Sr. Backend Engineer

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Building systems that scale, ship, and save money

10+ years turning complex infrastructure challenges into elegant, production-grade solutions. Specializing in FastAPI, Python, PostgreSQL, and distributed systems — remotely from Seattle, WA.

8+ Years Experience
$120K Avg Cost Savings
per year
6 Apps to Production
avg 4–5 months each
3 Released PyPI
packages
20+ Junior Engineers
mentored
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About

Let me introduce myself

10+
Years building high-performance backend systems
3
Open-source pip packages published to PyPI
$80K+
Annual infrastructure cost savings delivered

I'm a passionate Senior Backend Engineer with over 10 years of experience transforming complex technical challenges into elegant, scalable solutions. My philosophy is simple: build systems that work flawlessly and save companies significant time and money.

Throughout my career I've specialized in high-performance API development, database optimization, and cost-effective infrastructure design. I thrive on taking legacy systems and breathing new life into them — migrating from expensive third-party services to custom in-house solutions and modernizing Python codebases for better performance and security.

Currently based in Seattle, WA, I work remotely with teams across the country. When I'm not architecting backend systems or mentoring engineers, I'm building open-source tools for the FastAPI ecosystem.

Open Source

PyPI Packages

Beyond professional work I actively build and maintain open-source Python packages for the FastAPI ecosystem — published on PyPI and free for anyone to use.

fastapi-watch
pip install fastapi-watch

Structured health and readiness check system for FastAPI. Mounts /health/live, /health/ready, /health/status, Prometheus metrics, SSE streaming, and a live dashboard with a single registry call. Supports PostgreSQL, Redis, Kafka, RabbitMQ, MongoDB, Celery, and more.

Health Checks Kubernetes Prometheus SSE
fastapi-cursor
pip install fastapi-cursor

Keyset (cursor) pagination for SQLAlchemy 2.x Select statements, designed for FastAPI. Uses HMAC-signed opaque cursor tokens, a LIMIT n+1 trick for next-page detection, and pluggable cursor stores (in-memory or Redis).

Pagination SQLAlchemy Redis Performance
fastapi-pulse
pip install fastapi-pulse

Bridges Celery task lifecycle events to FastAPI Server-Sent Events streams. Clients connect to a single route and receive real-time task progress — no polling required. Supports Redis, RabbitMQ, and in-process Memory backends.

Celery SSE Real-time RabbitMQ
Experience

Professional Journey

Get Covered
Jun 2024 – Present
Remote
Sr. Backend Engineer
  • Spearheaded migration from Smarty Maps API to self-hosted OpenStreetMap infrastructure, delivering $80K+ annual cost savings
  • Engineered high-performance FastAPI application with sub-100ms response times using advanced in-memory caching and PostgreSQL optimization
  • Architected WebSocket-enabled data processing pipeline handling 200MB+ nightly JSON ingestion with multi-layer caching and intelligent deduplication
  • Led technical modernization, transitioning from legacy Rails monolith to microservices using Python, FastAPI, and Pydantic
FastAPIPostgreSQLWebSocketsOpenStreetMapPython
Blueboard Inc.
Jan 2023 – Oct 2023
Remote
Backend Python Developer
  • Led cross-functional team of 6 engineers through WSGI-to-FastAPI migration, achieving 60% performance improvement
  • Orchestrated Python 2.7 → 3.11 upgrade initiative, enhancing security and long-term maintainability
  • Designed and implemented AWS-hosted Nominatim geolocation server, optimizing location-based features
  • Optimized 10+ MariaDB databases using SQLAlchemy ORM patterns, delivering 30% query performance improvement
FastAPIPython 3.11SQLAlchemyMariaDBAWS
StartEngine
Jun 2022 – Aug 2022
Remote
Backend Java Developer (Contract)
  • Migrated critical microservice from Ruby on Rails to Spring Boot within aggressive 2-month timeline
  • Executed seamless MongoDB → PostgreSQL data migration with zero data loss
  • Developed comprehensive technical documentation for legacy applications, improving team onboarding efficiency
JavaSpring BootPostgreSQLMongoDB
Fair.com
Nov 2018 – Apr 2022
Santa Monica, CA
SDET
  • Led development of 1500+ test automation suite covering frontend and internal tooling platforms
  • Transitioned testing infrastructure from Ruby to Python, improving maintainability and team productivity
  • Mentored junior engineers with structured onboarding, achieving autonomous productivity within 6 weeks
  • Established CI/CD testing protocols adopted across the engineering organization
PythonSeleniumCI/CDTest Automation
Spokeo
Feb 2017 – Sep 2018
Pasadena, CA
Software QA Engineer
  • Managed Jenkins infrastructure executing 400+ automated QA tests for Spokeo API and SEO systems
  • Developed tooling suite reducing regression testing time by 75%
  • Collaborated with cross-functional teams to establish QA standards for web applications
JenkinsPythonQA Automation
InnovaSystems
Aug 2015 – Dec 2016
San Diego, CA
Software QA Engineer
  • Designed and developed 300+ automated test suites using C# and Microsoft Test Suite for US Government deployments
  • Implemented comprehensive bug tracking using Visual Studio Online, improving issue resolution time
  • Partnered with developers to identify optimization opportunities for government-use applications
C#Microsoft Test SuiteGovernment
Skills

Technical Expertise

Backend Frameworks
FastAPI Django Flask Ruby on Rails Java Spring
Backend Technologies
WebSockets Pydantic SQLAlchemy Pandas NumPy Caching SSE
Databases & Storage
PostgreSQL MySQL MariaDB MongoDB Redis Elasticsearch GraphQL Alembic
Cloud & DevOps
AWS EC2 S3 Docker Terraform Jenkins GitHub Actions Datadog New Relic
Testing & Quality
Pytest Playwright Selenium Postman Swagger/OpenAPI CI/CD
Collaboration
Git GitHub GitLab Bitbucket JIRA Confluence
Education

Foundation

California State University, Monterey Bay
Aug 2011 – May 2016
Bachelor of Science — Computer Science & Software Engineering
Algorithms, data structures, software engineering principles, and system design
Strong foundation in computer science theory and practical application development

Ready to Scale Your Backend?

I specialize in transforming legacy systems into high-performance, cost-effective solutions. Let's discuss how I can help optimize your infrastructure and save your company significant operational costs.