, and expanding to Asian markets from Hong Kong. Along the way, I survived the beautiful chaos of Investment Banking, learned that the best debugging happens at 2 AM with a glass of Bordeaux, and somehow squeezed in 42 countries between production releases.
Early Days & Startups
My journey started with a teaching assistant gig at Epitech Paris, where I helped students navigate the depths of C and Unix. From there I jumped into the startup world with TransLSF in Paris, a French Sign Language translation software using Microsoft Kinect, ambitious enough to get us interviewed on France 5 national TV. Then I co-founded HumanGive between Paris and San Francisco, a digital solidarity platform that won the DigiSchool Hype Award by Google France. Both ventures taught me more about resilience, teamwork, and product development than any textbook ever could.
Wall Street Years
The finance world called next. I joined Société Générale CIB in Paris as a Software Engineer on X-One, a massive cross-asset trading platform with 300+ developers. After proving myself on XVA risk management, the bank sent me across the Atlantic to New York as a Front Office Algorithmic Developer, where I spent two years building pricing engines in C#, creating rate curves, and managing the LIBOR-to-SOFR transition. There's something surreal about deploying code that moves millions while eating a $1 pizza slice at 11 PM.
Hong Kong Chapter
After NYC, Hong Kong was calling. I joined Crédit Agricole CIB in Hong Kong as a Front Office Commando, embedded directly with the Exotic & Hybrid Trading desks across Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo. Rapid application development for traders, real-time market data broadcasting, an AI-powered bonds suggestion platform, and ad-hoc tools for Linear desks (Forex, FX Options, Repo, Credit, Treasury). Four years of dim sum, typhoon signals, and low-latency code supporting traders across all of APAC.
The Entrepreneurial Leap
In 2024, I took the entrepreneurial leap again. Now I'm the CEO of Helenis Techno, an IT consulting firm based in Hong Kong. On the side, I'm building Musicae (a next-gen platform for DJs), running e-commerce stores with Capy Planet, deploying music APIs on RapidAPI, and juggling AstroMatch (because Mercury retrograde definitely affects your CI/CD pipeline) and crypto arbitrage bots.
Digital Nomad Life
Between contracts, I've embraced the digital nomad life, coding from co-working spaces in Da Nang with Vietnamese coffee on tap, and shipping features from Bali rice terraces with questionable Wi-Fi. Working remotely across time zones taught me that productivity isn't about where you sit, it's about how you ship. Also, that a good sunset makes any merge conflict more bearable.
Off the Clock
When I'm not refactoring the world, you'll find me digging through vinyl crates for the perfect techno track, learning live coding with Strudel, debating whether Burgundy or Bordeaux makes the better pair-programming companion, skateboarding through the streets of Hong Kong, reading about geopolitics, investigating UFO sightings (the truth is out there... probably in the error logs), or trying to explain to non-tech people what a "Front Office Developer" actually does. Spoiler: it involves less front desks and more Bloomberg terminals than they imagine.
The best investment you can make is in yourself, and also in a good espresso machine, a mechanical keyboard, and a decent pair of studio monitors.
Technical Skills
Languages
Frameworks & Tools
Finance & Domain
Data & Infrastructure
DevOps & Workflow
Other Tech
Passions & Interests
Career Journey
CEO & Founder | Helenis Techno | Hong Kong
IT consulting, software engineering, and digital solutions. Building Musicae, AstroMatch, crypto bots, deploying APIs, running e-commerce stores. Available for freelance projects.
Front Office Commando | Crédit Agricole CIB | Hong Kong
Rapid Application Development (RAD) for the Exotic & Hybrid Trading desks in Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo. Ad-hoc development for Linear Trading desks (Forex, FX Options, Repo, Credit, Treasury). Built real-time Market Data & Curves broadcasting systems, an AI-powered Bonds suggestion platform used by Traders & Sales worldwide, and a Symphony Trading bot. Support across APAC (Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, Shanghai, Beijing, Seoul).
Front Office Algorithmic Developer | Société Générale CIB | New York
Scope owner and coordinator on X-One, a cross-asset front-to-back trading platform with 300+ developers. Built pricing engines, created USD/BRL/CAD rate curves, managed LIBOR-to-SOFR transition, and refactored the X-One Excel plugin used worldwide. C# .NET, WPF, Oracle SQL, MongoDB. Fueled by too much coffee and $1 pizza slices.
Software Engineer | Société Générale CIB | Paris
Developer on the X-One cross-asset risk management scope (XVA and CVaR). Redesigned the XVA calculator, built risk indicator systems (CVA, FVA, LR, NSFR), and coordinated with the CVA desk. C# .NET, WPF, Oracle SQL, TIBCO. Where the finance career began.
Co-founder & CTO | HumanGive | Paris & San Francisco
All-in-one platform helping French and American organizations grow, enabling donations, volunteering, event ticketing, and petitions. Full-stack development with C# ASP.NET MVC, SQL Server, Azure. Winner of the DigiSchool Hype Award organized by Google France in 2016.
Co-founder & Project Manager | TransLSF | Paris
French Sign Language translation software using Microsoft Kinect camera and image recognition. Signs are translated in real-time into written or spoken form. Featured on France 5 national TV in 2015. Built with C# .NET, WPF, Kinect SDK. First startup experience: learned more about building products than any classroom ever taught.
Teaching Assistant | Epitech Paris | Paris
Guided students through C programming, Unix systems, and software architecture. Where the love of teaching and mentoring started.
Let's Connect
Whether you need a freelance developer, want to talk finance, music, or debate the best French wine region: I'm all ears.