Leon Sering

Leon Sering

Lead Algorithm / Software Engineer & Optimization Expert

HERE Technologies

Hey, I’m Leon!

I am a mathematician and computer scientist developing a rich-VRP solver at HERE, and in addition to my theoretical research on Nash flows over time (agent-based traffic modeling), I have a strong passion for fast optimization algorithms.

My programming language of choice? Rust. It’s fast, safe, great for concurrency, and most importantly: fun to use!

In my downtime, you’ll find me with my wife and our two lovely children, exploring the wonders of the world through road trips, photography, and scuba diving.

Welcome to my website!

Here, I showcase my projects, my scientific work, and our travel adventures.

Interests
  • Combinatorial Optimization
  • Operations Research
  • High Performance Computing
  • Meta-Heuristics
  • Algorithm Design
  • Parallelism/Concurrency
  • Rust (Programming Language)
Education
  • Dr. rer. nat. in Mathematics (PhD), 2020

    Technical University of Berlin

  • Master of Advanced Studies in Mathematics, 2014

    University of Cambridge

  • Master of Science - Mathematics, 2016

    University of Würzburg

  • Bachelor of Science - Mathematics, 2013

    University of Würzburg

  • Bachelor of Science - Computer Science, 2013

    University of Würzburg

Experience

 
 
 
 
 
HERE Technologies
Lead Algorithm / Software Engineer
January 2026 – Present Berlin, Germany

As Lead Algorithm / Software Engineer in the Tour Planning Team:

  • Improving and further developing a rich Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP) solver in Rust
  • Developing new state-of-the-art meta-heuristics
 
 
 
 
 
MOIA
Senior Algorithm Engineer
August 2024 – December 2025 Berlin, Germany

As a Senior Algorithm Engineer in the Routing Team I was responsible for developing state-of-the-art routing algorithms in a AWS cloud environment using Rust:

  • customizable contraction hierarchies
  • via-routing
  • route matching
 
 
 
 
 
Optano GmbH
Operations Research Expert (Freelancer)
May 2023 – June 2023 Paderborn, Germany

Consulting services for a line haul solution:

  • design of mixed-integer linear program
  • implementation of a fast multi-objective routing algorithm
 
 
 
 
 
ETH Zürich
Postdoctoral Researcher
April 2021 – July 2024 Zurich, Switzerland

As a mathematician and computer scientist, I worked three years as Postdoc at the Institute for Operations Research at ETH Zürich. I was in the lead of two industry collaborations:

  • With the Swiss Post, we optimized the tours for same-day delivery in Zurich and other Swiss cities using local-search-based meta-heuristics.
  • For the Swiss Federal Railways SBB, I developed a high performance algorithm for optimal rolling stock scheduling.

Furthermore, my research included

  • Nash flows over time (agent-based traffic modeling)
  • design and implementation of a fast clustering algorithm
  • research in efficient algorithms, meta-heuristics, parallelism, and operations research
 
 
 
 
 
Technical University of Berlin
Research Associate in Discrete Mathematics
September 2016 – March 2021 Berlin, Germany

Research Group: Combinatorial Optimization & Graph Algorithm, Institute of Mathematics:

  • ECMath and MATH+ research projects: dynamic models and algorithms for equilibria in traffic networks
  • research goals: improving agent-based mathematical flow over time models (Nash flow over time) to connect with large-scale traffic simulations such as MATSim

Projects

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RapidSolve
A Rust library for solving optimization problems with local-search based meta-heuristics.
RapidSolve
Rolling Stock Scheduling Optimization
A collaboration between Swiss Federal Railways SBB and ETH Zürich.
Rolling Stock Scheduling Optimization
Fast Same-Day Delivery Optimization
A collaboration between Swiss Post / Notime and ETH Zürich.
Fast Same-Day Delivery Optimization
Fair and Fast k-Center Clustering
A linear-time k-center algorithm with fairness conditions and worst-case guarantees that is very fast in practice. Written in Rust with Python bindings.
Fair and Fast k-Center Clustering
Nash Flow Computation
A GUI-tool for computing Nash flows over time with or without spillback as well as (spillback) thin flows.
Nash Flow Computation
Axonium
Automatic measurements of axon lengths, the nerve fibers connecting neurons in a brain.
Axonium
Magic Eye
A small Python-script to create an autostereogram.
Magic Eye
Focus Region Tool
A tool to enlarge a focus region in a road map while minimizing the distortion by convex quadratic programming.
Focus Region Tool
BWInf - Career Information Day Scheduling
Submission for the second round of the German National Competition in Computer Science in 2007/2008.
BWInf - Career Information Day Scheduling

Traveling

USA 2022
Six months road-tripping across the stunning landscapes of the US with my girlfriend in our Jeep “Rusty”, from the red rocks of Utah to the East Coast, Yellowstone, and Yosemite.
USA 2022
Dolomites 2019
A 4-day hike through the Sexten Dolomites with my girlfriend, over the Elferscharte to Zsigmondyhütte, around the Drei Zinnen, and down to Misurina Lake.
Dolomites 2019
Namibia 2018
My girlfriend and I explored Namibia and Botswana, from Fish River Canyon and Sossusvlei to wildlife in Etosha, then on to Victoria Falls and a mokoro trip in the Okavango Delta.
Namibia 2018
Australia 2016
In 2016, my girlfriend and I did Australia’s “Big Lap” in our Mazda “Chuck”, from Sydney along the Great Ocean Road, through Karijini NP, the Gibb River Road, and out to Uluru.
Australia 2016

Contact

Feel free to reach out for collaborations, discussions, or anything related to operations research, combinatorial optimization, parallel algorithm design, or Rust. I’m always happy to connect!