James Jarvis

Senior Software Engineer with 10+ years of experience designing, building, and scaling production-grade backend systems using Python, Django, Django REST Framework, PostgreSQL, and cloud-native technologies. Proven expertise in backend architecture, API design, complex business logic, database optimization, asynchronous processing, security, and reliability engineering. Experienced building AI-enabled applications, scalable SaaS platforms, and mission-critical systems in highly regulated and high-growth environments.

Senior Software Engineer - Cognizant - Teaneck, NJ

(2022-11)

• Led end-to-end design and implementation of scalable backend systems using Django, Django REST Framework (DRF), and FastAPI, supporting enterprise-grade applications with high concurrency and complex business workflows.
• Owned backend architecture and system design, defining domain models, service boundaries, data flow architecture, and API design standards to ensure long-term scalability and maintainability.
• Designed and implemented complex Django ORM models, including multi-tenant data structures, relational integrity constraints, and optimized query patterns for high-volume workloads.
• Built and maintained production-grade RESTful APIs using DRF, focusing on clean contract design, versioning strategy, pagination, authentication, and consistent error handling.
• Optimized PostgreSQL performance in Django applications by implementing advanced indexing strategies (B-tree, composite indexes), query refactoring, and ORM-level optimizations, significantly improving response times for critical endpoints.
• Designed and executed zero-downtime database migrations, including schema evolution strategies, backward-compatible migrations, and safe deployment rollouts.
• Built asynchronous and event-driven backend systems using Celery, Kafka, RabbitMQ, and Redis, enabling scalable background processing, job orchestration, and decoupled service communication.
• Implemented robust authentication and authorization layers using OAuth2, JWT, Django auth, and RBAC policies, ensuring secure access control for sensitive enterprise workflows.
• Improved system reliability and operational visibility by implementing observability frameworks using Prometheus, Grafana, CloudWatch, structured logging, and distributed tracing concepts.
• Integrated AI-driven backend capabilities using OpenAI APIs and Hugging Face models to automate internal workflows and enhance application intelligence.
• Built and enforced backend engineering best practices, including code reviews, design reviews, API standards, testing strategies, and documentation guidelines.
• Increased overall test coverage to 85%+ through PyTest-based unit, integration, and API testing integrated into CI/CD pipelines (GitHub Actions/Jenkins).
• Mentored junior engineers, guiding them on Django architecture, system design principles, and production debugging practices, improving team velocity and code quality.

Software Engineer - UnitedHealth Group - Houston, TX

(2018-02 - 2022-10)

• Developed and maintained scalable backend services using Django and Flask, powering healthcare applications used by millions of users under strict regulatory compliance (HIPAA).
• Designed and implemented robust Django domain models and ORM-based business logic layers, supporting complex healthcare workflows, eligibility systems, and claims processing logic.
• Built secure and high-performance REST APIs using Django REST Framework, ensuring reliable data exchange across internal systems and external partners.
• Improved database efficiency by optimizing PostgreSQL schemas and Django ORM queries, applying indexing strategies, query restructuring, and denormalization where appropriate.
• Built asynchronous processing systems using Celery, Redis, Kafka, and RabbitMQ, enabling scalable processing of long-running healthcare and financial transactions.
• Led migration of monolithic legacy applications to cloud-native architecture on AWS using Docker and Kubernetes, improving scalability, resilience, and deployment velocity.
• Implemented enterprise-grade authentication and authorization using OAuth2, JWT, RBAC, and Django security frameworks, ensuring compliance with healthcare security standards.
• Collaborated with DevOps teams to implement CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure automation (Terraform), and deployment strategies, reducing release friction and improving reliability.
• Participated in production incident response, debugging complex system failures, and performing root cause analysis for high-severity incidents.
• Contributed to system design discussions focused on scalability, fault tolerance, and data consistency in distributed healthcare systems.

Software Developer - CME Group - Chicago, IL

(2015-07 - 2018-01)

• Developed backend systems in Python for high-frequency trading and real-time financial market data platforms with strict performance requirements.
• Designed and implemented high-throughput relational database schemas in PostgreSQL and MySQL, supporting large-scale transaction processing and analytics workloads.
• Built ETL pipelines using Python, Pandas, and NumPy, transforming and processing large volumes of financial market data for downstream systems.
• Developed and maintained RESTful APIs with Swagger/OpenAPI documentation, ensuring clear service contracts across trading and analytics systems.
• Automated deployment and operational workflows using Python and Bash scripting, improving release efficiency and reducing manual operational overhead.
• Supported production trading systems by monitoring system performance, debugging latency issues, and ensuring system reliability in time-sensitive environments.
• Collaborated with QA and infrastructure teams to improve system stability, testing coverage, and deployment processes.

Bachelor’s Degree - Computer Science - University of Chicago (2011-08 - 2015-06)