I'm Kentaro, twelve-ish years in software, mostly full stack, and honestly when I read what you're building I had kind of a weird moment of recognition. 'Cause a while back I built this cross-exchange trading bot — Hyperliquid, Binance, Kraken, Coinbase, Bybit — and like eighty percent of that work wasn't the strategy, it was the integration layer. Five APIs, all different auth, all different rate limits, different symbol conventions, WebSockets that drop and don't tell you. Building a normalization layer so nothing downstream had to care which venue it came from. So the 'unified API over a bunch of messy third-party providers' problem is one I've actually lived in. Stack-wise I'm right where you are. React and TypeScript and Next.js on the front, Node and Python on the back, Postgres. At Ink Finance I owned full-stack delivery for about three years — React and TS interfaces, Node and Python services, REST and GraphQL, real-time data — and I built out the backend testing framework and the CI/CD and monitoring there, 'cause it was financial systems and you can't be casual about that stuff. On the AI side, at HSQA I architected an AWS serverless platform where the AI was the product, not a feature — document pipelines, OCR, embeddings, vector search, NLP driving the workflows. And day to day now I work with Claude Code and Cursor pretty heavily, so the agent tooling space isn't abstract to me, I'm a user of it. And going way back, I started in C++ at Square Enix on game engines, even wrote some x86 assembly for an anti-cheat layer. So the systems fundamentals are there. On location — I'm in New Jersey right now, but I'm open to relocating for the right founding role. Wanted to get that out of the way up front. So yeah — what are you two heads-down on right now?

Kentaro Namba

I'm Kentaro, twelve-ish years in software, mostly full stack, and honestly when I read what you're building I had kind of a weird moment of recognition. 'Cause a while back I built this cross-exchange trading bot — Hyperliquid, Binance, Kraken, Coinbase, Bybit — and like eighty percent of that work wasn't the strategy, it was the integration layer. Five APIs, all different auth, all different rate limits, different symbol conventions, WebSockets that drop and don't tell you. Building a normalization layer so nothing downstream had to care which venue it came from. So the 'unified API over a bunch of messy third-party providers' problem is one I've actually lived in. Stack-wise I'm right where you are. React and TypeScript and Next.js on the front, Node and Python on the back, Postgres. At Ink Finance I owned full-stack delivery for about three years — React and TS interfaces, Node and Python services, REST and GraphQL, real-time data — and I built out the backend testing framework and the CI/CD and monitoring there, 'cause it was financial systems and you can't be casual about that stuff. On the AI side, at HSQA I architected an AWS serverless platform where the AI was the product, not a feature — document pipelines, OCR, embeddings, vector search, NLP driving the workflows. And day to day now I work with Claude Code and Cursor pretty heavily, so the agent tooling space isn't abstract to me, I'm a user of it. And going way back, I started in C++ at Square Enix on game engines, even wrote some x86 assembly for an anti-cheat layer. So the systems fundamentals are there. On location — I'm in New Jersey right now, but I'm open to relocating for the right founding role. Wanted to get that out of the way up front. So yeah — what are you two heads-down on right now?

Available to hire

I’m Kentaro, twelve-ish years in software, mostly full stack, and honestly when I read what you’re building I had kind of a weird moment of recognition.

'Cause a while back I built this cross-exchange trading bot — Hyperliquid, Binance, Kraken, Coinbase, Bybit — and like eighty percent of that work wasn’t the strategy, it was the integration layer. Five APIs, all different auth, all different rate limits, different symbol conventions, WebSockets that drop and don’t tell you. Building a normalization layer so nothing downstream had to care which venue it came from. So the ‘unified API over a bunch of messy third-party providers’ problem is one I’ve actually lived in.

Stack-wise I’m right where you are. React and TypeScript and Next.js on the front, Node and Python on the back, Postgres. At Ink Finance I owned full-stack delivery for about three years — React and TS interfaces, Node and Python services, REST and GraphQL, real-time data — and I built out the backend testing framework and the CI/CD and monitoring there, 'cause it was financial systems and you can’t be casual about that stuff.

On the AI side, at HSQA I architected an AWS serverless platform where the AI was the product, not a feature — document pipelines, OCR, embeddings, vector search, NLP driving the workflows. And day to day now I work with Claude Code and Cursor pretty heavily, so the agent tooling space isn’t abstract to me, I’m a user of it.

And going way back, I started in C++ at Square Enix on game engines, even wrote some x86 assembly for an anti-cheat layer. So the systems fundamentals are there.

On location — I’m in New Jersey right now, but I’m open to relocating for the right founding role. Wanted to get that out of the way up front.

So yeah — what are you two heads-down on right now?

See more

Experience Level

Expert
Expert
Expert
Expert
Expert
Expert
Expert
Expert
Expert
Expert
Expert
See more

Language

English
Fluent

Work Experience

Full Stack Engineer at MintCollect
April 30, 2026 - Present
Full Stack Engineer at MintCollect — a Pokémon TCG collection + marketplace app. Built across the whole stack: Python/Flask backend on AWS, plus the user-facing and admin web apps. Shipped a real two-sided marketplace end to end — listings, checkout, auctions, disputes, order notifications, and Stripe Connect payments — from schema to UI.
Senior Blockchain Full Stack Engineer at Ink Finance
April 1, 2022 - November 30, 2025
I worked as a core contributor building and scaling DeFi products across EVM chains and Solana, covering smart contracts, backend systems, and Web3 frontend engineering.
Blockchain Full Stack Engineer at LooksRare
December 1, 2020 - February 28, 2022
I have a proven track record in the NFT gaming space, where I led the end-to-end design and implementation of Loxar, a survival game built on Binance Smart Chain (BSC). I architected and launched the Loxar Game Launchpad, managing complex NFT minting workflows and on-chain integrations. I also developed the complete backend system, admin panel, and a dedicated NFT marketplace to enable seamless trading of in-game assets. To support scalability and reliability, I implemented CI/CD pipelines using GitHub Actions, containerized backend services with Docker, and deployed the infrastructure on AWS with monitoring, logging, and auto-scaling configured to ensure high availability and stable game operations.
AI & Full Stack Engineer at HSQA
December 1, 2018 - August 31, 2020
Worked as an AI Solution Architect, building a web-based platform for automated website testing at scale. I worked on facial recognition and real-time camera authentication to make the login experience more secure and seamless. I also built an AI-powered document processing system for very large PDFs, including scanned documents with tens of thousands of pages, using OCR, text chunking, embeddings, FAISS, and AWS OpenSearch. On the AI side, I integrated NLP and deep learning models to understand user intent and natural-language test instructions, making it easier to control automation workflows. The platform was built and deployed on AWS using S3, DynamoDB, Rekognition, Polly, Lex, Lambda, API Gateway, and OpenSearch, with Selenium for the automated testing side.
Lead Full Stack Developer at WPP Energy
January 15, 2017 - May 31, 2019
Thrived as a Lead Full-Stack Engineer, driving multiple high-impact, technology-driven initiatives that significantly strengthened the company’s digital presence. Designed and built a real-time analytics dashboard visualizing energy consumption, cost savings, and project progress, enabling clearer stakeholder insights and faster decision-making. Led enhancements to WPP’s user portals, implementing secure authentication, role-based access, and seamless data integration with external energy partners. Architected and deployed cloud-native solutions on AWS, ensuring the platform remained scalable, reliable, and cost-efficient while supporting growing user demand and data volume.
Software Developer at Square Enix
December 1, 2012 - November 1, 2016
Developed MMORPG and online multiplayer games with cross-platform backend support for windows, android, and ios. Designed and balanced complex in-game economies to drive long-term player engagement and sustainable virtual ecosystems. Built immersive gameplay experiences using Cocos2d-x, CryEngine, Unity3D, Unreal Engine, and Three.js, incorporating AI-driven NPC behavior and personalization through deep learning techniques. Engineered a game security platform in C++ and x86/x64 Assembly to prevent cheating, memory tampering, and reverse engineering. Created a game launchpad, implementing real-time authentication and session management via socket-based communication. Designed a high-performance multiplayer networking system with low latency and precise state synchronization, enabling smooth and scalable real-time gameplay.

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science at University of North Carolina at Charlotte
September 1, 2007 - August 31, 2011

Qualifications

Add your qualifications or awards here.

Industry Experience

Media & Entertainment, Professional Services