Jackson Gitundu
Nairobi
Summary
Dynamic Lead Backend Engineer with over 8 years of experience in designing and scaling high-volume financial systems within regulated, multi-country environments. Expertise in distributed systems, microservices architecture, and low-latency backend design is demonstrated by the successful architecture of a credit scoring microservice that processes over 1,000 loan decisions per second with an impressive 99.9% uptime across six African markets. A strong background in fintech, biometric authentication systems, national healthcare platforms, and enterprise SaaS supports the ability to translate complex regulatory and business requirements into resilient, production-grade systems. Committed to mentoring engineers and fostering architectural excellence while driving innovation in technology solutions.
Overview
12
12
years of professional experience
Work History
Lead Software Engineer
Equity Bank Limited
08.2021 - Current
- Lead backend engineering initiatives for a multi-country digital lending platform operating across Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan, and DRC.
- Architect and evolve distributed backend services supporting 20,000+ daily loan applications across multi-channel interfaces.
- Partner with Risk and Business leadership to translate evolving credit policies into resilient, scalable system design.
- Drove platform stabilization initiative eliminating 8,000 daily validation failures, achieving zero-error production state and materially improving customer success rates.
- Drive feature grooming and backlog refinement, ensuring technical feasibility and alignment with long-term platform architecture.
- Conduct structured code reviews to enforce engineering standards, maintain code quality, and reduce production defects.
- Mentor and guide engineers through design reviews, pair programming, and production incident analysis.
- Collaborate cross-functionally with Risk, Credit, Business, and UX teams to align technical delivery with business objectives.
Senior Software Engineer
Percolate(Acquired by Seismic)
08.2020 - 04.2021
- Owned the end-to-end implementation of the LinkedIn multi-image publishing and post scheduling features, successfully navigating evolving requirements and delivering scalable, production-grade solutions within a complex enterprise SaaS environment.
- Demonstrated rapid technology ramp-up by mastering React.js within a live production environment and contributing at parity with experienced frontend engineers.
- Stabilized the Facebook (Meta) API integration layer by proactively adapting to frequent API version changes, preventing publishing disruptions and ensuring continuous delivery of scheduled content.
- Strengthened external API resilience by introducing defensive integration patterns and improving error handling across social publishing workflows.
- Maintained comprehensive documentation of development work, facilitating knowledge sharing among team members.
Senior Software Engineer
Pluralsight Flow(formerly GitPrime)
07.2019 - 12.2019
- Contributed to the development of an engineering analytics platform used by enterprise customers to analyze Git activity and developer productivity metrics.
- Built and enhanced backend services responsible for ingesting and processing large volumes of repository metadata across distributed systems.
- Improved system reliability by identifying recurring production issues through Datadog monitoring and implementing targeted fixes that reduced recurring incidents.
- Participated in architectural design discussions to ensure scalability and performance of analytics pipelines.
- Conducted in-depth peer code reviews to enforce engineering standards and improve maintainability across services.
- Contributed to cross-functional backlog grooming, sprint planning, and roadmap alignment within an agile, globally distributed team.
Senior Software Developer
CarePay(Health Fintech | M-TIBA Ecosystem)
09.2018 - 04.2019
- Architected and implemented a fingerprint-based biometric authentication system deployed nationally, enabling secure patient identification and fraud prevention across healthcare facilities.
- Designed and built the backend platform powering Kenya’s Universal Healthcare registration system (2018), supporting nationwide citizen enrollment.
- Developed scalable APIs and secure authentication workflows to handle high-volume healthcare registrations across multiple regions.
- Operated within a disciplined Agile (Scrum) environment, actively contributing to sprint planning, backlog refinement and iterative delivery.
- Mentored junior engineers through code reviews, pair programming and structured technical guidance, strengthening overall team delivery quality.
- Contributed to architectural discussions and system design decisions under high-impact public-sector delivery timelines.
Senior Software Engineer
JamboPay (Payments & Revenue Systems)
05.2017 - 08.2018
- Engineered RESTful APIs (Java EE) powering a bulk disbursement platform, enabling merchants to execute multi-recipient payment workflows with transactional consistency.
- Designed and developed a merchant-facing portal supporting batch creation, beneficiary management, reporting, and operational support.
- Led backend development for the Kasneb student payment dashboard, streamlining fee payment workflows and improving system efficiency — resulting in a 60% increase in fee collection within the platform.
- Contributed to the backend architecture of M-Kula, a digital consumer payment platform, supporting secure transaction processing and system scalability.
- Established integration and system testing processes to ensure financial accuracy and transaction integrity.
- Improved backend performance through targeted optimizations and structured defect resolution.
- Designed performance dashboards to track operational throughput and system metrics.
- Collaborated with project managers, vendors, and stakeholders to deliver scalable fintech solutions aligned with business growth objectives.
Software Engineer
Smart Applications International Group Ltd
09.2015 - 05.2017
- Architected and configured clustered Wildfly environments with failover and load balancing, achieving 99%+ system uptime across production deployments.
- Designed and built a USSD-based healthcare access platform (Spring Framework) enabling members to check cover balances, scheme status, and family details via mobile devices.
- Developed an SMPP 3.4 SMS notification platform integrated with Safaricom and eQuitel to deliver real-time account alerts, renewal reminders, and expenditure notifications.
- Architected and secured RESTful APIs using OAuth2, supporting report generation and account management for insurance partners.
- Built a RabbitMQ-based middleware layer enabling asynchronous integration between distributed systems and third-party clients.
- Developed backend EJB services for background processing, data monitoring, and system orchestration.
- Designed Java EE web portals (JSF) enabling external clients to interact with backend systems through secure interfaces.
- Implemented internal management tools (Vaadin) to streamline operational workflows across customer support and marketing teams.
Assistant IT Manager
Strategic Mobile Limited
10.2013 - 03.2014
- Provided end-to-end IT infrastructure support across 13 nationwide branches, ensuring operational continuity and system reliability.
- Supported and maintained HansaWorld ERP systems, troubleshooting configuration and user-level issues across distributed locations.
- Configured and deployed wireless networking infrastructure for branch offices and client environments.
- Performed system diagnostics and network troubleshooting to minimize downtime.
- Designed and developed the company’s marketing website, enhancing digital presence and client acquisition.
Education
Computer Information Systems (CIS)
Kenya Methodist University
Nairobi02.2026
Bachelors of science - Computer Technology
Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology
01.2012
Kivaywa High School
01.2008
Skills
- Languages: Java 21, SQL
- Frameworks: Spring Boot, WebFlux, Spring Security, JPA
- Architecture: Microservices, Distributed Systems, High-Availability Design, Configuration-Driven Systems
- Performance: Reactive Programming, Concurrency, Low-Latency System Design
- Cloud & DevOps: Kubernetes, Docker, Helm, Azure, CI/CD (Azure Pipelines)
- Data & Messaging: PostgreSQL, MySQL, MSSQL, Redis, RabbitMQ, Kafka
- Security: OAuth2, TLS/SSL, Secure API Design
- Observability: Distributed Tracing, Application Monitoring, Logging & Metrics, DataDog
- Leadership: Architecture Reviews, Code Governance, Backlog Grooming, Mentorship
Timeline
Lead Software Engineer
Equity Bank Limited
08.2021 - Current
Senior Software Engineer
Percolate(Acquired by Seismic)
08.2020 - 04.2021
Senior Software Engineer
Pluralsight Flow(formerly GitPrime)
07.2019 - 12.2019
Senior Software Developer
CarePay(Health Fintech | M-TIBA Ecosystem)
09.2018 - 04.2019
Senior Software Engineer
JamboPay (Payments & Revenue Systems)
05.2017 - 08.2018
Software Engineer
Smart Applications International Group Ltd
09.2015 - 05.2017
Assistant IT Manager
Strategic Mobile Limited
10.2013 - 03.2014
Bachelors of science - Computer Technology
Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology
Computer Information Systems (CIS)
Kenya Methodist University
Kivaywa High School