Christopher Harth-Kitzerow

Secure Multiparty Computation and Privacy Preserving Machine Learning

Three first-author papers at PoPETs 2025

• PoPETs 2025High-Throughput Secure Multiparty Computation with an Honest Majority in Various Network SettingsC. Harth-Kitzerow, A. Suresh, Y. Wang, et al.
• PoPETs 2025PIGEON: A High Throughput Framework for Private Inference of Neural Networks using Secure Multiparty ComputationC. Harth-Kitzerow, Y. Wang, R. Rajat, et al.
• PoPETs 2025SoK: Truncation Untangled: Scaling Fixed-Point Arithmetic for Privacy-Preserving Machine Learning to Large Models and DatasetsC. Harth-Kitzerow, A. Suresh, G. Carle

Projects

Curriculum vitae

Experience

1. Sep 2024 – present

   Software Engineer - Autonomous Driving

   BMW Group, Munich

   • Develop production C++ software for camera perception and sensor fusion in BMW's automated driving stack, running on the vehicle's embedded platform.
   • Deploy and validate neural network models on the vehicle's electronic control unit (ECU) and build tooling to replay and evaluate recorded test drives.
   • Previously developed environment-model features (lane and road-boundary estimation), validated with regression tests and KPIs.
2. Dec 2020 – May 2024

   Research Engineer (PhD) - Privacy-Preserving Machine Learning

   BMW Group, Munich

   • Designed novel Secure Multiparty Computation (MPC) protocols for privacy-preserving machine learning, including private neural network training and inference.
   • Worked together with several departments at BMW to build use case prototypes using Federated Learning, Privacy Preserving Machine Learning, and MPC.
   • Published three first-author papers at the Proceedings on Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PoPETs 2025) and open-sourced the HPMPC framework.
3. Jun 2020 – Nov 2020

   5G Research and Development - Working Student

   Huawei Technologies, Munich

   • Developed scripts and mobile applications to monitor and evaluate the 5G connection of user devices using Python and Android Studio.
4. Mar 2019 – Aug 2019

   Blockchain Research and Development - Intern

   BMW Group, Munich

   • Developed mobile applications that interact with an Ethereum Blockchain using Flutter (Dart), Web3, Solidity.
5. Apr 2016 – Sep 2017

   Student Teaching Assistant - Various Computer Science Classes

   University of Münster, Münster

   • Assisted in teaching and grading for the courses Data Structures and Algorithms (two semesters) and Computer Structures and Operating Systems (one semester).

Education

• Dec 2020 – present
  PhD Privacy-Preserving Machine Learning (thesis submitted), Technical University of Munich
• Apr 2018 – Mar 2021
  MSc Information Systems, Technical University of Munich (TUM), GPA: 1.4/1.0
• Oct 2014 – Mar 2018
  BSc Information Systems, University of Münster (WWU)
• Experience abroad
  • University of Southern California, USA (2024, Visiting Researcher)
  • Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China (2019, exchange semester)
  • University of Sydney, Australia (2017, Research Assistant)

Technical Skills

• Proficient
  C++, Python, PyTorch, Docker, Git, Linux, Bazel, JavaScript
• Familiar
  Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, TensorFlow, TensorRT

Honors & Awards

• PETS 2025 Best Artifact Award for the open-source HPMPC framework.
• Google Munich Hackathon 2019 Won first place for building an app that teaches how to code (20+ teams).
• DMC Analytics Cup 2019 Ranked 30 out of 500+ solutions. Machine learning challenge using R.
• Google Munich Hackathon 2018 Won first place for building a flashcard training chatbot (22 teams).
• Intercultural Certificate Awarded by the university for mentoring incoming exchange students, helping at events.
• Volunteering Certificate Issued by SBH-West for tutoring high-school students who cannot afford paid lessons.