Adam Zerella
Verified Expert in Engineering
Full-stack Developer
Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
Toptal member since March 5, 2026
Adam is a senior full-stack developer with nearly a decade of experience building beautiful, cloud-native web applications. He has worked for various clients, including Hewlett-Packard, Honeywell, and Kraken. Adam specializes in Node.js frameworks and has solid experience working within the open source community.
Portfolio
Experience
- Linux - 15 years
- Node.js - 10 years
- JavaScript - 10 years
- Amazon Web Services (AWS) - 10 years
- TypeScript - 8 years
- React - 8 years
- Kubernetes - 8 years
- PostgreSQL - 7 years
Preferred Environment
Linux, Amazon Web Services (AWS), MacOS, Visual Studio Code (VS Code), Slack
The most amazing...
...thing I've built is blockchain integrations at Kraken, which collectively generate $100+ million in annual revenue.
Work Experience
Software Developer
Self-employed
- Delivered a full-stack blockchain analytics app, nicknamed Kozo, for Blockchainspace Asia with real-time metaverse reporting.
- Architected and implemented back-end services for multiple clients, including authentication, auditing, reporting APIs, and search services.
- Led technical efforts across multiple clients, scaling teams through technical mentorship and conducting software engineering interviews to enhance talent acquisition.
Senior Software Engineer
Kraken
- Developed feature support for 10+ unique blockchain integrations, resulting in $100+ million in annual revenue.
- Implemented automated high-value wallet rebalancing workflows, reducing manual operational time by 80%.
- Built a forensic reconciliation tool over TB-scale data for financial tracking and operational investigations.
Senior Software Engineer
SOMA Finance
- Implemented the core APIs needed to handle authentication, authorization, auditing, and reporting.
- Implemented full-text search using Algolia for an administrator dashboard.
- Facilitated the rapid scaling of the engineering team from 3 to 20 by conducting and leading full-stack developer interviews.
Senior Software Engineer
Parity Technologies
- Extended an internal auditing application to include automated reporting features.
- Improved features across three key GitHub bots: CLA bot, static analysis bot, and performance review bot.
- Refactored the CLA bot (legal tech), reducing complexity and streamlining API routes for improved maintainability and performance.
Technical Lead
MANTRA DAO
- Led the onboarding of a new engineering team, shifting reliance from overseas contractors and remote agencies.
- Standardised myriad of external SaaS services, dependencies, and hosting solutions with AWS.
- Created the 1st QA automation suite, introducing the team to browser automation and TDD.
Software Engineer
Honeywell
- Improved front-end performance and load times dramatically by integrating WebAssembly for heavy workload tasks.
- Incepted and championed the team's internal design system, contributing 15+ unique components and scaffolding the styling guide.
- Developed an auditing microservice that captures millions of compliance-related records and events.
System Administrator
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
- Provided real-time IT support for Australia's largest banks' employees.
- Scripted fleet device updates across multiple clients, reducing update deployment times by 50%.
- Implemented bespoke software scripts to offload manual workflow tasks that were frequently delegated to other teams, drastically improving team cohesion.
Experience
Email Intelligence Platform
https://app.usechameleon.coAtlas | Healthcare Billing API
https://app.atlas.interop.auDefinitelyTyped | TypeScript Contributions
https://github.com/DefinitelyTyped/DefinitelyTyped/pullsEducation
Master's Degree in Government Informatics and Information Systems
University of Canberra - Canberra, Australia
Bachelor's Degree in Software Engineering and Information Technology
Adelaide University - Adelaide, Australia
Certifications
AWS Solutions Architect Associate
Amazon Web Services
Cryptography I
Coursera
Skills
Libraries/APIs
Node.js, React, JSON-RPC, REST APIs, Claude API, OpenAI API, Stripe
Tools
GitHub, Astro, Jira, Claude Code, ChatGPT, Slack, GitLab
Languages
TypeScript, JavaScript, CSS, HTML, SQL, Java, Rust, PHP, Python
Frameworks
Tailwind CSS, Next.js, Flutter, Symfony, Express.js, Electron
Paradigms
Functional Programming, Test-driven Development (TDD), Role-based Access Control (RBAC)
Platforms
Linux, Kubernetes, Docker, Vercel, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Apache Kafka, HubSpot, MacOS, Visual Studio Code (VS Code), Blockchain
Storage
PostgreSQL, Redis, JSON, Amazon S3 (AWS S3), MongoDB, MySQL
Other
Cloudflare, CI/CD Pipelines, Google SEO, Full-stack, AI Tools, Full-stack Development, Cursor AI, Webhooks, API Integration, Back-end, Back-end Development, Vite, Software Architecture, Supabase, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Convex, Know Your Customer (KYC), Prompt Engineering, Web Scraping, CTO, Software Development, System Administration, Computer Informatics, Cryptography, Applied Cryptography, Distributed Systems, Design Systems, WebAssembly (Wasm), Shell Scripting, Mainframe Systems, Fleet Management, IT Project Management, Interviews, Encryption, Algorithms, Information Systems, IT Governance, Information Design, Open-source Software (OSS), Blockchain Design, Compliance, Legal Technology (Legaltech), ECS, Serverless
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