Muhammad Rizwan Sharif

I am a Principal Software Engineer and Backend Engineering Leader with 14+ years of experience designing, building, and scaling production software systems. My core interests are backend engineering, distributed systems, cloud-native architecture, microservices, system design, performance optimization, and AI-first software engineering.

Currently at Dubizzle Group, I architect and scale high-concurrency systems supporting millions of monthly active users across major marketplace platforms including Bayut, Dubizzle, Zameen, and OLX. I have led backend architecture initiatives across multiple engineering teams and influenced engineering practices across 70+ engineers.

My technical expertise spans Java/Spring Boot, PHP/Laravel, Python/FastAPI/Django, Ruby/Rails, REST APIs, GraphQL, gRPC, event-driven architecture, AWS, Docker, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Elasticsearch, Redis, and NoSQL technologies.

A significant part of my career has involved modernizing legacy platforms, integrating acquired products, and executing large-scale migrations. I have led the consolidation of multiple CRM and regional platforms, designed ETL and synchronization pipelines handling 10+ million production records, and optimized high-volume databases to achieve significant improvements in query performance and system throughput.

I am also passionate about AI-assisted software engineering. I use tools such as Claude and Cursor daily for architecture design, coding, refactoring, code reviews, technical documentation, and workflow automation. I have implemented AI-assisted SDLC practices that improved feature velocity by 30%+ while maintaining strong engineering and code-quality standards.

Beyond hands-on engineering, I enjoy mentoring engineers, defining technical strategy, improving engineering processes, and helping teams build reliable systems that can scale. I am particularly interested in remote backend, Principal Engineer, Staff Engineer, Software Architect, and engineering leadership opportunities where I can combine deep technical expertise with architectural and organizational impact.