Irfan Z.

Software Architect & Technical Lead | Java, AWS & AI-Assisted Engineer

I help companies design and build scalable backend platforms, enterprise applications, payment systems, and cloud-native services using proven engineering practices combined with modern AI-assisted development workflows. Over the last 13+ years, I have delivered software solutions across fintech, payments, tax compliance, OTT streaming, IoT, AI, blockchain, and digital marketplaces. My experience ranges from hands-on engineering to architecture leadership and technical management of cross-functional teams. Most recently, I have been working as part of Upwork's Platform Engineering organization, contributing to Payments and Tax Regulatory Compliance systems that support a global marketplace operating at significant scale. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗜 𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 ✔ Software Architecture and System Design ✔ Enterprise Java Backend Development ✔ Spring Boot and Distributed Systems ✔ Event-Driven Architectures ✔ High-Performance APIs and Integrations ✔ Cloud-Native Application Development ✔ Technical Leadership and Mentoring ✔ Scalability, Reliability and Performance Optimization ✔ Engineering Process Improvement 𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝘉𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘯𝘥:   Java, Spring Boot, Dropwizard, REST APIs, Microservices 𝘋𝘢𝘵𝘢:   PostgreSQL, MySQL, Redis, Snowflake, Presto 𝘔𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘚𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨:   Kafka, Apache AMQ 𝘊𝘭𝘰𝘶𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐𝘯𝘧𝘳𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦:   AWS, Service Mesh, Argo Workflows, Argo CD, Grafana, Kibana, Rundeck 𝘌𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘗𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴:   System Design, Domain Driven Design, Event Driven Architecture, CI/CD, Test Automation, Agile Delivery 𝗔𝗜-𝗔𝗰𝗰𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗗𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 I actively leverage modern AI engineering tools including Claude and Cursor to improve development velocity, reduce repetitive work, and accelerate delivery cycles. My approach combines AI-assisted implementation with human architectural oversight, engineering validation, and production-grade quality standards. This approach allows to move faster while maintaining maintainability, security, and long-term scalability. AI can accelerate code generation. Engineering experience ensures the right systems are built. The combination of both delivers exceptional outcomes. 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝘎𝘭𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘭 𝘗𝘢𝘺𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘙𝘦𝘨𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦:   Designing and maintaining tax and payment workflows as part of Upwork's Platform Engineering organization. 𝘌𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘖𝘛𝘛 𝘗𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮   Led engineering initiatives for a large-scale video platform deployed to national broadcasters and serving millions of users. 𝘈𝘐 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘚𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘈𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘺𝘴𝘪𝘴 𝘗𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮:   Delivered solutions involving speech processing, topic modeling, sentiment analysis, and recommendation systems. 𝘈𝘪𝘳𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘐𝘰𝘛 𝘈𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘺𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘴 𝘗𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮:   Built predictive maintenance and operational analytics solutions using cloud-native services and IoT data streams. 𝘉𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘎𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘗𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮:   Delivered real-time transaction experiences using blockchain scaling technologies. 𝗧𝘆𝗽𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 • Software Architecture Reviews • Backend Platform Development • Technical Leadership • System Design • API Design and Integration • Modernization of Legacy Systems • Team Mentoring and Technical Coaching • AI-Assisted Engineering Adoption If you are building a backend platform that needs to scale reliably while moving quickly, I would be happy to discuss how I can help.