FR

Senior Software Engineer

Frank Rao

Backend & Distributed Systems · Full-Stack · AI-Enabled Software

I design and build production backend systems — APIs, data platforms, asynchronous processing, and cloud infrastructure — and deliver them full-stack when the product needs it.

My work centers on scalable APIs, distributed systems, data architecture, reliability, and translating complex product requirements into maintainable production systems. I'm currently applying that foundation to AI-enabled software.

TypeScript · Node.js · Python · React · PostgreSQL · Redis · Kafka · AWS

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6+ YearsProfessional software engineering
15+Production applications delivered
40%Query latency reduction on key workloads

Selected Work

Work across full-stack, distributed, and commerce engineering

Verified production systems and clearly labeled reference architectures — problem, architecture, tradeoffs, and outcomes, not just a tech list.

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Full Stack / Distributed Systems

Verified

Distributed SaaS Platform

Backend-first SaaS platform architecture supporting high-throughput APIs, asynchronous workflows, external integrations, caching, and cloud-native deployment.

Node.jsPythonPostgreSQLRedisKafkaAWS

40%

Reduction in query latency

↑

Deployment reliability improved

High

Throughput API workloads at scale

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Full Stack / Platform Engineering

Verified

Data & Integration Platform

Production platform for ingesting, validating, transforming, and synchronizing data across external systems.

TypeScriptNode.jsPythonPostgreSQLRedisBullMQ

2x

Data throughput improvement

30%

Reduction in manual data handling

25%

Faster API response times

View Case Study

Commerce Systems

Reference

Transaction & Commerce Integration Architecture

Reference architecture for connecting commerce-oriented applications with payments, identity, and transactional backend systems.

Node.jsPythonPostgreSQLStripeOAuthREST APIs

Retry-Safe

Payment handling under retries

Verified

Webhook signature validation

Audit Trail

Transaction state history

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Featured System Architecture

Verified Experience Pattern

Event-Driven SaaS Architecture

Web / Mobile Client
API Gateway
Application Services
Data & messaging layer
PostgreSQL
Redis
Kafka
async via Kafka
Independent async consumers
Payments
CRM
Analytics
Notifications

Infrastructure layer

AWSKubernetesTerraformCloudWatch

Why this architecture?

  • Isolate downstream failures from the core request path
  • Support asynchronous workloads without blocking users
  • Improve horizontal scalability of independent services
  • Reduce synchronous coupling between systems
  • Improve reliability during traffic spikes
Read Architecture Breakdown

AI Systems

Where the backend foundation is heading

Exploring how production software architecture changes when AI models become active components of the system.

This is presented as current engineering direction and reference architecture — not a claim of professional production AI experience. See Experience for verified employment history.

AI Service ArchitectureRetrieval SystemsAgent WorkflowsTool-Calling InfrastructureLLM ReliabilityAI ObservabilityAI EvaluationAsync AI WorkloadsModel Provider AbstractionStructured Outputs
Explore AI Systems

Experience

Production ownership, not just tickets closed

6+ years across SaaS platforms, data-intensive systems, and independent client work.

Full experience

  1. Senior Full-Stack Software Engineer

    Apr 2023 – Aug 2026

    Appraizely · Remote

    Technical lead for backend architecture, data platform, and cloud infrastructure across a production SaaS platform.

    • Architected and delivered backend-first SaaS capabilities across API, data, caching, async processing, and cloud infrastructure.
    • Designed high-throughput REST and GraphQL APIs for large production workloads.
    • Built event-driven workflows using Kafka to isolate external integrations and improve resilience.
    • Led PostgreSQL performance work that reduced key query latency by approximately 40%.
    • Implemented Redis caching patterns for high-read production workloads.
    • Modernized deployments using Docker, Kubernetes, Terraform, progressive releases, and rollback mechanisms.
    • Designed OAuth 2.0 / OIDC authentication, JWT authorization, and RBAC.
    • Served as technical lead across three major initiatives and mentored two engineers.

    40%

    Query latency reduction

    3

    Initiatives led

    2

    Engineers mentored

    Node.jsPythonPostgreSQLRedisKafkaAWSDockerKubernetesTerraformGraphQL

  2. Software Engineer

    Feb 2021 – Mar 2023

    LocalLabs · Remote

    Full-stack ownership of production microservices, data pipelines, and third-party integrations.

    • Built and operated production microservices for backend and data processing workloads.
    • Owned React/Next.js full-stack features end-to-end, from design through deployment.
    • Developed Python data pipelines for ingestion and transformation workflows.
    • Implemented Redis caching and background job processing to reduce request latency.
    • Built and maintained third-party integrations with retry and error-handling logic.
    • Set up CI/CD pipelines and contributed to system design through RFCs.

    2x

    Data throughput

    25%

    Faster API responses

    99.5%

    Integration uptime

    40%

    Lower MTTR

    TypeScriptReactNext.jsPythonRedisPostgreSQLCI/CD

Looking for a senior engineer who can own a system end-to-end?

From architecture proposal through production support — let's talk about what you're building.

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