Summary
Overview
Work History
Education
Skills
Interests
Personal Information
Honors And Awards
Timeline
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Arjun Balraj

Arjun Balraj

Coder | Technology Explorer | Leader
London

Summary

Results-driven professional with over two decades of industry experience, specializing in global transformation and greenfield development within TradeFi and Crypto sectors. Proven track record in building and delivering renowned crypto exchanges, utilizing a deep understanding of diverse financial asset classes. Skilled at creating and leading cross-functional teams, fostering innovation, and consistently delivering impactful solutions that optimize performance and reduce costs. Committed to strategic planning and problem-solving, ready to drive technological advancements in a forward-thinking organization.

Overview

21
21
years of professional experience
6
6
years of post-secondary education
3
3
Languages

Work History

Co-Founder and Programmer

New Social Theory
10.2024 - Current
  • Programmed the initial version of the micro service template and its collaborators using Java and Micronaut framework including the associated test framework.
  • Programmed the initial landing zone setup of our AWS organization using Terraform for hosting multiple applications and resource allocation with appropriate roles. Karpenter was later installed to manage resource utilisation in EKS.
  • Setup the initial revision of the DevOps CI/CD pipelines using Github runner and ECR. Also setup Grafana dashboards for infra monitoring and integration with slack for any threshhold violations.
  • Currently playing an advisory role for a creative crowd funding startup (Regulated Web3) which I have been involved right from the start by providing Technology guidance and being a board member. The startup is currently in beta phase in the Test-net and awaiting commercials. No daily involvement at the moment.

Technology Officer (Contract)

Athos Capital
03.2024 - 09.2024
  • Responsible for setting up a greenfield IT discipline for the fund by conducting discovering sessions with various desks and Operations.
  • Responsible for architecting and programming a simple and maintainable cloud infrastructure for the fund on AWS. Infrastructure was designed as containerized tasks running on App Runner and all changes from repos hosted on GitHub was orchestrated and deployed using AWS Copilot.
  • Developed an internal portal using retool and connected it various data sources including Micronaut micro-services running on App Runner, RDS and influx for historical price feeds.
  • Integrated with Enfusion (Risk Management Platform) web services layer and automated various back office tasks for the fund.
  • Implemented a Jupiter notebook solution and python based micro-service to integrate with LSEG TORA (Cloud based basket order execution platform).

Director, Global Head of Platform Technology

Bullish
02.2022 - 11.2023
  • Reinvented the DevOps function for the organization that was going through a period of transformation from being a blockchain services brand to an institutional exchange.
  • Rebuild the global team spanning across United States, Singapore and Hong Kong.
  • Led the development of a cloud-based platform as a hands-on leader that significantly reduced operational costs and improved customer experience. This involved the design and implementation of a Landing Zone and creation of the initial revision of everything as Infra as Code.
  • Executed my platform vision to completion which is Secure source code management using Repo as Code. My contribution was the initial setup of GitHub Enterprise Managed Users working closely with security and engineering.
  • Slim and efficient autonomous CI enhancing developer productivity. Automated testing and faster build cycles helped in healthier code commits and passage. My main contribution was the split of CI and CD by introducing Octopus Deploy to the flow. I was also worked with TechOps to move their manual runbooks into the same tool.
  • Release Cadence. Moved the organization from bi-monthly releases to weekly.
  • Systematic Cost Management & Optimization. Reduced our cloud spend by 3x and saved more than 2mil USD in 2023. Involved in labeling, tagging and creating autonomous cost functions.
  • Simplify the platform architecture to enable scalability and agility move across regions.
  • Created the Guardian squad who supported the platform on a rota basis but also worked on BAU, Security Vulnerabilities etc. This immensely helped in less distractions in strategic project delivery.

Head Of DevOps / SRE

EQONEX Group
05.2021 - 02.2022
  • Build the squad right from scratch and established DevOps and SRE disciplines within the group.
  • Successfully executed AWS cost optimization for the group thereby reducing cost by 40%. I also leveraged CloudFinOps AI tools such as Zesty to get utilisation based gains.
  • Designed and implemented proactive monitoring and alerting using DataDog and OpsGenie. This is also involved implementation of custom metrics handlers and bots.
  • Work closely with the CISO and security team to implement active shield protocols for the exchange and our external facing API layer.
  • Work closely with the development squads to ensure adherence of best practices and optimal utilization of AWS resources.
  • Implemented a 24
  • 7 support model for the whole exchange working with DevOps as a service - cloud4c.

DevOps Officer

BFAM Partners (Hong Kong) Limited
05.2020 - 05.2021
  • Responsible for managing the IT infrastructure and software channels used by the desk and IT functions alike.
  • Responsible for moving the fund into a Infra as Code model as a stepping stone in instilling the culture of DevOps.
  • Responsible for building a pro-active monitoring system used by the support function in the trading floor.
  • Responsible for migrating the current applications running on-premise (vmware) into the cloud using a robust CI/CD pipeline.

DevOps Manager, Wealth FX and Private Banking

Standard Chartered
03.2018 - 04.2020
  • Responsible for the product formulation, delivery and DevOps practice for Digital FX platform for all retail banking customers of Standard Chartered across Wealth and Private Banking, GCNA.
  • Responsible for the formulation and execution of DevOps within Wealth and presented the same to Bill Winters (CEO) in Q3 2018.
  • Setup development teams in Hong Kong, Malaysia and Shanghai for the entire program with 23 direct reports.
  • Active participant in the ongoing sprints developing both product features and DevOps tools for optimising the velocity of change.
  • Responsible for introducing the Test Automation practice within the group using Selenium and BDD thereby reducing our testing cycles from 2 weeks to ~5 hours.
  • Our mature CICD pipeline enables product releases to be peer-peer reviewed, scanned for vulnerabilities, tested for regression / performance and deployed all the way to production including DB and in-memory cache changes.

Senior DevOps Consultant (Contract), FX

HSBC
01.2017 - 12.2017
  • Technologies used: Angular JS, Java 1.8, Oracle BPM 11g, Rest Services, Spring Boot, JPA, Web Socket Bridge for Streaming.
  • The eFX team in HSBC is changing how software development is done within HSBC adopting the DevOps model performing more than 500 releases a year.
  • Team is responsible for building the next generation digital platform for Global Banking and Markets in HSBC. Product is delivered to external users and sales users in over 40 countries. Current focus is on Cash FX execution, however scope is broadened to accommodate other asset classes such as FX Options and Money Markets.
  • Senior DevOps Consultant within the POD responsible for shaping processes, tools and frameworks thereby contributing to the evolving DevOps model used within the group and continuous delivery of the product.
  • Responsible for daily releases (1-2 every day) on the Evolve FX platform contributing to the features and prioritised enhancement requests from stakeholders.
  • Responsible for onboarding and rewriting the FXConnect trading middleware within the group that services block and allocation trades from institutional clients using the third party FX execution venue from State Street.
  • Collaborate with other team members within the group and contribute to the DevOps tool stack (Including real time monitoring, deployment tools, release management dashboards etc.) that is stashed using an open source model.

Senior Java Developer (Contract), Risk Technology

Credit Suisse
07.2014 - 12.2017
  • Technologies used: Angular JS, Java 1.8, Oracle BPM 11g, Rest Services, Spring Boot, JPA, Web Socket Bridge for Streaming.
  • Aim of the project is to improve bank's risk reporting landscape in line with both regulatory requirements and business objectives. This initiative is an incremental approach to centralizing risk calculation and complementary services across the whole bank.
  • Technical architect and team lead for the Workflow Management stream using Oracle BPM and UI dashboard using HTML 5, Angular JS.
  • Responsible for a team of 5 developers based out of India, Poland & Unites States. Responsible for mentoring the business process modeling team based out of India.
  • Responsible for a suite of workflow tools used by business groups to manage their daily business processed and tasks.
  • Responsible for Sprint planning, Daily scrums (Individual stream and also reporting to the overall SRP program) and Backlog planning coordinating with project managers across SRP and the firm.
  • Work closely with business, IT and other teams involved (Change Management, Infrastructure etc.) to plan and manage phased roll out of the product.
  • Contributing to the formulation of development best practices including code reviews, daily standup methodologies, test coverage and build automation.

Senior Java Developer (Contract), Equities 1 Delta Trading Technology

Goldman Sachs
01.2014 - 06.2014
  • Technologies used: Java 1.7, Securities Object DB and Slang, Oracle.
  • Working in a large regional team covering both analysis and development of equities trading and booking systems using Java, SecDB, Slang & Databases.
  • Enhancing operational controls, partnering with the trading desks to build new business offerings and revenue growth.
  • Promoting testing and SDLC best practices within the team.

Senior Java Developer (Contract), Front Office Controls Technology

Royal Bank of Scotland
06.2013 - 12.2013
  • Technologies used: Angular JS, Activiti BPM, Java 1.7, MS Typescript, Rest Services.
  • A workflow and process management environment for the front office supervisors to affirm and evidence business controls related to trading and personnel activities.
  • Responsible for architecting and redesigning a strategic controls console using the existing legacy application as the base model.
  • Analyzed various markets, controls surrounding them interacting with key business stakeholders from various trading desks.
  • Planned agile development iterations, and day-day tasks for the team on a weekly basis.
  • Hands-on development and testing leveraging up to date technologies in the market.

Senior Java Developer (Contract), Fixed Income

Credit Suisse
09.2011 - 06.2013
  • EFX (Electronic FX Trading).
  • Responsible for architecting and redesigning an eFX middleware that is responsible for validation functions such as credit checks, booking rules etc. and trade routing to appropriate downstream systems such as Trade Booking & Auto Hedging systems. Enablement of other FI instruments such as commodities is the key driver in addition to cleanup of spaghetti code and non-testable adhoc features introduced in the past.
  • Responsible for the design, implementation and testing of an in memory Trade Cache (Oracle Coherence) backed up by an Oracle Trade Store. Also played a key role in setting up a test bed for coherence unit testing using a tool named Little Grid. Integration tests with the middleware itself are abstracted using a Repository paradigm. (Domain Driven Design).
  • Played a key role in the setup of Trade Routers and Booking Agents using an array of message buses (Tibco EMS) that intelligently interact with each other and handover trades and response messages from downstream systems.
  • 2nd/3rd level support & trouble shooting of the existing application on the Trading floor.

Senior Technical Analyst

Goldman Sachs
07.2006 - 09.2011
  • Fixed Income Securities Hub - London, UK.
  • A product data repository responsible for reference and economics data related to fixed income and derivative products in Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM). FISH is responsible for defining and mastering contractual and derivative products including swaps, swaptions and mortgages as well as providing supplemental data for fixed income securities from both internal & external sources. Over 30,000 products are stored in FISH. Internal sources include PRIME, trading desk and calculated data. External sources include Bloomberg, Point, Yield book and other third-party sources.
  • Worked as a Technical Specialist for the Core Data team.
  • Revamping the SDLC stack using an in house framework that uses Ant, Ivy, Hikari and Jenkins.
  • Responsible for defining a SOA strategy for the team using an in house framework called Service Base that enables services written in different technologies such as Java, Slang & C# to communicate with each other.
  • Responsible for defining a ETL strategy using Informatica that enables the team to extract, load and transform high volume feeds coming from various vendors such as Bloomberg, Point etc and warehouse the data in Sybase IQ.

Java Developer

Virtusa Pvt India Ltd
06.2004 - 06.2006
  • Campus Placement from University where I started my career and foundation delivering projects with several financial institutions such as JPM Chase, Merril Lynch etc.

Education

Master in Business Administration -

CASS Business School
09.2012 - 09.2014

Bachelor of Engineering - Information Technology

Bharathiar University
04.2000 - 04.2004

Skills

AWS

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Interests

Gym
Travelling
Biking
Playing Drums
Sports (Cricket, Basketball)

Personal Information

Nationality: British, Hong Kong PR

Honors And Awards

  • Delivered a talk on Diginex Cloud Strategy in AWS Industry Week 2021, Hong Kong
  • EMEA Technology Innovation Award 2011 Nominee - Goldman Sachs, London
  • Cricket Team Captain - Goldman Sachs, London

Timeline

Co-Founder and Programmer

New Social Theory
10.2024 - Current

Technology Officer (Contract)

Athos Capital
03.2024 - 09.2024

Director, Global Head of Platform Technology

Bullish
02.2022 - 11.2023

Head Of DevOps / SRE

EQONEX Group
05.2021 - 02.2022

DevOps Officer

BFAM Partners (Hong Kong) Limited
05.2020 - 05.2021

DevOps Manager, Wealth FX and Private Banking

Standard Chartered
03.2018 - 04.2020

Senior DevOps Consultant (Contract), FX

HSBC
01.2017 - 12.2017

Senior Java Developer (Contract), Risk Technology

Credit Suisse
07.2014 - 12.2017

Senior Java Developer (Contract), Equities 1 Delta Trading Technology

Goldman Sachs
01.2014 - 06.2014

Senior Java Developer (Contract), Front Office Controls Technology

Royal Bank of Scotland
06.2013 - 12.2013

Master in Business Administration -

CASS Business School
09.2012 - 09.2014

Senior Java Developer (Contract), Fixed Income

Credit Suisse
09.2011 - 06.2013

Senior Technical Analyst

Goldman Sachs
07.2006 - 09.2011

Java Developer

Virtusa Pvt India Ltd
06.2004 - 06.2006

Bachelor of Engineering - Information Technology

Bharathiar University
04.2000 - 04.2004

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Arjun BalrajCoder | Technology Explorer | Leader