Richard is available for hire
Hire RichardRichard Webb
Verified Expert in Engineering
Back-end Developer
Location
Medellín - Antioquia, Colombia
Toptal Member Since
May 31, 2022
Richard is an expert software engineer with 8+ years of experience working in Python across the entire stack. Having contributed to a wide range of API, web, and pure Python projects, he developed the capacity to quickly become productive on new projects and build solutions for different industries and purposes. Currently, Richard seeks to freelance to collaborate with clients on challenging new projects.
Portfolio
Poolit
Python, Flask, SQL, SQLAlchemy, FastAPI, PostgreSQL, Amazon Web Services (AWS)...
Cookpad
Python, Python 3, Apache Kafka, Elasticsearch, Django, FastAPI, Kubernetes...
Unai
Python, Python 3, SQLAlchemy, Django, Microservices, JavaScript, React...
Experience
Availability
Full-time
Preferred Environment
Linux, Python 3
The most amazing...
...thing I've developed is a running and coaching app that helps hundreds of people start or improve their running habits and enhance their race times.
Work Experience
Senior Back-end Engineer
2022 - 2022
Poolit
- Developed the back end of an alternative investment platform in Python/Flask/FastAPI.
- Created Plaid integrations for KYC/bank/income verifications.
- Built Banking as a Service (BaaS) integrations to manage customer funds.
Technologies: Python, Flask, SQL, SQLAlchemy, FastAPI, PostgreSQL, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Temporal, Plaid API, Synapse
Senior Back-end Engineer
2020 - 2022
Cookpad
- Built a Kafka to Elasticsearch ingestion pipeline to replace Spark. It was a pure Python solution based on the Faust framework, handling hundreds of events per second. Drastically improved the developers' productivity across the search teams.
- Designed and built a Python web service in Django to replace an internal administration platform written in Ruby. This service handled most of the administration for search services and integrated with Elasticsearch.
- Implemented various features on the main search platform in Phyton using FastAPI and Elasticsearch, including filtering.
- Developed a new search service in Python with FastAPI and Elasticsearch to replace various legacy Ruby services that were providing auxiliary services to the search process. These services handled thousands of requests per minute.
Technologies: Python, Python 3, Apache Kafka, Elasticsearch, Django, FastAPI, Kubernetes, Asyncio, GitOps, Back-end, API Architecture, Architecture, APIs, PostgreSQL, REST APIs, API Integration, SQL, Full-stack
Senior Software Engineer
2020 - 2020
Unai
- Worked as part of the team building the Genomics England platform for genome sequencing, which included several microservices built with Django and SQLAlchemy.
- Increased in 3x the performance across several endpoints that were limiting the platform's deployment.
- Built a COVID-19 risk calculator using React and Django.
Technologies: Python, Python 3, SQLAlchemy, Django, Microservices, JavaScript, React, Performance, Back-end, API Architecture, Architecture, APIs, PostgreSQL, REST APIs, API Integration, SQL
DevOps Engineer
2019 - 2020
HMRC - Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs
- Built features to support the platform hosting all HMRC online services as part of the infrastructure team.
- Developed services to support adding an AWS S3 analog service to the HMRC platform.
- Standardized the Python code that was used as scaffolding for all AWS lambdas.
- Worked as part of a team to migrate from a custom orchestration platform to Amazon ECS.
Technologies: Terraform, Python 3, Python, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Back-end, Architecture, APIs, Serverless, REST APIs, AWS Lambda
Back-end Developer
2018 - 2019
The Office for National Statistics (ONS)
- Worked as part of the team building the UK 2021 Census, the first online census performed in the UK. The application had 1+ million user sessions over the census period.
- Developed features for the electronic questionnaire (EQ) team, used to provide the census in 2021.
- Investigated and fixed performance issues, which were crucial to running the application efficiently for the census.
- Published my work on Github as 80% of it was open-source.
- Migrated the existing AWS Elastic Beanstalk and AWS ECS infrastructure to Kubernetes hosted on Google Cloud Platform (GCP).
- Built CI pipelines for continuous deployment on GCP Kubernetes using Concourse CI.
- Improved the testing infrastructure by modernizing the unit tests approach and working to reduce the fragility of the tests.
- Created a suite of Cypress.io tests, which were used as end-to-end tests of the census.
Technologies: Python, Python 3, Flask, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud, Amazon Elastic Container Service (Amazon ECS), Concourse CI, Amazon DynamoDB, Back-end, APIs, REST APIs, API Integration, Full-stack, JavaScript
Co-founder and Senior Software Engineer
2014 - 2018
Zoetrope
- Co-founded an internet of things (IoT) consultancy with a team of eight to create mobile apps, web apps, API back ends, and embedded software and hardware.
- Oversaw various IoT projects, managing development, meeting clients, and building technical specifications.
- Ported our IoT platform from Falcon to the Django REST framework, improving integration with the existing open source modules and reducing the onboarding time for new developers.
- Built a firmware update system for IoT devices, allowing updates to be applied in a controlled and extensible manner while devices were deployed.
- Architected the cloud infrastructure for an E.ON company providing smart heating and cooling controls. The infrastructure was built in Python, using MongoDB, Redis, Celery, Falcon, and MQTT.
- Delivered the embedded software running on an IoT hub for an E.ON company. This involved communications over a Thread network using a Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP) client-server built with Python asyncio.
Technologies: Python, Python 3, C, GitLab CI/CD, React, Embedded C, Electronics, MQTT, Kubernetes, MongoDB, Redis, Celery, Asyncio, Back-end, API Architecture, Architecture, APIs, PostgreSQL, Serverless, REST APIs, API Integration, AWS Lambda, SQL, Full-stack
Experience
2021 Census Electronic Questionnaire
https://github.com/ONSdigital/eq-survey-runner/tree/v3The 2021 UK Census was the first online census in the UK and was completed by over a million households.
The electronic questionnaire used to provide the census was built using Python and Flask and was deployed on the Google Cloud Platform.
The electronic questionnaire used to provide the census was built using Python and Flask and was deployed on the Google Cloud Platform.
Genomics England COVID-19 Study
https://www.genomicsengland.co.uk/initiatives/covid-19This project aimed to find links between genetics and severe outcomes of COVID-19 cases. It involved the analysis of 20,000 genomes of people severely affected by COVID-19. I built the extract, transform and load (ETL) processes used to manage some of the data used for this project.
Education
2009 - 2013
Master of Engineering Degree in Computer Engineering
University of Bristol - Bristol, United Kingdom
Skills
Languages
Python, Python 3, SQL, JavaScript, C, Embedded C
Frameworks
Django, Flask
Libraries/APIs
REST APIs, Asyncio, SQLAlchemy, React, Plaid API
Paradigms
Microservices, API Architecture
Platforms
Linux, Apache Kafka, Kubernetes, Amazon Web Services (AWS), AWS Lambda
Other
FastAPI, Back-end, APIs, API Integration, Architecture, Serverless, Full-stack, Performance, Electronics, GitOps, Temporal
Storage
Elasticsearch, PostgreSQL, Google Cloud, Amazon DynamoDB, MongoDB, Redis
Tools
Terraform, Amazon Elastic Container Service (Amazon ECS), Concourse CI, GitLab CI/CD, MQTT, Celery, Synapse
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