Payam Najafizadeh

Creating a Django-based open source library to make email-driven education more accessible
and user-friendly.
Building essential features like course administration APIs, lesson editors, and automated delivery
logic to enhance user experience.
Guiding the projects technical direction, documentation, and community guidelines to ensure
smooth collaboration and development.

Contribute to the development of critical payment integrations while serving as release owner,
collaborating with QA and engineering to transition approved features into production seamlessly.
Key contributor to the backend modernization, transitioning legacy Python 2 systems to modern,
asynchronous Python 3 microservices using FastAPI while actively shaping design patterns and
microservices strategy.
Implement Domain-Driven Design and Hexagonal Architecture to improve code maintainability
and system adaptability, leveraging GCP native services like Datastore and Cloud Run for robust
backend operations.

Developed and maintained microservices for internal GUI platforms and unified API interfaces,
using Java Spring and Python Django to support customer operations.
Contributed to the design of a unified API and event stream interface, standardizing internal
product integrations and reducing system complexity.
Supported the migration of microservices from on-premise servers to AWS, establishing secure
data pipelines and third-party integrations.
Collaborated with cross-functional teams to design data schemas for API services and event
streams, ensuring data consistency across distributed systems.
Managed AWS resources using Terraform and conducted disaster recovery and performance tests
to ensure the reliability of business-critical services

Modernized legacy Django infrastructure by upgrading the framework and dependencies to latest
stable versions, ensuring system security and performance.
Implemented Renovate to automate dependency management, establishing a sustainable process
for continuous updates and technical debt reduction.
Containerized application services using Docker, facilitating a successful migration from a single
instance architecture to Google Cloud Run, optimizing cloud architecture for scalability and high
availability, resulting in a more cost-effective and resilient GCP infrastructure

Led the migration of multiple legacy Drupal and WordPress websites to Django, successfully
modernizing the companys web architecture to improve security and system performance.
Architected and developed reliable APIs using Python and PostgreSQL, enabling high
performance data communication between backend services and front-end applications.
Served as the primary backend developer for an e-learning platform, utilizing PHP and MySQL to
build a custom engine for delivering educational content via an email-based interface.
Managed the deployment and hosting of web applications using AWS cloud services, ensuring
high availability and scalable data management.
Defined backend standards and data schemas, overseeing the transition from PHP-based CMS
systems to a unified Python/ Django ecosystem.

Built a custom e-learning platform using PHP and MySQL, with a backend engine for automated
email workflows.
Created a scalable content delivery system to manage a large library of courses and handle high
volume communications.
Optimized database schemas for efficient tracking of user progress and reliable delivery of
educational materials over several years.