Hi, I’m Desmond Smiley. I’m a Senior Software Engineer with 13+ years of experience designing and building scalable backend systems, RESTful APIs, microservices, and cloud-native architectures. I enjoy modernizing legacy platforms, optimizing performance for large-scale user bases, and collaborating with cross-functional teams. I’m also passionate about integrating AI/ML capabilities to enhance data-driven applications.

Desmond Smiley

Hi, I’m Desmond Smiley. I’m a Senior Software Engineer with 13+ years of experience designing and building scalable backend systems, RESTful APIs, microservices, and cloud-native architectures. I enjoy modernizing legacy platforms, optimizing performance for large-scale user bases, and collaborating with cross-functional teams. I’m also passionate about integrating AI/ML capabilities to enhance data-driven applications.

Available to hire

Hi, I’m Desmond Smiley. I’m a Senior Software Engineer with 13+ years of experience designing and building scalable backend systems, RESTful APIs, microservices, and cloud-native architectures.

I enjoy modernizing legacy platforms, optimizing performance for large-scale user bases, and collaborating with cross-functional teams. I’m also passionate about integrating AI/ML capabilities to enhance data-driven applications.

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Experience Level

Expert
Expert
Expert
Expert
Expert
Expert
Expert
Expert
Expert
Intermediate
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Language

English
Fluent

Work Experience

Senior Software Engineer at UpNest Real Estate (part of Realtor.com ecosystem)
January 1, 2021 - Present
Architected and led development of core backend services using C#/.NET and Azure, supporting a nationwide real estate marketplace and hundreds of thousands of monthly active users. Designed and implemented scalable RESTful APIs and microservices for agent matching, property data processing, billing, and real-time customer engagement, reducing average API response time by 32% through query optimization and caching. Migrated legacy components to an event-driven architecture with Azure Service Bus, improving reliability to 99.9% uptime and enabling seamless handling of peak traffic during high-demand periods. Collaborated with product and founding teams to integrate AI/ML features, including agent recommendation models based on performance data, resulting in 28% higher match acceptance rates. Built end-to-end deployment pipelines using Azure DevOps CI/CD and Terraform, reducing release cycles from weekly to daily and cutting production incidents by 45%. Optimized database interactions wit
Software Engineer at Netleaf – Altamonte Springs, FL
December 1, 2016 - December 1, 2020
Developed enterprise-grade backend solutions for financial and government clients using C#/.NET Core, microservices, and Azure/AWS cloud, modernizing legacy systems for scalability and performance. Built and deployed RESTful APIs and integration layers for payments and data processing, supporting high-throughput workloads and reducing integration latency by 25%. Implemented DevOps automation with CI/CD pipelines (Azure DevOps/Jenkins), containerization (Docker), and infrastructure provisioning, shortening release cycles from months to weeks. Collaborated on cloud migration projects, transitioning on-premises apps to Azure, achieving ~30% cost savings through rightsizing and auto-scaling. Ensured high availability and regulatory compliance in mission-critical systems through robust error handling, logging, and monitoring.
Software Engineer at Fidelity Investments
November 1, 2012 - October 1, 2016
Contributed to large-scale retirement platform for 401(k) and workplace solutions using C#/.NET Core, microservices, and Azure/AWS cloud, modernizing legacy systems for scalability and performance. Built and deployed RESTful APIs and data processing layers, supporting high-throughput workloads and reducing integration latency by 25%. Implemented DevOps automation with CI/CD pipelines (Azure DevOps/Jenkins), containerization (Docker), and infrastructure provisioning, shortening release cycles from months to weeks. Ensured high availability and regulatory compliance with data privacy and audit trails.

Education

Bachelor's Degree in Computer Engineering at Urbana University
August 1, 2008 - May 1, 2012
Bachelor's Degree in Computer Engineering at Urban University
August 1, 2008 - May 1, 2012

Qualifications

Add your qualifications or awards here.

Industry Experience

Software & Internet, Real Estate & Construction, Financial Services, Professional Services