Alexey Makhnev

Lead Integration / Data / Software Engineer

Lead Integration / Data / Software Engineer with a history of delivering reliable cloud solutions for complex challenges. I take full ownership of the software lifecycle, from requirements gathering to production support, combining my technical expertise with hands-on leadership to define architectural vision and build systems that actually work.

Specialising in cloud and backend integration, I focus on building lean, effective end-to-end data-centric pipelines. From modelling and storage to fault-tolerant ETL and external LLM integration, I make sure data is served reliably and at scale, whether it's streaming or via API. In my everyday work, I rely on an evidence-based approach, pragmatically using modern engineering practices and AI coding tools to accelerate delivery without compromising security or architectural integrity.

Professional Skills

Top Skills

95%

Data Engineering

Expert, 10+ years
Data is the DNA of the 21st century, and the amount of it dictates it should be effectively stored, processed, and served. I like my data in order, so I lean on relational stores to keep complex models lean and organised – PostgreSQL, Oracle/Exadata, MSSQL – complemented by Snowflake for warehousing and DynamoDB where NoSQL fits better. On top of that I build fault-tolerant ETL/ELT and Kafka streaming pipelines that move data reliably from raw ingestion all the way to the API or dashboard.
90%

Cloud & Backend Integration

Expert, 10+ years
Software systems are evolving – design is becoming more distributed, running in clouds that offer hundreds of possible solutions to almost every problem. This is why it's so important to have a holistic view and define how systems communicate. I architect lean, cloud-native solutions on AWS (Serverless, Compute, Storage) using Terraform and Helm, designing robust REST/SOAP APIs, event-driven Kafka architectures and CI/CD pipelines with GitHub Actions and Jenkins.
80%

AI Engineering

Proficient, 2+ years
Modern data products increasingly rely on LLMs to bridge unstructured inputs and structured outcomes. I design production-ready AI pipelines combining multi-model LLM orchestration, prompt engineering and structured output with retrieval techniques – embeddings and vector stores – for fast, cost-effective matching. My current independent projects (theresumeparser.com, resumer.io) put this into practice using Python (FastAPI, LangGraph, Pydantic) and AWS S3 Vectors to deliver hybrid AI solutions at scale.

Other Skills

Data & Integration: Relational (PostgreSQL, Oracle/Exadata, MSSQL), NoSQL (DynamoDB), Warehouse (Snowflake); ETL/ELT, Kafka streaming; SQL/PLSQL; REST/SOAP
AI Engineering: LLM apps (orchestration, prompt design, structured output), retrieval (embeddings, vector stores)
Cloud & DevOps: AWS (Serverless, Compute/Storage, IaC), Docker, Kubernetes, Terraform, Helm, GitHub Actions, Jenkins
Languages: Python (FastAPI, LangGraph, Pydantic), TypeScript / JavaScript / NodeJS, Java / Kotlin (Spring Boot), NextJS / React
Engineering Practices: TDD, Clean Code, SOLID, Microservices, Spec-driven development
Leadership & Management: Team mentoring and coaching, stakeholder management, cross-functional collaboration, strategic planning, hiring / onboarding / performance evaluation.

Work Experiences

Independent project

Remote, UK
Sole Architect & Developer
2025 - current

Full technical ownership of two AI-centric HR Tech data solutions built from the ground up.

  • Commercial AI API (theresumeparser.com - Live). Architected and deployed a production-ready resume parsing API. Engineered a hybrid pipeline using NER, multi-model LLM orchestration, and custom AI enrichment.
  • Job Matching platform (resumer.io - In development): building a profile-to-job matching platform focused on flexibility and cost-effective operations. Main features: embedding-based shortlisting against user extended skillset, with deterministic, LLM-free match explanation.
Technologies: NextJS, Python (FastAPI, LangGraph, Pydantic), AI Integration (Multi-Model Orchestration, Prompt Engineering, Embeddings), PostgreSQL, AWS S3 Vectors

Enroly

Remote, UK
Senior Software Engineer (Contract)
02/2026 - current

Hands-on full-stack developer for a higher education SaaS product.

  • Code delivery: Ship high-quality code to meet challenging delivery goals. Actively improving team development processes to adopt AI coding support tools and practices like spec-driven development.
  • Data architecture: Identified core ETL and data model issues responsible for data inconsistencies. Engineered a robust interim fix to resolve the immediate impact, proposed a long-term solution projected to achieve 90% data compression.
Technologies: AWS (Lambda, Fargate, DynamoDB), TypeScript, Python, PostgreSQL, React

Kingston Council

Remote, UK
Integration Software Engineer (Contract)
03/2024 - 01/2026

Sole technical authority responsible for the end-to-end design and implementation of the Council housing system migration to a new cloud platform.

  • Serverless & Automation: Architected a serverless ETL ecosystem (Step Functions, Lambdas, S3) for 15 interfaces. Engineered a headless browser solution to automate essential work where APIs were missing.
  • Infrastructure & DevOps: Built the AWS environment from scratch (VPC, Subnets) and matured the delivery process from manual scripts to fully automated GitHub Actions pipelines.
  • Full Lifecycle Ownership: Managed the complete delivery process, from mining undocumented requirements and creating Low-Level Designs (LLD) to TDD implementation (98% code coverage!) and production rollout.
Technologies: AWS, S3, Lambda, Step functions, NodeJS, JavaScript, ETL/ELT, GitHub Actions

Kingfisher group

Remote, UK
Technical Lead (Contract)
01/2023 - 08/2023

Lead for a backend team migrating one of the largest UK e-commerce website order fulfilment domain to a microservices architecture.

  • Architecture & Design: Defined the order lifecycle and integration patterns for the Order Management SaaS System (Fluent), designed a robust Kafka-based event architecture coordinating schemas with upstream and downstream teams. Created detailed Low-Level Designs to ensure data consistency.
  • Quality & Delivery: Led a team of senior developers, enforcing strict code quality standards and ensuring valid "happy path" and corner-case handling through rigorous reviews. Coordinated the final release and transition to production.
Technologies: Kotlin, Spring Boot, REST API, Kafka, Redis, AWS, Kubernetes

IDBS

Guildford, UK
Lead Software Developer
06/2021 - 07/2022

Hands-on lead for a full-stack team delivering a SaaS MVP for high-throughput scientific data analysis.

  • Data Architecture & ETL: Architected and implemented the core ETL solution, transforming raw time-series data into a Snowflake Star Schema and a relational presentation layer. This design decoupled OLAP from OLTP, reducing API response times from seconds to sub-100ms.
  • Delivery & Leadership: Defined the MVP scope and managed a mixed team of internal engineers and offshore resources. Translated complex requirements into manageable epics to ensure successful delivery within the deadline.
Technologies: React, Java, Snowflake, MySQL, Tableau, AWS, Kubernetes

Experian

London, UK
Development Team Lead
11/2018 - 06/2021

Hands-on lead (50/50 split) for a team of 10 developing and supporting a 15TB Anti-Money Laundering (AML) backend for a top-tier global bank.

  • Data Engineering at scale: Managed a complex data pipeline transforming internal and client data via Python, Java, and extensive SQL chains (>200 steps) on Oracle Exadata.
  • Performance Optimisation: Designed a stream architecture to handle 100M XML messages, reducing critical data delivery time from 6 weeks to 3 days.
  • Modernisation & Quality: Successfully negotiated technical debt reduction with program management. Led the migration from Waterfall to Agile/CI/CD, moving from SVN to Git and introducing trunk-based development.
  • Team Scaling & Mentorship: Scaled the team from 4 to 10 by hiring and mentoring junior developers into high-performing contributors (achieving top-tier ratings in annual reviews).
Technologies: Oracle DB (Exadata), SQL / PL/SQL, Java (Spring Boot), Python, Apache Kafka

Previous Career History

UK & Russia
Multiple roles
2002 - 2018

Notable but not so recent roles (full list on LinkedIn):

  • Integration developer / solution owner (Brewing, 2012-2018): Sole technical owner of a custom master data / transactional data management and integration platform connecting SAP Manufacturing/Planning with non-SAP Supply Chain systems for the global brewing company. Led the technical separation during acquisition and business divestment.
  • Integration Owner (Public Sector, 2009-2012): Developed advanced Java integrations within SAP PI and transitioned to an ownership role, ensuring the smooth operation of 250+ production interfaces for a large UK council.
  • Database / System Engineer (Banking): Developed and maintained a custom Master Data Management system handling records for 180M customers at a top-tier bank.
  • Integration Team Lead (Logistics): Led an ESB integration team delivering a high-reliability EDI messaging solution for a global container leasing company.

Education & Certification

AWS Certified Machine Learning Engineer - Associate

Amazon Web Services
04/2026

AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate (Expired)

Amazon Web Services
07/2020

Google Certified Professional - Data Engineer (Expired)

Google Cloud
08/2017

Specialist Degree (with distinction), equivalent to BS (Hons)

Novosibirsk State University, Novosibirsk, Russia
1996 - 2001
Mathematician/System Programmer in Applied Mathematics and Computing Systems