Back to Projects
February 2021 - February 2024 Full Stack

Digital Banking Platform

Staff engineer on a full-stack banking platform supporting wire transfers, ACH payments, money market funds, and cryptocurrency custody for institutional clients.

A digital bank specializing in cryptocurrency custody and traditional banking services for institutional clients

Project Overview

Served as a Staff Engineer at a digital bank building infrastructure for both traditional banking services and cryptocurrency custody. The platform enables institutional clients to hold US dollars, execute wire transfers, process ACH payments, and manage money market fund investments—all through a modern web interface backed by robust banking integrations.

The Product

The banking platform consists of several interconnected applications:

  • Online Banking Portal: Customer-facing application for account management, transfers, and transaction history
  • Customer Onboarding: Multi-step application process with identity verification and compliance checks
  • Admin Dashboard (“Rodeo”): Internal tool for operations staff to manage customers, review applications, and handle support tasks
  • Money Market Fund Portal: Interface for purchasing and redeeming money market fund shares

Technical Architecture

The platform is built as a large-scale monorepo containing multiple services:

Frontend Applications

  • Framework: Next.js 13 with React 18, providing server-side rendering and optimal performance
  • State Management: Redux Toolkit for complex application state
  • Styling: Tailwind CSS with styled-components for component-level styles
  • Testing: Cypress for comprehensive E2E testing across all applications

Backend Services

  • Primary API: Django 4 with Django REST Framework, handling core banking logic
  • Go Services: Specialized microservices for custody operations, money market funds, and transaction processing
  • Database: PostgreSQL with Redis for caching and session management
  • Background Jobs: Celery for asynchronous task processing

Infrastructure

  • Container Orchestration: Kubernetes with Skaffold for local development
  • Cloud Platform: AWS with Terraform for infrastructure as code
  • CI/CD: GitHub Actions with comprehensive test suites
  • Monitoring: Datadog for application performance monitoring and logging

Key Contributions

Wire Transfer System

Led development of the Fedwire integration enabling customers to send and receive domestic wire transfers. This involved:

  • Building the transfer initiation UI with real-time validation
  • Implementing backend logic to interface with the Federal Reserve’s wire transfer network
  • Creating transaction history views with filtering and search capabilities
  • Adding receive wire functionality with automatic account crediting

ACH Payment Processing

Developed ACH deposit and withdrawal features allowing customers to move funds between their bank accounts:

  • Built deposit forms with bank account verification
  • Implemented withdrawal workflows with appropriate hold periods
  • Created transaction status tracking and notification systems

Customer Onboarding & KYC

Built comprehensive onboarding flows for new customers:

  • Multi-step application forms collecting personal and business information
  • Integration with Socure for identity verification and fraud prevention
  • Document upload and verification workflows
  • Application status tracking for both customers and admin reviewers

Admin Dashboard

Developed the internal operations dashboard used by bank staff:

  • Customer list with search, filtering, and detailed profile views
  • Application review interface with approval/rejection workflows
  • User management for controlling access and permissions
  • Reporting tools for compliance and operational metrics

Money Market Fund Features

Implemented the money market fund investment interface:

  • Purchase and redemption workflows with OTP verification
  • Statement generation and download functionality
  • Activity history with sorting and filtering
  • Balance displays and yield calculations

Working at Scale

As the third highest contributor with over 1,000 commits, I worked across the entire stack—from React components to Django views to Kubernetes configurations. The monorepo architecture enabled efficient code sharing while the comprehensive test suite (unit, integration, and E2E) ensured reliability in a regulated banking environment.

The work required close collaboration with compliance, operations, and product teams to ensure features met regulatory requirements while providing a smooth user experience.

Technologies Deep Dive

The technology choices reflected the demands of a regulated financial institution:

  • Next.js 13 provided server-side rendering for improved security and SEO, with React Server Components for optimized data fetching
  • Django REST Framework offered a mature, well-documented foundation for building secure APIs with proper authentication and authorization
  • Go microservices handled performance-critical operations like transaction processing and custody operations
  • Kubernetes enabled reliable deployments with zero-downtime updates and automatic scaling
  • Terraform ensured infrastructure consistency across development, staging, and production environments

Technologies

TypeScript React Next.js Redux Python Django Go PostgreSQL Redis Docker Kubernetes AWS Terraform Tailwind CSS

Key Highlights

  • Led development of online banking features including Fedwire and ACH transfer systems
  • Built customer onboarding flows with KYC/AML identity verification integration
  • Developed internal admin dashboard for customer and application management
  • Implemented money market fund purchase and redemption workflows
  • Third highest contributor with 1,000+ commits across the platform