Backend Engineering Chapter Lead and Solutions Architect

I lead the Backend Engineering Chapter for Vodafone digital channels, supporting more than 20 backend engineers across six squads responsible for customer-facing e-commerce and digital journeys. I define technical direction, reusable engineering patterns, standards, and delivery practices for scalable, resilient, maintainable, production-ready services.

I also design and implement end-to-end initiatives covering requirements analysis, solution architecture, API and event design, backend development, integrations, testing, documentation, and production readiness. Key initiatives include AI-powered semantic search, a referral lead journey platform, and FAN Courier locker delivery integration.

I mentor developers, lead technical reviews and knowledge sharing, support recruitment and onboarding, and collaborate with product, architecture, security, operations, and vendor teams. Core technologies include Java 21, Spring Boot, microservices, Kafka, PostgreSQL, Oracle, REST APIs, vector databases, Broadleaf Commerce, Docker, Kubernetes, and GitLab CI/CD.

Acted as Solutions Architect for four e-commerce squads delivering web and mobile solutions. Collaborated closely with product owners, frontend and backend developers, testers, and business stakeholders to turn complex requirements into scalable technical solutions.

Led Broadleaf Commerce customization and helped transform the platform into a product-as-a-service solution for other countries. Designed and contributed to Java and Spring-based microservices, Kafka integrations, event-driven architecture, and customer-facing and back-office APIs.

Worked hands-on across PostgreSQL reporting and reconciliations, IBM Cloud, IBM API Connect, IBM Integration Bus, IBM Business Process Manager, Oracle Fusion Middleware, Oracle Database, MongoDB, Kubernetes, ELK, and AWS services.

Built and led a seven-person automated testing team and developed a Python framework for automated web and API testing. Managed both manual and automation testing teams, supporting quality delivery across projects.

Owned test-area budget planning, forecasting, supplier management, licensing and environment costs, professional services, and total cost of ownership. Produced estimates, quotations, work packages, SLAs, test strategies, test plans, reports, and quality documentation.

Led defect management, test governance, project reporting, post-delivery analysis, certification activities, and team development.

Designed independent test cases and test plans for new application features. Performed performance, functional, integration, API, manual, and automated testing.

Mentored junior team members and provided developers with feedback on automation strategies, fixes, and patches. Worked with users to understand functional scope, executed test scripts, reviewed documentation, and identified improvements to functionality, usability, and design.

Designed tests proactively to mitigate delivery risk and provided objective quality feedback to software development teams.

Tested web applications, ETL-based data processes, integration interfaces, DataMart solutions, and reporting capabilities. Supported data validation, transformation, storage, archiving, and reporting requirements.

Worked with IBM WebSphere Message Broker, IBM Integration Bus, IBM WebSphere Process Server, IBM Business Process Manager, IBM WebSphere MQ, web services, ODBC, JDBC adapters, and message queues. Adapted to Agile, Waterfall, and hybrid delivery workflows.

Performed end-to-end, sanity, regression, positive, negative, integration, functional, and performance testing. Created SQL scripts for data comparison, verification, test automation, and system performance reporting; investigated defects and coordinated with developers, analysts, and business teams.

Tested and implemented an e-learning platform, contributed to requirements definition, created user and administration test scenarios, and executed tests through the application and SQL database data preparation.

Verified platform requirements, prepared final testing reports, collaborated closely with developers throughout development and implementation, and provided continuous feedback for improvements. Presented new platform features to end users.

Prepared and delivered training materials and programs, monitored training activities, assessed results, and managed training schedules.

Coordinated teams and supported organizational planning, monitoring, and control of team activities. Developed client portfolios and worked toward sales budget and business line objectives.

Led recruitment and selection of financial advisers. Implemented training and support programs, motivated team members, and monitored the activity of direct financial adviser teams.

Worked as a financial adviser supporting insurance and financial services activities.