Carlos Rafael Ramirez

Senior Software Developer, Microsoft MVP (2024–Present)

PROFILE

Senior Software Developer and Microsoft MVP with 24+ years of experience enhancing performance, reliability, and scalability in complex systems. Specialized in Java, AWS, and data engineering. Skilled in modernizing legacy systems and optimizing large-scale infrastructure.

WORK EXPERIENCE

Master Software Specialist, Smartmatic — Jan 2025–Present

Election Systems Modernization & Backend Development

Enhanced system security by upgrading from Java 8 to Java 17, addressing ~300 CVEs and removing critical vulnerabilities, boosting performance by 20%.
Developed backend for adjudicating 2,556 candidates in Honduras’ primary election using Oracle stored procedures and BIRT reports.
Led a team of 5 developers to adapt the electoral solution for Malawi elections within 5 months, ensuring compliance with local laws and creating 20+ statistical reports.

Tech Stack: Java, Spring Boot, Docker, Jenkins, Oracle, AWS, BIRT

Senior Software Engineer, Scopely — Jul 2024–Dec 2024

Data Infrastructure & Cloud Systems

Maintain and optimize Java-based microservices deployed on Kubernetes in AWS (EKS), integrating with GCP services such as BigQuery for large-scale data pipelines.
Manage AWS (SQS, Kinesis, DynamoDB) with Hystrix-based flow control to ensure scalability and reliability, enabling cross-cloud data workflows with GCP BigQuery.
Enhanced Datadog observability by instrumenting code with custom metrics and configuring dashboards and alerts, improving monitoring coverage and incident response.

Tech Stack: Java, Kubernetes (EKS), Docker, AWS (SQS, Kinesis, DynamoDB), GCP (BigQuery), Hystrix, Datadog

Senior Java Developer, King — Sep 2022–May 2024

Customer Segmentation & Data Analytics

Enhanced A/B Testing framework used for customer segmentation driving 40% of company revenue.
Improved BigQuery performance by 60% via Farm Fingerprint algorithm.
Migrated Python salt generation system into Java to reduce pre-test imbalance.

Tech Stack: Java, Kubernetes, Docker, GCP (BigQuery), MySQL, Jenkins, Linux, Agile, TDD

Senior Software Engineer, Bridgestone Mobility Solutions — May 2019–Aug 2022

Legacy System Modernization & Platform Migration

Took ownership of an acquired legacy system, modernized stack, and reduced server rental costs by €3K/month.
Led recovery after data center fire with no data loss and minimal downtime.
Drove customer migration to new platform, achieving 90% adoption.

Tech Stack: Java, Spring Boot, Java EE, JBoss, Hibernate, Docker, Oracle, MySQL, React Native, Appium

Master Software Specialist, Smartmatic Panama — Aug 2017–Apr 2019

Cloud Cost Optimization & Election Infrastructure

Migrated from Oracle JDK to OpenJDK OpenJ9, saving >$10K in licensing and 30% in cloud costs.
Integrated Java EE authentication with central government OAuth system.
Built OpenCV + Java solution reducing vote transcription costs by $20K.
Designed Spring Boot + Terraform cloud stack manager reducing environment setup time by half.
Deployed private cloud on OpenStack saving $5K/month.
Established annual training plan for 30 engineers, improving productivity by 20%.

Tech Stack: Java, Spring Boot, Java EE, Docker, Terraform, AWS (CloudHSM), OpenStack, PostgreSQL, Oracle, OpenCV

Engineering Associate Manager, Smartmatic Panama — Nov 2012–Jul 2017

Biometric Voter Authentication & Mission-Critical Services

Led team adapting biometric voter authentication for Armenian government (5M voters).
Optimized Pentaho Kettle pipeline reducing import time of voter data to <1 hour.
Oversaw mission-critical Java EE/JMS web service handling 270K voting packages in <60 minutes.
Pioneered Scrum adoption, boosting productivity by 50% and reducing defects by 30%.
Led development of Ballot Design system generating 1.7K ballot faces and 80M serialized PDFs.
Automated application deployment with Docker cutting setup time by 80%.

Tech Stack: Java, Java EE, JMS, JBoss, Hibernate, Docker, PostgreSQL, Oracle, Jenkins, Maven, Sonar, Pentaho Kettle

Product Architect, Smartmatic Labs — Mar 2010–Oct 2012

Automation & Distributed Election Systems

Automated OS image builds with FAI ensuring full auditability and reducing certification costs.
Led team optimizing distributed electoral solution in the Philippines, cutting field technicians by 50%.

Tech Stack: Java, Java EE, Linux, JBPM, FAI

Software Lead, Smartmatic Labs — May 2008–Mar 2010

Call Center & Voting Support Systems

Designed and led call center support system for 900+ operators and 5K voting centers using JBPM.

Tech Stack: Java, Java EE, JBoss, Hibernate, Oracle, JBPM

Software Engineer, Smartmatic Labs — Mar 2004–May 2008

Electoral Management Systems

Developed Electoral Management System supporting 30K voting machines and 11M voters.

Tech Stack: Java, Java EE, JMS, Hibernate, Oracle

OTHER EXPERIENCE

Microsoft MVP (2024–Present).
Maintainer of Pengwin (Debian-based WSL distro) and Fedora Remix for WSL.
Contributed to Wine, JetBrains, Oracle, and Microsoft projects.
Built startup for virtual worlds using Java + Oculus Rift, and e-commerce site with Drupal.
Active Stack Overflow user with 8.2K reputation, top 5% in Docker.
Published Dockerized Lime Survey with >100K downloads.
Languages: Spanish (native), English (professional, IELTS B2), French (intermediate, DELF B1).

EDUCATION

Bachelor of Systems Engineering, Universidad Metropolitana, Caracas — Oct 1993–Aug 1999
Sun Certified Java Programmer — May 2002
Sun Certified Web Component Developer — Jul 2003
Sun Certified Mobile Application Developer — Feb 2004