Usman Jamil

Usman Jamil

Senior Backend & Platform Engineer with 10+ years of experience designing, shipping and operating production systems.

Node.js and TypeScript, authentication, backend APIs, caching and complex service migrations. Based in London.

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Fragment caching RVU

NGINX in front of a Builder.io-backed service

ClientGET /pageNGINX cacheserving freshApp200 OKClientGET /pageNGINX cacheserving freshApp200 OK

~85–90%

fewer successful requests reaching the application, in observed production metrics.

Illustrative flow. The ratio is the measured result.

Systems I have built

Four pieces of production work at RVU, each owned from design through rollout.

OTP authentication for ~15 million users

RVU · Accounts platform · sole engineer

Designed and delivered one-time-passcode authentication on a shared Accounts platform, replacing the magic-link login journey.

  • Owned verification design, hashed-code storage and rollout.
  • Shipped on a platform supporting ~15 million users.
improvement in login completion
~27%

Replaced magic-link login

1Requestuser asks for a code2Generateone-time code3Store hashnever the code itself4Delivercode sent to user5Verifyhash compared6Signed insession issued

Fragment caching with safe failure modes

RVU · NGINX · Builder.io-backed service

Independently designed and delivered NGINX fragment caching in front of a high-traffic, Builder.io-backed service.

  • Stale-on-error fallback keeps pages serving when the origin fails.
  • Cache invalidation and bypass controls for safer operations.

request conditioncache behaviour

  • fragment cachedServed by NGINXthe app never sees it
  • origin errorServe stale copystale-on-error fallback
  • invalidationFragment purgednext request refills it
  • bypass controlStraight to originfor safer operations

Ruby to Node.js, through production cutover

RVU · legacy Accounts modernisation

Reimplemented legacy Ruby Accounts functionality in Node.js and executed the production cutover, moving to JWTs while preserving transitional support for legacy logins.

  • Retired and archived the Ruby service, eliminating its outstanding vulnerabilities.
  • Left the current team with a codebase they can maintain.
Ruby serviceNode.js + JWTs
  1. Reimplementlegacy Ruby Accounts functionality rebuilt in Node.js
  2. Bridgetransitional support kept for legacy logins
  3. Cut overproduction moves to Node.js and JWTs
  4. RetireRuby service archived, its outstanding vulnerabilities gone
Legacy Accounts modernisation, executed through production cutover.

Technical lead on the corporate-site migration

RVU · Builder.io + Astro · sole technical lead

Led RVU’s corporate-site migration to Builder.io and Astro. Prototyped the unfamiliar integration and planned a phased cutover to reduce delivery risk.

  • Partnered with Design, interviewed contractor candidates, delegated tasks, reviewed most code and tracked defects.
  • Launched on time with negligible downtime.
  • Product, Design and Content now publish changes directly through Builder.io.

Before

  1. Product, Design, Content
  2. Engineering change
  3. Corporate site

After

  1. Product, Design, Content
  2. Builder.io
  3. Corporate site on Astro
No engineering changes have been required for site updates since launch.

More platform work at RVU

Platform work alongside the core systems.

Experience

  1. Jun 2021 – Present

    London

    RVU Senior Software Engineer

    • Authentication, caching, service migrations and platform work on a shared Accounts platform supporting ~15 million users.
    • Sole technical lead for the corporate-site migration to Builder.io and Astro.

  2. Apr 2019 – Jun 2021

    London

    ThoughtWorks Senior Consultant

    • Worked with Cabinet Office stakeholders on redeveloping the UK security-clearance application platform: refining requirements, evaluating feasibility and explaining technical trade-offs.
    • Delivered cloud-native client solutions with AWS, C#, Python and React, using TDD, pairing and continuous delivery.
    • Contributed to Centrica smart-meter installation scheduling systems; conducted technical interviews.

  3. Mar 2016 – Mar 2019

    London

    Amido Technical Consultant

    • Built a greenfield self-service tenant portal for Notting Hill Genesis, from discovery through production launch and handover.
    • REST APIs and Azure services with .NET Core, Cosmos DB, Azure Functions and Blob Storage, integrating housing-management workflows.

Own ventures

Skills

Languages & backend
  • TypeScript
  • JavaScript
  • Node.js
  • Python
  • SQL
  • REST APIs
  • OAuth/OIDC
  • Microservices
Cloud & platform
  • AWS
  • GCP
  • Azure
  • Kubernetes
  • Docker
  • Terraform
  • NGINX
  • Fastly
  • CI/CD
Data & operations
  • PostgreSQL
  • DynamoDB
  • BigQuery
  • MongoDB
  • Redis
  • Grafana
  • OpenSearch
  • Sentry
AI & developer tooling
  • Next.js
  • React
  • AWS Textract
  • pgvector
  • Embeddings/RAG
  • GitHub Actions
  • Argo

Education

Hiring for backend or platform engineering?

Email is the quickest way to reach me.

usman.jamil@live.co.uk

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