Summary
Overview
Work History
Education
Skills
Certification
Languages
Timeline
Generic

Rusif Budagov

Baku

Summary

Accomplished Senior Java Developer with a deep specialization in backend architecture, microservices, and cloud-native solutions. Experienced in building high-performance, scalable systems for finance and banking, utilizing Java, Spring Boot, and modern cloud and DevOps practices across AWS and Kubernetes. Skilled in event-driven architectures, CQRS, and Domain-Driven Design (DDD), with a proactive approach to designing resilient, secure applications. Known for driving quality through rigorous testing, monitoring, and hands-on mentorship, with a focus on collaboration, optimization, and technical excellence in every project.

Overview

12
12
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification

Work History

Technical Lead Manager

PayRiff
12.2024 - Current
  • Lead backend and system architecture for high-load financial systems using Java 21 and Spring Boot 3+
  • Designed scalable reactive microservices architecture using WebFlux, Kafka, Redis, PostgreSQL R2DBC, and MongoDB
  • Led full system design and structure creation, solution architecture, and complex problem investigation and resolution
  • Mentored and supported a team of 15 engineers (backend, frontend, QA), distributed architecture knowledge across the team
  • Collaborated directly with BAs and Product Owners for requirement clarification, backlog grooming, and planning
  • Provided estimations during sprint planning and handled cross-team coordination
  • Actively involved in DevOps processes, collaborated on CI/CD pipeline structuring, and integrating new tools
  • Oversaw deployment automation, monitored task delivery deadlines, and ensured system health in production
  • Implemented observability stack with Grafana, Prometheus, and AWS CloudWatch
  • Designed secure API Gateway and Keycloak-based authentication for admin and mobile platforms
  • Performed code reviews, handled incident responses, and maintained production stability

Stack: Java 21, Spring Boot 3.3+, WebFlux, Kafka, MongoDB, Kafka Connect, Redis, PostgreSQL (R2DBC), Keycloak, Kong API Gateway, AWS (CloudWatch, EC2, Lambda, S3), Grafana, Docker, GitLab CI/CD, Liquibase

Forte Group

Forte Group
03.2024 - 12.2024
  • Architected and Led Full-Cycle Development: Directed the creation of an advanced money transfer system for a leading Azerbaijani bank, serving as architect, manager, and senior engineer. This included defining scalable architecture, system design, and technical direction to ensure high performance and resilience in production.
  • Designed Event-Driven Architecture: Leveraged Axon Framework with MongoDB to implement a CQRS and event-sourcing architecture, enabling real-time data consistency and high availability. Customized the framework to handle complex workflows and transaction-heavy operations, optimizing system efficiency.
  • Hands-On Code Quality Management: Personally managed all stages of development, including rigorous code reviews, in-depth testing, and deployment, adhering to best practices and fostering a culture of code excellence. Integrated continuous testing and code coverage assessments, driving optimal software reliability.
  • Mentorship and Team Development: Guided junior developers through complex concepts in Java and backend technologies, cultivating an environment of knowledge-sharing and continuous learning. Actively shaped a technically skilled team capable of handling high-stakes project requirements.
  • Explored and Integrated Emerging Technologies: Spearheaded research into innovative technologies to enhance the platform's robustness and adaptability. Developed automated CI/CD pipelines, reducing deployment time and enabling rapid feature rollouts.
  • Collaborative Leadership: Worked cross-functionally with stakeholders to align technical solutions with business objectives, translating complex requirements into actionable development plans. Demonstrated proactive problem-solving, identifying and mitigating potential scalability challenges to ensure smooth delivery.

Senior Software Engineer

EPAM Systems, Inc
11.2021 - 03.2024
  • Data as a Service Platform: Developed a robust platform for corporate data assets, leveraging microservices architecture to process and correct data from third-party providers, enabling distribution to both internal and external services. Integrated Apache Ignite nodes for optimized high availability.
  • Open Banking Solutions: Led the development of open-banking compliance solutions, implementing OBIE and NextGen specifications with Spring Boot, Keycloak, and OAuth2 for client integration. Supported ongoing client technical needs and debugging.
  • Telecom CRM: Enhanced CRM capabilities for a German telecom client, delivering new features, resolving latency issues, and conducting extensive code reviews to optimize the system’s responsiveness.
  • Digital Banking Platform: Built event-driven architectures to enable a scalable and maintainable banking experience platform, adhering to BIAN standards to support modular services that are easily deployable.
  • Logistics Tracking System: Migrated legacy systems to Java 17 and Spring Boot 3+, setting up automated CI/CD pipelines and deploying on AWS EKS, creating a modernized tracking solution for a logistics client.
  • Financial Services Digital Transformation: Led a development team to design and implement critical features for banking systems, collaborating closely with stakeholders to align technical solutions with business requirements. Supported both public-facing and internal banking systems, focusing on security, scalability, and optimization.
  • Technology Stack: Java (8-17), Spring Boot, Spring Data, Spring Security, Spring Native, Spring WebFlux, OAuth2, Keycloak, Redis, PostgreSQL, Kafka, Docker, Kubernetes, Jenkins, CI/CD, Liquibase, JUnit5, Mockito, JWT, Apache Ignite, AWS (S3, SQS/SNS, Lambda, Step Functions, Kinesis, EKS), Redis, Redshift, REST API, OpenResty API Gateway, Swagger, Gradle, ElasticSearch, Event-Driven Architecture, Microservices, Agile.

Senior Software Engneer

Unibank KB
11.2020 - 11.2021
  • Leobank Mobile Banking Development: Developed backend functionality for Leobank, enabling smooth Visa card management, payments, transfers, and cashback features to enhance customer experience in mobile banking.
  • Core Banking System Redevelopment: Led the redevelopment of Unibank’s core banking system from the ground up, implementing a fully reactive, event-sourcing architecture using Scala, Akka, CQRS, and gRPC.
  • Microservices and Scalability: Built scalable, reactive microservices with Akka and the Play Framework, enabling high availability and real-time processing across banking functions.
  • Leadership and Optimization: Managed backend architecture, provided detailed code reviews, and supported developers to maintain code quality. Diagnosed, troubleshot, and resolved complex system issues, enhancing performance and reliability.
  • Tech Stack: Java 11, Scala, Akka, Spring Boot, Spring Security, Keycloak, Reactive Microservices, CQRS, Event-Sourcing, Oracle SQL/PLSQL, PostgreSQL, Cassandra, gRPC, Docker, Kubernetes, Agile, CI/CD, JUnit, Mockito.

Senior Java Developer

Bank Respublika
09.2019 - 11.2020
  • Core Banking System Transformation: Transitioned the bank's core system from a monolithic to microservices architecture, creating scalable, modular services aligned with evolving business needs.
  • Business Process Automation with Camunda BPMN: Designed and implemented BPMN workflows and integrated them into the core Java services, streamlining banking processes.
  • Leadership and Code Quality: Acted as an informal team lead, managing junior and mid-level developers, assigning tasks, conducting code reviews, and enforcing best practices for clean, maintainable code.
  • Tech Stack: Java 11, Spring Boot, Spring Data JPA, Spring Security, REST API, Kafka, Docker, Kubernetes, ElasticSearch, Logstash, Kibana, Camunda BPMN, PostgreSQL, Oracle, CI/CD, JUnit, Mockito.

Senior Software Developer

Expressbank
02.2018 - 09.2019
  • Customer Online Banking Development: Developed and maintained the Customer Online Cabinet, allowing users to manage loans, debit/credit cards, and make payments. Built the application as a monolithic Spring MVC-based system.
  • Payment Integration and Automation: Integrated third-party payment processors (Azericard/Millikart) to handle Visa/MasterCard transactions. Automated SMS notifications for customers to improve engagement.
  • Deployment and Maintenance: Deployed applications to Linux servers for testing and production, managing connections via SSH.
  • Tech Stack: Java 1.8, Spring MVC, Hibernate, Oracle, JSP, HTML/CSS, Linux, Tomcat 8.5.

Senior Java Developer

GoldenPay
01.2016 - 02.2018
  • Online Payment Platform (Hesab.az): Developed and enhanced Hesab.az, a comprehensive payment system allowing users to manage various payments, including utilities, loans, and mobile bills.
  • API and Payment Integration: Implemented unregistered payment APIs and integrated third-party e-commerce processors for seamless customer transactions, enabling payment via Visa/MasterCard.
  • System Monitoring and Performance: Designed a robust monitoring system to track system and billing status, sending real-time alerts to prevent service downtime.
  • Collaboration and Team Support: Planned and executed project timelines in Scrum, provided mentorship to junior developers, and troubleshot system bugs to ensure high availability.
  • Tech Stack: Java 1.8, Spring Boot, Spring Security, Spring Data JPA, REST API, SOAP Services, Git, SVN, Tyk API Gateway, OAuth2.

Java Developer

GoldenPay
04.2014 - 01.2016
  • Core Payment Gateway Development: Built the pgmain application for managing CRUD operations, serving as the core repository layer. Integrated large merchant payment systems, enabling third-party processing with functionalities like check, pay, reverse, and status verification.
  • Billing System and Data Modeling: Developed a Java Threads-based billing system and created data models in MySQL to support efficient payment operations.
  • Problem Resolution and Customer Support: Addressed payment issues based on customer feedback, analyzed logs, and implemented fixes for seamless payment processing.
  • Tech Stack: Java 1.8, Spring, Spring Security, Spring MVC, MySQL, Java Threads, REST API, SOAP Services, Java Reflection API, Swagger.

Junior Java Developer

Azerbaijan Republic State Comittee
08.2013 - 03.2014
  • 4LivingFond Statistical Reporting System: Developed the 4LivingFond application for generating statistical reports, used by regional companies to submit data to state committees.
  • End-to-End Application Development: Built the application from scratch as an MVC monolithic structure, implementing login functionality and report generation in PDF, DOC, and HTML formats.
  • Tech Stack: Java 1.8, Servlet, JSP, JSTL, Apache Tomcat, MySQL, HTML/CSS, JavaScript/jQuery, iText.

Education

Bachelor of Science - Computer Science

Baku State University
07-2014

Skills

  • Programming Languages: Java, Scala
  • Frameworks & Libraries: Spring Boot, Spring Data (JPA, REST), Spring Security, Spring Native, Kafka, Akka, Camunda BPMN, Axon, Nomad
  • Architecture & Design Patterns: Microservices, Event-Driven Architecture, CQRS, Event Sourcing, Domain-Driven Design (DDD), Hexagonal Architecture, Circuit Breaker, Saga, Strangler Fig, Anti-Corruption Layer, Sidecar Pattern, API Gateway, Backend-for-Frontend (BFF), Serverless Architecture
  • Cloud & DevOps: AWS (S3, Lambda, EC2, RDS, SQS/SNS, ELB, Kinesis, IAM, Route 53, CloudWatch), Docker, Kubernetes, Terraform, GITLAB CI/CD, Jenkins, Consul
  • Databases: Oracle, PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB, Redis, Cassandra, Liquibase
  • Testing & Quality Assurance: JUnit, Mockito, Spock, Testcontainers, Cucumber (BDD), REST Assured, Performance Testing (Apache JMeter), TDD, BDD, Chaos Engineering (Chaos Monkey), Contract Testing (PACT), API Mocking (WireMock)
  • Monitoring & Observability: Prometheus, Grafana, ELK Stack (Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kibana), Jaeger (Distributed Tracing), APM (Application Performance Monitoring)
  • Project Management & Collaboration: Agile (Scrum, Kanban), SDLC, RDMS Design, Data Modeling, Git, SVN, Asana, Confluence

Certification

  • Oracle Certified Associate, Java SE 8 Programmer
  • AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate
  • Reactive Architecture: Introduction to Reactive Systems (Level 2)
  • Reactive Architecture: Domain Driven Design (Level 2)
  • Lightbend Scala Language Professional (Level 2)
  • Lightbend Akka for Scala Professional (Level 2)

Languages

Azerbaijan
Native language
English
Upper intermediate
B2

Timeline

Technical Lead Manager

PayRiff
12.2024 - Current

Forte Group

Forte Group
03.2024 - 12.2024

Senior Software Engineer

EPAM Systems, Inc
11.2021 - 03.2024

Senior Software Engneer

Unibank KB
11.2020 - 11.2021

Senior Java Developer

Bank Respublika
09.2019 - 11.2020

Senior Software Developer

Expressbank
02.2018 - 09.2019

Senior Java Developer

GoldenPay
01.2016 - 02.2018

Java Developer

GoldenPay
04.2014 - 01.2016

Junior Java Developer

Azerbaijan Republic State Comittee
08.2013 - 03.2014

Bachelor of Science - Computer Science

Baku State University
Rusif Budagov