Open to opportunities

Michelle Zhang

@michellezhang

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Senior software engineer specializing in backend systems, data engineering, and cloud-based architectures.

United States

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What I'm looking for

I am seeking a role building scalable, cloud-native data infrastructure and pipelines where I can drive reliability, mentor teams, and align data systems with product analytics.

I am a Senior Software Engineer with 8+ years building scalable backend systems, data pipelines, and cloud-native data lakes using Python, Apache Kafka, Apache Spark, and AWS data services such as S3 and EMR. I design resilient data processing solutions, optimize distributed workloads, and refactor legacy services into modular microservices while improving observability and CI/CD for production reliability.

I have led initiatives to implement streaming ETL, Apache Iceberg transformation layers, and cross-region disaster recovery, mentoring junior engineers and collaborating closely with product, QA, and infrastructure teams to align data infrastructure with analytics and business needs.

Experience

Work history, roles, and key accomplishments

Software Engineer

DocuSign

Mar 2023 - Jun 2023 (3 months)

Enhanced Python and Node.js microservices for digital signature transaction processing, integrated S3 archival workflows to speed downstream analytics, and improved CI/CD and Kafka-based event reliability during a short-term engagement.

Python Node AWS S3 Kafka Jenkins Microservices CI CD Automation Logging

Senior Software Engineer

Qumulo

Feb 2013 - Nov 2022 (9 years 9 months)

Designed and implemented large-scale data ingestion and ETL systems using Python, Kafka, and Spark to process terabytes of file telemetry and billions of metadata events daily, reducing query latency and compute costs through optimized partitioning and Iceberg-based transforms.

Python Apache Kafka Apache Spark AWS S3 EMR Apache Iceberg ETL Distributed Systems CI CD

Software Engineer

Workday

Jan 2010 - Jan 2013 (3 years)

Developed backend modules and data transformation pipelines in Python and JavaScript, integrated Kafka streams for real-time analytics, and improved API performance and monitoring for financial data workflows.

Python JavaScript Kafka SQL Docker AWS Cloudwatch API Development Data Modeling Orchestration

Education

Degrees, certifications, and relevant coursework

Georgia Institute of Technology

Bachelor of Science, Computer Science

2012 - 2016

Completed a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science with coursework and projects focused on software engineering, data systems, and distributed computing.