Team Leader (Software Engineering and DevOps) - External Service
Macquarie Group (Coforge BPS)
Makati City • APR 2023 - NOV 2024 (1.5 YEARS)
Overview
Led a team focused on modernizing legacy applications and migrating to cloud-native architectures. Spearheaded the adoption of Kubernetes and event-driven patterns while maintaining high standards for security and reliability.
Macquarie Group is an investment banking company based in Australia. The project focused on managing post-trade activities like settlement—critical operations that ensure trades are properly completed, cleared, and settled between parties. This system handles the complex workflows required after a trade is executed, including validation, clearing, and final settlement processes.
Architecture Overview
Platform:
AWS
Compute:
- AWS EKS (Elastic Kubernetes Service) for modern containerized microservices
- EC2 instances hosting legacy components that are gradually being migrated
Databases & Storage:
- AWS Aurora (PostgreSQL) for modern systems, providing high availability and performance
- Amazon DocumentDB for NoSQL storage needs
- Amazon S3 for file storage, including trade documents and audit logs
Messaging:
Kafka for event-driven architecture, enabling asynchronous communication between microservices
Monitoring:
Prometheus and Grafana for metrics collection and visualization, ELK stack for log aggregation
Orchestration:
Netflix Conductor for workflow orchestration of complex post-trade processes
Authentication:
PingFED OpenID and LDAP/Active Directory for enterprise authentication
Search:
AWS OpenSearch (Elasticsearch) for search and analytics capabilities
Key Achievements
- Performed application migration to Kubernetes (AWS EKS), reducing infrastructure costs by 40% and improving deployment reliability
- Added comprehensive monitoring and alarms to detect and mitigate issues earlier, reducing mean time to resolution by 60%
- Implemented upgrades and included best practices for existing SpringBoot applications to adhere to security audits and fix vulnerabilities of outdated Java libraries
- Converted REST-first backend microservices to event-driven architecture, improving performance by 3x, auditability, and user experience
- Implemented new features for existing microservices and performed resource migrations into AWS' serverless product offerings, reducing operational overhead
- Created sample projects to serve as template, simplifying the bootstrap process of new applications and reduced developer fatigue of setting things up by 50%
- Screened and interviewed potential candidates for open roles in the company, building a high-performing team
- Utilized GitOps principles to enhance developer experience when deploying applications, reducing deployment time from hours to minutes
Technologies & Tools
Language/Framework: Java, SpringBoot
Integrations: Postgres (AWS Aurora), Netflix Conductor, Kafka, Kafka Schema Registry, Kafka Connect, Elasticsearch (AWS OpenSearch), JWT, REST, PingFED OpenID, LDAP/Active Directory
Infrastructure: Kubernetes, Docker, AWS Cloudformation, Prometheus, Grafana, ELK
Testing: JUnit, Wiremock, Testcontainers, Mockito, Hamcrest
CI/CD: FluxCD, Kustomize
Others: Github Copilot, GitOps
What I Liked
- Competitive salary
- Comprehensive documentation
- End-to-end solution development: requirements, development, infrastructure, maintenance, and bug fixes
What Needs to Improve
- Unclear communication with business stakeholders