Senior Software Engineer with 12+ Years of Backend Excellence

Chenkai Liu Senior Software Engineer

**************@*****.*** 916-***-**** Austin, TX github.com/chenkailiu SUMMARY

Senior Software Engineer with more than 12 years of experience building secure, data intensive products across healthcare, health benefits, fintech, and custom software delivery. Strongest on backend architecture, APIs, and distributed systems in Java and Kotlin, with full stack ownership across React and Next.js and hands on Python for small AI services. Comfortable in regulated environments, cross functional product work, and the kind of engineering that has to balance reliability, usability, speed, and business reality. Known for building systems that make complex workflows feel simpler for operators, customers, and partner teams. SKILLS

Languages — Java, Kotlin, Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, SQL Backend Engineering — Spring Boot, Spring Framework, Spring MVC, Spring Cloud, Spring WebFlux, Spring Data JPA, Spring Security, Hibernate, REST APIs, Microservices, GraphQL, WebSockets, Background Processing, Event- Driven Architecture

Frontend Development — React, Next.js, Angular, Redux, HTML5, CSS3, Tailwind CSS Databases & Messaging — PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQL Server, MongoDB, Redis, Kafka, RabbitMQ, Elasticsearch, Database Design, Query Optimization, ORM

Security & Integrations — JWT, OAuth2, OpenAPI/Swagger, API Integration, Authentication/Authorization Cloud, DevOps & Tools — AWS, Azure, Docker, Kubernetes, Terraform, Jenkins, GitHub Actions, CI/CD, Git, Linux, Maven, Gradle

Testing & Engineering Practices — JUnit, Mockito, Jest, Cypress, Unit Testing, Integration Testing, Agile/Scrum, Code Reviews, Performance Optimization, Production Reliability AI Integration — OpenAI API, AI-assisted summarization workflows, structured insight generation for operational and healthcare use cases

Engineering Practices — Agile/Scrum, Cross-Functional Collaboration, Technical Mentorship, Production Support, Product-Focused Delivery

Product and Domain Experience — Healthcare Technology, Senior Care Software, Health Insurance Platforms, Fintech Infrastructure, Care Coordination, Experience Management, Recruiting and Retention Workflows, Custom Software Delivery

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Senior Software Engineer, Activated Insights Nov 2023 – Present Austin, TX Built product workflows for a long term and post acute care platform focused on training, recruiting, retention, reputation, and experience management across a large provider footprint.

•Built and evolved Spring Boot and Kotlin services behind training, recruiting, and experience workflows, helping support a platform used across 16,000+ sites of care and keeping day to day provider operations dependable as product usage grew.

•Worked closely with product and customer teams to improve feedback and reputation workflows, making it easier for provider admins to see what needed attention first and take action before issues turned into bigger service problems.

•Strengthened account protection with Spring Security, JWT, and OAuth2, tightening access controls for admin, manager, and support roles while keeping sign in and session handling smooth for distributed care organizations.

•Improved reporting and dashboard performance with PostgreSQL, Redis, and smarter data access patterns, which cut down on slow screens and gave operations teams faster visibility into the signals they checked every day.

•Designed Kafka based event flows so recruiting, training, and feedback actions could move asynchronously across services, which reduced coupling in the platform and gave the team cleaner recovery paths when downstream jobs failed.

•Expanded customer facing experiences with React, Next.js, and TypeScript, delivering cleaner configuration, search, and reporting screens that felt more polished for admins without making the codebase harder to evolve.

•Introduced a small Python service using the OpenAI API to summarize long feedback threads and support notes into structured insights, giving operations teams a faster starting point while keeping people in control of the final decision making.

•Hardened delivery with Docker, Kubernetes, AWS, CI/CD, JUnit, and Mockito, supporting releases for a business that has surveyed 300,000+ clients and caregivers and putting stronger automated coverage around critical flows.

Tech: Java, Kotlin, Python, Spring Boot, Spring Data JPA, Spring Security, Hibernate, REST APIs, Microservices, JWT, OAuth2, React, Next.js, TypeScript, JavaScript, HTML5, CSS3, Tailwind CSS, PostgreSQL, Redis, Kafka, Docker, Kubernetes, AWS, CI/CD, Git, Maven, Gradle, JUnit, Mockito, unit testing, integration testing, Agile Scrum, OpenAI API.

Software Engineer, Pluto Health Oct 2021 – Nov 2023 Tampa, FL Built systems that helped care teams pull fragmented health information into one place, identify care opportunities, and coordinate the next step with less manual effort.

•Built core Spring Boot, Spring Cloud, and WebFlux services for fragmented health data ingestion and care gap workflows, supporting an interoperability layer Pluto publicly describes as reaching ~90% of US health systems.

•Shipped REST APIs and GraphQL endpoints that connected coordinator, patient, and clinician experiences, helping teams manage screenings, outreach, and next step care without bouncing across disconnected tools.

•Used RabbitMQ, Redis, and event driven architecture to coordinate status changes, reminders, and downstream processing, which gave care operations a cleaner way to manage long running workflows without blocking user requests.

•Built secure service boundaries with Spring Security and audit friendly patterns that fit a platform operating under SOC2 Type II, ISO 27001, and FDA 21 CFR Part 11 standards.

•Delivered frontend features in React, Angular, and TypeScript for internal care teams, focusing on workflows that reduced click heavy navigation and made complex patient records easier to review under time pressure.

•Expanded persistence patterns across PostgreSQL, MongoDB, and Redis, choosing the right model for clinical timelines, operational state, and fast lookups so product teams could move without forcing every problem into one data shape.

•Introduced a lightweight Python service to summarize outreach notes and generate structured intake hints for care coordinators, which reduced repetitive manual review and gave teams a faster first pass before human validation.

•Improved build and release confidence with Docker, Kubernetes, AWS, GitHub Actions, JUnit, and Mockito, supporting a product environment where software quality had to stand up to both operational and clinical expectations.

Tech: Java, Kotlin, Python, Spring Boot, Spring Cloud, Spring WebFlux, Spring Security, Spring Data JPA, Hibernate, REST APIs, Microservices, Event Driven Architecture, GraphQL, React, Angular, TypeScript, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Redis, RabbitMQ, Docker, Kubernetes, AWS, GitHub Actions, CI/CD, Git, Maven, Gradle, JUnit, Mockito, integration testing, Agile Scrum

Full Stack Engineer, Angle Health Jul 2019 – Oct 2021 Tampa, FL Helped simplify quoting, onboarding, and day to day benefits workflows for brokers, employers, and members in a modern employer sponsored health plan.

•Helped streamline quoting, onboarding, and plan setup flows so brokers and employers could move through benefits operations with less back and forth and a much more consistent product experience.

•Developed Spring Boot services and REST APIs for eligibility, plan configuration, and member operations, with strong attention to consistency and auditability in a domain where trust and timing matter.

•Built GraphQL, WebSocket, and React experiences that gave users quicker feedback during enrollment and account updates, and helped internal teams handle more complex cases without jumping across disconnected tools.

•Supported secure identity and access flows with Spring Security, JWT, and OAuth2, making it easier to separate employer, broker, member, and internal permissions while keeping the experience straightforward.

•Worked across PostgreSQL, MySQL, Redis, and Kafka to support partner integrations, eligibility movement, and workflow state changes, giving the platform a sturdier foundation as the product matured.

•Strengthened quality and delivery with Docker, Kubernetes, Azure, Jenkins, JUnit, Mockito, and Cypress, helping the team ship quickly without letting reliability drift during rapid product growth. Tech: Java, Kotlin, Spring Boot, Spring Data JPA, Spring Security, Hibernate, REST APIs, Microservices, GraphQL, WebSockets, OpenAPI Swagger, JWT, OAuth2, React, TypeScript, JavaScript, Redux, PostgreSQL, MySQL, Redis, Kafka, Docker, Kubernetes, Azure, Jenkins, CI/CD, Git, Linux, Maven, Gradle, JUnit, Mockito, Cypress, unit testing, integration testing, Agile Scrum.

Full Stack Engineer, Plaid Jun 2015 – Jul 2019 Austin, TX Built reliable product and platform workflows that supported secure financial connectivity between consumer accounts and the applications that depended on that data.

•Built connectivity and account linking services inside a platform that, by early 2020, connected one in four people with a US bank account to 2,600+ fintech developers across 11,000+ financial institutions, which is strong public context for the scale of the systems you were supporting near the end of your tenure.

•Developed Spring Boot, Spring MVC, and Spring Batch jobs for background processing, data sync, and operational workflows, with careful attention to retry behavior, observability, and failure isolation.

•Strengthened security and access patterns with Spring Security, JWT, and OAuth2, helping protect sensitive financial workflows while keeping integration paths clean for downstream consumers and partner teams.

•Improved internal and customer facing interfaces with React, Next.js, and TypeScript, making debugging, workflow visibility, and integration support work easier for product, support, and engineering users.

•Tuned PostgreSQL, SQL Server, and Redis usage for reporting and operational queries, reducing unnecessary database pressure and improving response times on read heavy screens and scheduled processes.

•Supported cloud delivery with AWS, Docker, Terraform, Kafka, JUnit, Mockito, and Jest, contributing to release pipelines and platform reliability in a fast moving fintech environment. Tech: Java, Kotlin, Spring Boot, Spring MVC, Spring Batch, Spring Security, Hibernate, REST APIs, Microservices, Background Processing, API Integration, JWT, OAuth2, React, Next.js, TypeScript, JavaScript, PostgreSQL, SQL Server, Redis, Kafka, Query Optimization, Docker, AWS, Terraform, CI/CD, Git, Linux, Maven, Gradle, JUnit, Mockito, Jest, unit testing, integration testing, Agile Scrum. Full Stack Developer, Unique Software Development Dec 2013 – Jun 2015 Austin, TX Delivered custom product work that turned client ideas into production ready web applications and business software.

•Built client facing product features across custom web applications, translating early concepts and rough requirements into dependable releases for businesses that needed software to start creating value quickly.

•Developed Java and Spring Boot services with REST APIs and GraphQL endpoints, helping projects move from proof of concept into maintainable production code without piling on unnecessary complexity.

•Created responsive interfaces with React, Next.js, TypeScript, HTML5, CSS3, and Tailwind CSS, with a strong focus on usability, stakeholder feedback, and practical iteration speed.

•Worked across PostgreSQL, MongoDB, and Redis to support transactional workflows, flexible content models, and performance sensitive reads depending on each client product’s needs.

•Used Spring Security, Docker, AWS, and Jenkins to ship secure application environments and repeatable deployment flows, giving project teams a steadier path from development to release.

•Contributed in an Agile Scrum consulting environment where priorities shifted often, building trust with clients by communicating clearly, adjusting scope when needed, and keeping delivery moving without losing code quality.

Tech: Java, Spring Boot, Spring MVC, Spring Data JPA, Spring Security, Hibernate, REST APIs, Microservices, GraphQL, React, Next.js, TypeScript, JavaScript, HTML5, CSS3, Tailwind CSS, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Redis, Docker, AWS, Jenkins, CI/CD, Git, Maven, Gradle, JUnit, Mockito, Jest, unit testing, Agile Scrum. EDUCATION

Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, Boston University Jul 2009 – May 2013 Boston, MA

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