Personal details

Alexander R. - Remote software architect

Alexander R.

Based in: 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
Timezone: London (UTC+1)

Summary

Senior Engineering Manager @ Meta, HSBC, MOO

Experience - Banking, Payments, eCommerce, Integrity and Privacy

Project management, Engineers growth, Communication, Conflict resolution, Hiring, Culture, Processes

Work Experience

Senior Engineering Manager
Meta | Aug 2021 - Present
PHP
Python
Java

I am a Senior Engineering Manager part of the Privacy Areas pillar supporting a team of 36 engineers and 3 managers. We are partnering with 2 Data Engineers, Data Scientist and Product and Content Designers. Our team is a horizontal Infra / Product team working across Family of Apps and building privacy products at scale for all engineering teams covering Client, Online, Offline and AI stacks across Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and AR/VR product areas.

My main focus is on the medium and long term vision of the team, I work closely with my partners in Product, Data and Infrastructure to set that vision, roadmap and execution plan across the 3 teams. I work closely with org leads on company goals alignment and creating the right culture and setting the direction for the engineering teams in terms of expectations and metric goals.

Grew team from 2 to 36 SWEs over the last 2 years

Shipped scalable Privacy Aware Infrastructure to handle sensitive data as first-class citizen

Save 350 engineering years by improving efficiency of data purpose limitation at scale and through federation across engineering teams

Implemented Continuous Compliance workflow aligned to company priorities and external regulatory pressures


Executive Director
HSBC | Jan 2019 - Aug 2021
Python
Java
SQL
React

I am the Technology Director of the International program in HSBC. Leading 3 cross-functional teams local, remote, and contractors. We are delivering scalable solutions for international customer onboarding across all product segments. The project is web and mobile-first, backed by different backend services delivering data capture, client identification, verification, and anti impersonation.

● Part of the leadership team in the International Value Stream responsible for overall technical direction, strategy and business solutions for Cross-border Account Opening

● Scaled an engineering function from 2 SWEs to +35 SWEs / 4 EMs across 4 engineering teams (remote + local)

● Chapter lead of the Cloud & Infrastructure community, building scalable and reusable AWS solutions for all Tribes.

● Built DevOps Practice (0-100, pipelines, tooling, deployment) and improved the cadence for the development team through automation. My team was participating and contributing back to the wider DevOps community within the bank

● Native mobile app for iOS (Swift) deployed for the UK market. Customer details capture, appointment booking, video conferencing, and document upload.

● Scalable mobile-first web and microservices framework for onboarding in 30+ markets. Integration with CDD (RTS, PEPs, Adverse Media, Sanctions), FATCA, Fraud Detection, Scaled Delivery Architecture

● Product deployed in 7 markets: CH, HK, SG, GB, US, Jersey Island (Expat), CA

● Reduction of customers’ applications Turnaround Time (TAT) by 80%

● Account opening was reduced from manual 30 days to digital 24 hours per application

● Achieved 20000 opened accounts from HK/UK in H2 2020 which results in total projected revenue of $20M per annum

Education

Coventry Unoversity
Bachelor's degreeComputer Science
Sep 2006 - Jul 2009

Personal Projects

Engineering Bolt ⚡IconOpenNewWindows
2023
WordPress
Lightning Posts about Engineering, Culture and Software Delivery @ Meta Blog about building resilient and performant Engineering Culture with focus on delivering Software for Digital Product teams. Teams Culture, engagement, motivation Diversity & inclusion Hiring, onboarding, retention Managing distributed teams Mentoring, coaching & feedback Tech Topics Architecture & microservices Building better software Legacy, technical debt, migrations Scaling software & systems Technical direction & strategy Process Agile & other ways of working Code reviews & documentation Monitoring & observability Productivity & Eng velocity Technical decision making Career Growth Communication & relationships Continuous learning Professional development Self-care & burnout Skills for new managers