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Resume

Steven Stuart

Software Architect

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Professional Summary

Software architect with 15 years of experience bringing clarity to complex systems, from web and desktop applications to microservices and event-driven systems serving millions of users across hundreds of financial institutions. I hold principles shaped by years of building systems and learning what actually works. I share those principles through mentoring and governance that helps teams grow. And I deliver measurable results in systems that cost less, perform better, and evolve with the business.

Professional Experience

System Architect | True Market Insiders — St. Petersburg, FL | Feb 2023 – Present

Led modernization of cloud infrastructure and development operations for a financial research platform. Directed architecture strategy, mentored the engineering team, and delivered secure, scalable solutions aligned with business objectives.

Key Achievements:

  • Reduced cloud costs 80% through infrastructure optimization and service consolidation, cutting complexity without sacrificing capability
  • Enhanced security posture with AWS WAF, zero-trust IAM policies, and compliant API architecture
  • Stabilized unreliable transaction architecture by redesigning service boundaries, improving reliability for sales operations and client-facing applications
  • Improved platform performance by rearchitecting the data layer with Aurora, DynamoDB, and Snowflake, reducing average API response time from over 1 second to 40ms and database CPU utilization from 85% to 10%
  • Introduced a Shape Up hybrid SDLC, organizing work around completed features rather than sprint intervals, cutting bug fix turnaround from months to days and feature delivery from weeks to days
  • Integrated AI-assisted code generation into development workflow, accelerating code deliverables by roughly 70% and nearly eliminating production defects in new feature releases
  • Accelerated deployment speed with CI/CD pipelines and automated testing environments, reducing production deployment time from 30 minutes to 5 minutes

*Technologies: .NET 8, ASP.NET Core, AWS EKS, GraphQL (HotChocolate), Aurora PostgreSQL, DynamoDB, Snowflake, EventBridge, CloudFront, WAF, CodeBuild, Vue.js, Claude AI

Senior Software Engineer II | Alkami Technology — Plano, TX | Jul 2018 – Jan 2023

Built scalable microservices and event-driven systems for digital banking platform serving millions of users across 200+ financial institutions. Collaborated in Agile environment to deliver high-quality features while mentoring team members on architectural best practices.

Key Achievements:

  • Pioneered serverless architecture by developing Alkami’s first AWS Lambda-based APIs, establishing patterns adopted across engineering teams
  • Launched real-time notification platform enabling banks to deliver instant alerts to customers across web and mobile channels
  • Drove automated test quality and coverage across microservices, strengthening production reliability for a platform serving millions of banking customers

Technologies: .NET, ASP.NET Core, AWS Lambda, SQS, DynamoDB, SQL Server, Vue.js

Solutions Developer III | Cottonwood Financial — Irving, TX | Feb 2015 – Jun 2018

Developed enterprise applications for consumer finance operations. Led modernization initiatives to improve system architecture, enhance testability, and accelerate development velocity.

Key Achievements:

  • Delivered multi-location POS system using WPF, deployed to hundreds of retail locations nationwide
  • Improved system scalability by refactoring monolithic services into modular, independently deployable components
  • Reduced QA cycle time by building automated testing tools and establishing testing best practices

Technologies: .NET, ASP.NET, WCF, SQL Server, WPF, MongoDB

Tech Lead | DealerSpeedLeads — Dallas, TX | Mar 2011 – Feb 2015

Led full-stack development for a marketing technology SaaS platform. Architected scalable solutions, built automation systems, and established development processes.

Key Achievements:

  • Architected multi-tenant inventory platform supporting automotive, real estate, and e-commerce verticals with configurable data models
  • Built distributed automation system processing thousands of daily operations across customer accounts
  • Established deployment processes and delivered internal tools improving developer productivity

Technologies: .NET, ASP.NET, MySQL, WPF, WinForms, Selenium

Education

B.S., Computer Information Systems DeVry University — Irving, TX | Oct 2008 – Jun 2012