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Building useful systems

Ismael
Barragán.

Software Architect Full-stack Engineer

I turn complex product and system problems into simple, dependable software—from thoughtful interfaces to event-driven platforms built to scale.

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GUADALAJARA, MX

A little context

Experience, by the numbers.

15+

Years of experience

5+

Companies at scale

GMT-6

Timezone

Remote

Work style

I'm a Software Architect and Full-stack Engineer with over 15 years of experience building and scaling product-focused applications. My career spans fintech, SaaS, civic tech, and agency work — always centered around shipping things that genuinely improve people's lives.

I'm comfortable across the entire stack, but my strongest work sits at the intersection of complex frontend requirements and the backend systems that power them. I have a particular fondness for event-driven architectures, clean API design, and making sure the things I build hold up at scale.

I care about simplicity. Not the kind that cuts corners, but the kind that comes from truly understanding a problem. Good software should be easy to change, easy to reason about, and easy to hand off.

I work best in remote, async environments where clear communication and ownership matter. I collaborate closely with product and design, and I've led teams and initiatives that grew from a handful of people to organizations of 17+ engineers.

When I'm not writing code, you'll find me thinking about systems design, following the open-source ecosystem, or working on whatever problem caught my eye this week.

ismael at recursivamente.comFollow on Bluesky(opens in new tab)

The toolkit

Tools & technologies

Frontend

React · TypeScript · JavaScript · SPA development · SEO fundamentals

Backend

Node.js · Express · Next.js · Python · PHP · API design · RabbitMQ · Kafka

Architecture

Microservices · Event-driven architecture · Distributed systems · Multi-tenant systems · Performance optimization

Data & Storage

PostgreSQL · SQL · Redis

Infrastructure

AWS · GCP · Kubernetes · Docker · CI/CD · GitHub Actions

Practices

Testing (unit & integration) · Observability · Code quality · Remote/async communication

Senior Software Engineer

Keep(opens in new tab)
Oct 2023 – Present
  • Led the design and implementation of a new payments system, introducing idempotency to prevent duplicate transactions and improve reliability
  • Implemented an event-driven architecture with RabbitMQ to decouple services and simplify how payment events are processed
  • Tuned the event system to deliver real-time notifications to the frontend
  • Reduced GitHub Actions pipeline execution time by 50%, improving deployment speed and developer feedback cycles
  • Contributed to backend guild discussions to standardize patterns around messaging, error handling, and service communication

Senior Software Engineer

Lyft(opens in new tab)
Mar 2023 – Oct 2023
  • Acted as Tech Lead, working closely with product and engineering managers to define priorities and guide implementation
  • Refactored a critical Python/Flask endpoint, reducing p95 latency by 30% through query and logic optimization
  • Coordinated with Data Science to retrain a risk model and integrate new inputs via a Python wrapper, improving accuracy by 20%
  • Performed detailed code reviews to ensure performance, readability, and long-term maintainability

Software Architect

Salesloft(opens in new tab)
Sep 2019 – Mar 2023
  • Led migration of a Node.js monolith to an event-driven microservice architecture using Express.js, Kafka, Redis, and GraphQL
  • Defined core metrics and monitors in Datadog and NewRelic to enhance platform stability and performance
  • Coordinated the full codebase migration from JavaScript to TypeScript
  • Implemented CI/CD tooling to enforce test coverage and TypeScript adoption in GitHub Actions
  • Expanded cloud regions from two to five, ensuring platform agnosticism across AWS and GCP
  • Designed a multi-tenant layer at the API level using Node.js Async Context and PostgreSQL row-level security
  • Helped grow the Conversation Intelligence Pod from a single team of 7 to three teams of 17 engineers
  • Led migration of the legacy AngularJS frontend to a modern micro-frontend architecture in React

Full Stack Tech Lead Engineer

Kueski(opens in new tab)
Jan 2018 – Sep 2019
  • Worked closely with the team building the first Android app, reaching 30% adoption within two months
  • Built user-facing authentication flows in React, improving usability and onboarding experience
  • Delivered end-to-end features across backend services and frontend interfaces
  • Refactored backend services to ensure consistency of financial data in user-facing account statements

Technical Advisory Committee Member

IEPC Jalisco(opens in new tab)
Oct 2020 – Jul 2021
  • Served on the technical advisory committee overseeing the software built to track the results of the 2021 Jalisco state election
  • Reviewed system architecture to ensure security, resilience, and compliance with federal requirements
  • Provided technical guidance to the development team throughout the election cycle
Jul 2017 – Jan 2018
  • Developed frontend applications as part of a scrum team building a microservices-based CRM
  • Worked across two AngularJS applications and one Angular 4 project, contributing features end to end
  • Ensured cross-browser compatibility and responsiveness across all surfaces of the system
Jun 2016 – Jul 2017
  • Led the upgrade of a legacy PHP system to a modern stack built with Angular and Symfony
  • Collaborated on the architecture and design of a school ERP system that was fully implemented in 2019
  • Architected, designed, and implemented the candidate registration system for the state elections of 2009, 2012, and 2015, handling 11,000+ candidates per cycle
  • Defined the data structures and built a single-page application to publish real-time results for the 2012 and 2015 elections statewide
  • Developed a system to keep live tracking of council sessions across 20 districts and 125 municipalities of Jalisco
  • Designed and built a custom CMS with Symfony from the ground up, replacing Drupal as the institute's primary content publishing tool

Advent of Code

adventofcode.com ↗

Upcoming

Writing is coming.

I'm working on posts about systems design, frontend architecture, and the craft of building software that scales. Follow me on Bluesky to know when they're live.

Follow on Bluesky(opens in new tab)
  • Event-driven architecture
  • React patterns
  • API design
  • System reliability
  • Engineering leadership
  • Fintech engineering