Open to opportunities

Maxim Popelnitskiy

@maximpopelnitskiy

Senior PHP backend engineer specializing in high-load fintech systems, performance optimization, and payment integrations.

Cyprus

Message

What I'm looking for

I’m looking for a senior backend role in fintech/high-load products where I can own performance, payment/webhook integrations, and system reliability, collaborate closely with product and business, and modernize delivery with safe automation and AI-assisted development.

I bring 20+ years in backend development and QA automation, with the last 8 years as a Senior PHP backend engineer in fintech and iGaming. I specialize in high-load systems, payment processing, performance optimization, and external service integrations—especially where reliability and speed directly impact business outcomes.

In my current role (Tech), I built core platform capabilities for a 15M+ users iGaming/payments environment. I designed and implemented an SSO service for the platform, created a mass bonus payout system handling up to 100K users per run using job queues and transactional logic, and reduced critical business-flow latency from 1–2 minutes to ~3 seconds through SQL and backend optimization. I’ve also contributed to crypto/bank/aggregator payment provider integrations with webhook handling and async operations.

Previously at IronFX, I improved product performance and engineered safer change at scale. I sped up CRM page loads by 30x and critical APIs by 10x while significantly reducing database load via query/index rework. I led the PHP 5 → PHP 7 migration with zero critical production incidents, and I managed a team of 3 developers—owning technical decisions around optimization and overall CRM performance.

I also bring a strong quality and release mindset from earlier QA leadership and automation. As Wisebits Group’s QA Team Lead, I managed a team of 5 and established build-verification and CI with Selenium WebDriver, PHPUnit, and Docker to support high-velocity release cycles. In day-to-day engineering, I use AI-assisted development (Claude Code, ChatGPT) with reusable domain-specific prompts and disciplined review practices for AI-generated code—so velocity never compromises quality.

Experience

Work history, roles, and key accomplishments

Current

Senior PHP Developer

Current

01 Tech

Oct 2025 - Present (8 months)

Designed and implemented an SSO service for a 15M+ user iGaming/payments platform and built a mass bonus payout system handling up to 100K users per run. Reduced critical business-flow latency from 1–2 minutes to ~3 seconds via SQL and backend optimization, and delivered payment-provider integrations with webhook handling and async operations.

Laravel PHP 8+Payment Processing Webhooks RabbitMQ SQL Optimization

PHP Developer

IronFX

Feb 2018 - Oct 2025 (7 years 8 months)

Sped up CRM page loads by 30x and critical APIs by 10x by reworking backend logic, queries, and indexes. Led the PHP 5 → PHP 7 migration with zero critical production incidents while managing a team of 3 and owning performance-focused technical decisions.

PHP MySQL PostgreSQL Kafka SQL Query Optimization Performance Profiling Code Review

QA Team Lead

Wisebits Group

Jan 2015 - Jan 2018 (3 years)

Managed a team of 5 QA engineers, driving planning, motivation, and growth. Built build-verification automation reducing manual testing from ~7 working days per engineer to 15 minutes and established CI with automated Selenium WebDriver and PHPUnit runs in Docker.

QA Leadership Test Automation Selenium Webdriver PHPUnit CI CD Docker Bug Statistics

PHP Web Developer

Alpari UK

Oct 2013 - Jan 2015 (1 year 3 months)

Built a test automation framework for key business scenarios using Selenium + SOAP and improved SOAP API stability and performance. Introduced automated testing to raise release quality and streamlined search and data processing via Elasticsearch + SugarCRM integration.

PHP Selenium SOAP API Stability Automated Testing Elasticsearch SugarCRM Performance Tuning Backend Integrations

PHP Developer

Webmoney

Sep 2012 - Sep 2013 (1 year)

Worked on fo.ru/yep.com site operations including migrating from lighttpd to nginx and optimizing SQL and memcache usage. Implemented frontend functionality with jQuery and supported social network integrations.

PHP Nginx SQL Optimization Memcache Performance Tuning jQuery

PHP Developer

Adonweb

Nov 2011 - Sep 2012 (10 months)

Contributed to Actionpay, Russia's largest affiliate network, by optimizing SQL and implementing Redis-based backup/restore capabilities. Delivered security patches to improve reliability and protection of the platform.

PHP SQL Optimization Redis Backup Reliability Performance Optimization Affiliate Network Systems

Software Developer

EastBank Technologies

Sep 2010 - Nov 2011 (1 year 2 months)

Developed mobile and web solutions for US and Russia projects across iOS, Android, .NET, SharePoint, and Sencha Touch. Supported end-to-end delivery of features and integrations across these platforms.

iOS Development Android Development .NET SharePoint Sencha Touch Mobile Web Development

Software Developer in Test

Parallels (SWsoft)

Jan 2004 - Sep 2010 (6 years 8 months)

Built test automation for the Plesk product, covering backup manager and migration manager workflows. Implemented and supported integrations with SiteBuilder, Virtuozzo, and HSPC.

Test Automation QA Engineering Plesk SiteBuilder Integrations Virtuozzo Integrations HSPC Integration Testing