joel maria — Software Engineer

Senior Staff Engineer with 16+ years architecting high-availability, distributed systems operating at massive concurrency and enterprise scale (50M+ users). I specialize in designing AI-native production infrastructure by integrating Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), embedding pipelines, vector search, and LLM orchestration into streaming-first, event-driven systems. My focus is not AI wrappers. I build cost-governed, fault-tolerant AI platforms that sustain real-world load. Throughout my career, I’ve operated at the intersection of: ● High-scale distributed systems ● Real-time streaming architectures ● Generative AI infrastructure ● FinTech-grade reliability and security At U.S. Bank, I co-defined the architecture for an AI-powered voice assistant, integrating secure mobile clients with ML inference services under strict banking constraints. At Upwork, I led architectural design for creator and gaming platforms serving 50M+ users, re-architecting data access layers for 200% performance gains and building streaming-first telemetry contracts enabling AI-ready workloads. Previously at Grax, I scaled a Kubernetes-native SaaS platform to 100M+ monthly API requests, halving end-to-end latency through migration to WebSocket streaming and event-driven communication. Core Architecture Domains AI-Native Infrastructure ● Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) ● Embedding pipelines & sub-120ms vector similarity search ● LLM orchestration (guardrails, routing, deterministic fallbacks) ● Token governance & inference cost optimization (38% reduction) ● Production-grade AI observability & performance controls Distributed Systems at Scale ● Event-Driven Architecture (Kafka / Kafka Streams) ● High-concurrency microservices (Node.js / Python) ● GraphQL federation & data-layer optimization ● Sub-second telemetry & streaming pipelines ● Multi-tenant Kubernetes environments Cost & Performance Governance ● Reduced cloud operational spend by $67K/month via container rightsizing & caching ● Engineered burst-resilient systems under financial transaction workloads ● Designed scalable identity layers (OAuth2/JWT) across distributed domains

Stackforce AI infers this person is a SaaS and Fintech expert specializing in high-scale distributed systems and AI-native infrastructure.

Experience: 7 yrs 9 mos

Skills

Distributed Systems
Event-driven Architecture
Ai-native Infrastructure
Saas
Microservices Architecture
Mobile Development
Enterprise Software Development
Front-end Development

Career Highlights

Architected AI-native platforms for 50M+ users.
Achieved 200% performance gains in data access layers.
Reduced operational costs by $67K/month through optimization.

Work Experience

Upwork

Senior Software Engineer, AI-Scale Platform Architecture (2 yrs 2 mos)

Logistic and Last-Mile AI Platform (2 yrs 4 mos)

U.S. Bank

Lead Engineer – AI Voice & Distributed Banking Systems (2 yrs 8 mos)

GRAX

Fullstack Engineer – High-Scale Distributed SaaS Platform (1 yr 2 mos)

CoStar

Senior Software Engineer – Distributed Identity & Microservices (2 yrs 9 mos)

Fidelity Investments

Fraud Detection Engineer – Streaming & Real-Time Systems (8 mos)

Verizon

Full-stack React.js Developer (1 yr 2 mos)

Bank of America

Senior Mobile Engineer (3 mos)

TD Ameritrade

CSS3 Lead Developer (1 yr 4 mos)

Elance

Freelance Back-End and Front-End Developer (3 yrs 8 mos)

joel maria

Software Engineer

United States7 yrs 9 mos experience

AI EnabledAI ML Practitioner

Key Highlights

Architected AI-native platforms for 50M+ users.
Achieved 200% performance gains in data access layers.
Reduced operational costs by $67K/month through optimization.

Stackforce AI infers this person is a SaaS and Fintech expert specializing in high-scale distributed systems and AI-native infrastructure.

Contact

Skills

Core Skills

Distributed SystemsEvent-driven ArchitectureAi-native InfrastructureSaasMicroservices ArchitectureMobile DevelopmentEnterprise Software DevelopmentFront-end Development

Other Skills

React NativeReact.jsNext.jsJavaScriptTypeScriptNode.jsGraphQLCross-Platform Mobile DevelopmentMobile App ArchitectureWeb Performance OptimizationRAGKafkaexpoRedux.jsreact navigation

About

Experience

7 yrs 9 mos

Total Experience

2 yrs 8 mos

Average Tenure

2 yrs 4 mos

Current Experience

Upwork

2 roles

Senior Software Engineer, AI-Scale Platform Architecture

Mar 2024 – Present · 2 yrs 2 mos · Remote

● Led architecture for high-scale creator and gaming platforms serving 50M+ global consumers, designing distributed, event-driven systems across Node.js (TypeScript) and Python (FastAPI, asyncio).
● Architected and scaled horizontally distributed microservices and Kafka-based streaming pipelines powering real-time telemetry and mission-critical financial transactions with strong consistency guarantees and resilience under burst traffic conditions.
● Re-architected GraphQL APIs and data access layers, achieving 200% performance gains through resolver optimization, request batching, caching strategies, and query cost governance.
● Engineered non-blocking I/O, clustering, and async concurrency controls to maximize throughput while sustaining low-latency SLAs across high-traffic endpoints.
● Designed streaming-first telemetry contracts and enrichment pipelines enabling AI/ML-ready workloads for behavioral analytics, fraud detection, and adaptive monetization.
● Improved platform reliability and cost efficiency through structured observability (metrics, tracing, logs) and increased mobile performance by 35% via deep React Native Hermes optimization.

React NativeReact.jsNext.jsJavaScriptTypeScriptNode.js+7

Logistic and Last-Mile AI Platform

Jan 2024 – Present · 2 yrs 4 mos · Remote

● Architected a distributed AI-native logistics platform (React Native + Kubernetes) supporting real-time dispatch and routing across thousands of concurrent delivery flows.
● Designed Kafka streaming pipelines processing 50K+ GPS events/min, enabling sub-second anomaly detection and improving route deviation accuracy by 28%.
● Built a RAG-powered operational intelligence layer that reduced manual escalations by 35% through contextual retrieval and exception automation.
● Implemented embedding pipelines and low-latency vector search (<120ms), powering similarity-based decision augmentation for routing and driver behavior analysis.
● Engineered a production-grade LLM orchestration layer (prompt routing, guardrails, deterministic fallbacks), increasing automated resolution rates from 42% to 71%.
● Optimized LLM inference costs via selective invocation and token control strategies, reducing token usage by 38% and lowering monthly AI infrastructure costs by 31%.

expoRedux.jsreact navigationStorybooksPython (Programming Language)Node.js+12

U.s. bank

Lead Engineer – AI Voice & Distributed Banking Systems

May 2021 – Jan 2024 · 2 yrs 8 mos · Boston, MA · Remote

● Co-defined architecture for AI voice assistant powered by Node.js, Python, and TensorFlow inference services.
● Designed secure integration layer between mobile clients, ML inference services, and core banking systems.
● Implemented streaming API interactions for low-latency inference workflows.
● Designed scalable microservice communication model across distributed domains.
● Reduced application footprint by 20% through modular build strategies and dependency rationalization.
● Led 22 engineers building enterprise UI platform with 80%+ test coverage.

StorybooksJavaScriptJestNode.jsLinux System AdministrationApollo GraphQL+6

Grax

Fullstack Engineer – High-Scale Distributed SaaS Platform

Oct 2019 – Dec 2020 · 1 yr 2 mos · Boston, MA · Remote

● Architected a Kubernetes-native Node.js platform handling 100M+ monthly API requests, enabling automated horizontal scaling and high-availability multi-tenant SaaS workloads.
● Led migration from REST polling to WebSocket streaming, reducing end-to-end latency by 50% and doubling real-time concurrency capacity.
● Optimized cloud infrastructure through container rightsizing, caching strategies, and batch processing, reducing operational costs by $67K/month.
● Designed event-driven data pipelines with BigQuery and implemented distributed OAuth2/JWT identity across services, establishing scalable retrieval and indexing patterns later leveraged for semantic and vector-based search architectures.

Redux.jsJavaScriptNode.jsLinux System AdministrationReact.jsRedux+8

Costar

Senior Software Engineer – Distributed Identity & Microservices

Jun 2016 – Mar 2019 · 2 yrs 9 mos · Boston, MA · Remote

● Designed OAuth2 + JWT authentication systems supporting 5M+ daily logins.
● Built Backend-for-Frontend layer consolidating multiple domain services.
● Developed 60+ REST services with resilience patterns and observability hooks.
● Improved fault isolation and error handling across distributed services.

Node.jsExpress.jsOAuth2GraphQLMicroservices ArchitectureBackend for Frontend (BFF) Architecture+2

Fidelity investments

Fraud Detection Engineer – Streaming & Real-Time Systems

Jul 2015 – Mar 2016 · 8 mos · Boston, MA · Remote

● Built real-time fraud detection services using Kafka, Redis, Django.
● Designed event-driven anomaly detection pipelines.
● Integrated external intelligence APIs for automated risk verification.
● Delivered real-time visualization dashboards for transaction monitoring.

Node.jsNext.jsTypeScriptWebSocketsAPI DevelopmentReal-time Applications

Verizon

Full-stack React.js Developer

Mar 2014 – May 2015 · 1 yr 2 mos · Lawrence, MA · Remote

● Built RESTful microservices in Node.js + MongoDB to manage nationwide cable infrastructure and equipment mapping.
● Developed cloud management modules for compute, storage, and network automation on Verizon IaaS platform.
● Enhanced platform scalability and data synchronization across distributed systems.

React.jsNode.jsMongoDBRESTful APIsMicroservices ArchitectureCloud Computing+3

Bank of america

Senior Mobile Engineer

Nov 2013 – Feb 2014 · 3 mos · Boston, MA · Remote

● Developed native mobile modules in Java and Objective-C, integrating secure biometrics and OCR scanning into a hybrid Cordova/PhoneGap app used by 46M+ customers.
● Modernized legacy banking workflows by introducing Backbone.js and AngularJS architectures, significantly improving UI performance and processing speed for millions of users.
● Refactored large-scale Java monoliths into RESTful web services, increasing scalability and reliability for systems handling 1.6B+ annual transactions.

React NativeMobile DevelopmentBiometric AuthenticationMachine LearningOptical Character Recognition (OCR)Offline-first Applications+3

Td ameritrade

CSS3 Lead Developer

Apr 2012 – Aug 2013 · 1 yr 4 mos · New Jersey, United States · On-site

● Built a SASS/Compass framework automating sprite generation and vendor prefixing, cutting load times by 40%.
● Applied OOCSS + Bootstrap/LESS for modular, maintainable, and responsive UI architecture.
● Delivered a hybrid Cordova/HTML5 app deployed on Android and iOS.

CSS3SASS / SCSSCompassBootstrapResponsive Web DesignFront-End Development+2

Elance

Freelance Back-End and Front-End Developer

Jun 2008 – Feb 2012 · 3 yrs 8 mos · Lawrence, MA · Remote

● Built full-stack PHP/CodeIgniter systems including RESTful APIs (JSON), data-feed processors (CSV/XML/RSS), web crawlers, and automation pipelines using cron jobs, cURL, GD, and MySQL/PostgreSQL, powering high-volume data ingestion and reporting.
● Delivered custom enterprise modules such as multi-currency invoicing with PDF generation, Facebook business-page integration apps, image-processing pipelines, and dynamic UI components using HTML/CSS, jQuery, AJAX, and Fancybox.
● Converted complex PSDs, Flash components, and legacy ColdFusion/JavaScript assets into high-performance, standards-compliant HTML/CSS interfaces, improving SEO, accessibility, and cross-browser reliability for multiple client platforms

Linux System Administration