Backend Engineer & Technical Lead · Nairobi, Kenya

Simon
Gathariki

Building scalable backend systems, distributed pipelines, and high-availability APIs that deliver real business impact — end-to-end ownership, cross-timezone collaboration.

View Experience Get in Touch
5+ Years building & operating
production backend systems
4× Transaction throughput increase
(<1K → 4,333 TPM)
96% Latency reduction
(30 min → <50 sec TAT)
6+ Cross-border payment corridors
designed & integrated

01 — About

Engineering systems
that hold under pressure

I'm a Software Engineer and Technical Lead with over five years of experience designing backend systems, distributed architectures, and data pipelines that run reliably in production.

My work spans payment infrastructure, AML compliance platforms, observability systems, and API gateways — always with a focus on measurable performance, maintainability, and cross-functional clarity.

I'm comfortable owning systems from design to deployment, driving architectural decisions, and communicating complex tradeoffs to product and business stakeholders alike.

Current Role

Technical Lead — Scytale Systems

Specialisation

Backend Systems · Distributed Architecture · Platform Engineering

Core Stack

Java · Spring Boot · Node.js · Kafka · PostgreSQL · AWS/GCP

Education

BSc Information Technology — Kirinyaga University

Location

Nairobi, Kenya · Open to remote & distributed teams

02 — Experience

Where I've built things

Oct 2025 — Present

Scytale Systems

Current

Technical Lead

  • Leading architecture of a full-stack AML compliance platform: screening, transaction monitoring, risk scoring, investigations & regulatory reporting.
  • Designing the core AML rules engine and alerting workflows for financial crime detection.
  • Building real-time and batch ETL pipelines for large-scale financial data processing and analytics.
  • Driving cross-functional collaboration across QA, product, and business teams to deliver a production-ready compliance platform.

Feb 2023 — Apr 2025

SwitchLink Africa

2 yrs

Software Engineer

  • Increased transaction throughput from <1,000 to 4,333 TPM; reduced worst-case TAT from 30 minutes to <50 seconds.
  • Architected and deployed an OpenSearch-based observability platform, replacing Dynatrace and significantly reducing monitoring costs.
  • Led API gateway migration from Javalin to Spring, improving performance, reliability and scalability at scale.
  • Designed and implemented cross-border payment integrations across Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda, India, Japan, and China.
  • Delivered new mobile money integrations expanding regional payout capabilities across East Africa.

Apr 2021 — Aug 2022

University of Embu

Developer + Lecturer

Software Developer & Part-time Lecturer

  • Built internal platforms: contract management, student onboarding, leave tracking, and LMS analytics.
  • Supported Moodle e-learning infrastructure and improved system reliability and reporting.
  • Taught Introduction to Cloud Computing and Desktop Publishing to undergraduate students.

Jul 2018 — Oct 2020

Rivest Enterprises

Early career

Software Developer

  • Developed a mobile payment application for a trading platform.
  • Implemented school management systems, improving operational efficiency and real-time communication.

03 — Skills

Technical Stack

Backend & Systems

Java Spring Boot Node.js REST APIs Microservices

Distributed Systems & Messaging

Apache Kafka RabbitMQ Event-driven Architecture ETL Pipelines

Cloud & DevOps

AWS GCP Docker CI/CD GitHub Actions

Data & Storage

PostgreSQL MySQL MongoDB Redis

Observability & Reliability

OpenSearch ELK Stack Performance Optimisation System Monitoring

Performance Delivered

Throughput: <1,000 TPM → 4,333 TPM
Worst-case TAT: 30 min → <50 sec
Dynatrace costs → Replaced w/ OpenSearch
Javalin API gateway → Spring (scalable)

Domain Experience

Cross-border payments 6+ corridors
AML / Compliance platforms Current focus
Fintech infrastructure East Africa + Asia
Observability engineering Full platform builds

04 — Notable Work

Selected Projects

01

AML Compliance Platform

Full-stack financial crime detection platform covering customer screening, real-time transaction monitoring, risk scoring, investigations workflow, and regulatory reporting. Includes custom rules engine and alerting pipelines.

JavaSpring BootKafkaPostgreSQLAML
View Live

Designed and deployed a full observability stack on OpenSearch to replace Dynatrace — delivering equivalent visibility at a fraction of the cost. Included log aggregation, alerting, and custom dashboards.

OpenSearchELKMonitoringAWS
03

Cross-Border Payments Engine

Architected and integrated multi-corridor cross-border payment rails across Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda, India, Japan, and China — expanding payout reach with mobile money and bank transfer terminations.

JavaREST APIsFintechMobile Money
View Live

Led end-to-end migration of core API gateway from Javalin to Spring Boot. Improved throughput from under 1,000 to 4,333 TPM and slashed worst-case TAT from 30 minutes to under 50 seconds.

Spring BootJavalinPerformanceMicroservices
View Live

Built a suite of internal web platforms including contract management, student onboarding portals, leave tracking, and LMS analytics dashboards. Also supported Moodle e-learning infrastructure.

Node.jsMySQLMoodleWeb Apps
View Live

Developed a mobile payment application for a trading platform at Rivest Enterprises, alongside school management systems that improved operational efficiency and real-time communication.

MobilePaymentsJava
View Live

05 — Contact

Let's build
something
together.

Open to senior backend, distributed systems, platform engineering, and technical lead opportunities — remote or Nairobi-based.

EMAIL sgatharikih@gmail.com LINKEDIN linkedin.com/in/gatharikih PHONE +254 701 785 642 CV Download Résumé (PDF)
© 2025 Simon Gathariki · Nairobi, Kenya Backend Engineer · Technical Lead · Platform Engineering