Rares Nedelcu - Senior Lab Architect for Cloud Security

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Cluj-Napoca, Romania

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Experience

Jul 2025 - Present

1 year 2 months

Senior Lab Architect

Sophos

Continued tenure from Secureworks.
Design and implement demo environments: fully scalable, automatic deployments in cloud infrastructure.
Work on end to end attack scenarios which showcase the product.
Automate deployments and cleanup of resources in cloud infrastructures.

Nov 2021 - Jun 2025

3 years 8 months

Sr. Systems Engineer

Secureworks

Design and implement demo environments: fully scalable, automatic deployments in cloud infrastructure.
Work on attack scenarios which showcase the product.
Automate deployments and cleanup of resources in cloud infrastructures.
Develop ad-hoc API integrations as per customer needs.
Key programming languages/technologies: AWS, Terraform, Python, GraphQL, Various offensive security tools

Oct 2019 - Feb 2021

1 year 5 months

Cluj-Napoca, Romania

Associate Teacher

Technical University of Cluj-Napoca

Taught hands-on techniques and methodology to perform penetration tests on vulnerable systems.

Jan 2017 - Nov 2021

4 years 11 months

Cluj-Napoca, Romania

Security Researcher

Bitdefender

Collect and analyze different exploit techniques and attack vectors.
Reproduce them in controlled environments and test it against various protection technologies: Hypervisor Memory introspection.
Design attack scenarios from initial access to data exfiltration and analyze the attack's behavior.
Study and implement AWS cloud-based attack techniques.
Key programming languages/technologies: C, Intel x86 CPU Architecture, Windows Internals, C++ (small personal tests/projects), Assembly, IDA, WinDBG, MITRE Attack Framework, AWS, Python, Docker, Kubernetes

Feb 2016 - Aug 2017

1 year 7 months

Cluj-Napoca, Romania

Software Engineer

Bitdefender

Document on binary exploit techniques.
Implement or extend and improve existing protection mechanisms in the Hypervisor Memory Introspection engine.
Work was focused around Windows attacks.

Jul 2013 - Sep 2013

3 months

Brașov, Romania

Junior Software Engineer

SC Elektrobit SRL

Familiarize with OOP concepts and Java.
Implement in Java a socket-based communication program with an ECU, using the AUTOSAR architecture and specifications.

Industry Experience

See where this freelancer has spent most of their professional time.

Experienced in Information Technology and Education.

Information Technology

Education

Business Area Experience

See which departments and functions this freelancer has contributed to most.

Experienced in Information Technology, Research and Development, Operations, and Product Development.

Information Technology

Research and Development

Operations

Product Development

Skills

Penetration Testing Tool Proficiency In Burp Suite
Metasploit
Nmap
Kali Linux
Johntheripper
Dirbuster
Gobuster
Nikto
Dirb
Hashcat
Metasploit Ldap
Assembly (Computer Programming)
Reverse Engineering (Idapro, Ghidra, Gdb And Other Tools)
Software Reversing (X86, X64, Msil, Ollydbg, Windbg, Ida)
Android (Mobile Operating Systems)
Operating Systems Use
Object-Oriented Programming
C++
Python (Computer Programming)
Ruby (Computer Programming)
Java (Computer Programming)

Languages

Romanian

Native

English

Advanced

Spanish

Intermediate

French

Elementary

Education

Sep 2017 - Jul 2019

Technical University of Cluj-Napoca

Information and Computing Systems Security · Information and Computing Systems Security · Cluj-Napoca, Romania

Sep 2014 - Jul 2017

Universitatea "Babeș-Bolyai"

Computer Scientist · Cluj-Napoca, Romania

Certifications & licenses

Offensive Security Certified Professional

Offensive Security

Essentials Badge

PentesterLab

Pcap Badge

PentesterLab

White Badge

PentesterLab

Oracle Certificate Of Associate Java Se 8

Oracle

Programming Mobile Applications For Android Handheld Systems: Part 1

Coursera

Statistics

Experience

Total positions 6

Experience in Information Technology 10.5 y

Avg length 2 y 1 m

Longest experience 4 y 10 m

Global Experience

Countries worked in 1 (Romania)

Primary country Romania

Expertise

Recent roles Senior Lab Architect, Sr. Systems Engineer, Associate Teacher

Main industries Information Technology, Education

Main business areas Information Technology, Research and Development, Operations

Qualifications

Highest degree Master

Certifications earned 6

Profile

Created

November 2025

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Frequently asked questions

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Rares is based in Cluj-Napoca, Romania and prefers 100% remote projects.

Rares speaks the following languages: Romanian (Native), English (Advanced), Spanish (Intermediate), French (Elementary).

Rares has at least 11 years of experience. During this time, Rares has worked in at least 6 different roles and for 5 different companies. The average length of individual experience is 2 years and 9 months. Note that Rares may not have shared all experience and actually has more experience.

Based on recent experience, Rares would be well-suited for roles such as: Senior Lab Architect, Sr. Systems Engineer, Associate Teacher.

Rares's most recent position is Senior Lab Architect at Sophos.

In recent years, Rares has worked for Sophos, Secureworks, and Bitdefender.

Rares is most experienced in industries like Information Technology, Education, and Automotive.

Rares is most experienced in business areas like Information Technology, Research and Development, and Operations. Rares also has some experience in Product Development.

Rares has recently worked in industries like Information Technology.

Rares has recently worked in business areas like Research and Development, Information Technology, and Operations.

Rares holds a Master in Information and Computing Systems Security from Technical University of Cluj-Napoca.

Rares has 6 certificates. Among them, these include: Offensive Security Certified Professional, Essentials Badge, and Pcap Badge.

Rares is immediately available part-time for suitable projects.

Daily Rate Distribution

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<€400 €400-480 €480-560 €560-640 €640-720 €720+

The rates shown represent the typical market range for freelancers in this position based on recent contracts on our platform.

Actual rates may vary depending on seniority level, experience, skill specialization, project complexity, and engagement length.

Average rates for similar positions

Rates are based on recent contracts and do not include FRATCH margin.

800

600

400

200

Daily rate avg. 569 €

The average daily rate is the mean of all daily rates from recent contracts of comparable freelancers on our platform.

800

600

400

200

Median rate 600 €

The median daily rate is the middle value of all daily rates — half of comparable freelancers charge less, half charge more. Unlike the average, it is barely affected by outliers.

Actual rates may vary depending on seniority level, experience, skill specialization, project complexity, and engagement length.